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Fatty Arbuckle’s Pierce-Arrow custom 66 just popped up for sale in Hemmings Online this morning. Here’s a link you can copy and paste, although you may have to be a subscriber to make it work. Lots of good photos, but no price listed. Enjoy…..and link here: http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/pierce_arrow/66a/1532655.html
Here’s another photo back in the day.
It was bid to 1.1 Mill at B-J a few weeks ago, and a no sale. I have seen it in person several times, it’s one of the most impressive cars of any era that I have ever seen. Ed
This car certainly puts any Packard V12,Cadillac,Peerless or
Locomobile of its time,at a distinct disadvantage.Its a joy that
somebody kept the scrap man away from melting all that aluminum
and dissecting the rest.I’m curious about color choice.Is it authentic?
Did Roscoe(Fatty) have a fettish for eggplants or was it starlets?
Are there any Pierce-Arrows out there that are more valuable than
this car?What a fitting tribute to Hollywood excess,one of the most
controversial and popular stars of the time,and a great customizing
firm,Don Lee.The Silver-Arrow might bring more money now,but the custom
with the largest displacement engine in U.S. motoring history with
Hollywood credentials must rival it in the future.
Here’s the descriiption from the ad, including info on the color selection:
Description:
This 1919 Pierce-Arrow was delivered in 1918 as an A-4 chassis to Don Lee Coach & Bodyworks in Los Angeles, Calif. which specialized in custom bodies for special clients such as movie stars. The famous silent movie comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was its first owner. Arbuckle had the car custom built in 1919 at the height of his film career. The head designer for this special project was a young, new designer by the name of Harley Earl, who would become perhaps the most famous designer in the history of the automobile. From the unique “purple-blue” body to the all-white tires, the car mirrors the eccentric character of the famous Hollywood actor. The large 825cid, 6 cylinder engine 66 A-4 Pierce-Arrow chassis is one of the last Model 66 Pierce-Arrows made and there are only seven of the Model 66 A-4 surviving today. In 1976, Tom Barrett of Scottsdale, Ariz. acquired the car in original condition and performed a minor cosmetic restoration including a dark blue paint job. In 1982, Don Williams of the Blackhawk Collection acquired the Pierce from Barrett. The Pierce then spent 24 years in the Blackhawk Collection until 2006 when Jim Schenck acquired her and decided to do an extensive Pebble Beach quality restoration. Not only the extensive restoration was done, originality was carefully maintained down to the original “purple-blue” paint and its original white tires. Schenck showed her at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance where she took First Place in Class B (Vintage 1916-1924).
It is one of the most famous Pierce-Arrows in existence.
Hi Tony, Last year a Custom Silver Arrow sold for 2.2 mill and needed a restoration. A correct 66 hp touring in the HCCA era have sold for very low 7 figures in the last few years. I can’t wait till one of my 7 passenger 1930’s sedans catch up to the other SUPER Pierce’s. Ed
More famous and/or expensive than the 1930 Shah of Persia (Iran) car, which has been guesstimated to have cost #30,000 when new?
Over the last few years this Pierce-Arrow has on the floor at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, CA where I am a docent. The car is quite popular with the public in part due to its visual impact among the conservative cars of the 20s&30s but also do to the “Fatty Arbuckle” stories. Fatty was one of the most popular silent screen actors in Hollywood as well as being a comedian, director and screenwriter. Fatty attended a party at the St Francis Hotel in San Francisco with a young starlet in 1921. She became drunk and ill at the party and died four days later at a sanitarium known for performing abortions. Arbuckle was accused by a well-known madam of rape and accidentally killing the starlet. After three trials Fatty was finally acquitted by the jury. The car and the stories will certainly result in a high price in the market place.
An article from the Pittsburgh Press on July 13, 1930, calls the Shah’s Pierce the “Costliest Auto made” and and goes on to say “The car itself cost $18,500 dollars, but the lavish addition of diamonds and other costly jewels furnished by the Shah himself is said to raise the price of the finished product far above that of any auto made”
Another article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette dated April 19, 1930, states ” One glance at the car, a snow white Pierce-Arrow, is sufficient to convince one that his nibs, the Shah, when he wants an automobile, goes in for classy jobs. What, with all the gold and diamonds, the Shah’s new buggy is the costliest auto built.”
Another article from the Burra Record (Australian newspaper)on May 20, 1931 headline reads “Costliest car in the world.” Owned by the Shah of Persia,though it does not state the actual price in the article.
When the car was on display in New York City prior to being shipped out, armed guards watched over the display.
The Shah’s car is still extant in the National Car Museum in Tehran. It has been restored and repainted a dark blue and side-mounts have been added. It still retains the gold finish on the bright work but I doubt that it is the actual 24ct gold that was used when originally built.
I wrote to the museum asking for more information on the history of the car but received no response. (Not surprised actually!)
Several videos of the Shah’s car are available on Youtube. One of the better ones is entitled classical cars museum of Iran. It is interesting to note that, while this beautiful car is on display, apparently no one in the museum knows how to clean whitewalls!
The above mentioned “Classical Cars Museum of Iran” YouTube video link is attached below, look for the Shah’s Pierce, now painted black, beginning at 2:06 in the video.
