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1930 Pierce Arrow Land Speed Record Car from American Picker's TV Show Unearthed!

karguy12

By karguy12
in Pierce-Arrow

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alsancle 25,000+ Points

alsancle

Posted
Posted (edited)

I think the OP was trying too hard but otherwise I find this to be a cool period "hot rod".   A little too crudely built and the fabric not aluminum is a bit of a give away.   

 

Btw,  There is always history on something interesting,  it just takes a while to find it.  

Edited by alsancle (see edit history)
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John_Mereness 25,000+ Points

John_Mereness

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2 hours ago, alsancle said:

I think the OP was trying to hard but otherwise I find this to be a cool period "hot rod".   A little too crudely built and the fabric not aluminum is a bit of a give away.   

 

Btw,  There is always history on something interesting,  it just takes a while to find it.  

Yes, but we know a lot about your cars and there are glimpses in text reports of auto shows.  

 

This PA or whatever is not so much that - stand a strong chance too that it never was finished to be seen to begin with.  Agreed, spiffy early hot rod. 

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1912Staver 25,000+ Points

1912Staver

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Interesting car , but almost certainly  a homebuilt  creation of a talented amateur  builder. And a road car in the style of a speed record car, not an actual record attempt car.

Or as Matt suggested at one time , a movie prop car.

 

Greg

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AHa 10,000+ Points

AHa

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Look guys,whatever you think of the car, that is definitely a custom intake is it not? And did Ed not say the exhaust was also custom? I don't believe any movie prop car got this kind of treatment. I have no idea why anyone would go to the trouble and expense with a Pierce motor when there were so many better choices. A movie prop would have a movie, no? We may not know what it is but I think we can safely assume it is not a movie prop. Why would anybody use an aircraft speedometer in a car and convert it to car use? There was a lot of thought and engineering put into this car for unknown reasons. Just because we haven't figured out what it is, that's no reason to talk down the guys car! I would assume he is posting on the facebook page or, still looking for answers before he puts anymore money into it.

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edinmass 25,000+ Points

edinmass

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42 minutes ago, AHa said:

Look guys,whatever you think of the car, that is definitely a custom intake is it not? And did Ed not say the exhaust was also custom? I don't believe any movie prop car got this kind of treatment. I have no idea why anyone would go to the trouble and expense with a Pierce motor when there were so many better choices. A movie prop would have a movie, no? We may not know what it is but I think we can safely assume it is not a movie prop. Why would anybody use an aircraft speedometer in a car and convert it to car use? There was a lot of thought and engineering put into this car for unknown reasons. Just because we haven't figured out what it is, that's no reason to talk down the guys car! I would assume he is posting on the facebook page or, still looking for answers before he puts anymore money into it.


 

The whole story he lists with the car and Preston Tucker is pure BS. The guy found a decent car years ago and is reliving the glory days. It it was anything worth having a serious collector would have owned it..........it was in Largo Florida area in the backyard for ten or fifteen years........the PAS guys knew where it was.......they wanted 25k for it, and I wouldn’t have paid 2500. It is what it is......a poorly done garage project with a junk yard chassis......

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alsancle 25,000+ Points

alsancle

Posted
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10 hours ago, AHa said:

Look guys,whatever you think of the car, that is definitely a custom intake is it not? And did Ed not say the exhaust was also custom? I don't believe any movie prop car got this kind of treatment. I have no idea why anyone would go to the trouble and expense with a Pierce motor when there were so many better choices. A movie prop would have a movie, no? We may not know what it is but I think we can safely assume it is not a movie prop. Why would anybody use an aircraft speedometer in a car and convert it to car use? There was a lot of thought and engineering put into this car for unknown reasons. Just because we haven't figured out what it is, that's no reason to talk down the guys car! I would assume he is posting on the facebook page or, still looking for answers before he puts anymore money into it.

 

They would use an aircraft speedometer because it is cool.   I don't think it is a movie prop,  I'm guessing somebody's "speedster" project that never was finished.   If it was finished we would have pictures of it by now from the 40s or 50s.

 

I will reiterate my position that it is a cool artifact.   The seller is trying too hard which is what is eliciting the negative reaction.

