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1930 pierce arrow sedan,not mine

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Buick35 10,000+ Points

Buick35

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I just saw a Pierce Arrow sedan on Orlando Florida's Craigslist for $38,900? Sounds high to me for a sedan but I don't know. Sorry I'm not good at loading the pictures. And it looks like an all leather interior.Greg.

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John_Mereness 25,000+ Points

John_Mereness

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It has its faults: Older amateur (just OK) restoration, vinyl interior, lowest model base wood wheels (aka poverty wooden wheels), incorrect luggage trunk, some chrome is original still and chrome such as the wheels lock rings are incorrectly painted verses plated, some broken/missing die cast interior handles and a missing robe rail, spare tire lock on passenger's side is missing, ancient tires (a Dayton Thorobred in an 18" tire has not been made in years), and ....

 

Sidenote: The landau irons need flipped around to proper orientation. 

 

And, they look to have started out to make a profit on it or after negotiation get back to the price they paid for it two years ago (but they probably overpaid, though then again it appears to always have been a solid car, so if that is the case the product is better than someones restored car that was a wreck/disaster prior to restoration). 

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

edinmass

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It’s a 1930 Series B Club Sedan. It’s not overpriced for its condition from what I can see. Interior is nice but non authentic. Overall a nice and good looking car. Looks like it’s not been driven much from the old tires showing no wear. 

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John_Mereness 25,000+ Points

John_Mereness

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As to the interior - it looks to be vinyl and the good news is that the pattern looks fairly correct as to how most of the interior is done (vinyl has some limitations to work around as originally Pierce Arrow installed fabric by driving a fine headed nail through separating the weave for a nail opening and then closing the weave back over the head of the nail verse with vinyl you need to take a different approach) and probably the only real off base aspect is that the seats would not have been pleated on top (at least I have not seen a 30 Model B Club Sedan with pleated seats ever albeit perhaps they made them), plus the carpets look nylon verse Wilton Wool (but at least you do not have to keep moth balls in the car).   I would take vinyl any day over moth eaten wool

 

Sidenote: Acquaintances have a Packard 740 Club Sedan and it originally had Leather (it would now be their Great Grandfather's car new) - when they redid the car they used a few pieces of vinyl welting verses leather welting, but otherwise were meticulous at matching original pattern (it is pretty spectacular).

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wayne sheldon 25,000+ Points

wayne sheldon

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10 hours ago, John_Mereness said:

 

Sidenote: The landau irons need flipped around to proper orientation.

 

I am glad I am not the only one that freaks out whenever I see landau irons (whether dummy or live) installed a wrong way.  With a right and a left, as well as a front and a back, there are four ways to install such a set of irons. Only ONE way is correct.

Although, interestingly enough, just a few days ago, on the super long stress/period photos thread, I spotted an era photograph with the irons on backwards. Apparent proof that it did actually happen at least some times even back then. I debated about commenting there, but hadn't looked in for several hours and it was about four pages back when I found it. May have to go back and look for it again.

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JACK M 25,000+ Points

JACK M

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15 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

 

I am glad I am not the only one that freaks out whenever I see landau irons (whether dummy or live) installed a wrong way.  With a right and a left, as well as a front and a back, there are four ways to install such a set of irons. Only ONE way is correct.

Although, interestingly enough, just a few days ago, on the super long stress/period photos thread, I spotted an era photograph with the irons on backwards. Apparent proof that it did actually happen at least some times even back then. I debated about commenting there, but hadn't looked in for several hours and it was about four pages back when I found it. May have to go back and look for it again.

 

So on this car, are the irons just upside down or are they also on the wrong sides?

Would it require disassembly of the interior to make them right?

 

I have a hard time getting serious with a seller that would show a flat tire in his ads.

This car is advertised in a couple of places.

 

Who has a nice 34 or so for sale?  36?

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wayne sheldon 25,000+ Points

wayne sheldon

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The irons are on the correct side, but mounted up/down/front/back/rotated 180 degrees. Actually, as I think about it, such irons also have an in and out, so I guess that would make it eight possible ways to mount a proper set of irons, only one of which would be correct. Some early (horse drawn era) buggies had live irons built somewhat crudely that had no inside/outside. They could be mounted on either side, however still were supposed to fold neatly forward in the center.

The little circle in the middle of the irons is supposed to depict the hinge of a live iron. The live iron on a folding top is supposed to fold in the center, with the hinge moving neatly forward as the top is lowered, not pointing out into space. I see pictures of too many landaulets or cabriolets restored with the live irons also folding the wrong way. Looks quite ungainly with them sticking out that way.