At a dinner at Colorado Springs in the mid 70’s, Raymond Dietrich was asked what was the most expensive car ever made. Without a moments pause he replied, “The Shah of Persia Pierce-Arrow””.”
I must applaud the Shah’s choice of the finest in automobiles.This
automobile is priceless in the literal sense.However,unless you have
to have wolfhound rugs,countless jewels,and liberal gold on your
car,Fatty’s moving monument,knocks the socks off of the Shah’s
jewelry case.Curb appeal wise,Fatty’s would steal the show from
the rather unfortunate looking Brunn Town car,if the two were parked
next to each other when the Shah’s was new!What custom car could make
Fatty look small behind the wheel?The car screamed Hollywood gotbucks
and masculinity,but wasn’t gaudy or tasteless.Besides the 66 would
out-perform the 1930 car in most ways except stopping.Ray Dietrich
never conjured up a car as uninspiring as the one the Shah purchased.
Speaking of famous Pierce-Arrows, does anyone know whatever happened to Charlie Chaplin’s P-A?… I know it was up for sale last year but then it dropped off the radar. Does anyone have any information on what became of it?… Did it sell?… how much?… ?????
Last I knew it was a no sale. If I remember it was either not running or was stuck, but not sure. Ed
An interesting video on you tube entitled the Great Reza Shah Pahlavi shows an officer stepping out of what appears to be the very same car that is on display in Tehran. The video is blurry and grainy but at 6:53 in the video you can clearly see the fender headlamp of the car for a mere split second before the camera cuts to another shot. This was shot during the Shahs funeral in 1944. The car is clearly not the white limousine the Shah ordered and it is equipped with sidemounts.
If that was the Shahs limousine that was ordered in 1930 then it had clearly been repainted and equipped with side mounts by the time of his death in 1944.
However, in a book entitled August 1941: The Anglo-Russian occupation of Iran, published in 1997, the author states: “Among the fleet of luxury automobiles owned by the Reza Shah, his favorite was a 1930 gold plated Pierce-Arrow”. It goes on to say the Shah has “three or four of this make in addition to several Lincoln’s and a Rolls Royce.”
The author then goes on to say; Finally, it is not known what became of this car, it is not on display in the auto museum that was set up in Tehran after the 1979 revolution for the purpose of displaying the luxury cars which belonged to the two Shahs. We can only speculate that the Reza Shah took this car with him in 1941,or it was subsequently shipped out by his son and successor.
Without actually knowing what became of the Shah’s white limousine, is it possible this car could be another Pierce made to look like the Shah’s limo?… or perhaps another limo ordered for one of his ministers or cabinet members?…
Without any records from the P-A factory to know how many cars were ordered and shipped out in 1930 and to whom, is it possible they built more than one limo for the Shah?…
Thoughts, ideas anyone?…
Joe,
I think all of us dream of that undiscovered find of a lifetime!
But, without actually knowing, either from the records of the Pierce-Arrow plant, or the history of the Shah’s limo from the museum in Tehran, if, in fact, that car is the actual original white limousine the Shah ordered in 1930 or if it a similar model limousine that was built for someone high up in the Shah’s cabinet and they are passing it off as the Shah’s car.
Like I said, I actually wrote to the museum in Tehran but received no response.
If it is the Shah’s limousine then when was it repainted and outfitted with side mounts? Did the shah’s own people do it after the 1979 revolution, or did they ship it back to NY to have the Pierce factory do it prior to it’s closing?
I would really like to know.
Maybe if we could find someone in the PAS that speaks reads and writes Farsi we might have better luck.
Anyone going to Iran for vacation anytime soon?…
It is the same car. The Shah’s garage had a 29 D/C Phaeton, a 1930 series A Limo. and the town car. There may be others. I own the lap robe from the Brunn town car, I purchased it from Hermann Brunn’s daughter in the early 90’s, the family kept it and never sent it with the car. The family crest on the robe matches the crest on the rear seats and door panels. My guess is the fenders from the limo and the spare tires were placed on the town car as the town car did not have any way to carry a spare, not a good idea in a dessert where all the roads in the city were still used mostly by animals and carts. Imagine all the nails from the horse shoes! Ed
Thank you for clarifying this mystery Edgar, though I would still like to know when it was repainted and the side mounts added.
When it was restored, it appears the jewels in the Shah’s crests were removed, as they clearly do not appear in the photos or videos taken of the car. Perhaps they were used to pay for the restoration of the car!
It would be something if there was a way we could get that car to a PAS meet sometime in the near future but I’m not going to hold my breath on that one!
Here is a photo of the Shah’s Pierce as it appears in the museum today.
I hope this turns out all right.
I have photos of all three cars in the dessert in 1932 if my memory serves me, and the town car looked like it did at the factory. There have been lots of rumors about the price of this town car, people toss out 20 or 30 grand. I have seen a early factory invoice (I was not allowed to make a copy) that showed just under 14 thousand dollars. Pierce built a 1931 series 42 touring that was valued at over $100,000 when it was displayed in Kansas City at the dealers auto show. It had armed guards and a small low fence around it. The price was due to diamonds on the hubcaps and a dash covered in jewels. I have a photo of the car on display as well as the dash board. The car was sold to a Maharaja in India. The car is still in India, minus the jewels. Ed