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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
Haartz has a green topping in the Stayfast/Haartz cloth line, is that the one you’re using?
I’m not aware that there’s a woven dark green topping available, but you must have something in mind.
Interesting project, thanks for update!
Two of my old car buddies immediately said “corrosion”…..we’ll see. It’s a very slow paced old car shop so it might take a little time to find out what he runs into, but will update when I know.
Thanks dc
I like the color, it’s different and I thought it was black too! But now see from reflection on back fender it’s not.
Not to nitpick, but why aren’t undersides of front fenders painted? Is this just a test fit?
What color interior and top are you going with? That’s going to be as, or more, important than the body color….
Wow, car looks great! After all the wondering, your color choice is very nice and will make quite a handsome car!
I do have some advice on the upholstery, since I do trim work as a hobby, and once did it professionally until I got back into the Engineering profession.
Do NOT let your upholstery guy use foam for the seats. For a while, foam would last OK since there was an additive that was added for longevity. Unfortunately, the Government discovered the additive causes cancer, so it was banned. Now, when you buy foam wholesale, it’s “8 year foam” or “10 year foam” and so forth.
This is fine for throw away furniture, but NOT for our classic cars.
If one doubts this, look under your LazyBoy recliner and see all the little pieces of foam, as it slowly disintegrates.
On this Pierce, the springs should be individually wrapped, then use horsehair and cotton.
I’d also advise that, particularly on the driver’s seat, go VERY light with padding. There’s not much room to start with for a “today size” driver. I’m just about ready to pull the backrest springs out of my car so I have room to drive, my legs are just too cramped.
You will need a lot of wire-on made in your leather to finish this car, Enfield Restorations used to do this, it’s now done by:
“AAM automotive Aircraft and Marine specialty trim, purchased the equipment from Enfield Restorations and is up and operating in the Spec Tech incubator complex in Weyerhaeuser WI. Located conveniently between our Bruce and Cameron operations contact our office or call Cory Cook at 715 520 3776. All of your custom wire-on and hidem and specialty trim made with your hides for exact match, fast turnaround and fair prices.”
It’s more expensive than it was with Enfield, but it’s worth it for the correct wire-on.
If your upholstery guy has any questions, feel free to have him call or email me, I’ll be glad to help.
Thanks, of course it is a ’31.
Voltage at battery good. Did the jump directly to coil. Gas in carb. Spark at distributor. Even put a few drops of gas in 4 cylinders and tried to start. Still did not run.
We loaded it up and took it to a friend’s shop who specializes in early cars. My ’37 Cord phaeton was already there, so at least I know where to go to visit some of my collection!
It’ll be interesting to see what he finds, has to be something simple, but I worked on it for hours and couldn’t get it to run. That car has never done that to me, it’s been a reliable ride for over 30 years.
Thanks for all the suggestions….
Did he say that it was going to be available to order by Hershey? Or just a sample by Hershey?
I ordered a copy of the 1931 parts book from the AACA library. I’ve gone through it twice, and can find NO mention of a front floor mat.
So, that seems to be a dead end, unless I’ve totally missed it, or someone has a different parts book.
I have the mat on my work table, and next week plan to do a very detailed drawing and discuss with vendor out west who can make.
Kirk, you’re on my list now, thanks, yes, that’s a beautiful 43 you have….
My understanding is that the car had some condition issues. Did anyone here inspect the car at the auction?
