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My 1931 Model 43 has the original front floor mat, rubber, patterned, with a Pierce logo.
These were standard equipment for the open cars, and I don’t think very many still exist.
I’ve had someone express interest in a reproduction mat.
Two questions. Anyone else interested? Does anyone here have any experience reproducing such a piece, and if so, how do you go about it and who do you talk to?
Thanks David C.
The 1929 open cars used a rubber front floor mat with a pattern similar to that on the running boards judging from old photos.Rubber floor mats for other cars have been reproduced so with a pattern ones for Pierce Arrow could be done also.I would be very interested in getting one.
I WOULD TAKE ONE FOR MY 29 DC phaeton
Rick
My ’29 has the original front rubber mat that I can take pictures of if need be.
I guess it had the same, or very similar rubber floor mat to the open cars since the hired help didn’t need any extra comfort.
I believe new correct rubber matting for the runningboards is available so it should be possible to reproduce these.If there is a logo on these then a pattern will need to be made from an existing mat.I am not sure if they are the same for all body types.New spatter pattern floormats for Model A Fords have been available for almost 60 years so it is possible.
Off the top of my head I do not recall if the mat in my car has the Pierce logo but it does have ribbing similar to the running boards.
I will check this weekend.
I just had my phaeton out today for the first time this year, and happy to say it made a round trip (always a plus!).
I’ll take the mat out this weekend and get a picture. It’s getting very dry and brittle, every time I move it to get to the battery another piece seems to fall off.
It’s not just a simple ribbed mat. It has a border, and border’s around shift/brake and steering.
Picture worth a whole bunch of words, will try to get one this weekend. Thanks for comments! David C.
David,
I believe the 1931’s have that center pad that goes around the gear shift tower and the handbrake although with a different shaped cutout
for the tower.This part covers the opening in the mat and is held to the floor with screws.This part for 1929’s is currently reproduced and I believe Steele does it for 1930 and 1931.I would think the floormats would have a border around where this part fits.There is on the 1929’s a similar part around the clutch and brake pedals.My 1929 Roadster has these but yes that natural rubber is brittle.When my car was restored after sitting in a building in Ouray,Colorado for about 30 years,even in that very dry climate,the original floormat just fell apart so carpet was
installed.Just touching that old rubber will cause it to break apart.With the technology we have today,it should be somewhat easy to do a run of mats.
Not all the cars had rubber mats. Larger series cars had carpets and SOME had rubber mats. I have access to a 1930 Series A 7 pass touring that has the factory rubber mat.
“Just touching that old rubber will cause it to break apart”
Yes, that’s the case with mine. Just taking it out will make it lose a few pieces. I like that it’s the original, but at some point it will just be a pile of parts unless preserved.
I’m searching for the way to make a run of mats. I’d talked to Steele about making a mold for the rear vent window rubber, and they said the mold cost was $20K, which I find hard to believe. My plan at this point is to make a detailed drawing of the mat in my car, that would allow both quotes for making a mold and also verification if it would fit in YOUR car.
More to come thanks dc
Problem is if you make it correctly it will only fit the series and body style. Thus, it would make sense to make a very nice generic unit that is oversized and cut to fit all cars.
Ed,
Making the mat where it would cross over to the various models would make the most sense.I can check my 1929 parts book to see if all 1929’s used the same mat.I remember writing to Otto when he was doing the service bulletins and as I recall he said carpet could be put in place of the rubber mat on special order.Even though that could be the case I would still like to have the correct rubber mat.Is it possible to do a scan of an original rubber without the risk of further damage and go from there.They can do this with machining.I also have a 1930 parts book and will check if part numbers are the same for 1929.If these are like most rubber floormats the edge of the mat is plain so it could be carefully trimmed to fit correctly in various models.
Yes, the outer edges are flat, so that makes sense to make it larger and trim to fit various models.
Trying not to sound like a smart acre, but it’s mentioned that “it should be easy”…if anyone really knows an “easy” way to duplicate a large rubber mat, with a moderately complicated pattern and a logo in the middle, please let me know.
It might be worthwhile to contact the Ford Model T and Model A parts vendors on who is making the mats for Ford Model T and Model A cars.There is Snyders,Langs and Chaffin’s Garage and they are on the Web.It is possible the company making the Ford mats could tool up for Pierce Arrow if there were enough commitments.Get a deposit from each person wanting a mat so there is money upfront.We did this on a project casting new exhaust manifolds for the 1931 Packard 840-845 Deluxe Eight cars.The firm making the mat would of course need a pattern but they might be able to work from a drawing or a scan.Again checking parts books will help on coverage.
Another place you might try is Running Board Rubber. He does custom running board rubber and floor mats.
I just got done going over both my 1929 and 1930 parts book trying to find a part number for the front rubber floormat with no luck.I did find the toeboard and this seems to be about the same for all models although there was a change when the battery was moved to the left side later in the run.I did see references in the list of parts to rear rubber mats.Nothing on mats is shown in my 1930 book.The 1929 parts book is way more detailed than the 1930 book.It appears that the 1929’s used rubber mats front and rear at least on the open cars.The same mat might just work for for 1929-1930-1931 and it could be made with extra edging if necessary.I do not have the 1931 parts book but I think 1929 and 1930 used the same front mat.The big hurdle is the pattern plus a firm who could make these.
David,
Our Moon Car Club had a similar need and the prototype I examined that turned out very well. It wasn’t cheap, but it had the Moon logo as original and was a perfect duplicate. Cost was about $400.
Contact:
Ron Mjos
1666 North 1350 West
Provo, Utah 84604
801-372-7163
Another guy made a like quality mat for Cleveland automobiles I examined a few years back. You might contact him too.
Contact:
Kris Arneson
Box 753
Mc Bride, BC, voj2eo
250-569-2337
Hope this helps.
Tom Barrett
ronmjos@
:
Tom, thank you very much, at least now I have a place to start. I’d say if we could get them made to sell at $400, I’d buy one for sure, compared to a lot of reproduced stuff that doesn’t sound expensive. I understand the running board mat guy mentioned previously, in Canada, charges over $1000 for a set of running board mats.
I’ll contact Ron and see what he says, thanks again. dc
I’ve made contact with Ron, he says a rough idea is that he needs drawing, full size template, pencil rub of Pierce logo, and as many details as possible.
I’m going to get all those to him.
What I need:
-I’m giving him dimensions and info for a 1931 Model 43 front floor mat
-Don’t know how the dimensions of these compare to other models/years
-as mentioned, can modify/add edge flat border area to fit other cars
-I can make a paper template, and send to anyone to see if it fits, and/or how much to add for a border which can be trimmed…
-would like to send templates, or get dimensional information, to/from owners of:
-1929-31 open car owners, all models
-1932 open car owners, all models
-other open cars?
-or, if you can, make a drawing of your front floorboard area with all dimensions and send to me.
So, please advise if you can help with above dimensions.
First mat, with cost of mold, is around $1200. Cost goes down the more we can have made, would like to target $600 or less each if enough people interested. Thanks David C.
David,
Exactly what dimensions from the 1929 would you need? According to my 1929 parts book,all the 1929’s are the same.If you are taking yours out of your 1931 Model 43,could you take a photograph them post an image with all needed dimensions perhaps even showing the ones from your car,then we could compare these with the 1929 and 1930 cars.It could be that 1929-1930-1931 all take the same front mat.AS I recall there is an image of the front compartment in that huge leatherette bound book Pierce Arrow printed in 1930 and was reprinted by PAS about 40 years ago.