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Owners of 1924 Peerless Model 6-70 Cars


jeff_a

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A very under-appreciated and little-known, but very important model for Peerless. I think they deserve their own thread here on the Peerless Forum.

Please if you own one or think you own one; write-in and tell us about it.

This six-cylinder car was introduced at a NY auto show, probably in January 1924, at a time when Peerless was an all-V-8 company, like Cadillac and Lincoln. Only 2,786 6-70s were made, but they were the start of a whole "line" of luxury Peerless sixes also including 6-72s, 6-90s and 6-91s. The general whereabouts of only one of these 2,786 cars is known by anyone in the Peerless Motor Car Club. If this serial number data is correct, that makes the line's production from 1924 to 1929 14,719 cars, near the top among the eleven lines Peerless sold 1920-1932.

The first Peerless I ever saw was a 6-70 5-Passenger Touring Phaeton which was a Los Angeles, California car, later turning up in central Montana for a spell.

Four models of Peerless using the Superb Six 289 Cu. In. engine:

Model..............................................Production......Model Years

Six-70..............................................2786...............1924, 1925
_____________________________________________________________________

Six-72..............................................5565................1925, 1926, 1927
Six-90..............................................3174................1927
Six-91..............................................3194................1928, 1929



There are probably only five or ten people worldwide who even talk about 6-70s, but I'm still interested in them. With the power of the world wide web, maybe we'll learn of some unknown ones! In addition to the model name stamped on the firewall, 6-70s can be identified by the Cadillac-influenced rad shell design combined with the new aluminum six.

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Jeff

Interesting topic. Is the 6-70 defined by body type or was it a series applied to all bodies? In other words, wouldn't the Ralph C car transported from Southern Calif to Maine be a 6-70 (or a 6-72) ?

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Bryan,

The 6-70 is a model, not a body type. The Eugene Swantz/Ralph C. car from San Diego is a 6-72, and a 5-Passenger Touring Phaeton, one of the seven body types (I call them body styles) available in 1925. The one once owned by a rancher in Square Butte, Montana is a 6-70.

Edited by jeff_a
Oops, typed a 7 when I meant to type a 5! (see edit history)
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Bryan,

I had to look this up with our good Peerless source Menno Duerksen (Cars & Parts, August, 1975, pp 100-105), but specifically, the 6-70 went into production in March, 1924 and lasted until replaced by the 6-72 in April, 1925. That would mean the 1924 6-70 became the 1925 6-70 in November, 1924. I wasn't sure there was ever a 1925 6-70, but there was.

Remember the rad shell design on that Montana Peerless and what's on the cars in the 1923 Sales Brochure you ordered? The 1924 & 1925 6-70s all had that one. The model change about April, 1925 brought "...body styling changed to include an integral sun visor, creased radiator shell and hood plus nickeled radiator shell." So, they went from a rad shell the same as used on a '24 Cadillac(an inverted "U") to the distinctive 1925-1928 Peerless design with a flat area about 4" wide (going from the top of the rad shell back to the cowl).

The best way to figure this out is to study that January, 1925 Peerless ad with all 14 styles illustrated(7 Mod. 8-67s, 7 Mod. 6-70s). Very similar bodies...but the 8-67s had gone to the new rad shell...and the 6-70s still had the older design. Later in 1925, they all had the same style rad shells and hoods. Interesting but confusing. To answer this I had to consult five sources. What's confusing is that my copy of The Standard Catalog of American Cars says that 126" w.b. 289 cu. in. Peerlesses were 6-70s, and that 133" w.b. Peerlesses with that engine were Mod. 6-72s for 1926 [not correct, in my opinion].

I don't know if I answered your question or not. Maybe someday you'll find an undiscovered Peerless from the mid-20s and it will turn out to be a Model Six-70. You could ID it by serial number {Car serial number 299,505-302,291, Motor number 60,005-62,791}, engine type, model number on firewall body plate, wheelbase, and possibly rad shell & hood design.

Did you ever get the 1923 Peerless Sales Folder?

