Peerless Superb Sixes {1924-1929}

[jeff_a]

Since I wrote something earlier about Peerless V-8's, I felt that something should be written about the cars with Peerless "Superb Six" engines. Before I go on, I should remark that there were some other lines of sixes in Peerlesses, too. There were the ones made by Peerless 1907-1915 (tended to be much larger displacement) and the ones made by Continental 1925-1929 (were smaller displacement). I was going to call this thread "Peerless Big Sixes", but one of the Brass Era Peerless engines was twice the size of the 289 and another was over three times the size.

These Peerless cars with 289 cu. in. (technically, they were 288.6 c.i.d.; precisely the same displacement as the Packard Single Six and Pierce-Arrow Series 80 powerplants from the mid-20's) engines, variously called "Collins Six", "Superb Six", and "Big Six" motors, were offered in the following models: 6-70, 6-72, 6-90, and 6-91. By my reckoning, total production of these models was 14,719 cars.

In something I wrote about a 1924 Peerless Six on another thread here, I alluded to the fact that 6-70's are a rare model. To give you an idea of how rare or un-rare the Big Six Peerlesses are, I will use my list of surviving Peerless cars (KPAIE) to show what the world population of all four of these models is and what a car show might look like if all of them attended:

.....8 Five-Passenger Sedans

.....3 7-Passenger Sedans

.....2 standard Coupes

.....1 boat tail Roadster Coupe

.....4 boat tail Roadsters

.....2 5-Passenger Touring Phaetons

.....1 7-Passenger Touring Phaeton

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...21 (plus unknown cars out there/minus ones counted twice)

Of course, these figures are just estimates, but my point is that there aren't a lot of these cars around. If the Peerless Superb Sixes were to be considered for Classic status in the AACA or CCCA, it does not appear that anyone would have to worry about being overrun with new Peerless vehicles in this class.

Edited June 7, 2010 by jeff_a (see edit history)