1932 Pierce Arrow sales films on DVD

Look for an update very soon on the PAS Website! This will be one of the newest items in the Pierce-Arrow Society Company Store. Bettye has the DVD sets in stock.

There will also be a flyer included in the next PAS Mailing to all members with details on purchasing the 1932 Pierce Arrow Salesman’s Kit DVD Set.

We will also have a new Feature Article up on the PAS Website on just how these DVDs came to be. How the filmstrips were first discovered and made their way to the Pierce-Arrow Foundation, how I found one on eBay and started experimenting with digitizing the images, how Marc Hamburger and I got together and made a project out of it, how I got the images scanned and transferred to DVD, recorded authentic Pierce-Arrow sound effects, and secured 1930’s music that I could include in the background without infringing on copyrights. It is an interesting story.

Marc was an excellent partner and came up with a low cost source for duplicating and packaging the DVDs, using artwork that I put together. Marc also added the last finishing touch, the introductory narrative at the beginning of each of the two DVD’s. We wrote the script, Marc had it recorded, sent me the two files, and I loaded them into the soundtrack for each DVD.

There are 695 images on the DVD’s from the 10 Pierce-Arrow produced filmstrips and there are many factory pictures, assembly details, sales figures and charts. They feature the new body styles, and of course, the wonderful new V-12 engines. The goal was to educate the sales force on all the new facts and sales points for the new line of Pierce-Arrows.

They even show the cars and their “times” on the hill climb test that was just documented in Arrow 2011-1.

These DVD’s tell the story of a great independent US car builder, valiantly trying to introduce a brand new line of the highest quality luxury cars in the height of the Great Depression. This is a story for ANYONE interested in old cars, not just 1932 Pierce-Arrows, or even Pierce-Arrows in general. It is a classic old car story.

The 1932 filmstrips are extremely rare and informative. We don’t know of anywhere else where you could see the complete collection. This was a fun project to put together. I hope you enjoy the DVDs.

Happy Motoring,

Chris Diekman

Is there going to be some notice abouot this fine product in a PRINTED document from the PAS, so that those who don’t haunt the internet will find out about it?

Now that I’ve viewed these DVDs, I’d like to add my thanks to Chris and Marc. I knew that Pierce-Arrow always went the extra mile to make their cars comfortable, durable, and beautiful, but I was not aware of many of the 52 features pointed out in the Salesman’s Kit. What a shame it is that circumstance and marketing are so often more important to sales than the quality of a product. Compared to Packard and Cadillac and many other luxury vehicles, Pierce-Arrow was in many respects the best car. But Packard survived longer, and Cadillac still survives and even thrives, and few have even heard of Pierce-Arrow. But then McDonald’s sells more hamburgers than anyone else too, don’t they.

In this day of McMansions and general ostentation, it’s interesting to hear directly how the rich had to be persuaded to buy a luxury car during the depths of the Depression.. Listening to my mother, it was clear how the Depression deeply affected those that lived through it, and the Salesman’s Kit just reaffirms how difficult this time period was for the general population.

A very interesting piece of history. Thanks again Chris and Marc for making this available to us.

I purchased my copy at the PAS tent in Hershey this week. I just ran the first cd and it was great. This cd collection should be in every members library. Thanks Marc and Chris.