The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company was an American motor vehicle manufacturer based in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, active from 1901 to 1938. Although best known for its expensive luxury cars, Pierce-Arrow also manufactured commercial

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

, fire trucks, boats, camp trailers,

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

s, and

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

Origin

The forerunner of Pierce-Arrow was established in 1865 as Heinz, Pierce and Munschauer. The company was best known for its household items, especially its delicate, gilded birdcages. In 1872, George Norman Pierce bought out the other two principals of the company, changed the name to the George N. Pierce Company, and in 1896 added bicycles to the product line. The company failed in its attempt to build a steam-powered car in 1900 under license from Overman, but by 1901, had built its first single-cylinder, two-speed, no-reverse ''Motorette''. Motorette image In 1903, it produced a two-cylinder car, the ''Arrow''. In 1904, Pierce decided to concentrate on making a larger, more luxurious car for the upscale market, the ''Great Arrow''. This became the company's most successful product. The solidly built, four-cylinder car won the Glidden Tour in 1905, an endurance run to determine and celebrate the most reliable car. Thirty-three cars entered the 350-mile race from New York City to Bretton Woods, New Hampshire; the race was won by Percy Pierce in a ''Great Arrow''. The noted industrial architect Albert Kahn designed the Pierce Arrow Factory Complex at Elmwood Avenue and Great Arrow Avenue in about 1906. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1974. George Pierce sold all rights in the company in 1907, and he died three years later. In 1908, Pierce Motor Company was renamed as the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company. Pierce-Arrow Hood Ornament

In 1909, U.S. President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

ordered two Pierce-Arrows (and two White Model M Tourers) to be used for state occasions, the first official cars of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

The Pierce-Arrow's engine displacement started at , continuing to a massive and was increased later to 5 inch bore and 7 inch stroke for , at the time making it by far the largest

Otto engine The Otto engine is a large stationary single-cylinder internal combustion engine, internal combustion four-stroke engine, designed by the German Nicolaus Otto. It was a low-RPM machine, and only fired every other stroke due to the Otto cycle, a ...

offered in any production automobile in the world.''Fire Engines & Fire Fighting'', by David Burgess-Wise, first publ. 1977 by Octopus Books Ltd, . In 1910, Pierce dropped its other 4-cylinder models and focused exclusively on 6-cylinder cars until 1929. The model 6-36, 6-48, and 6-66 continued for the next decade. Starting in 1918, Pierce-Arrow adopted a four-valve per cylinder T-head inline-six engine (Dual Valve Six) and three spark plugs per cylinder, one of the few, if only, multi-valve flathead design engines ever made. The company did not introduce an 8-cylinder engine until the 1929 Model 126, and a V-12 engine was offered in 1931 until the company closed in 1938. In 1910, George Pierce died. In 1912, Herbert M. Dawley (later a Broadway actor-director) joined Pierce-Arrow, and he designed almost every model until 1938. Until 1914, Pierce-Arrow also made a line of

s, including the Pierce Four. In 1914, Pierce-Arrow adopted its most enduring styling hallmark when its headlights were moved from a traditional placement at the radiator's sides, into flared housings molded into the front fenders of the car. This gave the car an immediately visible distinction in front or side views. At night, the car appeared to have a wider stance. Pierce patented this placement, which endured until the final model of 1938, although Pierce always offered customers the option of conventional headlamps; only a minority ordered this option. The Pierce-Arrow was a

status symbol A status symbol is a visible, external symbol of one's social position, an indicator of Wealth, economic or social status. Many luxury goods are often considered status symbols. ''Status symbol'' is also a Sociology, sociological term – as part ...

, owned by many Hollywood stars and tycoons, and a favorite was the Pierce-Arrow Town Car. Most of the royalty of the world had at least one Pierce-Arrow in its collection. Some have described Pierce and two of its rivals among American luxury cars, Peerless and

Packard Packard (formerly the Packard Motor Car Company) was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana, in 1958. One ...