----Jeff

Edited by jeff_a
More clarity -- and serial numbers. (see edit history)
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The 6-70 1924 Peerless was designed more by Cadillac than Peerless. Collins was the president of Cadillac and had a six cylinder engine designed. Evidently Cadillac didn't buy it so he set up a Corporation to build the Collins six and raised a lot of money.

But instead of setting up his own company in June 1921 he and his associates bought control of Peerless. Not only the President and V.P went to Peerless but also the Cadillac engineers, designers and several sales people took over Peerless. The new Peerless six was the Collins six. The traditional radiator shape that was a Peerless marque changed and the new Peerless looked just like the new Cadillac. Collins had a salary of $150,000 and the stock holders brought a law suit against him and won. Collins resigns Dec. 1923. January, 1926 Peerless replaces the Collins six with a Continental engine. The owners of Continental Motors were also large stock holders of Peerless and tried to take over control of Peerless but fell short. Do you see why they started using Continental engines?

RHL

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Thanks for you comments, Richard!

I always thought that this Superb Six engine was evolved from Cadillac engineering and Mr. Collins. I never understood why a couple of writers disagree with us and feel the Collins Six was designed by the Peerless engineering department.

The whole takeover and purchase of Peerless by Cadillac staff in 1921 was an odd thing. Did they come up with a great engine and go to Peerless just so they could realize their dream of putting it in production? Was this was some kind of chess move on GM's part to someday add Peerless to their conglomerate? According to Maurice Hendry, a number of the Cadillac men did their two years at Peerless and then returned to good ol' GM to start the Pontiac Division.

I was looking at a 1924 Peerless sales catalog today on the excellent www.peerless.six.dk site [Rene' Petersen created the site. He lives in Denmark and owns a 1930 Peerless 6-61A Sedan.] and read that the Model 66 V-Type Eight Peerless came in "Collins blue". A Model 6-70 in the catalog was painted "Erie Blue".

----Jeff

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Cadillac engineers designed a six cylinder engine but for some reason didn't use it. This is when Collins raised 4 million dollars and was setting up his own company to manufacture and sell the Collins six.Most of his investors were Cadillac engineers, designers

and sales people. The opportunity came to buy Peerless stock and take over the Peerless Automobile Co. and this is what they did. They sold the Collins six design to Peerless for $500,000 and Collins took a salary of $150,000 a year with a commission on sales.

ALL of the new engineers, designers, and sales managers came from Cadillac, even McClenaghan, superintendent of maintenance, came from Cadillac. Do you have any doubt about where this engine came from???

1924 New model 70 six cylinder 80 hp model

1925 model 6-70 Peerless engine

1926 6-80 Continental engine 63 hp 116 inch WB

6-70 Peerless 70 hp 126 inch WB

6-72 Peerless 70 hp 133 inch WB

8-69 Peerless 70 HP V-8

1927 6-80 same as 1926

6-72 same

6-90 takes the place of the 6-70

8-69 V-8

Late 1927 6-60 introduced taking the place of the 6-72 with a lower price.

1928 six-60 Continental 62HP 116 WB

Six-80 116 WB Continental 63HP

Six-90 Peerless 70 HP 120 WB soon to be replaced by the six-91

8-69 V-8

1929 6-61 same as six-60

6-81 same as six-80

6-91 same

Standard 8 Continental 8 114 HP 130 WB

1930 all engines are Continental 8 cylinders The last Peerless 6 cylinder engine was the 6-91 in 1929

Does this match your records Jeff???

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The funny thing about Peerless records, of course, is that there aren't any -- so for me to make a statement about Peerless is really trying to piece together all the modern writings about Peerless and make sense about it. Of course that's what history is1 . Navigating between the statements in various articles by different people is like dodging torpedoes at the Battle of Guadalcanal2. Both Mr. Duerksen and Mr. Hendry say the Collins Six came from a Peerless design, one of them even saying it was "the product of the 50-man Peerless engineering department".

As far as things I would list differently in your list of figures:

In my opinion, the 1996 edition of The Standard Catalog of American Cars, VOL I is in error when it lists the Model 6-70 as the 126" w.b. car and the 133" w.b. car as the Model 6-723 for 1926. Menno Duerksen says that the 6-70 turned into a 6-72 during an April, 1925 changeover. He is quoting one of the industry sources from the Twenties called the Auto Red Book.

