Peerless. What year based on serial number

Would this Peerless Model 54 serial number be 1916 or 1917?

#161443

The car was delivered on December 20, 1916, so may have been titled a 1916, but I would think that it was probably a 1917.

Nevermind. Found my answer down in the Peerless Forum. It's 1916.

http://forums.aaca.org/f188/model-56-engine-numbers-273557.html

West,

Who has this 1916 Peerless? I would like to know if the engine is a series 1 or series 2.

I was told years ago that Peerless changed the engine in midyear. I have a 1916 series one and met the dealer that sold it. He said the series one was a bad design that was timed wrong and being not balanced it had a lot of vibration. He said Peerless redesigned the engine and the later 1916 models had the series 2. There were a lot of internal changes made but the only way to tell the difference on the outside was the exhaust manifold that was finned on the series 1 and the air compressor was located in the valley ahead of the carburator. The Peerless series 1 engine is exactly the same as the Hirshell-Spillman engine but I have not been able to find a connection there. I would like to see pictures of this engine.

RHL

An AACA member's grandfather bought this particular car new in Philadelphia on December 20, 1916. His name was Benjamin H. Grieder, and lived in Rheems, Pennsylvania.

The car is no longer in the family, and I'm sure they do not know if it still exists or not. I'll see if she has any more information on the car, but if there is any, it is only written information and no photos. The granddaughter asked me if I had any photos of a 1916 Peerless that she could include in her grandfather's notes. AACA Librarian Chris Ritter provided a few very nice photos.

I was the owner of a Peerless motor several years ago that I salvaged out of a junkyard.

I was not sure just what it was, but I knew that I had to have it.

It turns out that it was used in an inboard motorboat. It had an external oil pump that was driven by an external camshaft lobe on the rear (?) of the motor that consisted of simply a vertical shaft that up and down into a cup that was on the same level as the oil pan.

It was a four cylinder, the intake was soldered copper tubing and the distributor has the words "... timer" on it. I mentioned it to a few people and soon one man offered me $300.00 for it. I sold it in order to give it a good home.

Can anyone identify what motor I had?

Can anyone identify exactly what I had?

Roger,

There was a company in Rochester N.Y. that made Peerless marine engines. I have seen some ads for these and your description sounds like this is what your engine was. I cannot find any relation with this company and the Peerless automobile company in Cleveland. Peerless is a generic name and used on many products. PEERLESS (has no peers).

RHL