History H.A.M.B. Sleuths, one for you guys to solve.

My wife's Grandfather was a Mechanic who specialized in Willys. He ended up being the chauffeur/mechanic for Arthur Vining Davis, one of the founders of Alcoa Aluminum. I ran across this paper clipping and was hoping someone might id the year/make of this car.

 

I believe it's a pierce arrow...

 

Marmon?

 

My thought was Pierce Arrow too. Here's a post on a 25 aluminum but some parts (roof line, headlights, spare and hood ornament) aren't the same.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...are-pix-of-truly-extinct-makes.397594/page-44

 

Alcoa made this experimental all aluminum car in 1922, but it's not the car in your newspaper clipping.
Wheels look similar, dunno.

 

Thanks much guys. I sure do wish I would have quizzed my father-in-law more about the car. I believe a contact with Alcoa is needed to see if their archives have any info.

 

Pierce Arrow had headlights mounted on fenders.

 

Looks Packard-ish.

 

I agree it looks Packard-ish. Might have better luck posting over on the AACA forums....

 

1922-23 Packard would be my guess.

 

Hey @Hemiman 426

^^^ Nope, I was wrong. It will be a Pierce-Arrow. Apparently Alcoa and Pierce-Arrow built four experimental aluminum cars in the 1920's. Three of these cars were owned by Alcoa executives. Two were seven-p***enger sedans, owned by brothers Andrew W. Mellon and Richard B. Mellon.
A five-p***enger sedan was driven by A.V.Davis. This is the only surviving car, and is owned by the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Info at the following link.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=3C6NDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA251&lpg=PA251&dq=alcoa+pierce+arrow+experimental+car&source=bl&ots=52jb4Nk7Fc&sig=ACfU3U11ReSdFNKw9CCFqVKeYKysUS6w1A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjwhvzCoZ3tAhXyzzgGHY6VCkoQ6AEwEXoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=alcoa pierce arrow experimental car&f=false

Hope this helps.

 

That's a 5 minute road trip for me.....

 

Great. Get over there if you can and get some info and pics for Hemiman 426.....................and the rest of us.

 

By the way, kudos to Lloyd. He nailed it very early on.

 

I thought that the OP was wanting the info on the car that is in the news paper clipping?
I believe the car that is in the clipping picture is a
Hadley Knight 7 p***enger sedan, it was a all aluminum body.
They built a sedan and a Touring , both 7 p***enger,
The picture of this touring sure looks like the front of the sedan in the news paper clipping that the OP posted.
I'm not sure how the stories all go together ,but the Hadley/Knight sure looks more like the clipping car than a Pierce Arrow...just a idea.
I couldn't find a picture of the Hadley/Knight sedan...yet.

Sent from my SM-T387V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Handley-Knight 1922 7 p***enger sedan.
You could be correct. The roof line looks different though. Maybe this was prior to the Pierce-Arrow.

 

The more I look at the picture of the sedan in the clipping , it says that he is a chauffeur and chauffeur driven cars usually had a taller roof line , possibly to clear the mens top hats and the ladies tall bird hats of the day.
So that could be the difference in the roofs of the cars.
Also the Knight motor cars later became Checker Cabs I believe.
Just a thought.

Sent from my SM-T387V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Some researched info - Unable to verify 100%.

Pierce-Arrow used cast aluminum bodies from Alcoa from around 1912 to 1917 or 1918.
The four (?) experimental cars were produced around 1925 in a joint effort with Alcoa. These apparently used aluminum for many parts, not just bodies. Nothing came of it. It seems to be one of these cars that was driven by A.V.Davis for a while, and is now in the Henry Ford Museum.

The car in the original post does not appear to be one of these. If it is a Pierce-Arrow, it would most likely be a 1923, as this was virtually the only year of the '20s that had the headlamps seperate from the front fenders.

????????????????????

It also appears to have a front bumper of sorts, and the Handley-Knight does not.

 

Actually, the fender-mounted headlights weren't standard until 1932, even though nearly all buyers chose them.

 

That's true

 

You know it's coming, so I'll say it. It's a Dodge

 

Thanks so much gents! As a little backround, Mr. Petrilli worked in a Garage in the Bloomfield section of Pittsburgh where he specialized in Willys Knights. Davis heard of Petrilli's knack with them and brought his car to the shop for repair work. Davis was impressed with his skills and good nature and ended up hiring him as his Chauffeur. When Davis retired from Alcoa, he moved to Florida. He ended up moving Tony and his wife to Florida so he could continue being his driver. All told, Mr. Petrilli worked for Davis a total of 47 years.

 

I'd never knew they had cast aluminum bodies, but a little googling confirms it. Wow, pretty neat.

Pierce-Arrow worked with its Buffalo, New York, neighbor, Aluminum Company of America, to perfect casting techniques, which resulted in producing cast aluminum body panels as thin as an eighth of an inch. The resulting Pierce-Arrow bodies were exceptionally strong and lightweight.

 

My Dad use to say, you can tell a Pierce Arrow by the big tall steel wheels. They were tall! Lippy

 

The car in the original post appears not to be the 1925 era Alcoa experimental car owned by Davis that is now in the Dearborn museum. The exciting thing is, if your wife's grandfather drove for Davis for such a long period, he most likely did drive the experimental car.

The info provided would suggest that the car in your picture was a Willys of some sort.

 

I’m going home...... nothing left for me to do!

 

Grump, all my wife can remember is, that her Grandfather, (per her dad), did chauffeur Mr. Davis in an aluminum car. The pic used in the paper article?? We haven't located it, but the caption was written by my wife's dad The list of people he chauffeured around for Davis is impressive. What's really amazing was the bond between the two men . Mr Petrilli drove for Davis up to shortly before Mr Petrilli p***ed on in the early 1960's..

 

Surprisingly, quite a few early manufacturers used aluminum for bodies and panels, until the need for competetive pricing in the pre Great Depression years forced a move towards stamped steel as a better alternative (cost-wise).
Leave it with me and I will try to get a 'list of possible suspects' together for you, and anyone else who may be interested.

I still maintain that the coolest thing to come out of this so far is that your wifes grandfather, Tony Petrilli, most likely drove the Alcoa "all aluminium" experimental car owned by Davis. That right there is sub-zero cool !!!

 

Grump, deeply appreciate the help! I'll give you one more small "cool" feature. Davis had a radiator mascot. His preference was the Lalique Eagle head. Davis gave that to Tony! It was p***ed on to his younger son Anthony Jr.!

 

i was always under the impression that ALL pierce arrows had the ugly headlights in the fenders. they're trademark so to speak. a local guy here has a late teens touring, original unrestored. huge long wheelbase beautiful thing...except for the lights!