After "6-91 same" on your list, instead of "Standard 8....114 h.p.", I would say "8-125", the name of the very first Peerless straight eight car. Standard 8 is correct for one of the new inline eights that came out in 1930, though (different engine, displacement, HP, price and wheelbase from the 8-125). On this 1929 Model 8-125, you had a choice of 130" and 138" wheelbases, depending on body style.

I believe Peerless did make 1925 Model 6-70s cars, however, I like to think of 1924s as 6-70s and 1925s as 6-72s...but that's splitting hairs on my part. The Collins Six or Superb Six cars made from about November, 1924 to March, 1925 would be 1925 6-70s.

Things would be a lot easier if the Peerless Archives re-appeared!

1 The facts never change - but history changes every day.

2 There are some things you want to avoid.

3 Your book says the same thing on page 24, and may be quoting Kimes & Clark's entry in The Standard Catalog .

Edited by jeff_a (see edit history)
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One of the problems with the history and models of Peerless is that there is so much misinformation out there. I have been collecting Peerless information for many years and have several hundreds of Peerless ads and articles about the company. I have also spent much time in Cleveland doing research at the libraries and news paper office. I have put all this information together and wrote the history of Peerless. I have not used information in other books with articles about Peerless because some of that information is not correct. Articles that were written by Peerless and ads that were proofed by Peerless are the best source of information. This is what I have primarily used.

The Peerless six in 1924 was the Collins -Cadillac designed engine and referred to as the Superb-six. I do not have any breakdowns of this engine and I do not know what changes were made to it by Peerless over the years it was produced. What I need to do is put my copy together along with all the ads and print it. The copy with the ads and dates would be self explaining. What is confusing is the changes of management in the 20's and the model changes taking place at different times thru the year.

The first year (1924) of the Peerless six was not referred to as the 6-70 but was called the Superb Peerless six in the ads for that year. The 6-70 didn't show up in ads until 1925.

RHL

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I mentioned earlier that only five or ten people ever talk about Model Six-70 Peerlesses. Oddly enough, one them is a recent Classic Car Club of America Classification Director who wrote that this model has the potential to qualify as a Full Classic. See Peerless Forum "Peerless CCCA List" thread, Post #5.

If just the 6-70 was recognized as a Classic, there would be hardly any cars & owners to take advantage of the status. However, there are a fair number of the other three models of the Collins Six chassis that still exist and I believe they would be a great addition to the CCCA shows and tours if they were recognized. I have little doubt that the Primrose Yellow 1927 PEERLESS Six-72 Sport Roadster {the William Harrah car in the 1973 Automobile Quarterly(VOL. 11, NO. 1) chapter on Peerless} would be upgraded to Full Classic if it was brought to the attention of a CCCA member or two. No one really knows where that car resides, though.

The Boat Tail Roadster mentioned above would be a sterling example of the 6-72, a Boat Tail Coupe Derick Adams in Quebec has could represent the 6-90, and Don Elliott's grand 5-Passenger Sedan in Massachusetts* could stand-in for all the 6-91s...but they are all the same line of cars that the 6-70 originated in 1924. They are distinct in both chassis and price from the 6-60s and 6-80s.

* Or a nearly identical car, which few have seen in decades, in remotest Iowa.

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I have been in the old car hobby since the early 1950's. Back then there were a lot of cars that weren't considered antique but they were a collectible "CLASSIC)" . The Classic car club was organized for these cars but over the years they have changed the rules to take in more makes and models. Most of the Classics that I was familiar with were not productions cars but cars with special bodies. I do not know what the current rules are for the Classic Car Club but what do you think a 1929 Peerless would be with Peerless body, antique or classic? Or 1929 Peerless with Hayes body??? Or a Sakhnoffsky designed 1930 Peerless with Peerless body??

All in the eyes of the beholder!!!!!! RHL

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  • 4 months later...

