Anyone with 1934-1935 P-A ?

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Hello all,

just recently bought a 1935 Pierce-Arrow 845 Four Door with straight 8 and joined this wonderful club of other enthusiasts. My car is a “almost” complete project vehicle missing some minor parts. Is has been stored inside since 1970.

I don’t have any pre-knowledge about Pierce-Arrows, but the car was so fascinating that I decided to take the chance!

My other cars are:

1938 Dodge RD-11 Crew Cab

1939 Plymouth P8 Road King

1957 Imperial Crown 4d

2x 1964 Imperial LeBarons

I would like to get in touch with other folks with same kind of P-A and others too.

Anyone could share a photos of their P-A’s ?

Is there any interchange manuals available for my car?

Is the engine P-A’s own, or is it based on (for example) Studebaker engine or something similar?

Best Regards,

Mika Jaakkola

Finland

(I’m 29-years old, so still should have lot’s of time to finish the project )

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

Hello Mika,

Welcome to the Pierce Arrow Society! It is great to see a young person interested in collecting cars, especially one interested in Pierce Arrows!

There really isn’t much of an interchange manual of parts with other makes of cars. Pierce Arrow made many of their own parts, so other than electical parts like Delco-Remy, and roller and ball bearings, there are few parts that are common to other cars. What you will find is that some parts will exchange between 33-35 Pierce Arrows, (depending on the part).

The Pierce 8 Cylinder engine is unique and designed by Pierce. It was introduced in 1929 and refined through the years until the company went out of business in 1938. The Pierce 8 is similar in some respects to the Studebaker 8, but is truly unique and very little interchanges between them. As an example, the Pierce 8 sports 9 main bearings. I think that the Stuedebaker 8 only has 5.

Since you just recently joined, I will make sure you get a copy of our 2009 Roster. This will show all the other 1935 Pierces in the club and their owners. It would be good for you to make contact with other 1935 owners as they can provide expertise from working on their cars, recommendations for parts, or possibly even a source for a missing part.

I will also be sending you some past articles and information on the 1935 that I think you will find helpful.

Once again, welcome to the club!

Happy Motoring,

Chris Diekman

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Thanks for the reply Chris!

OK, as I said before, I do not have any prior knowledge about Pierce-Arrows, and I don’t even know how the “factory fresh” interior or details on my car should look like. So maybe someone on the forum who reads this might help ?

I haven’t received my car yet; I bought it from Texas and I live in Finland, so It’s should be on it’s way soon.

As far as I know, I need atleast these parts:

new electrical ignition parts (spark plugs,points, distributor cap,… etc.. )

Oil filter

to get the car running.

these seem to be missing:

headlight lenses(bases and chrome rings too?)

spare tire covers

Archer has lost it’s bow (maybe repairable?)

Some hood chrome trim

Bumpers

My friends scare me all the time that “You cannot find ANY parts for that car!”. Well, I hope they are wrong

Those wire wheels by the way, do they need some adjusting/balancing that regular disc wheel doesn’t need?

Thanks for those articles that you will send ! Can’t wait to get ’em!

I already got couple of books for P-A from eBay:

Automobile Quarterly (4/90) (A P-A issue) and “Pierce-Arrow: First among Americas Finest”.

So I have something to start with.

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Mika,

This is the best place to start looking for parts and assistance, all the experts live here! You may also want to place an ad in the Emporium which is both on line and in print for those members without computers.

Good luck,

Don Rundgren

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Hello Don,

yes, found the place! Thanks for the tips!

Mika

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Hi Mika,

Welcome to the Pierce-Arrow Society! Many of our members are in Southern California this week for the PAS Annual Meet. It would be nice if you could join us sometime. We have members from Spain attend every year.

Thanks for posting the photos of your car. What part of Texas did it come from? I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Paul Morris

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Hi Paul, thanks for your reply!

Thank you for the invitation; Even though I think this weeks meet comes a little bit too soon for me! But I promise to be there some (maybe next?) year, but then I’ll have to get a seat from someones P-A during the meet! (it wouldn’t be too nice to attend with rented Geo Metro … )

The car came from somewhere near Lubbock-Friona, TX – so it should be quite near Dallas area.

I do not have much information of it’s past – atleast not yet – the seller promised to “question” the man he bought it from. I do know, that it has been stored in a garage since 1970.

Paul, is there any pictures of your cars available somewhere? You seem to have quite nice collection!!

Mika

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Dear Mika,

I have a 1934 836A 5 pass. sedan and a 1935 845 5 pass. sedan like yours.Both are old restorations and were rebuilt with driving in mind,

not originality.However,alot is correct about them.They wouldn’t have

covered me with glory at Temecula,but there were not anything like them there.They would have been like missing links.I can’t imagine any of them

restored to the level of the distinguished high dollar cars I saw at

the meet.I believe the club lists about 13 845 5 pass sedans and an equal

number of 836A’s in existence(double that and you have a realistic

number worldwide?).I’m not good at taking pictures and have never mastered sending them over the internet,but will try to accomodate you.

Tony Costa

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Mika, Welcome to Pierce-Arrow Society! You are going to love your car and this organization. I finished a 1935 845 Club Sedan two years ago and I will be sending some pictures by e-mail. On this web page under previous meets this car is pictured as winner of third in class at the 2008 Lexington Meet. I possibly will have some spare parts that you can use.

