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As the subject says, has anyone ever written a definitive history of Pierce Arrow — the car, the company, the people. . . the beginning and the end?
Beverley Rae Kimes wrote an excellent history for Packard.
Thomas Bonsall wrote a decent history of Lincoln.
PAS member Sinclair Powell wrote an impressive history of Franklin.
There’s even a thick tome of the history of Marmon.
Anything similar out there for Pierce Arrow?
–Luke
Marc Ralston’s book on Pierce-Arrow is a good book on the history of the company…
Another publication was Automobile Quarterly fourth quarter 1990 vol 28 number 4
Maurice Hendry, “Pierce-Arrow, First Among America’s Finest,” 1971. Hendry also authored a well-regarded book on Cadillac. The PA book shows up on eBay occasionally, a search of out of print book sellers should also find one.
Luke,
In addition to the Marc Ralston book and the AQ, v24, #4, Bernie Weis, editor emeritus of The Arrow wrote a book entitled: The Pierce-Arrow Motorcar.
That book is available through the Company Store (online here) and is a definitive work on the history of the PAMCC.
Next, Brooks Brierley wrote a few books detailing Pierce-Arrow (and other marques), including, but not limited to; There Is No Mistaking a Pierce Arrow.
Finally, Roger Sherman, the current editor of The ARROW, has a book coming out in a month that should cover the topic from A to Z.
Peter
Really looking forward to Roger Sherman’s book, I have all of the others. I was given a copy of the Maurice Hendry book by my grandfather when it first came out. It was his stories of his Pierces that led me to want to get a Pierce myself. One thing I like about the Hendry book is that I can quickly identify the various models as there was no consistency in Pierce model numbering over the years. Marc Ralston actually wrote two books about Pierce, one on the entire model run of Pierces and another one on the “Golden Age.” The “Golden Age” book is much less common, and I was fortunate to get a copy online. When I received it, I opened it to find it was a copy that Ralston had inscribed for his mother! The dust jacket was pretty tattered, but last year at the National Meet, I was able to pick up a brand new, never used dust cover. Ralston was an ophthalmologist and a very close friend of the former owner of my car. He advised him to grab the car back in the 1980s.
Luke –
I wish I could sell you a copy of my “There Is No Mistaking a Pierce-Arrow” history book but it has been out of print for years. Copies are available from Internet booksellers like Amazon and Abe Books, in conditions ranging from fair to like new. There is a wide range of prices; up to 10 to 20 times the original price for the top conditions.
I recently autographed a book for someone who bought through the Internet (it came from Canada), so can confirm it is still possible to have an autographed copy!
Brooks
Brooks, I just checked Amazon and there are 4 used copy’s of your book available for $40 each.
Check out Abe Books and Alibris too. That’s how I got copies of both of Mr. Brierley’s books.
Marc Raltson was the reason I bought my first Pierce-Arrow.
The story is in the feature articles section under Miss Helen.
After I purchased the car he sent me an autographed copy of his book, September 1998. Still have it, still use it.
I have all of these books in my personal library and also in the Museum for reference. I also have another excellent publication, but different.
Cars & Parts magazine published a series of articles covering the History of Pierce-Arrow during the years (1960’s early 80’s) the magazine was published by longtime PAS member George Slankard. George is directly responsible for my enthusiasm for Pierce-Arrow and the Society.
I have this series displayed chronologically in the Pierce-Arrow Museum because while thorough, it is condensed enough that it is displayed in a 12′ x 3′ glass display case for visitors to see.
I can’t remember the author’s name at the moment, but it will probably wake me up in the middle of the night sometime soon. He did a lot of automotive history writing.
We are in Florida until after the Winter Board Meetings, but when I return home to Michigan I’ll provide the dates of the Issues as soon as I find the originals in my files.
Dave Stevens
Cars & Parts magazine from that era is a great asset for an old car enthusiast. The gentleman’s name Dave is think of is Menno Duerkson. As one example, he wrote an excellent story about PA cars in the magazine for Sept 1967. The issue also includes pictures of the PAS 10 yr. national meet as well as many sales pictures of the 1932 car. Maurice Hendry is in a later C&P magazine with an in depth story dedicated to the V-12 engine.
Dave, I’m looking forward to learning those other dates!
John
What I’d like to see is a book full of ‘my life with my 19XX Pierce Arrow. From either the owners themselves,or from an author or editor interviewing many owners . The story of who, when, where and how a car is acquired is often very interesting.
And then the really interesting chapters on what they learned about the mechanical aspects of the car as it was driven, or restored then driven, or repaired on the road.
The ‘real’ stories about what it’s like to own an older car.