This is the Pullman bodied Montana car that was discussed a while back. Mr. Steve Murphy of Montana Classics was upset that we discussed it on the forum, especially price/cost. It is for sale as I understand it - for $6900 by the new owner. Given that the new owner would want a profit and not a loss, and that transport would have been about $800-$1000, that means Mr. Murphy (it's nobody's business what I sold it for) sold it for between $3500 and $4500.

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Bryan,

I was happy that this 6-70 turned up again and don't need to know the prices as much as knowing it's still around. It's a piece of history, it's an expense, but it's not an investment. It would have been kind of nice if someone with access to serious money had bought this -- then the ad would have said something like: "Restored Peerless 5-Passenger Phaeton, Lone Example Extant of Rare Model [Cadillac-Engineered Aluminum Six], Rare Marque, Inquire For Price". My best wishes to the new owner in his efforts to sell it. I was telling someone recently that the car should be sold to someone who is financially able to send it to the best restorer in the country....and who is not in a hurry. I've seen it myself. It would be one of the more difficult restorations possible because of the many decades outside. Sorry to go on and on, but this was the first Peerless I ever saw, and it is a nice car, despite the dreaded "condition #6".

Unfortunately, it's not a "fad" car....but what Peerless is? Nobody ever goes to Pebble Beach, sees a '24 Six-70 Peerless Roadster and comes back saying:

"That car's easily the equivalent of a '22 Single Six Packard or a '25 Series 80 Pierce-Arrow: I need to find one, too!" *

In my opinion, there's no one still around who's even seen one go down the road (Peerless 6-70 Roadsters, Phaetons, Coupes, Sedans or Limousines). So, unlike 1937 Cord fans (lots of people salivate over Cord 812s, even fake ones) or Corvette fans (1,500,000 Corvettes built, but there are 600 books written about them for people who think they're cool and want to know more about this popular but not so rare model), the seller needs to find an odd duck who doesn't want to follow the herd and have the 100th Duesenberg shown at a concours d'elegance, but wants to show a rarer make (Peerless) that he spent as much on as his '34 Packard. Showing the 1924 Peerless Pullman Phaeton at a major concours well-restored would, I think, drag all the 6-70, 6-72, 6-90 and 6-91 models into Full Classic status faster than you can say: "$100,000 car".

Again, sorry to go into fantasy mode. Who knows, though, maybe someone or some museum who can afford such a restoration will read this someday. And the car will sell to the right person.

* As you know from reading the Peerless Forum, when the Hollywood Peerless Dealership opened up in June, 1924, the featured car at this star-studded gala actually WAS a 1924 Peerless Six-70 Roadster.

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I agree with your comments. I am more intimidated by this car to restore then ones I normally buy. I have heard antecdotally that these older cars are "easier" to restore because of the lesser technology but then the ability to work with wood that it would take, means 85% of restorers are out.

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You're right about technology. You couldn't even get a radio as standard equipment in a Peerless until 1924!

Little-Known Fact about Peerless Collins engines like this 6-70 has: You know how some late-model cars have problems with low oil pressure? On the motors in this line of Peerless, there is a device that lets you adjust the oil pressure to whatever you want (20, 30, 40, etc.).

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  • 2 years later...

The owner of the 1924 Six-70 is now Bill Thomas of Texas. When Mr. Kucera's collection of dozens of pre-war was being sold, he bought 4 or 5 of them about 2014. These cars in New Waverly, TX, mostly condition #5, included a Franklin, 3 Pierce-Arrows, some '34/'35 Cadillacs, and 11 '24-'27 Cadillacs and were advertised on Hemmings Motor News. I hope he finds it to be an interesting car, and also hope that word has trickled-down to him how rare his 1924 Pullman Peerless Phaeton is..........and that it's recognized as a CCCA Classic now.

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  • 2 years later...

In 2017 another Peerless 6-70 showed up in the pages of the October, 2017  Hemmings Motor News....it´s a 1925 6-70 5-Passenger Sedan, for sale in North Carolina for $25,000.

 

In late June, 2018, I found out about another Peerless 6-70. It will be for sale at a September 15th auction in southeast Saskatchewan, Canada by Mack Auctions(www.mackauctioncompany.com). This one is much like the Condition #5- one found in Montana except for condition. It had a partial restoration in 1970 and looks great.  

