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I’ve been living in Virginia for over 30 years, and my Pierce is still running a single plate…from Louisiana!
When I went to register my ’37 Cord at the DMV, I’d bought some Virginia plates for Year of Manufacture registering. Not knowing better, they were “TH” plates, which is truck for hire.
I also needed to renew my driver’s license for the first time in Virginia. As the lady pulled up my records, she said “uh-oh”. I asked what the problem was, well, she said, you’re registered as a female driver. Huh? It took her over an hour, with three phone calls to Richmond, to get my license to say “male”.
Then, I handed her the TH plates, she took one look and said you can’t register a car with those plates. I looked at her and said “What? You just put me through an hour long sex change operation, and now you won’t take my plates?” She laughed and somehow used them, and I always get told at shows that I have the “wrong” plates on my car….
I may be the only one confused on this topic, but it sounds like you ran straight Evapo Rust as a coolant in your engine?
I thought Evapo Rust was a one time treatment for rust and corrosion problems, not a coolant. I do see Evapo Rust cleaner and flush for cooling systems, but that says “flush”, or do they make a coolant?
I’d say the Spencer Tracy roadster picture is a Model 42….
From the 1931 parts book:
lamp assy. 737258 (for 1931 Model 42 only, lamp assy. for Model 41 is 746585-C, none for Model 43)
lens 737261 (shows for 1931 Model 42 only)
body 737343 (shows for 1931 Model 42 only)
gasket changes A #737381 (shows for 1931 Model 42 only), B #727152 (not listed for any 1931 model)
Eric had the new top material but it sold out, I know because I actually had ordered 2 yards right after Hershey, it came and had a defect, and he was able to scare up replacement yardage from someone who’d bought extra…because he was out of stock…
He expects to make another run but didn’t say when…
Well, an interesting car for sure.
It’s been interesting to watch, over the years, the reaction to unrestored cars.
When I bought my first Pierce in 1976, I wish I’d known all about the “original” thing….I had an unrestored 1934 840 sedan from Oklahoma, that was painfully original, but on four flat tires and not running.
True to the time I restored it. Wish I could go back and change that.
The body was so good in the original gray paint that most people thought it was in final primer.
My opinion, this is a nice car, slightly overpriced (reference the John Cislak sedan that’s available, much nicer), but it would be a fun car to use…
Thank you….this has to do with a clock being repaired….dc
Just like to see pics of the engine and transmission area, as we discussed, I dream of finding the rest of the car to go with my engine!
It was an interesting Hershey, Richard and I talked about his Stanhope, and I had three other people stop by who own and discussed their single cylinder Pierces.
One of my dream cars, congrats on acquiring this beauty.
The closest I can come is a 1903 Pierce 6 HP engine that I found and have, as Ed knows.
Could you post pics of the engine and rear axle?
My experience with much older cars is that much older restorations can appear to us as “original”. I stood next to a fabulous 1910 Peerless in the Sacramento car museum, called a friend who knows all there is to know about early cars, and told him I couldn’t believe how nice it was and what (sheesh, sometimes you can hate this word) patina it had.
He laughed, knew the car well, said it was restored in the early 1950’s and driven hard and well, and what I was looking at was almost 70 years of “patina”.
Our minds can fool us.
Oh, again, I’m jealous, would love to have a first generation Pierce automobile to hug, uh, I mean, play with..
What’s really unique about this is that you have the engine done!
The rebuilder, as Bob knows, is a good friend of mine, and as far as I know, I still hold the record for how long an engine was in his shop for rebuild…..7 years!!
I was thinking about this question, and wonder in this case if the question would better be “starting the car for the first time after an engine rebuild”.
In that case, I’d do one of two things.
Find an old car guy who has a rig that can pressurize oil system before trying to start (that’s how my machine shop guy does it).
Failing that, take the spark plugs out and turn engine over with starter, moving some oil around inside of engine.
THEN do the starting….
A “dry” engine can suffer a lot of wear in that first little bit before oil pressure comes up….
The “bumper” lights should have a separate switch. Since they were an accessory, that switch would not already be on the car but added.
Greg, I was told at Hershey that the Model T vendors sell a small, modern condenser, so check with them. I saw one at Hershey and it was the size of 4 Chiclets put together….
I will also chime in and say that additional seam is not correct. A good trimmer can make the top fit without that seam, it all has to do with knowing how to fit and stretch material.
The cross seam shown is a trimmer who didn’t know what he was doing and finallyt said heck with it.
I apologize to owner, but it’s not correct.
I’ve done numerous Pierce Arrow spring sets, never seen burlap, always a cotton white or off white material.
If you tear the springs apart, make sure that you make note of where EACH spring goes. There are thicker springs along the edges, some ends are doubled, each row may have different length springs and different wire diameter, and so forth. If your trimmer just throws them in a pile, then you’ll never get them back like they were supposed to be.
Another note on condensers, the fellow working on the car has a nice shop only working on early cars and is a Mopar guy, with cars from 1915 Dodge up in the Mopar category and others such as a 1909 Reo and a 1911 Hudson.
He used to run a NAPA store. He said you can buy the condensers new at NAPA, they still stock ones suitable for use on the older cars, but, he said, buy TWO, because brand new out of the box they can be bad.
Interesting, too, that condensers aren’t rated by voltage.
When you mention a Freeze Plug
Peter, when I say a freeze plug (which is a misnomer as many of you know), it’s the cup shaped steel piece that goes into a casting hole in a block. The holes had to be there for casting purposes, and get a plug, and common lore is that it’s a “freeze plug” to let go if water expands in the block. That isn’t the purpose, of course, it’s just a byproduct of the manufacturing process.
I’ve seen all the discussions about water puking out the top of the radiator, and the talk of water velocity and that it can’t be that because the water pump is moving X amount of water and so forth. All I can tell you is that the restriction in my upper hose made the car quit puking coolant out the radiator and the car runs very nicely in the mid range of the temperature gauge…..I probably don’t run it enough in cold weather to worry about Greg’s mention of running too cool…
OK, to end this story, so to speak….the condenser on my car failed. At some point, the points burned. So, while I was able to get 6 volts to distributor, the spark was next to nothing.
No explanation for the low voltage reading at the switch, after rechecking everything is fine.
The distributor has been put on a distributor test machine and is now set up correctly with new points and condenser.
Car is running great.
Randy, I’m confused about your question. The shutters ARE the thermostat, they’re controlled by a heat sensitive bellows that bolts into the top tank of the radiator.
If the radiator has been changed and no longer has this control, then your only solution is to block the shutters open and leave them like that.
The shutters on my 43 are blocked open, I’ve driven it like that summer and winter and had no issues.
I’d also suggest taking a freeze plug the outside diameter of your upper radiator hose, drill a 5/8″ hole in it, and insert it into the upper end of the hose. This will slow down the water entering the top of the radiator, and keep the radiator from overflowing when you suddenly reduce rpm of engine. I know some might say that’s crazy, but my car would overflow if I took foot off pedal at speed, the plug solved that issue totally.
Probably manufactured by Sonnedecke….interesting color for sure…..thanks