The dummy irons used on sport coupes and some various versions of sedans of course do not fold. As decorations, they are simply expected to look right. Most of them are mounted with large lag-type bolts with fancy knob heads screwed into the body wood (some better built bodies may screw into steel brackets?). It should  (however one never knows for sure what a previous owner may have done?) be fairly easy to flip them around.

Edited by wayne sheldon
spotted a typo :( (see edit history)
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zepher 10,000+ Points

zepher

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This car should be a very well mannered road car if sorted properly.

It still amazes me that Pierce Arrows bring so little money compared to Packards of the same era.

 

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TAKerry 25,000+ Points

TAKerry

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Thanks for the lesson on the irons, now I will be looking closely at all I see. I am with Billy, I would not mind having that car at all. A bit out of my price range though. Upholstery looks to be very well done, its a shame they used that material though. Please correct me, but from all of the old cars I have seen, it seems that the higher end vehicles always had cloth (i suspect wool?) interiors for the passenger compartment. The leather seems to be confined to the driver compartment. I suppose the cloth was the higher end option and with open driver compartments (which I suppose were mostly meant to be chauffer driven) the leather would be less affected by weather.

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edinmass 25,000+ Points

edinmass

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Leather was always offered on closed cars, front, rear, and head liner. It was a 75.00 up charge in 1930. It was very very rare to see it.

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edinmass 25,000+ Points

edinmass

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1 hour ago, Matt Harwood said:

Are we calling the upholstery in that car "leather?"

 

 

Correct spelling is pleather, which many, many nauga's gave their life to help upholster the car. While pleather was NOT a factory option, nauga's have been around for a very long time. 

 

nauga's = naugahyde 😀

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neil morse 10,000+ Points

neil morse

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6 hours ago, KURTRUK said:

Can anyone spot the part on this car that came from a Plymouth? 🤨

 

The starter pedal?  Don't keep us in suspense too long -- I'm very curious to hear the answer!

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edinmass 25,000+ Points

edinmass

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2 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

 

The fan?


Nope, factory Pierce and way too big for a Plymouth.

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Mark Wetherbee 5,000+ Points

Mark Wetherbee

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4 hours ago, m-mman said:

I always vote for the interchangeability of the lug nuts. . . . . 


Nope, John is right, very odd lug nuts on my Pierce. They are around 3” long and have a 7/8” hex. That super sized horn on the other hand...🤮

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trimacar 25,000+ Points

trimacar

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On 7/7/2020 at 1:11 PM, edinmass said:

Leather was always offered on closed cars, front, rear, and head liner. It was a 75.00 up charge in 1930. It was very very rare to see it.

I’ve only installed one leather headliner, and it wasn’t a Pierce.

 

If one were to install such, do it on a hot day, or stretch the everloving bejesus out of it front to back to make it tight. Make sure it’s a very light weight leather, 2 ounce or less, or maybe even skived thin.
 

The car I did had a nice, snug leather headliner in the shop.  It went to Pebble Beach on a very hot day, owner was wondering why it sagged somewhat.....

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edinmass 25,000+ Points

edinmass

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My 1935 Pierce Arrow club sedan ordered by the Vanderbilt family in Newport Rhode Island had leather interior and headliner. I have seen it in Cadillacs, Rolls, and Hispano.

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John_Mereness 25,000+ Points

John_Mereness

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I saw the friends 1930 Packard 740 Club Sedan (the one with the leather interior) a couple weeks ago - it was in the storage building in front of my unrestored 1936 Auburn 852 Phaeton and was waiting to get moved out for a carb clean out - I should have snapped some pictures, but the Auburn is parked near a window and I did not want to go mess with the circuit box to turn on the lights to do anything else.  I did open the car up though and the all leather interior 98% properly done was truly impressive (as mentioned it had a few pieces of vinyl hydem welt and the original interior was 100% leather).  I will say though that I recalled riding in the car years ago and the leather in this particular sedan gave you a slightly "hollow tube" sound when driving (knowing that I would probably add in some dynamat or felt behind the upholstery if I were to do a leather interior. 

 

Did some scouting:  This is a 1930 Model B too (a little different in the rear blind quarter)

 

1930-pierce-arrow-model-b-club-sedan-4.JPG

 

1930-pierce-arrow-model-b-club-sedan-5.JPG

 

1930-pierce-arrow-model-b-club-sedan-6.JPG

 

 

 

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wayne sheldon 25,000+ Points

wayne sheldon

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I have never really cared for leather interiors in '20s/'30s sedans or coupes. Just a personal bias. Similar feelings about imitation leather, Naugahyde or vinyl. I know a few expensive cars did have them. And even in the budget end of automobiles, like Dodge business sedans and coupes which I know had leather or imitation leather (I have actually seen a couple very nice original ones myself), I never really cared for it. However, this Pierce Arrow John M just showed us does look beautiful with a leather interior! Thank you for showing us how it should be done!

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