So, Dad has a Pierce Arrow parts car..

Man. That pile looks so good..

I know it would piss off quite a few people, but I'd make that thing a RPU. If not, at least chop that top some to give it some at***ude. Lower a little (as much as the fenders will let you go), find some big English wires, bias ply tires, stock drivetrain, maybe upgrade the brakes some.. And build a metal bed for it to replace the wood.

Fanciest period-correct parts hauler.


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Oh, and to answer your question since no one else did.. Yes, the black wire wheel in your latest picture is a '35 Ford.


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http://www.ebay.com/itm/1934-1935-1...rd-Model-A-T-Chev-Tractor-Truck-/300716181978

 

Great car, definately worth saving! I'd grab it in a heartbeat!

 

Glad Dad is doing better. Maybe your build will make him proud.
As Steve said in post #26; big car roadster quarters with a golf bag door.

As luck would have it there's a pair listed in the cl***ified's that would be perfect for your build. It could help build you a very cl***y, full fendered roadster or cabriolet if you chose to go that route over a pickup. Work out some doors, build a deck lid...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=779092

 

here is a Auburn and a Packard tow truck converted

 

Pierce and Packard trucks were fairly common because of their strong frames and long wheelbases but they aren't very ***y. Why don't you build a speedster on that ch***is? And don't even think about replacing that motor, rebuild it instead. There is nothing cooler than a monster straight eight from the thirties.

 

Pierce Arrow V 12 engines were also in Seagrave fire engines too.

 

Regardless of what you eventually do with it, get it NOW. Do not let it go to s****. Even if you change your mind in the future there will be people out there who want those parts.

Sorry about your Dad's cancer. He sounds like a pretty neat guy. My guess is he was restoring these cars back when they were easier to find and therefore more complete and less rough? My dad and uncle junked more than one luxury sedan back in the 1970s after using them for parts on coupes or. No one s****s anything anymore - they have become just too scarce!

 

I'll have to check out the engine, I'm not sure that its feasible to save. The cylinders have been exposed for the last 30 years (at a minimum). We are in the desert but that's a long time out in the open. The 26s are straight 6 and I think he snagged the head off the parts car for the good car. I'm attaching a pic of the ol boy with his newer one (1931 seven p***enger sedan - 8 cyl).

Sorry it's sideways.. It's a pic of a pic.

 

try this...

 

Very Cool! Gonna keep my eye on this build. Bummer about the cancer.

 

Thanks Dirt

 

So, talked to Pops today about the big Pierce Arrow. He said that he had tried advertising it in the Pierce Arrow Society (not sure how I think about a car club that refers to themselves as a "Society") and had no takers. We walked out and looked it over. He showed me what he thought were the good and bad points of it. I told him that I wanted to get it rolling as a truck. He said "well, you can have it but it'd cost a million dollars to get that engine going- it threw a rod ya know." Looked it over and saw that a rod is bent. No matter to me, I already knew that I wouldn't use it. He said it's a 26 or 27 series 80 4 door sedan. He showed me where the frame stamp should be, just ahead of the cowl on the right side, but I couldn't make any numbers out.

Got there a week too late for one thing- he snagged the seat springs out of it to redo for his 24 Olds touring..
Looks like I need to make some room in the big shop and go haul it home.

Any of you jokers got a fireball 8 sitting there after you yanked it out and put that spiffy crate 350/350 combo in your ride - ?

I'll do some more pics once I get it home and organize it. We were looking in the bed of it and I'm like -uh, what're those? Oh, fender skirts for a Buick Roadmaster.. He's been throwing other "s**** metal" into it. It'll be interesting.

 

Man, I can't wait to see the build on this now truck

 

Somebody on the photoshop thread did a rendering. Very nice, but here's a pic of what the truck won't look like.
Too fancy (expensive)

 

There was a Flint pickup conversion at the Pileup some years back. I didn't get any good overall pics, I was mostly interested in the small details.

 

I talked to three Pierce Arrow guys in Northern California one year. The PA guys came from Maine heading for Florida via California. Those cars a big, parked my T sedan next to one and my T looked like a toy.
Good luck on the build and please do it.

CRUISER

 

Sorry about spelling it wrong, makes it real hard to find.

 

This should be interesting when you get it back to the "big shop". I don't know anyone in the valley who has a big straight 8 that they want to get rid of but will keep my ear open.

 

Glad you're doing this. We're doing a pickup conversion on a REO. I've started a thread on that project at http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=799746&highlight=reo

I hope you find a cool engine for it. Seems like I am always finding neat engines that are too long to fit in most builds. You have the luxury of a big car that was built tough as a truck. Think about old truck engines.

A friend built a Lincoln hot rod that used the rear and front straight axle from a late mode truck. The solid axle looked period, but wore modern brakes, gears, and fit his vintage spoke wheels.

You're familiar with the Pierce Arrow-based Galloping Gooses, right?

http://www.google.com/search?q=gall...le%2F20120622%2FLIVING%2F706229997%2F;620;300

 

There is a picture of the 1933 Pierce Arrow that Ab Jenkins drove at Bonneville on page two of the thread at http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=801156&page=2

 

Its probbaly not cost effective, but Pierce V-12s are out there.



It was mentioned before that firetrucks used these and other interesting engines. A few years ago, you could pick up a GMC twin six for little money if you could find one. They all look pretty pricey today.

 

I want that dash insert.

 

I think both Seagrave and ALF used a derivative of a Pierce Arrow engine. They were extreme fuel ****s and that was (one reason) why most of them were repowered by Detroits in their fire careers. If they were pumping the GPH was high enough to run them dry in the heat of the action, so to speak.

Some states, I don't know which ones, had a law that fire trucks had to have dual ignition systems. I think the real purpose was to justify the expensive engines built just for fire trucks. Diesels of course have no ignition systems so I guess the changed the law. Dual ignition was no problem for flathead engines because twin plug castings were not that complicated but with OHV engines if they aren't designed with twin plugs in mind in the castings it is a problem.

 

I love the RGS Geese!

 

I know American LaFrance used a Lycoming V-12, which was a derivative of the engine use by Auburn. ALF did convert it to dual ignition, as you state. The Lycoming 12 was a 45-degree V, rather than a 60-degree, becuase it was originally designed to be a V-16 for the Cord. When they changed it to a 12 for the Auburn, they did not change the position of the cylinder banks.

 

Here's a pretty good looking car-turned-truck

 

I've had several cars turned trucks over the last few years. Most were Model A's. One they just lopped off the back and put a pickup bed on and I don't think ever put a back on it, there was no sign of any with the carc***. I started to make it over as a tub using a back half I got out of a farm dump and then my buddy needed it for a swap deal, so it went away.

Another he had they cut the body and tacked the rear 4" or so on the back to make the cab. He also had a '31 or so Plymouth tudor body which had just the flat part of the back hung on to close it off.

And the yard mine came out of I pulled apart still another A that had been turned truck, whatever they did, I pulled the back off by hand after it sat out for years. I scabbed it up the back section and top tin on a doodlebug ch***is and cowl with some sedan rear doors and an ugly '35 grille and sold the whole thing.


If you have a cowl and doors, then the rest should be fairly easy. Scare up a grille somewhere, make a hood top, whatever engine you like and go.

 

I'd like to see some photos of those A's. Did any look like this one I found in the Utah photo archives while researching my Diamond T history.