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On August 12, 2013 at 2:03 PM, jeff_a said:

You're right about technology. You couldn't even get a radio as standard equipment in a Peerless until 1924!

 

1924 ??!!!  STANDARD EQUIPMENT ??!!!    Jeff , is that correct ? Can you provide evidence ? That seems impossibly early. I have been under the impression that radio was not available in cars until about 1930 , and have never seen an earlier automotive radio. I am not a radio expert  , but if there were automotive radios available in the '20s , I would love to find a period correct one (or just the control head) , for my 1927 Cadillac sedan. Anyone who reads this should see the Ken Burns documentary about the development of radio : "Empire Of The Air".     - Carl 

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On 11/15/2017 at 2:22 AM, C Carl said:

 

1924 ??!!!  STANDARD EQUIPMENT ??!!!    Jeff , is that correct ? Can you provide evidence ? That seems impossibly early. I have been under the impression that radio was not available in cars until about 1930 , and have never seen an earlier automotive radio. I am not a radio expert  , but if there were automotive radios available in the '20s , I would love to find a period correct one (or just the control head) , for my 1927 Cadillac sedan. Anyone who reads this should see the Ken Burns documentary about the development of radio : "Empire Of The Air".     - Carl 

There are a number of write-ups of the 1923-24 Winter NY Auto Show & Auto Salon that describe how the Springfield booth featured a Springfield-bodied  Peerless Sedan with a radio. All the Springfield Peerlesses were equipped with radios, standard...not all Peerlesses. Peerless had bodies built by at least 46 coachbuilders(some custom, some semi-custom, some production), so 1924 Peerless cars with bodies by Peerless Body, Raulang, Budd, Pullman, etc. would not have radios. The coachbuilt.com website has a paragraph about it.

 

UPDATE: In Automobile Topics, VOL 22; VOL 70; VOL 72, 11/17/23, p. 41: ¨RADIO in PEERLESS. One of the very interesting exhibits among the domestic productions was the Peerless radio Sedan. This job, the result of the ingenuity of the Springfield Body Co. is an exceedingly well finished sedan with the addition of a built-in radio outfit. This feature was incorporated to provide automobile campers and tourists with some connection with the outside world. The body of the ¨radio sedan¨ is finished in very light gray and green. The upper half of the hood is dark green while the lower half is finished in the light color. This belt extends entirely around the body. Green broadcloth, the monotony of which is relieved by a stripe, is used for upholstering the sedan -- the result is an exceedingly rich effect.¨  This Springfield Peerless was at the 19th Annual NY Auto Salon, where foreign[Isotta-Fraschini, Excelsior, Minerva, Mercedes, Renault, Rolls-Royce, and Voisin] & domestic[Cunningham, Winton, Duesenberg , Cadilac, Locomobile, Lincoln, Marmon, Peerless, and Packard] chassis´ were exhibited....plus coachwork by Merrimac, Springfield, and Hume.

 

Peerless built 3,926 cars in 1924, and only a small percentage of that would have Springfield Body Company coachwork. In modern terms, Peerless is more like Rolls-Royce than GM regarding annual production. It averaged 3,800 cars per year. Rolls-Royce, last year, built 4,011 cars. The last time I checked, GM had built 424 million vehicles since ´45, working out to around 6.6 million a year.

 

My Grandfather´s 1926 Elcar had a radio when new, but it may have been a dealer-installed option. The straight-eight Elcar survives, along with the radio, at a museum in Indiana.

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  • 5 weeks later...

In the early Twenties, Peerless had a couple of factory colors called Ohio Blue, Erie Blue and Collins Blue. This original, well-preserved cigarette card I have from then shows, very likely, one of those colors. The car illustrated would be a `23 or `24 Peerless Mod. 66(V-8) 4-Pass. Touring Phaeton, differing from a 1924 Mod. 6-70(six) 5-P Touring Phaeton partly from the all-plated headlights, instead of rim-plated-only; 128¨ w.b. instead of 126¨; engine; and cost. The Mod. 66 cost 405 bucks more than the 6-70. Bill Knight brought an impeccably-restored ´23 Mod. 66 4-P Touring Phaeton to the 2013 Peerless/Pierce-Arrow Gathering at Gilmore, and it looked much like this cigarette card car, except it was green.

