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Yes, Tony, I would agree. Tom Derro’s car (prior to his ownership) was at an exposition at Hershey many years ago with a price tag somewhere around a million. Last I heard on the car out west it was about 1.5 million. Wish that was in my neighborhood to afford, but it’s not even in my country. Would love to have one of these, and like Tom, drive it. David Coco

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HI- this car is in Las Vegas at the Auto Collections, and has been for sale for a while. Another is in the Blackhawk museum, and I think it has been for sale off and on. Another is with Tom Derro and gets driven and shown thanks to him. Is that it, now more show cars out there? I heard a rumor about a 4th car that was hiding somewhere in the southern states, anyone know any more of that story? David Coco

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Hi- I saw it too at Hershey, and inspected it. I would agree that it is a nice car, but in the 18K to 20K range at most. If someone had to have it, 22K tops. IMHO David Coco

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Hi- I have heard that people have taken larger diameter convex glass, and cut it down to fit. Here is a website that has convex glass starting at 4″ diameter and going up by 1″” increments:

http://victorian-frames.stores.yahoo.net/coglci.html

good luck David Coco”

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Hi- thanks George, I will double check it, away from home on the West coast this week so can’t look at it until this weekend. thanks David Coco

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Have a list now, have emailed it to those who requested it, if you do not recieve or wish to recieve please advise. Also found a few things for 36-37 Cord, brass cars (foot rest, exhaust whistle) Will have anything I don’t sell and then some at Hershey, around CG32-34. thanks David Coco

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Hi- made a list in pencil, and still have to find a few things, it is about #2 or #3 on my priority list for this weekend. thanks David Coco

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OK, thanks, will get a list together this weekend and email to you. David

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Hi Lee- thanks for your gracious offer. The project I was working on is just about completed, and I am now working on another close to home project. I will probably be back out in Sacramento sometime in the next couple of months, and will contact you then. Thanks!! David Coco

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Great story Bob. So it would appear that what I saw, also long ago, was the car in the process of assembly, thus the assumption on my part that the post was “removable”. Remember that on my visit, Enrico was not on site to clarify for me; that both cars were there (Merlin’s and Craig’s), so I have no idea which one I was looking at; and lastly, it was when both cars were in the middle of restoration. To me, mystery solved! Sure hate not being at the meet this year. Know everyone will have a great time. David Coco

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Darn, did I let kind remarks slip in somehow? Oh well. I remember looking at Craig’s car (the unrestored phaeton) when Henry Yeska had it for sale. Great car, I just could not afford the cost of ownership. Glad it went to someone who is maintaining it’s originality. Would be interesting to see if that EDL is a removable post car, or if that whole episode is a figmentation of my imagination. Will miss seeing you guys at the meet this year, y’all have fun! David

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Interesting stuff, Tony. I may have left out one part of the story; Enrico was not home when I looked at the cars, the other Pierce owner showed me the cars; obviously he wanted to sell his, not offer me the choice of the EDL’s.
Perhaps Merlin could let us know if my recollection is correct. I believe he told me the second EDL that Enrico had in his workshop was in a very private collection in the northeast (i.e. stuck in a garage and not driven or shown). Both cars were in mid-restoration when I saw them (this would have been in the mid to late 80’s), but I distinctly remember seeing the removable door post on the passenger side of one of the cars. Sure wish I had known at the time that one of these EDL’s was for sale; for a couple thousand more than I paid for the model 54 sedan I could have had a unique car. David

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Hi- I remember! I never have repaired the gas guage on my 31 phaeton, so ALWAYS carry extra gas. And it gets poor mileage, so one always is a poor guesser on how much is in the tank.
Thanks for info on gas regulator, that helps. I have papers from both Pierce and the machine shop that made these for Pierce; interesting reading, as apparently they ordered a lot of them, and then kept cutting the order (optimistic on sales perhaps?). There is also discussion of the tooling and mold used for the pieces. Interesting stuff. Thanks again! David Coco

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Hi- glad this worked out for you, as mentioned in previous post he has done nothing but excellent work for me; also, as mentioned before, if you are going to finish natural, tell Bill so that he uses a nice looking grain; otherwise he just goes for strength. David C.

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I would please ask that nobody bids on this little gem. Tony Zappone and I are going to buy this thing and get it back on the road for a winter driver. Bob Sands has all the parts we need to get it running for $135.00 . Be sure to look for it at PAS meet this summer. Ed Minnie

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Wow, nice lines to the body, this is not for the faint of heart nor light of pocketbook, of course. I pulled a 1934 836 out of a field in Virginia a couple of years ago, and the more we pulled the worse it got. Mother Nature sure wants these things back when they sit outside! dc

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Hi- the data plate is clearly visible on the passenger (left) side of the body, at bottom of cowl; I just could not read it from behind the display chains, and did not want to cross them. I’ll contact Bob, if I can would love to come visit, although I’d have to bring someone with me if you want a "distinguished" visitor, as doubt that I fit that billing. dc

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Hi George- next time I go over there I will try to get the serial number; it is not "readable" from behind the barriers, will see if one of the docents will let me get close enough to copy it. There is an 840 in the museum, an older restoration it appears. I was wondering what the deal was with the privately owned cars there. Luckily there is a short rainy season here, the museum was leaking (through the roof) on numerous cars Sunday when I was there.

I am going to be in Sacramento about 75% of the time for the next 4 months or so, heading up a project of production modifications to the Crystal Dairy plant there. Would love to visit with some of the area Pierce guys! I’ll get in touch with you and/or Bob to arrange something. Right now I plan to be out here March 3-12, then again March 17-26.

Thanks! David Coco

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Hi- just as further information (and you can tell I spent some time in his shop); his father used to run the business, and as mentioned it is pretty much a one man shop now. In a good week, he turns out two sets of wheels (each set of 4 wheels). In this big world, 100 sets of wheels a year is pretty exclusive; most of the wheels he seems to make are the early brass cars it seems. He uses hickory if I remember correctly, it has to be cut a certain way with the grain to make the blanks. He has a machine into which he puts a good pattern (and can use one of the spokes off your car is one is good enough), and then it makes 6 or 8 spokes at a time from that pattern. He will choose better grain wood if you are going to stain and varnish wood wheels, but if to be painted grain appearance is not important. All wheel wood is put in a special room which reduces it to 1.5% moisture content. After dry (and it takes weeks to get to that low moisture content), he fits and assembles the wheels, and the moisture in the air rehydrates the wheel (I think normal wood is 30% moisture or more), swelling the wood to make a tight fit (remember the old trick of driving through a stream to tighten Model T wheels). Remember, a wood wheel is a compression wheel, with weight supported by bottom spokes of wheel at time of tire contact with road; wire wheels are suspension wheels, with weight of car supported by upper part of rim hanging from spokes. Then he has a machine which makes the hub hole true, and he finishes the wheel. It is all very low tech, but he turns out a true wheel which will last you another 100 years or more. All this trivia is rattling around in my head and am glad to let it out a little. Happy (Pierce or Franklin) Motoring! David Coco

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Hi- one point I forgot to mention, if the powder coating that you had done is meant to be a final finish, you may get disappointed. I believe there is a heat step involved in shrinking the rim on the felloe (fellow?), which, combined with the dried wood soaking moisture from the air, forms an extremely tight wheel. This heat may discolor or damage a coating, I know that the primered rims on my sets of wheels had to be redone. Something else to be clear about with Bill.

Again, good luck! David Coco

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