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I purchased an aluminum head on his (McCormick) first run. Long delays, lack of returned messages, and then a request for more money than the agreed upon amount were among the events of this sad transaction. I then had the head polished, and installed it on my 1936. There is a reason that you don’t find these heads on any of these 36-38 cars when you find them. Not to bore anyone with further sad tales, my head may be viewed on display at the Pierce-Arrow museum, where it belongs.

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The Babbit pot did the rods in my 1936 some years ago. They faile (less than 3000 miles, some years later. I had the bad rods redone in Florida, they failed again. The car now has inserts, amen. I really don’t think workmanship is as much a factor as the material. I don’t think the guy pouring the babbit has control over the content of his material.

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I have been with J.C. Taylor for 46 years. It is necessary for these restrictions, or people would be driving the cars for daily transportation. The policies use to read “…and for occasional other use”. I am quite sure coverage would be provided except for blatant misuse under the terms of the policy. I am particularly fond of J.C. Taylor, they even covered the repaint on my ’31 Pierce after damge by acid rain at the 93 Glenns Falls meet.

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I am probbably the most anti-rod person you could meet. I have heard all the arguments…”Well, we drive our cars…” “we want a safe car for our families to ride in ” We could’nt wear this ridiculously loud t-shirt with hot rod logos on it if our car was stock..”

We drive our cars too. My 1931 Pierce won a CCCA Premier award the summer following the winter I toured almost 2000 miles in Florida.

The people in this club will help you find someone to work on your car that can get the job done for a reasonable amount. Realize the joy of driving an old car that is comfortable, reliable, and pretty much the same as the day it came out of the factory.

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Louis: I sold Dave Murray a number of reproduction lenses, some very yellow, some not. In addition, he may have some other ones than the ones I sold to him. tony

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May I relate my experience using a new old stock L8 or L4 (i forget the number) in my 36 Pierce. I had a converted original filter with a modern insert. I could not get it apart. I installed the NOS filter, until I could resolve the taking apart issue. The material from the NOS filter came loose, plugged orifices throughout the engine, result: $25000 overhaul. Be careful.

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Thank you Bob and George for the great feedback. Sandy Olson supplied much the same info on a separate email. Please encourage more members to use the message board. It is such a great tool.

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Do not assume that any 700×17 tire will fit in those small sidemount covers. I have a pair of 50 year old Dunlop Forts that fit, but I had Lesters that would not.

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When I bought my 1931 Pierce model 42 in 1984,I had a terrible time starting cold. The fellow I bought it from said that’s the way it is, leave it alone. I really was afraid I was going to ruin the starter. I mean quite often I had to grind for two minutes. One day I took the air cleaner (silencer) whatever, off. With a mirror I noticed the little relief hole in the choke circle was left open! The spring had broken, such that the carburetor was taking in way too much air, defeating the choking action. A repair of this component resulted in a car that starts properly when cold.

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It appears to be a European custom body. Perhaps on the continent, but not probably German because they usually use gigundus landau irons. Maybe

Belgian, or French. The air cleaner doesn’t look stock either, nice car!

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Bill: This is a 1936 1601 convertible sedan formerly owned by Ted Fosgate, and now Dr. “Gus”” Levisay. It is the same as mine but with no division window.”

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I also have received letters, not only from Peter Kumar, but phone calls from Mark Hyman’s secretary in Florida, etc. Throw the letters in the basket, and think pleasant thoughts: like Hershey is just three months away.

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I recall finding and purchasing engineering reports that showed the interchange of parts between the small Pierce engine and the Studebaker engine. This caused quite a stir in the club at that time. I believe the late ’60’s or early ’70’s. I gave the stuff to Bernie, perhaps he remembers or still has it. He does not compute,contact him by snail mail.

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I don’t remember when it started. It could have been after I replaced the forty year old Martin 7 plies. It occurs at 40mph, and you can drive through it. Rapid acceleration through 40mph seems to bypass the phenomenon. If it were at 60, who cares. A lot of driving is done at 40. I think one kingpin is a little sloppy, not bad enough to monkey with along with my other current projects, moving, etc.

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The muffler arrived from John Kepich within a week of my order. It has been installed, and the problem is resolved. Kepich did a great job, and was most helpful. The sound is different, the original equipment muffler had a more mellow sound, oh well. We will autopsy the old muffler to see what obstructed.

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Ed: Ask Pete Bortnick from the Stuart club about the old time radiator shop in Stuart. A friend of mine just had a 41 Packard tank done. The work was excellent, and a modern industrial grade inner coating was used. If Pete doesn’t know the name of the shop, contact me and I will get the name for you. Tony

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I was unable to find any muffler 52″ long at NAPA or CarQuest, etc. John Kepich is making one and it should arrive today or tomorrow.

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Bob: My 36 convertible coupe (now in the Staley collection) had neither footrests in the rumbleseat, nor sunvisors. My 36 convertible sedan has sunvisors.

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Bad condensers may burn points. The problem most often occurring, is the lack of lubrication on the cam, which wears out the fiber contact, causes the points to close up and cause problems. When a repo is better than the original, and moreover you can’t even see it, I say go for it. Tony

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I too possess limited mechanical ability. The dual points in our Pierce-Arrows were the best technology available at the time. I have owned my 36 convertible sedan 41 years in April. Point failure has caused me to hitchike home virtually every time I have had a mechanical breakdown,with my 36 and my 31 convertible. John Ciselak, and other capable mechanics can beautifully repair and synchronize a distributor. However, the problem will be reocurring, trust me. My other three cars, 41 cad, 47 cad, 58 cad, all have electronic ignitions. Install it, forget it, end of story. The 58 was the first, I drove it to Detroit in 2002 for the Cadillac LaSalle annual meet, several tours since, no problems. If anybody would make an electronic ignition for our Pierce-Arrows, I will purchase two, and I am sure Bob Sands would also. Tony Zappone

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