 

I posted this in case someone, Bill Thomas for instance*,  was trying to get a color match on a car. There are some late-1924/early-1925 full page ads in the Saturday Evening Post that show nearly the same color on all the Superb Six cars on the right side(7 Eight-67s on the l.s. and 7 Six-70s shown on the r.s.). Back of card says:

 

     "MOTOR CARS - A Series of 56 - 18 - PEERLESS. There is a buoyancy and spirit, a dash and effortless ease about the Four - Passenger Touring Phaeton that delight those motorists who place a premium on performance. From the natty luggage trunk at the rear, to the handsome drum-type nickeled headlamps, this car is masterful and compelling in appearance. The body is quietly and lastingly beautiful; it is refreshing to look upon, and reflects the good taste of its owner. Issued by IMPERIAL TOBACCO Co OF CANADA Ltd MONTREAL"

image.thumb.jpeg.ae4a6f8152bd41fcdf142f44f5e9d98c.jpeg

* I´ve seen his 6-70 in person and found some small paint remnants on the cowl that look just like this. 

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  • 7 months later...

A third Peerless 6-70 has been found: a 1925 6-70 Five Passenger Touring Phaeton in excellent condition. It will be up for auction in S.E. Saskatchewan on September 15th by Mack Auction Company of Estevan, SK, Canada. There will be 18 antique other cars(including: ´23 Buick Touring project, restored ´37 Packard 120 Convertible Sedan, ´30 Erskine Regal Coupe project, ´65 Mercury Pickup restomod) and a Cessna plane in the sale...about 100 miles north of Minot, ND. That makes two 6-70 5-P Phaetons and one 6-70 5-P Sedan known out of 2,786 built.

 

6.jpg

6A.jpg

 6B.jpgThe Peerless Six-70s have aluminum 289 Cu. In. Collins sixes designed by the Cadillac Engineering Dept. & built by Peerless for 14,000 Peerless 6-70, 6-72, 6-90, & 6-91 models 1924-1929.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Yeah, it's gold-plated compared to the deal on the nearly identical one 12 years ago.

 

In reply to a November 12th post estimating the USD conversion would be about $9,000 and thought the poster might be able to pay that if able to find the new owner. The conversion would have made it $7,700 USD unless there were more auction fees. I go to the town the new owner lives in a lot, but have not been able find who they are. It'll probably pop up on some sale venue next year. For those in the antique automobile business, it would probably turn out to be an astute purchase to get something like that, if that 's what happens. Unless there are some serious deficiencies in the '25 Peerless not visible in the photos, the time to buy it was at the auction. It was a good sale to go to...a farm auction with better-than-average vehicles...in an area not picked over by "pickers"...and most of the items had been in the same collection for decades(not sold and resold on the auction circuit like a lot of cars).

 

Who knows -- the new owners might cherish the car for what it is -- 1 of 3 Survivors from 2,786 Peerless Six-70s built in 1924 & 1925 -- and keep it a long time. The nice Packard 120 Convertible Sedan at the sale sold for closer to a price I expected than the Peerless(I think it fetched over $30,000 CDN vs. $11,000 CDN)....despite being a cheaper car when new. Regarding deficiencies, one of the locals at the sale did say some of the cars kept indoors had not been run in 30 or 40 years, so it's not like these cars were started every month and driven on tours..

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  • 4 weeks later...

I tried to tell a lot of people about the auction, here on the forums and elsewhere, but it was "too far away to attend". Of course, for an extra 400 bucks one could have phoned in a bid and never shown up. The Facebook comments(over 100) were like this:

  • My uncle will def buy this!
  • I want dad to buy this for me!
  • Would make a great rat rod. (no, riveting together junkyard bits will make a great rat rod)
  • Jay Leno will come to this sale and buy it.(yeah, he buys all antique cars)
  • Wayne Carini will hear about this and fly here(Glen Ewen, SK?).
  • I bet the Packard and this were gangster-owned!

