edinmass

Al, I thought the blerb from the show would explain the car. It sure is neat, must have been quite interesting to show a barn find condition prototype at such a big event. I have attended it several times with and without a car. I think it's the best concours there is. Well done with out the hype of the west coast show. Only six Dusenbergs? They use to have about a dozen each year in the 80's and 90's. Thanks for posting you photo. Ed

Rare 1940 Graham Hollywood Convertible Will Emerge at St. John's <!-- AddThis Bookmark Button BEGIN --> <!-- AddThis Bookmark Button END --> [TABLE] <TBODY>[TR] [TD] This 1940 Graham Hollywood Convertible, the only known surviving 2-passenger convertible, has not been seen since it went into storage in 1952.In 1963 while on vacation in Yarmouth, MA, Earl Parks was walking down Willow Street towards the beach, he spied what he thought was a Cord Convertible Coupe tucked away in a garage. He called his friend, Al , who was a collector of Cords. Al told Earl to photograph the car and get the owner's phone number. Ultimately, even though the car wasn't a Cord, Al purchased the car. The serial number of this car indicates that it was the very first Graham Hollywood produced. From the firewall back, the frame and body are identical to the Cord 810/812 Convertible Coupe. The primary difference being the transmission tunnel and bump for the differential. Besides the original leather interior, there are other differences from the sedan including a chrome plated steering column, Cord Convertible windshield wipers and an accessory heater. Although period advertisements mention a 2-passenger 'sportster' with an 'automatic' roof, this car's roof assembly and deck are identical to Cord. The original paint code for the car was maroon, but it seems the car was painted at least three times prior to 1950: first maroon, then yellow and finally a dark green. The owner believes the car was painted a number of times by the factory for show purposes. Another point of interest is that the car seems to have been sold as a 1941. The paperwork from the early 1950s lists it as a 1941 although the serial number certainly makes it a 1940. Graham/Hupp historians theorize that either the factory did not finish the car until the 1941 cars were rolling off the assembly line, or it was held and sold with the 1941s. The earliest history of the car has yet to be discovered. Louis Handler of Handler Auto Parts owned it in 1949. In 1950, Elizabeth M. Keveney of nearby Yarmouth, MA purchased the car and removed the rear deck and placed a small wooden bench seat behind the front seat for children to sit upon. The car was briefly used for beach trips before it was stored in the family's garage on Willow Street. Now our story has made full circle to its discovery. Don't miss the opportunity to see this important, Historical Preservation of Original Features (HPOF) car in the Cord Cousins Class at the Concours d'Elegance of America on Sunday, July 29 at The Inn at St. John's in Plymouth, MI. The show is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. General admission is $25 and includes free parking, shuttle and Souvenir Program Book [/TD] [/TR] </TBODY>[/TABLE]

Assemble the entire thing first. Then make a list of missing and damaged parts. We do the entire thing all at once, if you get tired or tied up in one area you can do another, it's lots of work. Ten times more than you think. Just plan on three time longer and four times as much money than you thought, and you will be on time and budget. GOOD LUCK! Ed

Four years ago I came back with a 1930 Pierce. No title, just a bill of sale. They asked where it was made, checked the motor number, and we went on our way after they took a coffee break around our open trailer. Nice bunch of guys at the border. No problems. I have a friend who towed his Pierce across the border with a rope behind his every day driver, also no problem. They are much more interested in how you paid for it and your own (person) papers. Good luck, Ed. PS, no duties due on an American car.

. It's sitting in a very nice garage in Connecticut. It has several other Pierce's to keep it company. It has a recent engine rebuild, and last time I saw it last fall it was just about ready to run. It is in vary good hands. Ed

Scratch the Pierce off the list, in terrible condition a rust bucket open car would run 35k and be half missing. Last one in terrible condition traded hands for 30k 10 years ago and it needed an entire sedan parts car to finish. The owner told me the restoration ran him 200K. Ed

Me, 1966. My cars, 1914, 1931,1932,1936,1937. It's GOT TO BE PREWAR to be cool. Ed

Pierce used a 147 inch chassis from 1931 to 1935. They built roadsters and coupe's on them! Large and impressive cars. Ed

I know of a 30 convertible sedan barn find. Parked during the war. 100% corect, needs everything. Ed

I vote NO (Insert lots of 7 words you can't say on tv.) WAY!

