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I used to attend Grand Classics and Caravans down south, mostly in Texas. Had a grand time, this was in the 1980’s. 1990, moved to Virginia, went to a Grand Classic in Baltimore, my wife and I were treated shabbily and told one reason is because we brought a boring production car, 1938 Packard super eight 1604 convertible coupe, a 99 point car at the time.
We then went on the Rip Van Winkle caravan, and when discussing costs one member told us “we like to keep the riff-raff out of the events”.
Recently there was a Grand Classic in Gettysburg, so I took my 31Pierce phaeton. When the magazine came out, they made a big deal about there being only one Pierce at the meet…Gillette’s convertible sedan. I conversed with editor of magazine about error, and he basically said “oh, well”…and no correction in next issue.
I’m still in that club but just about had it with them.
Greg and Ken, this breaks my heart, so sorry that you lost this great dog. I still smile about the first time at your house, using a 4×4 board as a fetch stick, never seen anything like it.
He will be missed.
This apparently is of limited interest to quite a few Pierce Arrow owners. There are currently 303 Pierce Arrows listed in the CCCA directory. Aren’t there over 1000 in the PAS, or am I wrong?
And with padding, don’t use foam, and don’t make it too thick. Two layers of quilting cotton batting is perfect.
Thanks for kind words. So happens I’m doing another “P”” car (don’t want to mention Packard on this forum) and in middle of putting on top.”
I won’t get into a discussion of material, there are many different toppings available. You want a grained material, with a solid surface (not Haartz/Stayfast cloth). Cobra grain is the common material, this has been discussed on this forum often.
Make sure your wood is in good condition. Start with a cover over the wood of chicken wire. Many cars used this wire as the antenna for the radio, if so, isolate wire from metal of body.
Over chicken wire, put some medium weight fabric and fasten around perimeter, preferably to wood showing and not to the tack holes in the metal.
Over that fabric, put a layer of cotton batting. I use the quilting batting sold by many fabric stores, a double layer.
Over that goes your topping material. Best done on a hot day, in the sun, to make sure it will stretch enough. If you put it on cold it will flap in the breeze going down the road. As you install, seal it to top ridge (inboard of oval tack holes in metal) so that you don’t get water migration under material. Tack front and back, and middle each side, then work your way around.
Most metal tops have oval holes, so you can use one side for tacking material and the other side of the oval for attaching finishing strip.
The best option is to use the Ford finishing strip sold by vendors, it takes four for a Pierce sedan, but it takes some time to fill the strip with a low temp metal and bend to correct contour. There are other options for finishing strip, the hot rod guys sell an aluminum strip easy to bend that gets a plastic snapped over it, and I’ve even see wire-on to finish a top.
Not a difficult procedure, just make sure it’s super tight and super sealed.
I must recommend Kent Jaquith so highly for wiper information and repair.
He does great work, he’s like a lot of craftsmen, growing older but still at it.
He did 3 wipers for me and the work was great…
This is what one of the rolls looks like, there’s another style that only has one leather holder through the middle, I believe. I could probably supply 90% of the tools shown. I also have an extra K oil can, for those who know what that is, early cars I believe. I’ve decided to start getting rid of duplicate stuff in my memorabilia collection, just too much stuff.
I believe this to be a Royal vacuum, see this ad from 1926 and you can see the attachment for the front, which I don’t have. I’ve approached some vacuum cleaner collectors (yes, they’re out there) but no luck so far.
Jim, let me know what you’re looking for. I have a bunch of extra tools I’d be willing to sell. I have some pouches but they’re staying in my collection, Karl has some repro pouches that are nice.
This particular model of vacuum had interchangeable heads, the one that is on it is apparently for a hose attachment. It also would have had a regular carpet attachment, the front clips off the vacuum.
I’d like to think this was a factory item, have been told it was probably for a dealer. The bags could be customized any way they wished. It is NOT a Pierce Arrow brand vacuum, but just has the P-A labeled bag.
That’s a restored car, but the upper stripes appear correct. My car (restored) also has a stripe that follows moulding around rear fenders, above running boards, and bottom moulding of hood.
Well, shucks, think I deleted the photos of the stripe on my car.
Hard to explain.
I’ll try to get more pictures tomorrow.
Basically, all raised mouldings get a stripe. Thinner the better. Will work on pictures.
Let this confuse you. The stripe was very thin. I striped my ’31 based on pictures and research, but I could be wrong, I’ll post pictures soon. My stripe is probably a little wider than original. The pinstriper kept doing samples, I kept saying thinner or finer, finally gave up….
Your car looks great! I think the vacuum dates to the ’30’s, but I haven’t researched it heavily….
When you said “factory vacuum”” I thought of the vacuum cleaner in my memorabilia collection!”
Dr. Art was no friend, he outright lied to me about the car he sold me. In the end, I came out all right due to the great demand for Packards.
There’s more to the story. I had the Pierce at the Gettysburg CCCA meet last year. A fellow came up to me and said “Hey, you sold me a Packard about 20 or more years ago”, and it was the 443 coupe. He told me the rest of the story, the coupe had such good running gear that they took off the body and put a roadster body on that frame. The coupe body went on a sedan chassis, the sedan body back on the not so good roadster chassis. The coupe body was later removed from that chassis, and as we talked a friend of his walked up and said “yeah, that coupe body is sitting in my garage now”…..sheesh, musical chairs with Packards!
I have a box full of extra tools, am thinning down my memorabilia collection and getting rid of duplicates. If you need something specific email me and I’ll see if they’re in the pile.
Make sure your hinges on the driver door are in good shape! The tools add a lot of weight to the door, I have tools but left them out of the door for that reason….
Craig, good question. I’m dealing with fabricator, and originally the mat was going to be very thin. It’s thicker now with new negotiation, but it doesn’t have the, what shall I say, almost spongey rubber under it that the original had.
When I did my drawings and measurements, and saw that the original was much thicker, one vendor backed out because he said that’s “too much material”.
This will be a thinner mat, but on the top identical to the original. I figure someone could add rubber or cushion material under it after made.
When I ask for deposit, I will state exact dimensions and thickness, and anyone who isn’t happy can gracefully bow out. This guy (in Canada) makes mats for a lot of different clubs, I’m sure final product will be very nice, but I’m exposed as much as anyone to a product not up to my expectations. Catch 22, can’t approve of it until it’s in my hands, and it can’t be in my hands until I approve it’s fabrication.
Thanks David C.
Yes, the upholstery removal can be tricky, it all depends on how it was installed. If it’s brads through the material, that’s fairly easy, just pop the panel over the brad. If it’s strips or clips with nails, then it can be a mess. Start at the top and work your way down the panel.
My guess is a spring has broken in the latch assembly, allowing a piece to block the locking action.
Public, non-old car person, places, always scare me to death. I once had a car in a mall on display, rounded the corner and there was a guy sitting in driver seat trying to start it! He said he thought the cars were there for the public and he wanted to hear it run. Made me glad I didn’t carry a gun, it would have been ugly….
