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Here’s a picture, and I’ll post some interior pics too…I remember it being much “whiter”” in person….”
second picture
last picture
second picture
I agree with Mr. Rolapp, we all know a restoration can be done to someone’s personal taste, but the result isn’t always well received. When I worked at White Post restorations, a Pierce club sedan came in for restoration. I left before it was finished, the owner had it painted all white. Yes, white was available then, but it doesn’t look good on a car that early. The restoration was excellent, and should have been for the $270K it cost (owner published that number when he sold it), but car was not “correct”. Phil Marshall owned it for a while, got quite a bargain when it sold at auction I believe.
So, what we’re saying, even using non-metallic, and even using colors available then, color choice can affect both how the car is viewed and, at some point, value. If you paint the car, for example, red with white fenders and blue interior and top (which would be acceptable for a bright pedal car to grab a kids attention!), then car won’t get the respect that it deserves from the Pierce group.
And of course you’re free to add any accessories you want, it’s my personal opinion that less is more on a Pierce.
Again, thank you for posting the restoration progress, it’s one of the most “visible” restorations we’ve seen and very interesting, particularly the comparative lightning speed at which you seem to be progressing. But, since it is so visible, expect to have varied reactions if you have chosen an oddball color combination.
The “dirt and crud” in the gas tank was just the bad, dried up, old gas that was in the tank when it was set up. As many of you have, I’ve seen this repeatedly, most recently in a ’27 Dodge cabriolet that I just pulled out of a basement, car beautifully preserved from a 1960’s restoration, but the gas tank 1/3 full of crud. It’s just old gas.
You’re moving fast on this restoration, quick progress! Thanks for postings, you’ve really livened up the PA forums!
I haven’t tried it, but there’s a lot of discussion on other forums about using Fastenal to ship items long distances. You bring item to their store, they ship warehouse to warehouse. If you go to their website, it’s under “3PL”, for Third Party Logistics. The forums have discussed shipping such items as axles for a couple hundred dollars across country.
Greg, this is the Miss Helen that came out of the Bill Pettit collection, correct? I first saw the car when I walked into a clear span warehouse, with 100 or so cars in it, jammed fender to fender. It was like walking into the old Harrah’s collection, so much to see that one glanced over such wonderful cars as Miss Helen. He also had a ’17 r so touring, but I just couldn’t afford it.
While we were there, a friend bought a beautiful original 1910 Reo for short money…Bill offered me the 1910 Stanley behind it, 10HP but wonderful original car, $40K….this was a few years back for sure, but in retrospect, what a bargain…
He also had that strange purple last Duesenberg, ’38 I think, with the funny grill sides on the hood…what a sight…..
Glad you were able to end up with Miss Helen!!
Nice plates! Can’t wait to hear your choice of colors and materials, that can really make a car! Haartz/Stayfast is a fairly normal choice, sounds like you might be going with a Sonnenland German fabric?
Some heavily patterned top materials can be tricky on a touring car, as the side panels sometimes have to be cut on the bias to properly conform to bow shape, and the pattern can get “crossed”” so to speak….
Let us know your decisions when you make them! Exciting project…”
Tony, I would agree with you, like a lot of things handling babbit is becoming a lost skill….
I believe my rear windshield does have extra fasteners on it, never thought about a fabric cover….it does not have anything now that extends from the windshield to the back of the front seat…
detail shot of top
Here’s another
I’ll post a few, it’s a 1931 Model 43 phaeton, very similar to your ’29, without the dual cowl. Mine does have an accessory rear windshield that extends back to directly in front of rear passengers. Previous owner bought it in 1959, it lived in New Orleans until 1984 when I bought it. Engine fire a few years later, so I re-restored it.
You’re fortunate to have the original material as a reference.
Although my profession was engineering, at one point I apprenticed under a trimmer of German descent who was a perfectionist, and knew his craft. Now retired, I do select projects of leather interiors and early tops.
I know it’s a matter of semantics, but what you have is a guide for a proper top, not a pattern. I’ve seen many people try to use old fabric as a literal “pattern”, but over the years it’s shrunk or stretched or otherwise been abused.
What you have is invaluable for some measurements and details, if it is indeed the original top.
Can’t wait to see the finished product! Here’s a “top shot” of my phaeton, a view not often seen….
Cool, Ed, that’s interesting information….
Just options, as mentioned, open car hardware is hard to come by….hope you find some originals!!!
Well, back to your “leather and topping” discussion.
Body and interior colors will determine what color top you put on car. I believe the only factory choices for top were black or tan, if anyone knows differently advise. Haartz/Stayfast is the best wearing material and good to work with. Make sure your trimmer uses good padding material for the top pads, NOT a thin foam, or your top will end up looking like a starved horse. The top on these phaetons has a very nice curve to the rear curtain, be sure to study pictures of cars and see how this was done. The front edge of the rear curtain (right beside the backrest of rear seat) should have a pocket, into which the rear side curtain slides. If you need pictures of any of this, let me know.
Make sure you choose a high quality vat-dyed automotive leather. Leather is a science all to itself, and some furniture leathers will not hold up in a car. There’s another creature out there now, called “bonded leather”, which is leather scraps ground up and glued back together. The name sounds great, the material isn’t suitable for anything with four wheels.
I realize that color is a personal choice, but remember that Pierce usually was a conservative company. It’s so easy to be tempted by bright flashy colors and contrasts and all those chrome accessories, and thus detracting from the basic beauty of the car…
Yes, it was a 32 club brougham….I was looking at buying or trading for it, but heard through the grapevine that the engine had some developmental challenges so ended up passing also.
I don’t trust old babbitt, particularly on rods as they take a beating. The mains on a 9 main bearing engine are much longer lasting.
Anyone working with old engines is also aware of the high price of tin, which in turn makes Babbitt metal very expensive. How many of you have converted rods to inserts? I’m a fan of that……
They may not be exact to the Pierce design, but maybe could be modified, from the following suppliers, :
Antique Auto Top Hardware Company, Kim Dawson, 503-8245888 http://www.AntiqueAutoTopHardware.com (has a bronze casting blank, can be modified and threaded to fit) Oregon
Restoration Supply Company, http://www.RestorationStuff.com , 800-3067008 (has a couple different wingnuts that you might add a bolt to and modify) California
Your restorer should be familiar (if he’s not) with Restoration Supply as they have lots of interesting, hard to find stuff…also, McMaster Carr is a gold mine of hardware if you look, and once you set up an account, you order one day and it’s in your hands the next.
