100 YEARS OF PIERCE ARROW
Earl Tucker, Vancouver Chapter

1917 Pierce Arrow

This had to be the highlight of any event I have attended. Al Johnson and I left on the Red Eye flight at l0:40 p.m.  Friday, July 6, 2001, headed to Toronto.  We arrived at 6:05 A.M.  We rented a PT Cruiser and headed for the R.M. collection in Chathem, Ontario.  We arrived at 10:30 A.M. and met Rob Myers.  He gave us a complete conducted tour of the show room and restoration shops.  There were lots of nice cars for sale.  He took us downtown to show us some of the buildings he is restoring.  We then went to an antique style tavern, he had restored, where he treated us to lunch.  He made a few phone calls and set up two more museums in the Detroit area for us to visit.  He was a great host. 

We went south, through Detroit, to Ypsalani, Michigan to a Hudson dealership owned by the town of Ypsalani. We met Jack Miller who was in charge of the building.  It was like they closed the door in 1956 and never moved a thing since.  The showroom had a black, one of a kind, 1951 Hudson limo and a 1947 Hudson convertible.  Jack had many stories to tell and they were all very interesting.  The showroom had a collection of neon lights in it and a parts department attached to it. There was also a Kaiser Fraser dealership there.  It had a Vagabond, a Traveler, a Darrin, a mint Fraser and lots of other cars.  Jack then took us over to the U.S.A. R.M. collection.  They have a new showroom with some very nice cars - mostly of 50’s and 60’s cars including Mustangs and Mercs.   At that point he asked us where we were staying.  We hadn’t booked a hotel yet so the girl in the office phoned and reserved a room for us, at their special rate, at the Marriott.  Jack drove us back for our car and suggested we should eat at the restaurant across the street from the dealership.  He gave us a map and instructions to go to the new Chrysler Museum.  We thanked him for his wonderful hospitality and headed for the Marriott. 

The next morning we were up early and had about a 2 hour drive to Pontiac, Michigan, to the Chrysler museum.  We arrived at 10 A.M. but it didn’t open until noon.   We drove around the area then back to the museum.  It was a beautiful building that opened about a year ago. There were some very rare cars such as a Thunderbolt, a 64 Turbojet, a 39 Dodge Hayes body coupe, a 24 Chrysler touring, a 57 Imperial and a 15 Dodge touring and lots more cars.  We spend two hours there. 

We then went to Dearborn, Michigan to meet my half brother, George, and his wife Maud.  I had never met either of them before nor talked to them on the phone.  We had a short visit as Maud was very ill.  She had just spent 9 months in the hospital.  It was a very emotional time for all of us. They live about a mile from the Ford Museum. I have now met all my family.  I have a sister I haven’t seen for 61 years but that is another story. 

We then went on to the Ford Museum. We caught the Imax show at 8:40 p.m.  We stayed in a Motel about ½ mile from the museum.  We were up early the next day and spent the whole day at the Ford Museum.  There was too much to see in one day and we did not have enough time to spend another day there. 

We then headed back into Canada.  We stopped at Woodstock, Ontario Monday night.  Al had never seen Niagara Falls so the next morning we went to have a look at the falls on the Canadian side and to Niagara on the Lake on our way to Buffalo. We crossed over onto the U.S. side and down to buffalo to the Adams Mark Hotel.  We got settled and went down to the parking lot to watch all the Pierce Arrows arriving.  There were 175 Pierces at the meet.  What a sight to see. Pierce Arrows were built from 1901 to 1938. I’m not sure if every year was represented. The 1901 was on loan from the Smithsonian Institute.  The only 1938 convertible there was the last model of an open car to be built. Missing from the group was a Great Arrow.

1938 Pierce Arrow Convertible -last model built

Tuesday: This was the first day of the tour and it looked like we were not going to get a ride until Al met Steve from California.  Al had toured with him on a Classic Car tour. He had three other men in the car with him.  They were Warren, Ted and Bill. We were riding in a 1925 Pierce touring from Australia with a right hand drive and disc wheels. Bill was 91 years old and had traveled with Steve on a Franklin tour.  Bill also had worked for Pierce and Packard and as we drove through the city he would point out all the buildings where the cars and parts were manufactured.  He had an excellent memory.