For example, I had my 1927 Series 80 5p Sedan at the Superior Wisconsin Meet in 1997. While on the last day’s tour, my car which had been running excellently, started running very rich, i could not stop it from flooding itself. I could not tell what was going on from the driver’s seat. So I had to pull over and open the hood.
There was a fountain of gasoline rising several inches above the cover of the float bowl. This type of carburetor has a center needle through the center of the float..
I shut off the fuel supply from the Stewart Warner gravity feed/Vacuum tank on the firewall.
I took the cover off of the float bowl, and discovered the ‘float’ no longer was ‘floating’. It was resting on the bottom of the bowl. Upon removing it, it was heavy, full of gasoline. I could see some hair-line cracks in the hollow brass float. It had filled with gasoline through the fine cracks.
I got the engine running again by starting it with the fuel shut off, leaving only the remaining fuel in the bowl. once it started and it was running on all 6 cylinders, i gently opened the fuel shut off from the gravity supply fuel tank / vacuum pump on the firewall.
I gave the carb just enough fuel supply that i could run the engine above idle, but far from full power. if i let it idle, the fuel supply was too much.. A real balancing ‘act’. But I did manage to drive it back to the hotel.. and onto my trailer for the trip home.
The ‘true’ stories from the owners, or the mechanics who work on our cars or any car or tractor or machine will have the ‘real’ story about how well they work, why they have a problem, what the ‘fix’ is, etc.. These are the bits of knowledge that fascinate me. And this knowledge is invaluable to the next person to own a similar car.
I could write a thin book of my experiences like the one above. But my concern is that as we lose members who head off to the great tour with our Maker, we lose so many bits of knowledge, experience and technique.. it’s sad to think about. Somehow, some way we need to record that knowledge while it is still available.
Greg Long
There is also a book about period touring in an early brass era Pierce-Arrow titled “El Toro”” I have some excerpts from it. I went to an old book auction a few years back hoping to buy a listed copy. Unfortunately somebody bought it during the sale set-up so I missed it. If I ever find one I’d pay a premium price for it based on the excerpts I have.
Dave”
I’ve felt that most of the books out there will not discuss any negative aspect of a particular car or a particular model for fear of insulting some well-to-do influential owner. Lot of good that does the rest of us.
Like Greg, I’d love to see a book give the history of the company, the people who built the cars. . . but also the technical and mechanical specifications of every model INCLUDING the attributes and detriments. For instance, Dual-Valve cars have a strong tendency to develop cracks from the valve port to and through the cylinder. How many of you know that?? (Thanks, Greg). But there is a simple fix.
Like on Packards, how many know that the ’38 Super Eights have cylinder blocks which are cracked or will crack due to bad metallurgy right from the factory? How many know that aluminum cylinder heads on the Twelves are highly prone to corrosion and need to be replaced? Most of us learn this the hard way.
This is the sort of information that needs to be collected and made available. The internet and forums are good for disseminating such information, but wouldn’t it be great to have a true and honest “Owner’s Manual?”” for your old car? What to look for. What to look out for. And how to fix it.
— Luke”
I know ALL about the ’38 Super Eight block problem, a problem that affects all 1938 blocks but doesn’t seem to be a big issue on earlier and later engines.
That’s why my 1604 convertible coupe now has a ’39 block on the original ’38 crankcase, and I have the rest of the ’39 engine and a complete ’37 engine for spares! Still working on finishing the installation….
It was the stories my grandfather shared with me about his Pierce Arrows that inspired me to eventually buy my own Pierce. My grandfather lived next door to us, and had a nice grape arbor in the back yard. We would sit out in the yard on summer nights, and he would tell me of his old neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, the local characters, but most of all his trips with his Pierces. One particularly sticks out in my mind is when he drove to Philadelphia in the middle of a blizzard, with what must have been a Dual Valve touring car, and brought my mother home from school there. Bear in mind this is long before interstate highways! Another time he took the family, including his two German Shepherds, out for a picnic in the country. He tied the dogs to the rear doors on the car, again a touring car, and suddenly the dogs spotted some animal, and they ran off with the car doors in trail. Once my great grandmother was visiting from Philadelphia, and my mother took her and my grandmother out for a nice Sunday drive in the country. While out driving, someone rear ended her. Coming home with a dented bumper, she tried to explain to him what had happened. Driving over to the dealership, he was arguing with her that no one would simply run into the back of a car like that. He was arguing so much, he did exactly the same thing, into the back of another car. Another time when he was teaching my mother to drive, he had her pull the Pierce out of the garage, located on a tight alley between streets. Another car started coming down the alley, so he told her to go right, go right. And she did go right, right into the brick wall of another garage. He was nonplussed, just told her to back up and keep going!