A friend sent me pictures of your car after he almost bought it and I’ll forward those to you also. Your car is not missing as many parts as mine was. The 35 club sedan I finished had been 85% restored in the mid-1980’s, then moved several times with loss of parts each move. I found all of my needed parts through this organization and I know you can too. I’ll be sending more info via e-mail shortly….Merlin Smith

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Tony, are your cars upgraded with modern engines/drivetrain or what do you mean?

Well, the most important thing is always that the cars are saved, not destroyed. Right? And driving is always the best thing you can do with old cars, they can be always restored to 100-point show car later

Merlin, thanks for the reply, I found the picture of your car. Looks fantastic!

Wow, may I ask why he didn’t do the purchase(ok, I don’t ! I know the answer…too much to do! )

Great to hear that mine ain’t “that bad”” I was already thinking that I must be out of my mind!

Can’t wait to see the pictures! Thanks a lot!!

“

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Mika,

I have stock engines and drivetrains.Transistor ignition was added to one

(for better starting?)Interiors are original style,but material is questionable.The ’35 has oversize tires and metallic paint(Studebaker

production available in 1932,by 1935 Chrysler and others offered it).A P.A. could be obtained in any color,but P.A. clientel were conservative

and unlikely to order such a color(unless she was a madam).Some electrics

have been changed.Neither are operating on the automatic choke.

Maybe my comment on originality was in error.I’m straining to find shortcomings.

The point is,we can drop the same amount restoring our cars as the rare

and extremely desireable.But we will only get a fraction of what they will

get back.Know what you are in for and act accordingly.I have great affection for my cars and they will drive with the best luxury cars of they’re time(internationally).

Yes,a Duesenberg would pull away from a Pierce,but it is not sweet to drive like a P.A.However,If working out your muscles is a priority,the

Big D might be the way to go!With poor roads and low speed limits,performance was measured differently than today.

Tony Costa

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Mike, Please post your address so I can send you some items by regular mail. Also please post your email address. Thanks, Ed

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Ed,

Address & email are listed in the online Roster….Mika joined after the paper roster was printed.

Paul

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Hi Mika, Thanks for your kind remark regarding my ’35 Club Sedan. I love the pictures taken from 20 plus feet away. It does make my C- amateur restoration look decent doesn’t it? The PAS member who put me on to your car is Dave Johnson (Harvey, Louisiana). He didn’t buy it because he already has one ’35 Pierce Sedan that he hopes to restore one day, plus several more Buicks, etc. to restore. But let me make you feel really good about your car….I made the owner a low offer, which he declined. When I e-mailed him back that I would meet his price, he said: “I just got my price from another guy and it’s sold”. BELIEVE ME, I’m GLAD you got the car! ….Because I have two ’31 Pierce open cars in progress (a conv. coupe and conv. sedan), also a ’10 Cadillac Touring about half-way, eight drivers to maintain (and they do run, off and on), and several more put up to restore (just in case I live to be 220 or so). The point is: I know that you got a good car at a good price! And you will be so happy with it now, and more-so after it is restored. I (as most PAS members) agree with Tony that restored as near to original (as practical)is best. If you have time, refer to the feature article on this web site “A Friend Remembered” for a discussion of some after-market additions that made my ’32 Pierce EDL dependable for 2200+ mile drive in summer heat. I will be sending more info by e-mail. Again, welcome to the Club! I love my Packard, Cadillac, DeSoto, Chevrolet, Fords and Plymouth. But THERE IS NOTHING like a Pierce-Arrow!…..Merlin

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HAH! Yes , it looks REALLY DECENT!

Well, to be honest that didn’t make me feel so good. (but i can live with that) I though that I was the only buyer, since first I declined the sale too.. I though that P-A might bee to difficult for me. But then I thought it for a while and called the seller that I’ll take it.. ! I guess I was only one 10th of second faster than you!

But hey, there’s a good thing in this too. Now, the PAS got a ONE new member!

Merlin, did you send me an email? atleast I haven’t received anything yet (just checking in case you did)

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No, Mika but I will try to get that e-mail info on to you today (I’m still digging out of business pile-up while I enjoyed the Temecula Meet).

Your car has found the RIGHT home! My interest was only because it is good restoration material, near complete and (I thought) reasonably priced. I’m 66 years old with more hobby projects than I’ll ever complete, so your car would just collect dust in my barn waiting for you to come along.

I think you had probably bought the car about a week ahead of my decision (because I kept trying to talk myself out of it). My wife keeps saying: “You don’t have to save every Pierce-Arrow that you hear about!”

So this out-come is a win-win for everyone! The Society has a new member, a good car will be brought back for a second life and you have a lot of hobby pleasure ahead….Merlin

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That was quite nicely said. I made my decision after I saw these pictures in flickr.com:

I knew I had to have it

Thanks Merlin, I will be waiting for the email

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Mika,

Anders Torp was a club member from 1993-99 and completely restored a model 845 limousine. He is located in Norway and may be of help to you. I have sent contact info in a separate e-mail.

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Thanks Paul, got your email

Mika

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A little update on this. My car came to Finland this weekend, but I haven’t got it yet. I will report asap when we pick it up

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