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Peerless around 1915


Guest forte7562

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Guest forte7562

Hello, this is the first time I am posting on this forum - I hope the two pictures attached will show up with my post. The car in front of the cigar store is labelled as a Peerless from 1915 in Dubuque Iowa - the other picture, where my little godfather is "driving" has perplexed me in terms of the maker and the model. I believe that may also be a Peerless and I was wondering if anyone on this forum could help determine that. Thanks, Susan

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Guest forte7562

There have been about 32 views but no reply...- I was hoping someone would have an opinion about either of these cars -- if they could be Perlesses. Thanks, Susan

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Guest forte7562

Charley, thank you. So if the first car is a model T, what is the 2nd one - in a historical book about Dubuque, it says it is Charles Bradley's Peerless car from 1915 (in front of cigar store) - I thought the two cars looked so similar. So is the 2nd one mislabelled and it really is a model T, also? Thanks, Susan

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Guest forte7562

Thank you. I figured since you are Peerless experts, you would know what kind of car it is. 6 months ago, I said it was a Model T, and checked with a few people that I thought knew about cars, they all said "No". So I've been searching for a more obscure make, when I was right all along. I'm glad to have it finally settled.

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Guest forte7562

If you want to delete this thread, since these cars are not Peerlesses, I don't mind it, or rename it and move it to the Model T forum as misidentified as a Peerless, but really Model T. Whatever works best. Susan

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Guest forte7562

under the picture of the car in front of the cigar store:

A ride with Dad, circa 1915 - Charles Bradley, owner of the United Cigar Store...gets behind the wheel of his Peerless car to take his wife and children for a ride - Ramona Bradley Staudacher Collection, Center for Dubuque History, Loras College. PEERLESS-SAXON COMPANY - Encyclopedia Dubuque lists a dealership in 1918 in Dubuque at 1451 Clay St. - there are two pictures of cars from there on this linked page.

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Guest forte7562

okay, I have been given a possible explanation for the mixup between Peerless and Model T on a different Model T forum - maybe the owner had a Peerless radiator with the name Peerless on it, and a descendent of the owner, not knowing the difference, just assumed it was a Peerless. I guess my lesson to be learned is to not take verbatim everything you read, such as a description in a book of historical pictures, like this, because they may not be accurate.

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Susan,

Thanks for posting the great pictures, including one that has your godfather in the front seat. You don't need to delete the thread at all...they're nice historical car pics & we're all on the world's best historical car website.

I haven't posted until now because I couldn't really tell what those cars were from those side views. I looked on your link to the Dubuque history site and recognized the photo of the red 1917 Peerless. Would you believe that car's in Sweden? It turns out that a lot of surviving Peerlesses are in foreign countries, including ten European ones.

Your theory involving a Model T that reads "Peerless" on the radiator holds a lot of water, if you'll excuse the pun. There was a "1919 Peerless" for sale a few years ago in Holland. It had a replacement radiator made by a company in Cincinnati that branded their stuff as "PEERLESS" instead of their actual name (Corcoran)*. I'm not too familiar with Model Ts but recognized a number of Ford parts, and knew a 1919 Peerless would have a pretty big aluminum V-8 instead of an inline 4.

----Jeff

* One of their catalogs from the 20s would be great to see, but I know they made steel speedster bodies, running board toolboxes, radiator emblems in the shape of a bowtie, and the ubiquitous radiators.

Edited by jeff_a (see edit history)
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Guest forte7562

Thanks for your comments - I'll tell the editor of the Encyclopedia of Dubuque where that red Peerless ended up. I know nothing about it, but the Peerless looks to me like a more upscale car than the Model T. I know in Dubuque, there was the Adams Farwell company. Those cars cost $3,000 when a Model T was only $700. Henry Ford managed to finally buy an Adams Farwell for himself, after looking for a long time. The whole output on those cars was only about 52, as far as I remember from reading about them. Well, anyway, thanks for all the information. Susan

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Susan,

What I meant was that the red car in the Encyclopaedia Dubuque entry you used is a recent photo of a 1917 Peerless that has survived. The picture is the same one that's in the Wikipedia listing for Peerless. There is literally only a 1-in-107,000 chance that that car has a connection to the Peerless Dealer in Dubuque. Sorry to give the wrong impression. The Green Dragon's wife has a nearly identical car.

You're right that the Peerless was a somewhat more expensive auto than the Ford circa 1914. They were making 6,000-pound Limousines that cost several times what a comfortable house cost in very small numbers, while Ford was concentrating on cars that mere mortals could buy....but Mr. Ford is the one who changed the world and whose name we all know. ----Jeff

Edited by jeff_a
editing is fun (see edit history)
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