Looking for Long Lost Pierce Arrow

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

I have a great 1930 Model A, and in my rides about town met a guy whose dad had a 1934 model 54 convert. His dad was forced to give it up as a result of the Depression, but my friend is wondering if it might still live!

Serial number is 1050621.

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

The car is a 1932 and the serial number is consistent with a model 54 on a 137″ wb. There is no entry in the vehicle register that would indicate that this car survived. The register does state that serial number 1050621 was the first model 54 on 137″” wb built in Jan 1932. 1932 production began in November 1931 according to the register.”

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

Hi David,

There were only 50 ’32 Model 54 Convertible Coupe/Roadsters built.. The highest body number known is #50.

This makes this car quite rare, I think there are 8 or 9 known, This includes the V12 versions of the Convertible Coupe/Roadster.

They are a really nice looking car, your friend’s Dad had great taste !!

Greg Long

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

A 1932 Series 54 Convertible is not a great car, its a FANTASTIC CAR! But thats just my humble opinion.

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

Ed, I have to agree with you. The ’32 is a very nimble car, with light steering, very good brakes. excellent acceleration and with factory 4.08:1 rear gears, is plenty quick enough to not be a rolling-roadblock on a freeway.

I also like the size and appearance of the ’32.

Greg Long

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

What a refreshing change, usually when someone is looking for a specific car there’s little information to go on, here’s someone with a picture AND a serial number!

It’s a shame if the car no longer exists, but those are the odds…

And yes, great looking car, I’d drive away with it anytime, but Greg was always looking…uh, I mean, I’d drive it anytime!

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

There seems to be enough interest in ’32 Pierce-Arrow Model 54 convertible

coupes on this discussion board that renewing production might be in order.

The bodies could be built in one of those slick Italian outfits and the

rest of the car can get resurrected in the shop that just turned out a

new Tucker car that you can’t tell from the originals.

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

Oh, shucks, I thought you were going to say that Greg Long could put together the mechanicals….THEN we’d be in high cotton! (yes, I’m from the deep South)….

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

I think wood-worker wood sculptor extrordanaire Marc Hancock would get the nod to make a run of say ? 10 bodies. and then Fay Butler and his incredible apprentices/masters at metalworking would make the body panels..

There might be enough chassis’ around that need a body, or maybe we could use, lets say, from ’31 through ’35 chassis ? Some would have a bit different wheelbases. and different brakes.. but all are excellent to drive..

A straight eight, probably in 1933 configuration: hydraulic lifters, down draft EE3 carburetor, with a made for this project: high compression cylinder head, cast to the ’32-’35 design, but with at least 7.0:1 compression ratio.. better if it was 8.0:1.. that would net about 300-350 ft-lbs of torque at 1500 rpm and around 200 hp at 3000 rpm.. or 3500 rpm if we want to ‘make’ the most advertisable horsepower.

’33 and later Ross steering gear box, and ’32 and later transmission with synchromesh on 2nd and 3rd. Rear gear ratios available: 3.90:1 for those in Denver, Salt Lake, Boise, and Alturas California. [ smile ] . For those in flatter country, 3.3:1 ought to be about right.. 17″ drop center wire wheels. with steel ‘artillery’ spoke wheels available on request..

6v electrical system just to keep everyone in the right frame of mind: pre WWII.

Leather interiors by DC productions.. in Winchester Virginia.

This would be fun if I was 35 years old !!

Greg Long

“

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

David, I am from the north (but currently live south of the Mason-Dixon line). While I got the gist of the reference, I wanted to know the exact definition of ‘high cotton’.

Wikipedia: The term “high cotton” or “tall cotton” originates from the rural farming community in the antebellum (pre-Civil War) South when “high cotton” meant that the crops were good and the prices, were, too. The term has generalized to mean one is doing well or is successful.

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

I think we have strayed far a field here. Does this site suffer from ADHD like the others ?

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

Rich: You may have hit the nail on the head.

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

Dear Peter,

Thanks for the information. This is an interesting State that I now live in. You are correct that Maryland was part of the Union. However, after I moved to here, I learned it was part of the Union because President Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus, declared martial law in Maryland, and arrested 12 members of the General Assembly to prevent them from taking a vote on secession!

I remain proud of being produced (at a later date) in the same city as our Pierce Arrows!

Robert

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

First of all, I’m from Louisiana, and my father owned a cotton gin. My brother and I bought it, and ran it and a cattle feed business for ten years. I’m qualified to use the term “high cotton”!

Also, the true Mason Dixon line runs through Dallas, Shreveport, Jackson, Atlanta, and Charlotte. That other so-called Mason Dixon line was just for convenience during the War of Northern Aggression.

Now that the record has been set straight, we return you to your regularly scheduled program…..

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

David Coco was good friends with Eli Whitney………😇

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

Yeah, Ed, how’d you know? It’s little known that he was a seedy fellow, always asking for money to be lint to him. Just didn’t have the moral fiber a man should have, it wasn’t woven into his DNA.

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

Very touching about Eli. The gin must have gotten to him.

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

Thanks to all who responded, including the diversion into puns! JDK

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

Tony,

Eli took a cotton to gin!

Peter

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

I never meant to infer that Eli was sloe, but he would bale at the slightest pressing matter….

[Author]

Posts