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We Finally Got Her Running!


Guest Nancy DeWitt

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That car would look good if it ran me over and was parked on my chest. Very nice automobile. The three P's were sure at the top in 1912. Drive it! Thanks for posting the photo. How about a few more? Engine photos? Ed.

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Hi Nancy,

Tell us all about it when you get a chance! I dimly remember seeing a delivery picture when your 578-cubic-inch-engined Peerless arrived in Alaska. Did you have to use priming cups, hit the starter and away you went...or was there some Gnashing Of Teeth, etc., etc.? Some Peerless ads from the time simply said: "SILENCE...POWER", but I bet it wasn't that silent.

I don't know how tall you are......but I'd guess you'd look like a Munchkin standing next to it.

Thank you for contributing to the Peerless Forum for the first time!

Edited by jeff_a (see edit history)
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Thank you for posting the engine photos. I AM a Pierce guy but I would convert to Peerless for that car. It's a great piece of American history, thanks for taking care of it and sharing it with the forum members and the public in the museum. Truly a masterpiece of automobile engineering and history. Ed

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Between the Peerless and the Compound it think it's time I take a ride up to your museum to see the entire collection, I punched it in to Map Quest, it's only 8,722 miles round trip. That's 152 hours of non stop driving time. It works out to 477 gallons of fuel for my Lincoln Town Car. Add in hotels, food and 13 overnights at hotels driving 12 hours a day it would run me $5500.00 for the round trip at budget accommodations. Lets see...... Six grand and two and a half weeks to drive to see a bunch of old cars........ sure sounds like a good idea to me! I'm gonna run it by my Hershey car buddy to see if he is up for it, that way we could split the driving. I think it would take a ride in the Peerless to be sure to get him to agree. I'll let you know what he says soon....... My Best, Ed

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Guest stephen48

That engine is a work of art....well the entire car is really. I have seen a lot of Packards , a few Pierce but never a Peerless here. Guess I will have to stick with the 4th P ... Plymouth !:)

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Here's an article giving a little more information about the car, when it was at auction, it was a Pollard save!

Nancy, as a trimmer I'm curious about the top. Is it supposed to have #2 and #3 bows at an angle as shown? Most touring tops of the time had vertical irons and bows at those positions.

That's surely not criticism, it's as handsome a car as I've ever seen of that era, all lines and stance are darned near perfect....beautiful car....

1912 Peerless Model 36 Images, Information and History | Conceptcarz.com

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Guest Nancy DeWitt

We took her out again today to spin some donuts in the parking lot before the snow melts :-)

Here's a photo with a few friends next to the car for scale.

post-58418-143141828063_thumb.jpg

I'm still trying to get an answer from Willy on your mechanical questions, and will ask him about the top.

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Guest Nancy DeWitt

Ed, I think you'll have to go with a plane ticket on this one. Come on a Wednesday and you can catch a ride with the old car club here on their weekly "terrorize the tourists" runaround. Maybe we'll take the Peerless on it when you're here. There's room for at least 20 people in that car.

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Guest Nancy DeWitt

Jeff, here's our manager's reply to your question about starting up the Peerless:

"When our Peerless arrived here it had not been run much, if at all. We are now getting it sorted out, all the way from the starting system to the fuel and ignition system. The controls for the carb were all seized up and not operational, so that all had to come apart and the shafts cleaned and bushings made. Fuel lines and shut offs leaking, stripped threads, etc. The starter was another project that required some work, as when you hit the starter, it would not engage fully and tended to grind off the teeth on drive and ring gear. We made some modifications on linkage, and now have a system that works very well, no more grinding just smooth engagement and starting. We do have to use the primer cups for cold starts, but once it's running it's good for the rest of the day with just hitting the starter. It is a hand full to drive, steering is rather hard and transmission shifts a little hard, but it's a power house and tends to slide sideways in the snow when you hit the throttle, LOL." Willy Winton

I also posted another photo for you above, to show you what I would look like next to this car.

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Nancy

Fascinating stuff re: mechanic comments. I should assume that this would have been chauffuer (sp) driven in 1912 and I wonder if their physical condition and acumen played into their hire.

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I'll have to come up and see that car. Is there any way if I send a donation I could get a frame quality print of some of these photos, including the ladies in the snow shot?

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Guest Nancy DeWitt
I'll have to come up and see that car. Is there any way if I send a donation I could get a frame quality print of some of these photos, including the ladies in the snow shot?

Bryan, shoot me your email address and I can send digital images you can print, as long they aren't for commercial use. projects AT fdifairbanks.com

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Nancy,

Thank you lots for the 2-way communications about the car. And the photos! I was going to say that we now have Peerless Girl Pinup Pictures for the first time....but then I remembered that the Peerless Motor Car Co. started that back in the old days (1903).

Willy,

Thank you for the detailed "Prep For Running" list on this 48-Six Peerless. I guess my comment about gnashing of teeth wasn't too far off re: the starter ring gear. That's unimaginable for me to picture power-sliding in the snow when you gun the engine. The only more handsome engine I've seen is the one on the 1918 Winton Sport Phaeton at the largest transportation museum in the country1, the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin.

Ed,

Do you know about the practically-new 1912 48-Six (Model 36) Peerless up in Saskatchewan, Canada? Imagine one just like this, but a Limousine with <100 miles on the odometer. Also, have you heard about the invitation for the Peerless Motor Car Club and their cars to join the Pierce-Arrow Society in a Dual meet/tour/show this year? The Gathering at Gilmore will essentially be a dual meet in late August, in SW Michigan. Maybe you'll see a couple of Peerlesses after all if you go.

Bryan,

As Ed has noted, certain cars will make a real Peerless fan out of you. If you like this car a little, please don't go to the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum and look at the 1914 Model 60-Six (Model 37) there....you might need oxygen or something. Bigger car, much bigger engine. Did you look at the round gauge to the right of the steering column in the 1912 Peerless dash photo? A hundred-mile-an-hour speedometer.

----Jeff

1 Your neighbor-to-the-south.

Edited by jeff_a (see edit history)
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Yes, I'll be at the joint meet in August, with two Pierce Arrows. I serve on the Pierce Arrow Foundation Museum board. It's a great meet, and there are always extra empty seats to get a ride in. It is club policy to fill ALL seats on ALL cars taking the tour. Usually there are about 50 cars on the tours so extra seats aren't a problem. Last year I was able to drive at least 10 different Pierce cars at the meet as they also do a "drive my car around the museum track event" where members let others try out their cars, its great fun and several years ago I taught a 12 year old boy how to drive for the first time in my 32 Pierce coupe. In less than one lap he was shifting and getting up to speeds that impressed me...... his grandmother was sitting in the rumble seat filming the entire thing. It's posted on you tube. I find that when I share my cars with others, including driving them, I get much more enjoyment out of them. Ed

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