, as the "Three P's of Motordom." Industrial efficiency expert Frank Gilbreth, father of the authors of " Cheaper By The Dozen," extolled the virtues of Pierce-Arrow, in both quality and in its ability to safely transport his large family. Its

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

was . The transmission was a four speed manual in 1919. Actor Sessue Hayakawa (famed for his role in ''

Bridge on the River Kwai ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' is a 1957 epic film, epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the novel The Bridge over the River Kwai, ''The Bridge over the River Kwai'', written by Pierre Boulle. Boulle's novel and the film's screen ...

'') drove a custom-ordered gold-plated Pierce-Arrow. A restored 1919 Pierce-Arrow is on display at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library. An open-bodied Pierce-Arrow carried

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

and

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was one of the most ...

to Harding's 1921 inauguration, and one was used prominently in the 1950 movie '' Cheaper by the Dozen''. Pierce-Arrow advertisements were artistic and understated. Unusual for car advertising, the image of the car was in the background rather than the foreground of the picture. Usually, only part of the car was visible. The Pierce-Arrow was typically depicted in elegant and fashionable settings. Some advertisements featured the car in places a car would not normally go, such as the West and other rural settings, a testament to the car's ruggedness and quality. Because of the immense size of most models, several second-hand Pierce-Arrow cars were bought by

fire department A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organi ...

s, stripped down to the chassis and engine, the wheelbase lengthened, and built back into fire engines. Some of these fire engines were in service for up to 20 years.

1928–1933

In 1928, the

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Man ...

Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, gained control of the Buffalo firm. The association was to last for five years, with moderate benefits to both companies' engineering departments, which continued to function as separate entities. Pierce-Arrow also gained a dealer network, as the cars were sold through Studebaker dealerships. Under Studebaker's ownership, Pierce-Arrow retired the venerable 6-cylinder engine and in 1929 introduced an L-head straight-eight engine, which displaced .

1933–1938

In 1933, Pierce-Arrow unveiled the radically streamlined Silver Arrow in a final attempt to appeal to the wealthy at the

New York Auto Show The New York International Auto Show is an annual auto show that is held in Manhattan, New York City in late March or early April. It is held at the Javits Center, Jacob Javits Convention Center. It usually opens on or just before Easter weeke ...

. The car was well received by the public and the motoring press, being announced with the slogan "Suddenly it's 1940!" Pierce sold five examples but, since it was priced at $10,000 (equal to $ today) during the worst of the Depression, even the rich were hesitant to spend so much. The bodies were built at Studebaker, which subsequently assisted in rolling out a lower-priced production model. This, however, lacked many luxury features of the show car and still failed to generate enough sales. Starting in 1936, Pierce-Arrow produced a line of camper-trailers, the Pierce-Arrow Travelodge. They also produced a new V12 sedan that was redesigned and considered the safest and most luxurious sedan of its day. Galloping Goose 6

The Rio Grande Southern Railroad converted five Pierce-Arrow automobiles (and a couple of

Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...

s) into motorized

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...

s, effectively buses and trucks on rail wheels. The nickname '' Galloping Goose'' was soon applied to these vehicles, reportedly based on their waddling motion and honking horn. Three are preserved in the Colorado Railroad Museum at Golden. Pierce was the only luxury brand that did not field a lower-priced car (''e.g.'', the Packard 120) to provide cash flow, and without sales or funds for development, the company declared insolvency in 1938 and closed its doors. The final Pierce-Arrow assembled was built by Karl Wise, the firm's chief engineer, from parts secured from the company's receivers. Pierce's remaining assets (which probably would include the forty Arrows made in October 1938) were sold at auction on a Friday, May 13, 1938. The factory equipment used to make Pierce-Arrow V12 engines was bought by Seagrave Fire Apparatus, which used it to make engines for fire engines.

Name trademark

In 2006, a group of classic car enthusiasts from Switzerland applied the name to a 10 L, 24-cylinder car designed by Luigi Colani. According to their (defunct) website, the company intended to revive the Pierce-Arrow car in the form of a Pierce Silver Arrow II. The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled on August 12, 2019, that "Pierce-Arrow" cannot be registered by an unrelated third party as a trademark for the production of a new automobile. This decision establishes a new precedent for protection of Collective Membership Marks.