OK, Long story as short as possible. 10 years ago, I along with several friends were building 31 Cadillac motors. We all ordered and used Egge pistons, a total of 4 engines, and the pistons were from two different batches. All cars were owned and worked on by people who know what they were doing, including myself. The first engine started suffered piston failure from poor casting with air pockets around the pin boss. Motor wiped out, Egge replaced the pistons, the block and bearing loss was not covered. I had my engine in the chassis. As I was pondering if I should pull the motor, another engine was started and suffered piston failure, again from the same problem, from a different batch of pistons. So, I pulled my motor, cut up 3 pistons, and found two bad ones. They offered to replace the two defective ones, NOT THE ENTIRE SET OR THE ONE I CUT UP THAT WAS OK. With no faith in their products, my money was gone, and I purchased a set of decent pistons from another supplier. While in the engine, I pulled a valve, it was so soft it was hard to believe. I can't remember the numbers, but it was below standard by about 50 percent. Again, throw out their parts, and get some good valves. We will not use their parts in our garage. 8 years pass, we manufacture more than 150 Pierce Arrow parts, including hard engine parts, as we will not buy junk. Egge called me to inquire to use us as a supplier for valves. They were looking to purchase valves for around three dollars......... I ask what kind of calve do you get for three bucks? The real story here is DO NOT TRUST ANY PART SENT TO YOU, We now have much more in house equipment as we cant seem to find quality reproduction parts. Too many people use the "it's just an old car" routine. Yup, my car is old, but we run the hell out of it. As far as what comes through the shop, the oldest regularly serviced car is an 1897 twin, the newest is a top fuel dragster(motorcycle) that runs in the 6.8's . Everything in the shop get ARIES. We have had only one failure in pistons from them, and could not prove what was at fault. You get what you pay for. To be fair, I have been told EGGE stuff is better today than it use to be. Most of the stuff we build is so rare, almost nothing is available over the counter. I won't go into the Stutz threaded valve issue....4 vendors, 12 months, and no parts that fit. We now make them. Ed

Egge is cheap junk,(Long story of defective pistons and soft valves.) canter I have not done business with. Use Aries for pistons. Check all valves you buy with a rockwell tester. Compare them to the factory valve. There is more junk out there than good stuff. Ed

It's a factory body. The hood panel Id's the car as an eight. Options are archer, six wheels, wire wheels, sidemount covers, two tone paint, chrome windshield. Here is a photo of another car like it in the Pierce Arrow museum. 214 of them were built, 9 are still here(club sedans). The 1932 Series 54's are nice cars. I have two of them currently, a 2 passenger sport coupe and a 5 passenger sedan. Ed

Nope, it's a 1932 Series 54 club sedan. Here is a car in my garage to compare. The 30 and 31 grill were flat, this one is angeled back with a V. Also compare bumpers to my photos. Ed

Hi Bernie. I don't post too often but check in every few days. I enjoy watching your progress and how you take each task on to it's completion. Don't let the lack of comments discourage you, many are watching, and I find several of our local club members also keep an eye on this thread. You have them talking in the shop on Saturday morning coffee. Keep up the good work. Ed

I find that looking in the garage of form members is much more interesting. As to barn finds, I seem to pull more cars out of shipping containers and garages were they have slept for 20 or more years. Ed

Sold to a restoration shop at asking price. Two happy people. Thanks to all who inquired. Ed

Sold on line for asking price. Two happy people. Thanks to all who inquired. Ed

Hi, Join the ECG, Early Cadillac Group on yahoo. They have photo archives posted and several hundred members who you can contact for direct photos. Where in Mass are you? You can see my car in Ludlow if you like. I am about to remove my unit from the car in the next several weeks. Be carefull, the unit is the most expensive starter / generator I know of in the hobby. Ed

Is there ever any extra money left over after paying your restoration bill? If so I must change over to '32s shop!

Your got married after dating ONLY 13 years? Isn't that rushing thing a bit? Marriage is a great institution, I am just not ready to be institutionalized yet! :eek: I'm at 12 years and holding with mine...... I just tell her I have owned a few of my cars for more than 25 years and am still not sure they are "keepers". Good luck and all my best.Ed

The 1750 Alpha's are done in South America for 700K or so......they also do type 57's if memory serves me. I wasn't thinking that the company's from the 60's would jump on reproductions. But I guess your are correct, they want to protect their reputation.

Post War....... still very big $$$$ ..... I wonder if the super cars are going to push up to the prices for the great master paintings in the future. It's probably a better return than the stock market for the next 8 years. I think I would have went for 10 or 15 world class cars that total the same dollar value. We will see it at Pebble soon. At these prices, they will build reproductions of them to sell to the mega rich who "must have" such a toy.

If there are no takers it will go on ebay next week. Ed

To keep the mess down we hook up the shop vac with tape to the dust shield, works great and almost no mess, and it keeps the dust out of the air. They work great like you said, the time and money it saves make it a must have. You will never need to find drums or make new drums ever again. Ed