1925 Pierce Arrow Touring

At the evening cocktail party I met many of the people I had read about for the 33 years that I have belonged to the P.A. club.  We were sitting at a round table when a lady by the name of Ellie Leigh sat down.  She was the granddaughter of George N. Pierce.  She wanted to know what kind of Pierce each of us owned.  When it came around to me, I told her I owned the P.A. that Mary Pickford had owned.  She remembered the family talking about this car and she told me about the picture of it in a 1933-34 book called Chums.  A week before I left on this holiday I had photocopied the very same picture for my collection. I told her about our 1930 P.A and that the original owner, Mrs. Edith Farrier, is still living in Vancouver and is 98 years old.

1932 Pierce Arrow

On Wednesday we toured the U.S.A. side of the falls.  On the way to the falls we went to the gravesite of George N. Pierce and other famous automakers. The tour was 105 miles.  At the Wednesday night cocktail party Al met a man who had a Stoddard Dayton.  His name was Jay Mulligan.  Al made arrangements for a tour to his home after dinner. Jay Mulligan was a racecar driver and had a sprint car with a V8-60.  He also had a 1911 Stoddard Dayton, a 1911 Stanley, a 1902 Olds, and a 1931 Caddy convertible.  He also had a 1964 Rambler that he raced. When he retired, American Motors gave him a Javelin SST that now has 36 miles on it.  He was a wonderful host and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing his collection. On our way back from the falls Al got a great kick out of the name of the funeral home called Amagone Funeral Home.  I had the pleasure of driving the 1925 Pierce.  It is the same model as mine and was a very fine running car.

1918 Pierce Arrow

On Thursday the tour went to the original show room of Pierce Arrow and then on to Roy Croft University.  There were beautiful homes in this area. 

 We took a tour trolley to the main street of Aroura  and went to the Fisher Price Museum.  There were toys there that I played with as a child.  We went back to the Hotel and at 6:30 p.m. we took a trolley to the Pierce Arrow Museum.  We had dinner at the museum. It has been open for a month.  They had two Pierces for sale.  There were other cars plus some memorabilia. We went back to the hotel for a drink.  Bill, at age 91, had us all in stitches from the numerous jokes he was telling.  Car jokes of course.  Al kept saying amagone.  This too added to our laughter. 

Friday’s tour took us down town.  We had to arrive at the railroad tracks at exactly12:00 noon so we could drive 175 cars over the tracks, before the next train was due, and through the downtown area. It was the first time in many years they had shut down Main Street for an occasion such as this. The Pierce Arrow Meet was a big event for the city of Buffalo.  The next stop was a 45-acre estate owned by the Gacioch family.  They had 70 plus cars of which he put out 30 for display then we came with 175 Pierces and parked on the lawn.  They provided a box lunch for us.  They had large tents set up provided by Pepsi and a band playing. Dinner was on your own Friday night.  Bill wanted to take us to a special restaurant for dinner.  The six of us arrived there only to find we should have had a reservation.  They had a long list of reservations but in about 10 minutes we had a table.  What he hadn’t told us was that he has been going to this restaurant for 65 years.  We felt we were very special people and we enjoyed our meal very much. We heard there was a Buick Meet about 30 miles away, so after dinner we headed for the Addison Hotel where the meet was being held.  It was their National Meet and there were 500 Buicks to look at.  What a show! We stayed until dark then headed back to our Hotel. 

Saturday:  Judging was held between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at the City Hall.  It was open to the public and they came by the thousands to enjoy the cars. The City Hall was built in 1929.  It was about 40 stories tall.  I went up to look around and you could see for miles including part of Canada.  The cars were all parked in a circle according to the year.  It was a big job to judge some of these cars.

Saturday evening was the Awards Banquet.  There were some beautiful ice carvings for us to enjoy.  The man who designed and modeled the Pierce Arrow archer was there and told the history of how it came to be. 

Sunday morning we made our way to Toronto to catch a 7:30 p.m. flight.  We made lots of stops along the way.  We arrived home at 10:00 p.m. and by the time I got to bed it was 3:00 Toronto time. 

I would like to say what great fun it was to travel with Al Johnson.  We had lots of laughs and met some wonderful people.  This is only a short story of all the adventures we had.  It was the trip of a lifetime. I will have a photo album put together soon for everyone to see and I hope to receive a videotape of the Pierce Arrow Meet. 

Earl Tucker