Pinterest

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Upon examining Pinterest, I came upon a statement that Tesla had

electrified a 1931 Pierce-Arrow. It showed a restored convertible-

sedan as an illustration. Can anybody confirm or deny this post?

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Hi Tony,

This comes up every so often. Here is a short video from Buffalo’s NBC affiliate that might help make a decision.

The following article is taken from the news article (WGRZ NBC):

“BUFFALO, NY – Nikola Tesla was certainly a genius. His work with alternating current, or AC power was groundbreaking, as was his partnership with George Westinghouse in harnessing the power of Niagara. But did he, decades later, also learn how to harness power right from the air, in the form of ambient or radiant energy?

As the story goes, Tesla came to Buffalo in the early 30’s and swapped out the combustion engine of a 1931 Pierce Arrow, replacing it with an 80 horsepower Westinghouse electric engine, then powered it with some sort of energy-gathering device that was positioned in the passenger seat.

Jim Sandoro, who owns and operates the Buffalo Transportation/Pierce-Arrow Museum, doubts the account to say the least.. “He supposedly came and went and bought some parts and made a small box with two levers on it, got in and said, here it goes, and took a ride and came back. It’s bologna. There’s never been one eye witness ever writing that they saw or heard anything about it.”

There are others who say it did happen. Apparently the story was relayed to a reporter by Peter Savo, who claimed to be Tesla’s nephew. This story has received some debate because no physical evidence has ever been produced confirming that the car actually existed. Tesla did not have a nephew by the name of Peter Savo, and Tesla’s grand-nephew William Terbo considers the Tesla electric car story to be a fabrication.

Sandoro says that one good thing has come out of what he calls “urban legend;” interest in Buffalo and the Pierce Arrow.”

http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/unknown-stories/unknown-stories-of-wny-teslas-electric-pierce-arrow-fact-or-fiction/304877643

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Ben,

Thanks for putting the record straight and the hard work you do for the PAS.

Tony

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What record? It does not sound like anyone has looked to see if the answer to this could be in South Bend rather than Buffalo – Studebaker was consolidating engineering with Pierce-Arrow at the time. Key employees kept little notebooks back then, such as Aumann about the Silver Arrow and Otto Klausmeyer’s Canadian production statistics. Someone else may have made notes. There appears to be a large Tesla Museum in Serbia that lists a substantial archive; could Tesla have kept some records in another language that hide the answer?

Brooks

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