List of models

There were at least 39 defined models, listed here: * Pierce Stanhope * Pierce Great Arrow * Pierce Arrow 24 HP * Pierce Arrow 36 HP * Pierce Arrow 40 HP * Pierce Arrow 48 HP * Pierce Arrow 60 HP * Pierce Arrow 66 HP * Pierce Silver Arrow *Pierce-Arrow 1240A *Pierce-Arrow 1245 *Pierce-Arrow 1248A *Pierce-Arrow 1255 *Pierce-Arrow 1601 *Pierce-Arrow 1602 *Pierce-Arrow 1603 *Pierce-Arrow 1701 *Pierce-Arrow 1702 *Pierce-Arrow 1703 *Pierce-Arrow 1801 *Pierce-Arrow 1802 *Pierce-Arrow 1803 *Pierce-Arrow 836A *Pierce-Arrow 840A *Pierce-Arrow 845 *Pierce-Arrow Model 1236 *Pierce-Arrow Model 1242 *Pierce-Arrow Model 1247 *Pierce-Arrow Model 133 *Pierce-Arrow Model 143 *Pierce-Arrow Model 31 *Pierce-Arrow Model 32 *Pierce-Arrow Model 33 *Pierce-Arrow Model 36 *Pierce-Arrow Model 38-C 3 (1915-1916) *Pierce-Arrow Model 41 *Pierce-Arrow Model 42 *Pierce-Arrow Model 43 *Pierce-Arrow Model 51 *Pierce-Arrow Model 52 *Pierce-Arrow Model 53 *Pierce-Arrow Model 54 *Pierce-Arrow Model 80 *Pierce-Arrow Model 81 *Pierce-Arrow Model 836 *Pierce-Arrow Model A *Pierce-Arrow Model B *Pierce-Arrow Model C

Gallery

File:WhiteRockWaterPierceArrowTruck.jpg, 1911 Pierce-Arrow R Five-ton Truck File:Pierce Four 1910 Barber.jpg, 1911 Pierce Four motorcycle File:PierceArrowUtah1915.jpg, 1915 Touring Car,

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

File:Pierce-Arrow Model 48-B-5 7-Passenger Touring 1919 2.jpg, Pierce-Arrow vehicles Model 48-B-5 7-Passenger Touring 1919 File:Stahls Automotive Collection December 2021 139 (1919 Pierce-Arrow Model 66 A-4).jpg, 1919 Pierce-Arrow Model 66 A-4 File:Original TTC Rosedale Pierce Arrow bus.jpg, Pierce Arrow bus ( TTC

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada) File:1929 Pierce Arrow.jpg, 1929 Pierce Arrow File:1929_PIERCE-ARROW.jpg, 1929 Pierce Arrow File:1928PierceArrowFleetHousecar.jpg, 1928 Pierce-Arrow Fleet Housecar, displayed in the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana. File:Pierce-Arrow (Auto classique Laval '11).JPG , Pierce-Arrow File:Pierce-Arrow Model B (1930) 1Y7A6168.jpg, 1930 Pierce-Arrow Model B File:1930 Pierce-Arrow Model B.JPG, 1930 Pierce-Arrow Model B Dual-Cowl Phaeton File:1931 Pierce-Arrow by LeBaron.jpg, 1931 Pierce-Arrow by LeBaron File:1933 Pierce-Arrow Model 1247.jpg, Pierce-Arrow Model 1247 File:1934 Pierce-Arrow 840A.JPG, 1934 Pierce-Arrow 840A Convertible File:1934 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow.JPG, 1934 Pierce-Arrow 840A Coupe File:1935 Pierce Arrow 845 V12 Silver Arrow Coupe (3828535867).jpg, 1935 Pierce Arrow 845 V12 Silver Arrow Coupe

References

18. Hood ornament featured in Season 1, Episode 13, "Garage Sale" of Chico And The Man (1974)

Origin

1928–1933

1933–1938

Name trademark

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List of models

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links