I’ve been tracking a Pierce Model B for the past three months, and trying to draw some connections to a local dealer, and perhaps an original owner. The closure of the P-A factory and destroyed files isn’t new to me, so I thought it’d make sense to maybe try to identify the dealer network in MN, and/or a few surrounding states.
What I’m told about the 5-passenger sedan I own is that it was involved in Prohibition activities between Chicago and the Twin Cities, but this is all tenuous stuff, unless there are some supporting records. What can’t be refuted are the six or so .45 holes in the body and handful of shotgun pellets and broken glass I’ve removed from the interior, under the seats, etc. Seven panes of glass were replaced in this car at one point, as only one has the original Duplate logo (on the passenger’s side with a BB still embedded in the glass), and the others are Shat-R-Proof replacements. There’s more about all of this in my history of the car in the member roster…
Anybody have ideas about what the dealer network looked like in MN? I’m certain there were Studebaker/Pierce connections for a time, and know of one from Duluth, MN – H.V. Eva Tire Co. Here’s a photo from the Minnesota Digital Library Collections (MDL) of the latter:
https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/nemhc:2615#?c=&m=&s=&cv=
My thanks in advance!
I believe Henry Paulman & Co of Chicago had a branch in Minneapolis.
Thanks the heads-up, Kenneth. I added a follow-up post to your inquiry about Henry Paulman.
Along with Henry Paulman & Co. in Chicago, it looks like there was D.A. Odell Motor Car Company in Minneapolis. The Odell Co. appears in Motor World for Jobbers, Dealers, and Garagemen, Vol. 53 (Oct. 3rd 1917).
Odell’s location was at 131 10th St. S., Minneapolis, MN and the company sold Pierce-Arrow motor cars in the “Tri-Cities of Minnesota” from 1917-on. Presumably, Minneapolis and St. Paul and Duluth, or Rochester?
By 1931, Odell Motors advertised cars for sale at 1201 Harmon Place in Minneapolis.
Hope this follow-up is of some use to others who’ve regional ties through their cars.