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A lot of time the buffing eliminates a lot of the detail, here is a pic of some of the work RD did for me…
Ed mentions his five gallon can, perfect, mine is very nice not perfect. I’ve told this story before, probably.
Ed was coming through town and we went out to eat. During dinner, he mentioned he had found the five gallon can. I was jealous of course, but glad he found it!
The next day, I thought, gee, where would I find a five gallon can? Hmmm, how about Buffalo? So, I went to Craigslist Buffalo, and it’s beyond belief, but there was one listed. I contacted the guy, he’d found it in the rafters of a barn at an old property outside of Buffalo. We made a deal.
What are the odds of that, and the timing had to be perfect!
the other 2
Thanks Peter.
I guess it’s the “special compound” that makes it a tough to find can. I only have 5 cans,the 1 gallon motor oil underseat, 1 gallon motor oil square, a 5 gallon motor oil, a smaller grease can, and a Hypoid compound.
Guess I need to adjust my pricing expectations!
I did some Pierce door handles last year, and was concerned about keeping the detail on the pot metal.
Attended a seminar at the AACA meet in Philadelphia, and talked to a plater who specializes in doing pot metal. They strip the part, then his son does a lot of emphasizing the detail, so that when plated the detail is there.
They did an excellent job on the door handles, was very pleased and all detail was kept nicely. Family run business, and owner and son very involved in day to day operations. Obviously I can’t guarantee results, but my experience was very positive.
R&D Finishing, Elizabethton Tennessee. Hopefully the attached to the website will work.
Wish I had such an ornament to bring to the Mascot Reunion! Best I could do would be a Foss Hughes truck eagle!!
Excellent ending to an interesting story! Hope to see you at the meet!
I don’t think Ryan ever said that he’s going to bid on the car at the auction?
That’s a shame to have someone in the family willing to step up and buy, yet the family says no.
I, too, hope he ends up with it….
Yes, Ed is correct, as usual. I did a set not awful long ago and you could see the chrome remnants on the latch. I know I’m Captain Obvious, but make sure your plater knows to do just the part that shows.
These things are fun to take apart and put back together. Hope you took some pictures of the assembly as it came apart, it’s one of those “oh, I’ll remember” and you don’t….!!
Nope, I’m just crazier than most people when it comes to unusual Pierce memorabilia!
Ed owns one of the rarest items, he forbade me to bid on it when it came up!!
Rick, “green books” are easy to come by, just not the Pierce kind!
My experience with driving a Pierce 12 was with my ’34 production Silver Arrow at the Dallas meet, 1985.
We were heading out the rolling hills of Texas to the Pate Museum. My car had a slight fuel problem, and I pulled over. Trouble truck stopped, we fixed issue but it took a little time.
Realizing we were late for lunch, I sort of put my foot closer to the floor than I had before, and to use Tony’s relevant term, we “flew” to the museum. The car was not straining, we were going fast, but I had no idea how fast since the speedometer was on the fritz. This was an unrestored, 1960’s “dust it off and paint it” kind of car.
We got to the museum, and in a little bit the trouble truck drove up. He walked up to me and asked, how fast were you going? Saying I had no idea, he continued, well, in the truck following you I was going 75, and you pulled way ahead of me!
Later, I sold the car to obtain a ’37 Cord phaeton. The new owner picked it up in Dallas (I delivered it there) and proceeded to drive it to Washington State. He later told me that he had it over 100 on one of the straight stretches out west, although that had to be a guess, as no speedometer and before the era of GPS cell phones.
I wish I were in the position to negotiate on this car, what a beauty….
Ed is correct, of course. I searched and searched New York State laws and there is no reference to headlights.
At one time there was a New York City ordinance that specified that lights had to be within a certain distance apart, but I don’t think that’s the reason any Pierce left the factory with bracket headlights.
I believe, as Luke mentions, that it was just a buyer’s option. Then, as now, there were people who appreciated the quality of the Pierce product, but didn’t like the looks of the fender headlights. The late Ron Barnett, who was AACA President at one time, got in my ’31 for a ride once. As he sat down, he said, “you know, I hate the way the fender lights look on the car, but sitting inside they aren’t bad!”…..
As Ed says, the rumor has been repeated so many times that some people take it as gospel. There are tons of examples of this. Stanley Brothers would give a free car to anyone holding a Stanley throttle full open for one minute. Rolls Royce heads are sealed for life. Henry Ford saying “History is bunk”, that’s not the entire quote. Speaking of Henry, he didn’t invent the assembly line, as is commonly thought. The list goes on. Just like today, if something is repeated by enough people, it becomes “fact”….
One thing to consider, when you take the upright rear piece off the back of the glass, it’s virtually impossible to pull the glass straight back out, UNLESS you spread the surround slightly up/down and free the bottom of the glass.
Also, if you’re putting new rubber in the outer frame, I’d advise installing it before you send glass frame for plating. You can make adjustments to metal frame before plating, but not after…
That is a neat book, and I agree more useful! I think I have a similar one from 1932 that’s page after page of tools and equipment, similar to that one but hard cover……
The Steele vent window weatherstrip is very difficult to install in such a way as to prevent binding. I don’t know if it’s because it’s oversize or they had a poor pattern, but there’s definitely a problem.
My suggestion, if restoring a car, would be to install the front weatherstrip, fit the vent window frame to work inside it (may involve some cutting and such), THEN have frame chromed.
Maybe this was just my experience, but as said, the one I put in recently is tight.
No, there is no date anywhere on the catalog, which drives me crazy. There’s almost enough fun stuff in this to do an article for the ARROW, so I’ll work on that.
And yes, I prevailed. It’s getting to the point that it’s not often something comes along I haven’t seen, but I get serious when something does pop up!
I’m sure that this exists somewhere else, does anyone here have a copy of it, or know if it’s in the archives?
And finally…plating
Welders
Another of the “nail in the coffin”” pictures”
I was lucky enough to snag this 70 page “Inventory Catalog” recently, I’m sure others exist but I’d never seen one.
I’ll post a few pictures showing a couple of interesting things. There are no car parts listed, only plant and office equipment. Interesting to see that Pierce had it’s own plating department, I always thought they had that done off-site. Also, under welders, they list two Pierce Arrow welders! I want one of those!
