[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

I do think it takes a measure of intestinal fortitude to take liberties

with the design elements in a boat tail Riviera. Everyone who bought one

must have fought parting with them when the junker was on the horizon,

for they are plentiful and affordable on the market today.

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

I’m enchanted by the 1966 P-A design. Please make sure mine has a 426 Hemi

in it. A 4 speed would allow me to make it sing or growl to my ear’s

satisfaction. I wonder if Santa would trade in his sleigh on one?

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

Ben,

Thanks for putting the record straight and the hard work you do for the PAS.

Tony

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Richard,

If you want an exact replacement, Wayne Simoni has a shop that makes

brass parts and other items that are difficult to find. I couldn’t find

his site on the internet and hope he is still in business as I need him

to make a drain spigot for my early Rambler. He is listed in the HCCA

Roster.

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

I’m surprised that nobody has discussed the coolers filled with

ice that were suspended from door windows. These were popular and

I believe appeared in the forties. They didn’t put out cool air

when stationary, but with all the engineers in our Society (pro

and amateur) an appropriately placed fan would chill things.

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

A rational discussion on an emotional subject. How does that happen

this day and age? There are still many unrestored Pierce-Arrows

desperate for a loving restoration. Time is ticking away as the cost of

renewal races for the sky. The cost of storage is going up in this

crowded world and most owners never give a thought to income they would

realize renting out the space their beauty takes up. The Pierce-Arrow

Society is the only hope for the less desirable of the make that are

missing a $150,000 restoration. By providing parts sources, manuals,

knowledge, events, but mostly exposing our cars to the public, we can

carry our hobby into an uncertain future and provide a happy ending to

forlorn sedans in barns. Let’s be happy and kind while we share our

differing ideas keeping in mind that a strong club benefits us all.

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

If these cars get any more valuable, someone may have one miraculously

appear in their garage. Kind of like the rare Tucker Convertible that

showed up recently. That’s an idea whose time has come: a Silver Arrow

convertible with external exhaust pipes! Such a beast might have saved

the greatest line of cars known to the well-connected.

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

Peter,

Leon Rubay designed the 1915 White in 30HP,45HP,and 60HP offerings.

White stated in its ads “the car that makes made-to-order bodies

unnecessary”. I know that GM gets all the mentions for corporate

design attempts, but White should get recognition for having their

total lines custom designed. The results are that my 1915 White 4-45

7 passenger touring is the first dual cowl production car produced

in America. The Lanchester of the UK had an odd looking dual cowl in

1904.They also used in house designed disc brakes and patented the

harmonic balancer at a later date.

Tony Costa

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

Mr. Minnie, how are you and the magnificent collection you work

for making out?

Tony Costa

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

Thanks for your concern, Peter. I don’t have a widow yet, so the

question is moot. I’ll take you up on the lunch though, as long as you

don’t share your stogie. They remind me of my mentor, Mr. Roland Zillmer.

Tony

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

I started my ’36 1601 without the air cleaner. The car backfired,

puking gas that caught on fire. A quick thinking helper beat out the

fire with his shirt. No damage resulted, but I still have nightmares.

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

The first HCCA Tour I took my 1912 Pierce 36HP to was held in Sun

Valley. Bill Harrah was there, along with one of his favorite cars out of

1453, his 1913 Pierce-Arrow 66.This tour must have been special to him as

he flew our lunch from Reno,food, servers, plates, tables, the works.

125 pre-15 cars showed up for lunch at his ranch in Stanley, Idaho. That

night Cecil Andrus, the Governor of Idaho and future Sec. of the Interior

Welcomed us to Idaho. Harrah had 2 armed guards with him.

I managed to pass Leo Plamindom(SP) in his fast Stevens Duryea and

incurred his wrath. My widow can cite the car’s race heritage when she

disposes of it.

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

The auction car’s number is 66748. It would appear to not be Rodney’s

#66715. Peerless also produced an 824.7 cubic inch engine ’12, ’13 ’14

and ’15’.Bore was 5″ and stroke was 7″, like Pierce’s. Peerless outdid

Pierce by inserting 572 cubes to Pierce’s 524 cubes in their 48HP cars

(’12, ’13, ’14,’15). Marmon had 572 cubes in their 48HP cars ’13, ’14,

and ’15.

SAE horsepower formulas only considered bore sizes. In other words,

any car with a 3 3/4 inch bore was 22HP. Stroke or cubes didn’t

matter. By 1910, a University had a machine that could apply a brake

on engine output. Brake HP didn’t become common until well into the

twenties.

This didn’t stop car advertisements from using fictitious HP’s in

the teens. My ’14 Chalmers was advertised as 60 HP with 72 brake HP

(415 cubes). 1914 Packard 48HP had 84 brake HP (524 cubes).

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

I’ve heard about blocks of rubber in the McMasters-Carr(SP) catalog

that can be shaped to your needs. I’m not sure how you would attach

it to the metal, but some awesome glues are available. The new

rubber would respond to its usage much better than that rock hard

fossil can take abuse.

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

Dave, I bet your ’17 truck doesn’t have front wheels like this one does.

The solid rubber tires from America have a strand of wire inside that

gets welded (?) somehow. The tires on the auction vehicle are the shiniest

I’ve ever seen.

Tony Costa

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

Hats off to the fine comments on this subject. I know of a Model 33

that has been in the same family since it was new. It was a graduation

present. The car has been overheating since it was brought home and

P.A. service couldn’t cure the problem. I wonder if application of

some of this advice would effect a solution?

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

Your attempts with the Champion, Jet, Airflow and Lowey’s ’50’s

Studebaker, brought back memories of the ’58 Packard-Baker. Today the

entry level Mercedes are careful to not share a platform with a

lesser make, though Audi gets away with it through its VW connection.

The Templar was engineered as a fine car. How can you start with a

$710 Champion (you could buy the cheapest Ford for $706) and end up

with a car that would show up on a Pierce-Arrow sales floor (and have

a smile on the dealer’s face)? It smacks of the Brewster/Ford V8

combo with the grill shaped like a heart or Franklin’s marriage to

a REO body and chassis resulting in the first muscle car (?), the

Olympic. Dropping that 100 horsepower air-cooled engine in and

ditching the radiator and water-cooled weight, really made that $1,385

car scoot. It didn’t save Franklin or REO though.

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

Paul, we must be on the same wave length, as I owned a 1961 Chrysler

Imperial two door hardtop a few decades ago (I paid $300 for it). I

applaud your design skills and abilities with the computer.

Tony Costa

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

The Templar was a car from the twenties that attempted to produce a

reduced sized car with high quality, styling, and performance. The

engineers had previous employment with Chalmers, Pope-Hartford,

Stearns, Matheson, and Mercer, though it was an assembled car. It sold

for $1,950 in ’24, while a “80” sold for $2,850 in ’25. I can’t think

of any other car that had these three qualities as a design attempt. I

was 2 hours into a trip arranged prior, to purchase a Templar, when the

seller informed me he had sold it out from under me, to a museum that

specialized in Templars (the wound hasn’t healed). What if Pierce had

developed a similar entry level model (as many German Luxury Makes do

today)?

[Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.]

A little “raging pink” on the upholstery is an excellent way to

deflect a potential buyer’s attention away from other short-comings.

Maybe personalized art (tattoos) on cars we wish to dispose of, would

endear them to younger hobbyists?

[Author]

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