karguy12

Henry Ford's plastic or "Soybean" car was from 1941. He most likely experimented with the materials long before that.

A December 1941 article in Popular Mechanics was about a guy named Russell who used the exact same construction technique and similar materials and plastic to make his plastic car. His car was very awkward and not well designed or refined. He was an associate of Preston Tucker and Tucker was big into plastics pitching it to the military to try and land a contract. The plastic that is on my car looks a lot like Bondo, but Bondo was not invented until 1955. My 1937 Adler Lemans race car has plexiglass (Perspex) windows in 1937.

I've been really trying to make MY post about mechanically sourcing parts and rebuilding a Pierce Arrow engine for the sole purpose of NOT having this turn into a pissing match about what my car is or is not. So, why are you posting this here?

The way the car is constructed, it is cage over the original frame. The body is not removable from the frame without cutting it off. It is much easier to restore it mechanically without the body covering in the way. Then the body covering will be fabricated over the restored chassis. As a restorer, I have always completed mechanical/frame before body/paint.

The starter mechanism is still intact. ALL controls were extended to place the driver's seat just in front of the rear axle.

That is what I always thought as well. So, then the question is what was the original application? Did PA's have tachs and if so, what were their mechanisms like? Or was it hand fabricated to allow the aircraft tach in the dash to operate accurately?

The mechanical lever does not seem to have any connection to the aluminum box.

Right now I have only a tentative offer to assist in the aerodynamic study. It is based on a students doctorate thesis on the history of aerodynamics in automotive design. I would not want to jinx it, as he and I are so far excited about the project. I would love help, technical assistance, advice, parts scavenging or anything that gets me closer to seeing this thing back on the road.

I'm looking to identify this specific part circled in red. It is currently on a 1931 Pierce Arrow engine. I am wanting yo know if anyone has seen a similar part or knows the original application for this part. I have not seen this on any other Pierce Arrow engine I have seen in person or photos.

Has anyone seen one of these on a Pierce engine before. Or any engine?

Again, thank you for the very helpful information. I would buy a running used engine. But I am also interested in seeing if there are any internal modifications to this engine to go with the 4 carbs. Any porting, head shaving, boring, etc. Is the exhaust manifold on my engine stock for this model? It does not look like the ones I've seen on 1931 engines. I will join the PAS. I have not in the past due to the expectation of more people like Studemax. People that tell me there is no information about my car, then proceed to tell me all about what it is not. As the restoration proceeds, I will be taking a "forensic" approach to the car, examining and documenting every detail. Hopefully some of the construction details will shed light on its creator. I will also be working with a university's design and engineering department to make a clay model for wind tunnel testing to see what the drag coefficiency is to compare with other cars.

I've always stuck to fact. In the case of this car, most of those facts are just connections. Like a spider web of information. They lead, they point but they do not come to a precise conclusion. Yet. But I invite anyone to prove me wrong by offering the $1,000 reward for proof of who built it. I'm open to any new information and will track down any lead. But for the next few years, the focus will be to revive the car as-built.

"This is someone's pipe dream that went up in smoke before it turned a tire in anger." More conjecture and BS? lol Are you saying the car burned? What facts do you base your opinion on? I only showed photos of the engine for the main purpose of keeping opinions like this out of my thread. You can always count on somebody to post the hate. I'm bringing the car back to life.

Thank you sir. Appreciate the fine on point information. Does anybody have one of these distributors for sale?

So, back to the mechanical rebuild questions. What distributor would I need for this engine and who sells gasket sets or rebuild parts?