1936 Pierce Arrow 1603 7pass Limo

[TheMeanGreen]

Vehicle Make: Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company
Year: 1936
Model: 1603 Seven passenger Limousine
Wheelbase: 147”
Weight: ~8,000lbs
Engine: L-Head V12, 462 CID, 185HP and a boat load of torque.
Exterior Color: Some sort of a Packard blue (by one of the PO’s)

More info: https://www.pierce-arrow.org/history/

Alright, where do I even begin? Pierce history.
“The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company was an American motor vehicle manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York, which was active from 1901 to 1938. Although best known for its expensive luxury cars, Pierce-Arrow also manufactured commercial trucks, fire trucks, camp trailers, motorcycles, and bicycles.^{[1] “
-Wikipedia}
PAMCC was in the business of making luxury cars for the affluent. They made specific models and custom vehicles. For example, if a customer wanted a custom body, not made by PAMCC, the customer could buy a Pierce rolling chassis and have a custom body made by a coach builder. This particular 1603 is fitted with the optional V12, is long wheel base at 147 inches, closed roof, jump seats. Intercom system, and an upgraded rear interior. The original owner is unknown, but they were wealthy enough to buy this vehicle brand new in 1936, Great Depression era. The car lived the majority of its life in the Niagara area (if I remember correctly) of New York state, in a barn that perfectly preserved the wooden structure of the body of the car. The car underwent a cosmetic restoration in the early eighties, it was base/cleared, and has had some interior bits restored, I cannot remember which. The vehicle is vastly original, mechanically and is literally built like an 8,000lb truck. Something really unique with this particular 1603 (one of seven known to exist) is the hood ornament. One of the previous owners was a dentist and had some sort of mishap with the hood ornament, with his skill he was able to repair the arrow of the bow and arrow, the arrow of the bow and arrow is gold on this car and none others. So if one was to google the 1603 and come across one with a gold arrow of its hood ornament, it is this car.

From the current owner, Chris: “As far as I know, yes, it spent most of its life in New York.
That’s where the car was built originally. I can only trace ownership to the early 70s, which was the famous dentist, Robert F. Barkley, who did the mascot repair that is still in place. The previous owner that I purchased it from, commissioned the cosmetic restoration in the early 80s. He lived in Niagara Falls, and between the early 80s until I bought the car in 2015, the car had approximately 800 miles put in it. He was a Packard collector, but had this Pierce-Arrow in his collection as well. He passed away in 2014. He happens to live in Rockwall, and I stumbled upon the Hemmings ad while looking at Aston Martins. After seeing the Pierce, the idea of the Aston didn’t enter my mind much anymore.”




The Detailing Process:

Foamed with PP B&RV
2BWM
Brush work of all nooks and crannies
Clayed with Nanoskin Blue
Dried with N-914 at 1:8

Cut with a mix of M101 and M205 on a Megs MF Polishing pad
Refined with Black LC CCS and M205
Cleared TSO’s with my mix of OPT Paint Prep and Mineral Spirts
Hand polishing were needed
Pad sizes from 5.5” to 1”, DA and Rotary for intricate areas.
LSP’d with FK1000P


Initial inspection (don’t have any pictures) revealed a lot of body shop signatures, buffer trails, sander marks, and areas that hadn’t even been touched post respray. Along almost every body feature, there was unpolished paint of some sort. The initial detail called for a hearty single step polish, part way through the detail I decided that I wanted to go a little bit farther and do one minor cutting step and then refine, all in the same number of passes that I have planned (four total passes for cut and refine). Did my usual stepped speed machining process, of course the speeds did vary from panel to panel as some panels needed a little bit more cut than others. The pin striping (single stage uncleared) at first glance, appeared to be a head scratcher, but after some thought I came up with the idea of taping off all the pin striping for the cutting process, and then would refine over the pin striping to bring its color back and to limit the amount of pin striping removed. All exterior trim was glistened with Drive Auto Appearance Victory Nano P&S.

For the interior, I performed a minor vacuum and went over all of the metal, wood, and applicable glass surfaces with Drive Auto Appearance Victory Nano Polish and Seal.

The detail was originally commissioned for the Park Place Super Car Showcase the second weekend of September 2018, here in the DFW area, however rain was scheduled and the Pierce does not see rain. This actually worked to my benefit as I was able to spend a bit more time on the car and deliver a better product for Chris, the current owner. How much time did this detail take? I do not remember, but the car came out great!

Enjoy the pics:

All taped up








Size comparison to my filthy car:



Cut to Refine:


Needs refining:




Refined:














LSP`d:





Sorry for the dust:


PiercesiderearEdit.JPG

Another size comparison:


That`s a full size Nissan Titan to the right of the Pierce


Finals:






Here`s the first time Pierce came out of the garage after LSP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DmfT6OXpHw

Thanks for looking!

[rlmccarty2000]

Wow, she’s beautiful! Tons of real estate on that one.

[SWETM]

Wow awesome write up and pictures and incredible work done!

Thanks for shareing your work!

/ Tony

[TheMeanGreen]

Wow, she’s beautiful! Tons of real estate on that one.

*He’s*, the Pierce is always referred to as male, it’s just the way it is. Haha..... Thanks, the color has a split personality, it’s quite lovely.

[tropicsteve]

is that a sweet gangsta ride or what ? nice work!

[Fishroes]

That is super nice. How much is it worth. What week this summer will you let me borrow it? LOL

[DBAILEY]

You must have had a grin the whole time you were working on him.

[Sizzle Chest]

Very nice write up, pics and work! It looks great! What a cool vehicle to be able to work on! Well done!

[RTexasF]

Spectacular doesn`t even begin to describe your work on that Gem.

[TheMeanGreen]

Thanks for the comments, guys. It was quite the project. I`d really like to see this thing with a coat of Essence, a coating, and Merlins Magical Elixr. I`d settle for taking SFP3800, though. I came across SFP3800 after this detail was finished, it`s quite a nice product from Menzerna.

@Fishroes, I have an idea of a price range, however I don`t ever really talk about vehicle prices. There is a currently a 1935 Pierce Arrow Twelve-55 for sale on Hemmings, I`d imagine that the 1603 is around that Twelve-55`s price or north of it. As far as borrowing it is concerned, you could probably snag a ride, definitely not a drive. Ha

@tropicsteve, there was actually a Pierce Arrow, forgot the model, that was owned by some mobster during the thirties (wasn`t Capone), it featured bullet proof doors.

@DBAILEY, the grin didn`t come until it was rolled out into the sun, too much real estate to focus on.