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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”….

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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…

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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……

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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.

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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?

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And finally…plating

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Welders

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Another of the “nail in the coffin”” pictures”

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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!

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I just installed two of these, excellent product. These work either left or right side.

I believe what we see now as “left and right” on original brackets is actually warpage, as you see a slight angle difference on original brackets. I measured ordinal sand this seems to be in the 4 to 6 degree range, and hard for me to think they’d have made brackets differently with that small angle.

Either way, if there is a slight angle, the mounting holes on these new brackets can be enlarged and entire bracket mounted at the slight angle.

Very nice product, I recommend them highly….

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Personally, Ryan, I think you should go to the auction prepared to bid on the car. Then, if it bids to a reasonable number that you’re comfortable with, buy it at the auction. I realize there are bidders premiums and such, but just figure that into your offer.

If you buy it at the auction, then there’s no issue with your relatives on the purchase price.

It’s a shame that your cousin couldn’t come to an agreement with you, but when it comes to money it seems that relationship doesn’t matter to some people.

I sure hope you end up with the car, it’s a beauty!

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On the 34, if you remove the back seat cushion, there’s an electrical junction station on the floor, passenger side, at rear of car.

A live feed from battery goes to this group of push-in connectors. The live feed for lights comes from there, as well as a heavier gauge wire that goes to the cigarette lighter.

Most of the wiring is behind the passenger side rear side panel, You could remove enough to get to wiring, but it’s taking out some upholstery that isn’t made for easy removal and replacement.

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The car I rewired is a ’34 840 four door sedan. That’s how it was factory wired.

It could be that other models were done differently.

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The 34 sedan I’m finishing has the following:

-solid wire, ground

-hot wire from junction behind rear seat, “Y’s”, with one hot going to panel toggle switch, one hot going to door plunger switch

-one wire from toggle and one wire from plunger going to dome light

If your toggle works, and other wire to dome light is hot, then the plunger switch has shorted, Take it. Out and test…

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One of the saddest things I’ve seen in my life are families that get at odds over money, usually an inheritance. Not in my family, but I’ve seen it first hand, and I’ve seen it so many times with car collections.

I’m not appraising, just making a comment. Your cousin should sell you the car at somewhere around 30K, be happy they have a good home for it, and move on with life. Trying to squeeze every penny out of the car will end up badly for them.

As we all know, when an auction company tells you “reserve of $46K”, it’s meaningless. As soon as the bidding gets to any good number at all, they’ll be hounding the consigner to raise the reserve (i.e. car sells at that bid).

There was a fellow who passed away locally and number of years ago, his son-in-law was a car dealer. In the collection was a ’36 Pierce convertible coupe, V-12, but had Seagraves heads on it and may have been a Seagraves engine.

I went to look at the car, and asked what he wanted for it. “My father-in-law always said it was worth over $100K”. Oh, I said. What do you think, he asked. No, anything I say will just aggravate you. No, no, that’s fine, what do you think? So, I offered him $50K for the car, and of course he got PO’ed at me, saying I was crazy.

The sent it to an auction in Florida, final hammer was $56K. He’d have been a lot better off taking my offer….

And that’s how it goes with dispersal of a collection….

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While I appreciate that you’re asking for value information, it’s a real minefield for someone to give you a value based on looking at a few pictures. Car looks very nice, but could be hidden issues the pictures don’t show.

It would be more helpful if you stated something like “the family thinks that it’s worth at least $xxxx”, and then we could give you our opinion of that valuation.

The minefield comes when the family thinks it’s a $100,000 car, which it’s not, and someone here states that it’s worth X, much less than what the family thinks. Then, hard feelings ensue.

I look at pictures and I can think of a range of value for the car, at least in my mind, but again, if I told you that figure and your family thinks it’s worth two or three times that, then the danger is your family thinking “darn Pierce Arrow folks, trying to undervalue and steal our car”…..

So, my best advice to you is to come up with a dollar figure your family thinks it’s worth (and everyone has a number in mind, in my experience), let us know what it is, and we’ll tell you if it’s reasonable. If it is in the reasonable range, then you might even sell it here and save transportation and auction fees.

If you think the $2400 maintenance bill was bad (which does sound high, unless he dropped the gas tank and rebuilt carb and so forth), wait until you see what it costs to run a car through a major auction…..

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I’m trying to quit rectifying!!

Had some good friends bring me a front seat out of a 1934 Franklin.

Here’s how it went.

Them:Lets just put a cover over the old seat

Me: OK, just any old material?

Them: No, let’s use new broadcloth like original

Me: Over the old seat that’s torn and worn?

Them: Sure, we think the padding and springs are fine….

Me: Hmmm, I feel a lump here, hope it’s not a dead mouse!

Them: Oh, we hate mice in the cars

Me (lifting up torn seat and cover): So I guess you REALLY don’t like this huge mouse nest that’s in the springs? I’m not covering that up with new material.

Them: Yikes!

Me: Take apart, clean, new socks for springs, new padding, or you can take it home as is (said nicely!)

Them: OK, proceed, we need it in two weeks.

Me: Yikes!

Upholstery guy is always last on the list, when the restorer has spent tons of money already and there’s a deadline to finish!

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Thanks. For some reason my Ebay search is not bringing up the car, interesting, but the link works.

Looks like a good car, priced on the high end, to me, for an unknown car. If one could go look at and drive it, then decision might be easier.

From an upholstery perspective, not real impressed, but it’s serviceable.

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I can’t find it on Ebay, can someone post a link? thanks

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Needs work but looks solid, poor interior has seen better days…says it needs a set of tires to be roadworthy and we all know what tires cost these days…

Hope it finds a good home…

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