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The Front Seat…

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Engine…

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Side View….

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This auction is taking place down the street from my house and was fortunate enough to gain access to view the cars today. Here are some “up-close and personal”” pictures of the car.”

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I think this is the car Jim was looking at.

http://www.mecum.com/lot-detail.cfm?lot_id=FL0115-203079

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Thanks Peter for the trivia of Arthur A. Zimmerman.

David, I found the following information.

Norman C. Hopper (1880 – 1956)

Hopper was a pro cyclist from Minneapolis, MN. In the September 30, 1905 edition of The Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review, Hopper placed FIRST in a Two-mile open, professional event. He did well in other events and was part of the Mormon Team with C.L. Hollister of Salt Lake City.

According to the December 22, 1906 edition of The Summary, he was one of 16 who participated in a “Ten-Mile Event in Madison Square Garden” This was an International Ten-Mile bicycling event which he did well but did not finish. According to an abstract of the December 2, 1905 The New York Times, “There were 8,000 patriotic Americans crowded into Madison Square Garden last night to see the international bicycle races contested there by the crack riders from all over the world. They came to see an American victory in every race, and seeing it, went away amid the strains of “Hail, Columbia,” well satisfied.”

Fast-forward and his name reapers in the August 24, 1922 edition of Motorcycle and Bicycle Illustrated. The article mentions that Hopper is selling his Salt Lake City Indian Motorcycle dealership to Floyd Clymer of Denver. Hopper also owned the Harley-Davidson dealership in Salt Lake City, which he retained after selling the Indian dealership.

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Thanks Bill for sharing this picture of the Racer.

I have not read the article about this bike but think I might be able pick up a copy from someone.

I found this information in the 1904 Pierce Cycles catalogue. Notice the picture shows the full nickeled forks and the difference between the two forks. These must have been incredible to see on the roads when they were new.

Model No. 521 – Racer.

Bright carmine frame. Full nickel forks. Aluminum finished rims. Palmer 1 ¼ – inch road tires. No. 211 Handle Bars. Troxel No. 30 B Saddle. 6 ½ – inch Cranks. Racing Pedals. 84 Gear. 3/16 – inch Lefever nickel-steel chain.

Model No. 520 – Pacer.

26-inch front and 28-inch rear wheels. Bright carmine finished frame. Aluminum-finished rims. Full nickeled STRAIGHT forks. Palmer 1 ¼ –inch road tires. No. 221 Handle Bars. Brown BB Saddle. 6 ½- inch Cranks. Racing Pedals. 84 Gear. 1/8 – inch nickel steel chain.

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You are right, David.

Pierce racing models did not come with brakes. I guess if you wanted to stop, you just put your feet down!

Pictured is two different bicycle rear hubs. The first is of a wooden wheel racing bike. Although the quality of the photo is not great, you can see there is no hub brake. The second photo is a New Departure Model D skip-tooth hub. This is a reverse brake hub and was used on later Pierce bikes.

New Departure made a series of rear hubs – Model A through Model D.

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In case you were wondering, here is an advertisement for the Pierce Racer from 1897. This is similar to the bike A.E. George rode in the picture above.

Note the price of $100. That would be approximately $2,857.00 USD today.

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Congratulations Bob.

A very detailed book of the Brass Era.

http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-7136-2

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I agree with Greg that it is surprising to see a Custom Body Series 80. The windshield is commonly known as a Brewster Windshield although several couch builders incorporated this style into their own coach design. Attached is an example of a Packard with the Brewster Windshield on a Holbrook Custom body (photo credit to Hemming’s).

Also notice the Brunn & Co banner above the Series 80 on the wall. Just grasping at straws but that might indicate who built this Series 80.

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The purpose of the drum spring was to dampen oscillation of the drums from squealing when braking. From what I have found in my research, they were mainly applied to the front drums but it is possible that the rear drums were also fitted to kill, or suppress, the squeal. In the 1961 Motors Manual this spring is called a “dampener”. Front drum dampening springs would help lessen the amount of vibration through the steering wheel when the brakes are applied.

To answer your question Michael, you could use the drum with a spring (or without a spring) as long as the drum fit’s correctly. There will be no difference in balance or drivability to the car. If you are going to make either of the 38’s or the 36′ a primary daily driver it might be nice to have drums with springs but it’s not needed.

I have turned thousands of drums and rotors in the decade I worked in the auto parts business. Like Greg mentioned, we used a heavy rubber belt to cut down the vibration, or chatter, when truing the drum. From what I remember, some drums had springs and a lot did not. Many of the new drums we sold did not come with a spring.

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The Hood Ornament.

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The back of the postcard.

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And the back side.

Can you make out the writing?

– Ben

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William,

Thanks for sharing the website of the Pierce-Arrow factory.

Here is my postcard dated May 15, 1914 from my collection. It is a little worn but is still interesting to have.

– Ben

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In response to the Mystery Photograph, I am going to present my educated guess into who is the rear seat and where the picture was taken.

I believe the car is a Presidential Pierce-Arrow carrying President Coolidge to (or from) the Sixth International Conference of American States held in Havana, Cuba – January 15-17, 1928.

The Dual Valve Six that is pictured appears to have the AAA badge commonly found in other pictures of Presidential cars between the Harding and Coolidge administrations. The license plate is decorative and hard to make out with this small picture but should be a shielded eagle with stars. The car following also places this photograph in the mid to late 1920’s. I believe the actual location of this picture would be in State-Side (Miami) as there are other pictures of Coolidge riding in a 1920’s Rolls Royce through the streets of Havana. It would be unlikely that he rode in several different makes of cars while on his only official presidential trip, lasting a total of 3 days. Lastly, since the Mystery Photograph is presented by the Florida Region, it would not be surprised that this picture was taken by someone in that region of the country.

Again, this is only a guess…

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Hello Webmaster,

I was able to click and view all photos in the test.

I’m not sure why uploads from earlier this morning were not allowing the “click for larger view”.

As a FYi, all photos recently attached were saved as a .jpeg then added.

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James – Thank you for the link of the San Diego directory. I found the same information through a different site.

Again, thanks to everyone who posted.

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I think I have found the answer to my question!

After Bob Lind posted the information about the Pasadena Pierce-Arrow dealership I came across the idea that the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co. would not allow two dealers in the same area, much less on the same street. This allowed me to strike Pasadena as a possibility and focus on San Diego.

While doing several Google searches, I found a scanned copy of the 1925 San Diego City and County Directory. A quick look in the index showed an advertisement of Ralph Hamlin on page 83. The advertisement is attached. As you can see, the ad notes Franklin-REO-Pierce Arrow. This is correct to what the dealership sells.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed.

William: In preforming this research I don’t think Hamlin actually had a Pierce-Arrow dealership in Pasadena. My understanding is Hewson had Pierce-Arrow while Hamlin focused on Franklin. It is confusing to offer different makes of cars and put the locations of all dealerships on a dash tag when not all makes are sold at all dealerships.

Anthony: Los Angeles and Pasadena are about the same distance (since they are in the same metropolitan area) from Bakersfield. Approximate distance is 115 miles. In any respect, your original owners would have a drive unless there was a Pierce-Arrow dealership in Bakersfield area, of which I do not know. It’s also possible that the car could be shipped to Bakersfield from one of several distributors. It is very possible that your ’35 which lived in Burbank could have been sold at Hewson in Pasadena but there is no way to know for sure.

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