So, not a real heavy concentration of antique car authorities to draw on in that part of the province. 

 

Anyone could have bought the car for any reason, I suppose. Sidney, Montana isn't known as an antique car mecca, but it has more $ going through it than anyplace in, say, Iowa, Kansas, or Idaho. It's in the middle of the Bakken Field oil boom. The last time I went to the Wells Fargo bank in Sidney, the guy in line in front of me dumped 32 grand in cash out of his briefcase for a deposit. No big deal there. The McDonald's there was closed a couple days a week for several years because they couldn't staff it 7 days with wages of only $15 an hour. Sidney is less than 200 miles from the auction, so a short drive for a prestigious  Roaring Twenties car may have been the right combination.

 

The 10/17/18 post in the "New Peerless Discovered" thread shows nice photos of all 3 known Peerless 6-70s. I arranged  3 pics of the 3 cars next to each other with the same 3/4 view. The car you are talking about in Maine is a 6-72, not a 6-70. The family probably still has it. A big difference appearance-wise(rad shell, hood, rear deck* of coupes and roadsters), time-wise(1924 and 3 months of 1925 vs.1925, 1926, and 1927), and in production numbers(2,786 vs. 5,550). Mechanically they were the same. Spock would say the analogy is almost like comparing a '79 Camaro and a '79 Firebird, except the 6-70 & 6-72 weren't produced concurrently, as were the Camaro & Firebird.

 

Survivors: three  6-70 Peerlesses.......nine 6-72 Peerlesses, that I know of.

 

 

* Peerless' Coupes and Roadsters did not have boattail rear decks in 1924, but after the April, 1925 appearance of the Model Six-72 they did, as well as on the Model 6-80('26-'28), Six-60('27-'28), Six-90('27), Six-91('28), and Eight-69('26-'28). 

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  • 3 months later...

Question on the 6-70 that sold to someone in Sidney, Montana - do you or could you get that contact information?  That car and the Maine car (6-72) are essentially heirloom cars that would be used for benchmarks provided anyone ever restored the L.A.- Montana car now owned by Bill.

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I don't know, Bryan. I was never able to find who it is. I faxed a data sheet for the auction company to fill out before the sale...they couldn't find it, not returned. I also emailed them after the sale to get the new owner's name...cannot be provided due to privacy laws. Both the '25 Peerless & the '37 Packard went for less than a chrome job on a 50s blob-mobile, and it would have been a great auction to hit. Too bad S.E. Saskatchewan doesn't overlap with your family's idea of a dream September vacation or you might have attended. I'm up around there all the time, but in June. If you had been there, could you have afforded 11,000 CDN/7,700 USD? What would you have done with it? Or were you thinking about someone else or just as a theoretical?

 

In theory and in hindsight it looks like a good buy -- but word on the street was the farmer put together most of his informal museum 30 or 40 years ago and hadn't driven them since. The auction company copy said "partially restored in the 70s", and "turns over, doesn't start", I think. Despite that, to me, that means a chap buying this versus the '24 6-70 Phaeton would be around a hundred grand ahead.

Edited by jeff_a (see edit history)
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  • 6 months later...

Sept. 13, 1923 Automotive Industries, the Automobile, VOL 49, Issues 10-13, p. 522:

 

    "  'Collins Six' Will Soon Join Forces With Peerless

    When R.H. Collins left the General Motors organization, expecting to join forces with W.C. Durant, he developed a six-cylinder car which was to be called the Collins but would have been part of the Durant line.  Before manufacturing plans had been completed he had an opportunity to acquire control of Peerless and disposed of most of his stock in the Durant enterprises. In the relatively short period which has elapsed since then he has brought Peerless out of a deep hole and has turned a heavy loss into a profit. Now, it is understood, he expects soon to begin production of the Collins as a companion to the Peerless. It will be a six-cylinder job and it is reported that it will be in the same general price class with Buick and Studebaker. The lower-priced car will give Peerless dealers an opportunity to go after business which they are not now able to get."

Edited by jeff_a (see edit history)
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