[Curti]

Thanks Steve, I appreciate your effort. "The Yard" sounds interesting. Have you ever posted pix of that?

[Steve Moskowitz]

No I have not. I am hopeful we get a major story on Barney with pictures included for our magazine in the future

[terry54999]

Barney Pollard Jr. is still in the metro detroit area. I was fortunate enough to have wandered around Pollards sheds and buildings a a kid. My father and his friends bought quite a few cars from him. the welded name on the frame horns is a fact, however it is not applicable to all his cars. I am currently considering purchase of a '32 8-100 Phaeton, that was a Pollard car and has been stored since removed from one of Barneys buildings in the late '70's. Curt, give me a P.M. and I will get you my number. one of my friends has quite a few pics from the pollard collection. and may be able to help. also, I am quite sure if you search Ph. numbers, you will find Barney Pollard Jr. in Wixom or novi Mi.

[Jim Dillon]

Curt, The car does look familiar although not the color-I thought it was dark-possibly black. If you bought it via my aunt Christine then of course there would be no auction records to substantiate it, as it was a direct sale. I titled personally hundreds of these cars and kept all of the records. As I indicated to Steve I lost tons of stuff to a flood years ago and it was just mush I loaded in the dumpster so I did not know everything I lost.

It is hard to misplace all of the files that held these titles but like a true Pollard I saved junk. If they are hiding, I did a pretty good job of hiding them.

Without a title to match up, it may be a stretch documenting it although our method of titling these cars was not something that took an advanced degree-we either used the engine number or "obvious" other number. I do believe there were three Auburns in the collection that I have a smattering of recollection. Terry just emailed me on a 32 which was owned by BC, Barney's son and then I believed my aunt Christine had two, although some of the early records had the dates of these cars all wrong. If you have anything else Curt or other photos let me know. My say so that it looks familiar wouldn't buy you a cup of coffee little alone document the car. My aunt's health is probably not all that well right now. I am sure BC would remember the car.

As to the putting my grandfather's name on the chassis that was rarely done and moreso by BC. BC enjoyed having the weldors weld on the large tools "stolen from BJ Pollard Co" so I am not surprised he put the Pollard name on a few cars chassis-emphasis on a few.

Bob Sands you did a great job on the Metropolitan Town Car. When Brunn came to visit me at my shop back in the eighties he told me he got the idea for that design from a Bugatti in France while he was working at Kellner as an apprentice. I asked him about color combinations and he told me he wanted it to have a more lively color combination but as he said, Pierce customers were a bit more conservative. Great car no matter what the color.

As to the fire, the cars that were involved in that were for the most part not restorable. I have pics for insurance of the cars that burned -just rubble for the most part-all of the aluminum melted and the steel frames were pretzels for the most part. Interstate if your car has some fire damage I do not believe it was from the 110 cars or so that were destroyed, that is not to say it escaped the collection unscathed.

Terry as to the 32 Auburn you mentioned I remember the car-will speak to you later.-Jim

[Dynaflash8]

This sure is an interesting thread. I remember reading about the collection and the fire in my youth or semi-youth. I would have thought it was in the late 1960's rather than the 1970's. Steve, a story with pictures on the Pollard Collection, with all the cars standing on end would be among the most exciting articles ever to be published in ANTIQUE AUTOMOBILE. Earl

[Steve Moskowitz]

Jim, thanks for taking the time to post. It is always fascinating to read your words as you lived our automotive history like very few of us could ever imagine!

When your aunt let me come down to see the collection (I thought I was coming down to by a Limited!) I came with trailer in tow. When she turned on the lights in the warehouse I literally almost fainted. As the lights slowly came on I saw the crane on the floor and several cars stacked. A grand collection of brass cars filled the outside edges.

I spent some time trying to authenticate the car I was told was a Limited but it was not. I seem to recall it was a Defender and bought by Manny Sousa. As I was leaving I saw the Curved Dash with the front converted to a straight dash. I was told that Barney drove it at Greenfield Village in 1954. Your aunt told me the price, she was firm but after turning the crank and hearing the sound I was hooked. I remember all the books in the front room as well. I think many were engineering books.

Your aunt was private but very gracious. I did send her pictures after the car was restored.

Earl, when Jim is ready we will do a story on Barney as there is a generation of hobbyists that need to know about the legends of our past.

[Curti]

Jim, You do remember the 1934 Auburn. The door jams and firewall were not primed. The original color was a dark blue. A gentleman (now decesed) name Jack Stenberg purchased it from Barney's daughter. The engine number is GF1291. Being a RHD car it was exported; I believe to New Zealand. Envelopes from the 3M company in Auckland were found in the car.
The history is fun if the dots can be connected.

[Jim Dillon]

Curt, as I said I have a recollection of it dark-so dark blue is more in line. The right hand drive also seems to clear some of the cobwebs in my memory. I do have a recollection of the car but the only place I may have some of the copies of the titles may be in a storage trailer I have across town. If they are not there they disintegrated in a landfill in California. Next time I go out to the storage yard I will take a look.

As I said a little more than "he seems to remember it" will go along way-Jim

[1937hd45]

Jim, were is the 1913 Chalmers that Barney drove on the 1950 Glidden Tour? The Elmer Bemis 1912 T was on the Tour as well, and I've had the car since 1983. I've always thought it would be fun to trace all the cars from that Tour and collect photos of them today.

[Dynaflash8]

I imagine that the late Bill Zerega of Washington, DC was on that 1950 tour as well. I know he was on the 1947 or 1948 Tour with his Empire touring car. I've forgotten the year of the Empire, which I never actually saw. His son probably still has the car. Both his son and daughter are still active in the National Capital Region. I want to say it was a 1911 Empire, but 1913 also sort of rings in my brain. Bill was best known for his Stanley Steamers and his 1928 Chrysler roadster, the latter car I knew very well. I wrote an article about Bill and his early days with AACA for the 25th Anniversary issue of ANTIQUE AUTOMOBILE.

Old Antique Automobile magazines may shed a lot of light on some of these things. I have a full set back to March-April 1962.

What year was the fire, and what year was the auction? I'd like to go back into my AACA magazines and see if there wasn't a report on these events. I remember reading about it, but I don't remember when that was.