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Jane and Merlin, seconding Karl’s remarks, thanks for putting this great tour together. I wasn’t involved in any of the board meetings, but really enjoyed the activities you planned for the rest of us. The Titanic Museum was a real thrill for many of us. I also especially liked the opportunity to meet new society members and keep up my friendships with ones I have met in the past. Till June!
My dad’s first job part time while going to high school was working at Grigsby Grunow Majestic cleaning up in the department where they made “battery eliminators” for old battery radios.
When I bought my 1933 Pierce, a hole was cut in the dashboard for a radio control head. Thanks to a couple of people, I was able to get a Pierce labeled Philco Model ME Radio which is currently being restored and soon should be installed in my car.
My dad’s first job part time while going to high school was working at Grigsby Grunow Majestic cleaning up in the department where they made “battery eliminators” for old battery radios.
When I bought my 1933 Pierce, a hole was cut in the dashboard for a radio control head. Thanks to a couple of people, I was able to get a Pierce labeled Philco Model ME Radio which is currently being restored and soon should be installed in my car.
Nice car, wish I had the space for another one!
It was the stories my grandfather shared with me about his Pierce Arrows that inspired me to eventually buy my own Pierce. My grandfather lived next door to us, and had a nice grape arbor in the back yard. We would sit out in the yard on summer nights, and he would tell me of his old neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, the local characters, but most of all his trips with his Pierces. One particularly sticks out in my mind is when he drove to Philadelphia in the middle of a blizzard, with what must have been a Dual Valve touring car, and brought my mother home from school there. Bear in mind this is long before interstate highways! Another time he took the family, including his two German Shepherds, out for a picnic in the country. He tied the dogs to the rear doors on the car, again a touring car, and suddenly the dogs spotted some animal, and they ran off with the car doors in trail. Once my great grandmother was visiting from Philadelphia, and my mother took her and my grandmother out for a nice Sunday drive in the country. While out driving, someone rear ended her. Coming home with a dented bumper, she tried to explain to him what had happened. Driving over to the dealership, he was arguing with her that no one would simply run into the back of a car like that. He was arguing so much, he did exactly the same thing, into the back of another car. Another time when he was teaching my mother to drive, he had her pull the Pierce out of the garage, located on a tight alley between streets. Another car started coming down the alley, so he told her to go right, go right. And she did go right, right into the brick wall of another garage. He was nonplussed, just told her to back up and keep going!
Check out Abe Books and Alibris too. That’s how I got copies of both of Mr. Brierley’s books.
Really looking forward to Roger Sherman’s book, I have all of the others. I was given a copy of the Maurice Hendry book by my grandfather when it first came out. It was his stories of his Pierces that led me to want to get a Pierce myself. One thing I like about the Hendry book is that I can quickly identify the various models as there was no consistency in Pierce model numbering over the years. Marc Ralston actually wrote two books about Pierce, one on the entire model run of Pierces and another one on the “Golden Age.” The “Golden Age” book is much less common, and I was fortunate to get a copy online. When I received it, I opened it to find it was a copy that Ralston had inscribed for his mother! The dust jacket was pretty tattered, but last year at the National Meet, I was able to pick up a brand new, never used dust cover. Ralston was an ophthalmologist and a very close friend of the former owner of my car. He advised him to grab the car back in the 1980s.
Mark, welcome to the PAS. I confess to being a first time antique car owner, with limited experience in working on cars, so from that viewpoint I want to stress the resources that this website provides. Whenever a new question comes up with my car, a 1933 1236 EDL, I search the message board for a possible answer, and if no answer comes up, I post a question. You will get a plethora of answers, and in the process get to know a great group of people. One thing I have done is to create a series of folders in my computer, covering the various aspects of my car, and I copy and paste relevant posts covering my car into these folders, so I have them all for ready reference. Based on the information I’ve received over the years, I have been able to do many minor repairs on my car and learn when a repair is major enough to turn over to an expert.
There are so many things in a Pierce which are unusual that it’s a good idea to ask before doing anything, as a well intentioned repair or service might wind up causing some major damage to your car. For example, I never would have realized that the worm gear drive in my car was bronze and requires specific lubricants. I have run across a lot of guys who “know everything about cars,” yet when listening to what they want to do you discover it is completely contrary to the advice of the experts here.
Welcome aboard and hope to see you at one of the meets!
The Tatra was an interesting car, technically advanced, designed by Hans Ledwinka, but the early swing axle rear end had many of the problems of the early Corvairs. During WWII, the German Army forbade officers from driving these cars due to their strange handling characteristics. Tatras remained in production until about 1975 when they ceased production of autos and just built trucks.
The Tatra was an interesting car, technically advanced, designed by Hans Ledwinka, but the early swing axle rear end had many of the problems of the early Corvairs. During WWII, the German Army forbade officers from driving these cars due to their strange handling characteristics. Tatras remained in production until about 1975 when they ceased production of autos and just built trucks.
All, hope to see you all at the National at Auburn in June. If all things go right, it will be the debut of my 1236 this time. It’s finally scheduled to go into the shop this month, and hopefully all will go right! I’ll bring some REAL Chicago Potato Salad for you Tony!
My 1933 1236 EDL appears to have a factory installed exhaust heater system with adjustable vents in both the driver and passenger compartment. In the place of the manual throttle control on the dash, there is a switch for an electric fan. With the fan blowing, it really throws a lot of heat. Kind of strange, as the car was delivered new, and lived most of its life in Arizona.
Thanks Karl!
Thanks Karl!
Since we seem to be getting on to the subject of Hershey, can I ask a few questions here? I’ve never attended this before, and am thinking about going next year for the first time. I just acquired a small camper equipped for towing to bring my Pierce to various events, and I think it would be the ideal vehicle to use to go to Hershey as I understand that rooms are had to come by at local hotels. Are there RV hookups nearby to the show? Basically all I need would be a water hookup and a 30 amp electrical hookup. Any suggestions? Does one have to be an AACA member to attend?
Just adding to the message, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. You’re a wonderful crew and I look forward to seeing and touring with all of you in the upcoming season!
Naaah, that’s for the Packard owners….
Rumor has it that 2019 PAS Calendars are popping up at smart destinations all over Chicagoland!
It’s a very nice car. I was riding with Dave in that car during the last Gathering at Gilmore, and it’s really a nice car. He was just about to have the interior redone, but the interior was really not too bad at that time.
My own experience with the S-W system has been quite good. The clutch on the braking system on my car wore out. Typically I understand the car will stop normally to begin with, and then with use the brakes tend to fade out. I discovered that the car will still stop quite well in this situation using the hand brake, as it operates on all four brakes. Thankfully though, my car is going in shortly to have the brake system clutch replaced and we’ll be up and out on the roads come springtime.
