jeff_a

Statistically, no one reads this thread. Though it's had 38,000 views, most people off of the AACA Forums don't know the carmaker existed or manufactured stuff from 1865 to 1931. However, there's a Chevy Chevelle for sale on Hemmings for $199,000 and another for $104,000. The 1929/1930 Peerless appears alarmingly complete, but has a fairly high buy-in price for a car you can't put 10 gallons in and drive to Poughkeepsie. It hasn't sold for about 10 years, but it's been in a barn for 50 years. As you know, the barn dust alone adds $10,000 to the value of a car. Maybe you're right that the number of folks who would buy & restore this Peerless 6-81 is a very small pool, fitting in a fairly small room. But the number of folks who could afford it would fill a very large room. Personally - I do not see the appeal for these mass-produced Chevies - but someone must think folks out there would pay 100 or 200 grand for one. They don't fly or come with Superbowl tickets, so the appeal must be trendiness. My point is that for less than those prices, one could afford to restore the Peerless. And at the end of the day, Chevy or Peerless, you have one car. This 1929/30 Peerless Six-81 has a larger engine than the Series 53, 55, or 57 Chevelles, when introduced, plus a longer wheelbase. 248 cu. in. Continental six, 116" w.b. Chevy Chevelle. 100s of these mass-produced GMs have been restored, millions built. Chevy's Ford Fairlane or Dodge Dart. Also in pickup truck, station wagon, and 2-door versions. When Chevelles came out in 1964, Series 53, 55, 57 base engines were 194 cu. in. sixes, with 230 cu. in. sixes optional; the Series 54, 56, and 58 had V-8s. 115" w.b.

There's a different way to look at it. You get it restored and go to a car show. How much of America's automobile history is in this car when you tell a visitor what a Peerless is? There might be a row of Corvettes and Chevelles, roughly 5,000,000 sold, but show them a picture of Louis Chevrolet with his new Peerless Six-80 in 1926 and point out there are more Duesenbergs around than Peerlesses. There are several features on the Chevy that Peerless introduced years before.

A lot of cars are sneaking into this which look.........foreign. This is from a British site, and I do not know what it is. Maybe high maintenance?

Close to a Peerless, but the License Plate would be in a triangular rear spare cluster, I think. A typical one would have a different parking light set-up, headlights, and rad shell. The last Peerless built WAS a fire chief's car.

Just noticed the tag which might give y'all the idea of it being a 1930-1932 Master("B") or Custom("C"). You must have an advanced reading knowledge of Peerlesses. The C-813153 means it's the 3rd iteration of the 1926-1929 line of medium-priced Peerless cars with 230/248 Cu. In. engines: 6-80 1st Series, 6-80 2nd Series, 6-81...rather than the later Custom 8. The 813153 implies it's 250 cars into 1930, out of around 3,700 units(!). A nice car to start with IMHO. I didn't say easy or cheap to repair or restore.........but you wind up with a lot more intrinsic value than a lot of newer cars experiencing a temporal "nostalgic" wave of high dollar value.

If someone had asked him: "Could you compare a 1932 Ford Eight with 221 Cu. In., and a 1932 Pierce-Arrow Eight of 366 Cu. In.?", I would imagine he may have had a similar expression. Makes me wonder what point in the session he was at, and the topic.

Hello K. Lilienthal, Long lost car found! I always thought that was an especially nice-looking Six-61 with the three colors and wire wheels. Your name sounds familiar. Otto Lilienthal was one of the Fathers Of Flight, of course. Please tell us about your Peerless and where you live. Victory Cars sells a lot to European customers; for instance, a Swiss fellow bought a 1929 Six-61 from them. ----Jeff Brown

Thanks, John. More later: need to go to work. It is one of 3 continuation models of 1929 Peerlesses into 1930. About half of the 6-61s(Possibly 4,000), many hundreds of 6-81s, and maybe 74 8-125s were made after September 30th, 1929 -- the cut-off for 1929-titled Peerless cars. This is a 1930 Six-81, 3rd from the top in the 1929 price and features spectrum of: 8-125 _ _ _ _114 Inline 8 _ _ _$2,195-$2,395 6-91 _ _ _ _ _ 70 I-6 _ _ _ _ _ $1,895-$1,995 6-81 _ _ _ _ _ 66 I-6 _ _ _ _ _ $1,540-$1,595 6-61 _ _ _ _ _ 62 h.p. I-6 _ _ $1,195-$1,395 All Peerlesses, but 4 distinct models, engine and prices. This one would have had a 248 Cu. In. Continental six of 66 HP. Price new $1,595, 4-wheel hydraulic brakes, 7-main-bearing crankshaft. 1930 was supposed to be an all-straight-eight year, but production of them started a little late...combined with strong demand for the 3 sixes and one straight-eight in the 1929 lineup.

