Reply To: What would the never produced 1934 Studebaker-based P-A’s have looked like?

[Paul J. West]

Brooks,

Are those magazines available in the Detroit area such as at Gratiot library? Will run down there next week if they are open.

If they depict the actual ’34 models that Pierce offered, indicates that the March, 1933 bankruptcy may have been known internally some time in advance and that Pierce designers were directed to begin creating a new series divorced from Studebaker far sooner than the April-May, 1933 timeframe.

Because of the incredible sea change in styling that took place in early 1933, particularly due to the Cadillac Sixteen Aero Coupe and Silver Arrow, together with Pierce’s late redirect of its ’34 product strategy, one good thing that resulted was that the company had a chance to quickly bring new, advanced streamlining elements to production. The surfacing on the ’34-35 Pierces is exquisite, with nary a straight edge to be found. Studebaker-based Pierces would not have seen such surfacing until 1936.