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AHa 10,000+ Points

AHa

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That's my point. If you divorce the car from the marketing hype, what you have is an interesting piece. Whoever built  it had deep pockets and lots of time on their hands. They were a very creative individual with a good understanding of auto engineering and some knowledge of race car design. The intake and exhaust were professionally done and would involve pattern making and casting skills. A canvas body would be light and very innovative. The fact that no pictures have surfaced would suggest the car never made it to a race track but it does not indicate the builder was a loony tune. Of course, I could be wrong; it has happened before. It has no provenance but does that mean it has no value? None of the big guys were interested because it had no provenance. They are looking for big name pieces. The feeling about this car would turn on a dime if it was linked with a well known race shop.

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Mark Wetherbee 5,000+ Points

Mark Wetherbee

Posted
Posted (edited)
39 minutes ago, AHa said:

 The feeling about this car would turn on a dime IF it was linked with a well known race shop

 

 

That is true, but is that big IF worth 75k investment? 

 

I agree it’s very interesting, even very well thought out and would be a lot of fun if money were no object... I think the point I’m seeing here is that money comes into the equation without a shred of documentation to support it. I will add that even if I were a billionaire and didn’t care how much was tossed down the rabbit hole I would still think there are better and far more historical projects to take in. Maybe it’s just a poor mans view but BS is still just BS until proven otherwise.

Edited by Mark Wetherbee (see edit history)
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Matt Harwood 25,000+ Points

Matt Harwood

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You guys are being very generous to this car. If it could have sold for anywhere close to what this guy is asking, it would have already. He's been scouring the world looking for evidence to back up his assertions and has come up completely empty. It has been on a popular national TV show. It has been all over this forum, the HAMB, Facebook, and every other large-scale internet venue and nada, zilch, zippo has shown up to back his claims. There's no possible way it is anything other than a possible half-finished home-made thing by an unknown someone who may or may not have known anything about building a car (bear in mind someone welded the spark plugs to the head, so I'm a skeptic when it comes to the "talent" of the guy who built it).

 

If you could buy it for $2000, maybe there's someone who would be willing to undertake the re-creation just to have something unique (I'm unable to call it a restoration because I don't believe it was ever finished or drove under its own power). But at $75,000, you're already all-in. Nobody's going to touch that, no matter how stupid rich they might be. I remain convinced that the seller bought into the TV hype, paid too much because of it, and is now manufacturing a backstory hoping for someone with equally poor judgement to bail him out.

 

And yes, I think he would have had a much better chance of selling it without the BS backstory he's concocted, never mind the attitude about it after-the-fact. His best bet would have been to simply put it out there, maybe mention the TV show "discovery" of it, and let potential buyers imagine their own stories about it. Sadly, now he's 100% married to the BS so he's gotta make it work.

 

It won't.

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Hupp36 5,000+ Points

Hupp36

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I  just had  some  time  on my  hands ,so I  read this  article. Interesting that  know  one  mentioned  that  the  car  appeared to  only  use  2nd  and  3 rd gear  as the  straight  line  design of the  shifter  would  indicate. Straight  forward, no  1st  or  reverse.  Look at  the  picture on page  2 , am I  seeing  this  correct?

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edinmass 25,000+ Points

edinmass

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On 8/27/2022 at 4:43 PM, JV Puleo said:

An old Russian proverb..."Tell a lie 100 times and it becomes the truth."

 

Nope.........."Tell a lie 10,000 times and it becomes the truth."

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edinmass 25,000+ Points

edinmass

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It’s not the car at issue, it’s the ridiculous unsubstantiated self promotion attached to the car. I passed on this things before the Pickers had it on TV. I was staying with Dave Harris in Largo Florida and we drove over to look at the thing in the side yard covered with a tarp two years earlier. We drove a 1912 Cadillac to the place. I told the owners it wasn’t even a parts car, and declined to make any offer. As a statement of material fact, I would not take it for free………the current owner found a decent car once, and flipped it. I’m guessing that’s the motivation now………gee, I’ll give you a 100 dollar bill if you provide me some history. No payment necessary now. After all this time, it’s obvious it never was finished and out on the street, or there would be a bunch of photos found. Having played with a bunch of unusual stuff…….photos and history ALWAYS turns up over time……as you know.

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