“Just another old car…”

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Thought this was an interesting write-up about a loyal Pierce-Arrow customer, whose 1909 P-A was still running strong at 279,000 mi. in 1930. The car was at that time located in Minneapolis, MN. Wonder if this car is still around?!

(Click the link for a larger image):

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-minneapolis-star/131562201/

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That is a ton of miles for any car, let alone a 1909 open car.

Would be amazing if the car was still around and could be positively identified as the car from this article.

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I wonder if the Weis records wouldn’t be a good starting point, but then there’s the question of the serial(s), etc. Just really thought this was quite a testament to the build, and also high praise for an owner not afraid to do the proper maintenance to keep that 1909 on the road. Given the mileage, he had more in common with an over-the-road-trucker…some 25 years before the possibility of Interstate roads. What might that odometer read today?!

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Carl,

There is nothing in the Weis Files or the PAS database to point to this car.  There are not a lot of 1909 66s, and none with an owner name of Johnston. Minneapolis Fire Dept converted several P-A 48s and 66s to fire apparatus, but this occurred in the teens and early 20s, earlier than the article above.  Dave

This is a Minneapolis FD shop-built smoke extractor assembled in 1926 on a used 1920 Pierce-Arrow touring car chassis. The smoke extractor was patented by MFD Chief of Department Charles Ringer. It is missing the metal tubes on the sides. This is the first chassis the smoke extractor was mounted on. In 1935 it was re-mounted on a 1935 Ford chassis. In the 1940s it was mounted on a trailer and towed to fires. Then, in 1953 it was re-mounted on a 1952 Ford chassis.

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Thanks for all the research and insights on the Pierce/MFD conversions, Dave. Quite a history with Ringer’s patent.

Looks like the extractor is driven by an auxiliary engine, and I wonder how it was geared (or direct-drive by throttle), along with its total CFM output?

The painter did well to stripe and flourish the extractor so it blends pretty well with the touring car. Dare I say it looks like something that could have rolled off the Pierce truck line? Plenty of hours into this unit by all parties, no less.

 

Aside from the extractor aspects, the Nelson Plating Co. in the background is nice to see, presumably when plating shops weren’t such a scarcity and were [cough] affordable.

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