Nice car!

Thanks for the tip about the 1929 Peerless for sale, Mal. How are things in your neck of the woods? It was -1 F. here this morning --- probably 32 Centigrade there!

483. In Pioneers of the U.S. Automobile Industry, by Michael J. Kollins, it is claimed that Peerless, in its last year of selling cars, was scheduled to have a booth at the 1932 New York Auto Show. In addition: They may have had pilot models of their 1932 line on exhibiton. The application listed their top 5 officers as: James Bohannon, President George A. Ellis, Vice President R. E. Wilcox, Treasurer. 4. S. T. Creighton, Secretary 5. E. C. Sudhoff, Director of Purchasing I did find a piece of Peerless sales literature stamped "1932 N.Y. Auto Show" for sale on ebay. The owner of a 1930 Peerless Custom Eight, Matt Lynch, bought it. According to the January 31st, 1932 Chicago Sunday Tribune - the 1932 Chicago Auto Show had Peerless cars there: (By then, the company had sold their spare parts inventory and their office furniture, and it had been 11 weeks since the last car had come out of the factory - but they still had the buildings and a few hundred cars at their remaining dealers. I've seen some sale flyers for these leftover cars, and the prices were great.) .

482. I read about a big lawsuit between the Elfay Cab Corp. and Peerless regarding one party ordering 1,500 chassis' and the other delivering 2.

At the end of World War Two, my father lived here for two years. He said it was the most beautiful place he had ever seen. Things were different from Kansas in the Dirty Thirties, where he grew up. The where is the Bavarian Alps. A BMW 328 perhaps?

...1926-style Zoom meeting someplace dusty. The plate looks foreign, the background a frontier town in the western U.S.

There is a 1925 Brooks at the Canadian Automotive Museum in Ontario.

A.J., Did this rakish-looking bad boy Castagna sedan ever get built? If so, did it survive the period when it was trendy to chop it up into an open car?

A 1928 Peerless Six-91 Five-Passenger Sedan The owner told me he drove it from Massachusetts down to New Jersey or Maryland for an antique car show of some kind, and parked in visitor parking, since he had no plans to enter the Peerless. Soon he was summoned on the sound system and asked to report to the judging area, because the organizers thought it was too nice to be in the visitor lot. He was asked to move it to a prime area as a featured exhibition car. Maybe he got an award for Best Twenties Car To Crash The Party!

...from a sales brochure for the 1928 Peerless Six-91 Seven Passenger Sedan

Here's a nice shot of one of two PEERLESS Victoria Landaus still around. This is either the Doris Duke one(1910) or the one in the Henry Ford Collection(1911). Brewster Body, 4-cylinder, Model 29, cost $6,250 new:

FINLAND 1926

Most likely a 1912 Peerless 38-Six or 48-Six. Quite the presentable car, if cost be damned.

Fann-tastic and rare photograph, 30DodgePanel! 99 years after Lewis & Clark crossed the Divide, Fred Vogler and 3 or 4 others drove over the same pass. It was July, 1904 in a new 1904 Peerless Model 8, 4-cylinder, 24-HP car. It was 75 miles and took 7 hours. The company printed a special sales brochure highlighting the trip.

With this one you could swan into the visitor's parking lot at almost any antique car event and they'd hustle you onto the showfield to display it as an exhibition, even if it wasn't pre-registered!

Vern: Is this a Model "T"? Skeeter: It might be. If it's black, has a 20 HP four-cylinder and costs 300 bucks. Vern: Wut? Uh, it's got dual exhaust, a 332 Cu. In. V-8 and costs 3 or 4 thousand dollars. Skeeter: You know what, Vern? It's a 1923 Peerless Model "66" Touring Phaeton...the 8th year Peerless built that 80 HP engine. You were REAL close.

Get Mo Betta Quick, Steve!