Flight of the Arrow

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Recently I came across Pierce-Arrow’s quite detailed history concerning the Bonneville Salt Flats, going back to when Bill Rishel drove out in a 1907 Pierce to test driving conditions. Even with so much detailed information about the Jenkins runs, etc. there are still quite a few unanswered questions.

First, is there anywhere to view/get a copy of the film “Flight of the Arrow” from Jenkins’ unofficial run in 1932? It appears that the AACA did have it posted on YouTube, but they’ve made it private, and the library has not responded to my inquiry about it. I had seen another post on the forums here about a DVD available from a PAS member, but that seems to be another dead-end.

It’s amazing to me that all 3 cars from Ab Jenkins’ record-breaking runs were lost to time. Is that really possible? I had read somewhere that the initial 1932 car was not brand new, but already had something like 33,000 miles on it before Jenkins took it to Utah, so I could believe that one could have been scrapped. In an automotive encyclopedia there was a short mention of the ’32 trial, and it said that when the run was finished they put the windshield and fenders back on and drove the car back to Buffalo. Does anyone know if that’s true?

Is there a chance that the 1934 Jenkins Special was kept by either Firestone or Penzoil? In a clip from the promotional films, it appears that the car was driven to one of the headquarters (can’t remember which) after the run, but I suppose that could just be movie magic.

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Ok, so getting closer to an answer of what happened to the 1932 car….. an article in the Buffalo Evening News states that Jenkins “won” the car from Pierce GM Arthur Chanter. Ab is also listed as a “research engineer” for Pierce.

Article below

https://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252024%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201932%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201932%252022907_2.pdf%23xml%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3Dffffffffa80ab1c7%26DocId%3D4199619%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520X%26HitCount%3D7%26hits%3D1%2B2%2B3%2B4%2B5%2B6%2B7%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&uri=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252024%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201932%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201932%252022907_2.pdf&xml=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3Dffffffffa80ab1c7%26DocId%3D4199619%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520X%26HitCount%3D7%26hits%3D1%2B2%2B3%2B4%2B5%2B6%2B7%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false

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There are several issues of the ARROW that have articles on the speed runs. E-mail me and I can see about getting you digital copies.

Dave

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Here is a link to watch the PAS copy of Flight of the Arrow

https://vimeo.com/1136310274/f30a87bf02 

I will work on finding a spot on the website to post this after the first of the year.

Enjoy!

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That was a neat video! When did we stop talking like that? Thanks for posting it!

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You are very welcome!  Glad you like it Dennis!  Our plan for the Pierce-Arrow Museum at Gilmore is to have an on-demand edited version with an intro.  It’s quite long but this full length version we can post on PAS website.  Let me cogitate on it a bit!  Hahaha! 🙂

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