Pierce-Arrow

Pierce-Arrow was once one of the most recognized and honored names in the automobile industry. For 38 years, from 1901 to 1938, the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company in Buffalo, NY, produced some of the finest automobiles ever made. Pierce-Arrows could be found anywhere the rich and famous worked and played, including the White House, and royal familes throughout the world.

Many early automakers began as bicycle manufacturers and by 1900 the Pierce Cycle Company started experimenting with automobiles.

In late 1901 Pierce introduced the Motorette, a small car with a single-cylinder de Dion gasoline engine and embarked on demostrating it to its Pierce bicycle agents throughout the country. In 1903 Pierce offered three models of automobiles: the Runabout, the Stanhope, and a five-passenger touring car.

In 1903, Pierce offered three models of automobiles: the Runabout, the Stanhope, and a five-passenger touring car. The Stanhope was the company's best seller with 149 units sold. It featured an engine nearly twice as large as the original 1901 Motorette.

In 1908 the George N. Pierce Company became two seperate companies - The Pierce Cycle Company and the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company.

Pierce-Arrow really hit its stride during the second decade of the 20th century. Pierce was an innovative manufacturer, offering features such as aluminum bodies, dual-valve engines and power brakes. Fender-mounted headlamps became a trademark design feature in 1913.

The 1922 Series 33 Pierce-Arrow was the peak in development of Pierce-Arrow's dual valve, T-head engine design. These very quite and powerful engines were not only used in Pierce-Arrow's automobiles but also in speedboats and as stationary power sources.

Pierce-Arrow introduced a less espensive luxury automobile in 1925 with their entry-level Series 80. it was the smallest car offered by the company in many years but it still had the same quality and workmanship for which Pierce-Arrow had become famous.

The Pierce-Arrow Series 80 automobiles were marketed as the car for the owner/driver rather than the chauffeur driven. Introduced in 1925, sales for the less-expensive peaked in 1926 with 7,500 built. Declining sales would cause the Series 80 to be dropped in 1928. Depending on which body style was selected, the Series 80 sold for $2,400 to $4,000 less than Pierce-Arrow's large Series 36.

In 1928 the Studebake Corporation of South Bend, Indiana purchased controlling interest in the Pierce-Arrow company. Engineering and manufacturing remained seperate but the merger provided Pierce-Arrow with much needed capital.

A new straight-eight engine was developed for the 1929 model year that increased the available power to 125 bhp providing the muscle neccessary for the new line of Pierce-Arrow cars to reach speeds of 85 miles per hour. Sales for Pierce-Arrow reach a historical peak of 10,000 cars in 1929 - nearly double that of the previous year.

The stock market crash of October, 1929 caused major drops in sales for all the luxury car makers including Pierce-Arrow. By 1931, annual sales dropped to a little than 4,500 cars. Cadillac's introduction of their V-16 engine in 1930 also added to the pain being felt by the other manufacturers. It would be 1932 before Pierce-Arrow could offer their high-performance V-12.

The Series 42 was Pierce-Arrow's mid-range model line offered for 1931, a year when the economic depression in the US continued to worsen. Sales of new cars, regardless of make, plummeted and the luxury car market was especially hard hit. At Pierce-Arrow, 1931 sales were half of those two years earlier. By comparison, sales of the inexpensive Ford Model A had fallen from sales of two million cars annually to just over 500,000.

The big news at Pierce-Arrow in 1932 was the introduction of its 12-cylinder engine. This was to meet the challenge of V-12 and V-16 engines being offered by fellow luxury automakers at packard, Cadillac, Lincoln and Marmon. The Series 54 was Pierce-Arrow's least expensive model for 1932 and used the previous smaller version of the eight-cylinder engine.

With the effects of the Depression still being felt throughout the US in 1936, Pierce-Arrow sales continued to slide. In an attempt to boost sales, the company offered three series of automobiles and built the "Travel Lodge" camper trailer. Potential customers could opt for custom-built bodies or select from a total of 40 different catalog body styles and chassis combinations. Despite the abundance of choices, car sales barely reached 800 vehicles sold in 1936.

Pierce-Arrow ended production in 1938, a victim of the depression and changing tastes. The company built approximately 85,000 cars during its history. There are less than 2,000 documented survivors.