Pierce Arrow Land Speed Racer with Aluminum Foil Body

I replaced a few of the ribs on the car and covered it in Aluminum foil to try and get and give a better idea of what it may have looked like back when it was built. Hopefully this would spark a memory in somebody and help identify the car. It's a little bit crude, but still an interesting excercise.

 

Quickest restoration ever

 

Put one of those little temp sensor thingies in it and it will pop out when the restoration is done.

 

^^ hahahahaha ding!
and Damn! thats a shitload of tinfoil

 

"The Fierce Sparrow"

Super light hand formed aluminum body. Some race car bodies aren't much thicker.

 

Jiffy Pop

 

It seems that if it had run at Daytona Beach, the dry lakes or Bonneville there would be some record or photos of it in someone's archives. Could it be that it was someone's project that never got finished?

 

The car WAS finished. That is part of the puzzle. Everything was hooked up, wired and ready to go. There is no unfinished aspect of the car anywhere. So it is hard to believe that someone would have gone through all of this trouble and not ever have driven it anywhere or showed it to anyone. It also seems that it is visually startling enough that someone would have taken a photo of it if it were out and about. That's why it is so hard to beleive that nothing has turned up yet on it's history.

There is nothing though to indicate that it ever went out west or left Florida.

 

Man, that is cool! Hope you find out about the car's history.

 

Was this on American Pickers?

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

I live about 10 miles from Alcoa
Aluminum...........They say,

Thank You !

 

There may be some clues to the age in the build itself. New parts like gauges and accessories may fall into a certain span of years. The body looks like early fifties but a Pierce Arrow would be a very unusual choice for a "special" at that time. Thirties or early forties, or about 10 -15 years after the chassis was built would seem more appropriate.

 

Yes it was. But the last thread got closed because people kept talking about that show.....

 

Now if you could only find the stuff they found out at Roswell..

 

This looks like it could be a legitimate, potentially significant land speed racing find,... Lets not get this thread derailed,.... If anybody can put this car together with any possible history,.... Its the HAMB Brotherhood !

 

What I was thinking!

Lee Hartung had something like that but his was a BMW.

 

Have you put this up on The Old Motor site?

 

v-10 viper engine.....I have the aluminum for the body...in about 6 months you could have a LSR vehicle....

AB Jenkins set 14 records in a "stock" bodied PA in 1931-1932 (depending on the source) at Bonneville
Questions:
Are there rivet holes in the original body straps?
Is that a fabric top?
Instead of a LSR car, could this have been someones project for the street?
Does it have the v-12 mounts?

 

Don't recall ever seeing it but it definitely is cool looking,,now replace all the tin foil with aluminum and it will be killer. HRP

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA... That's funny!

About the car, I remember seeing it on that tv show A.P. I like the idea of wrapping with foil to get an idea of the shape. What year is/was the car? Did you get a title with it? I wish you the best of luck finding out the history of the car!

 

Are you sure that rear end didn't have a dorsal fin coming off the back?

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

I was thinking the same thing....





looking at the front air intake, it appears that the lower bar may follow the same raked back angle as the car in question??

 

http://www.gregwapling.com/hotrod/land-speed-racing-history/land-speed-racing-thunderbowl-comet.html

 

The car all codes out to a 1931 Pierce Arrow including the straight 8 engine, trans and frame. The few reamining body parts that are on it now may or may not have been from the original build but it looks like a stainless steel mesh with a fabric then a heavy substance that looks like body filler but it is not. It is VERY hard. There are signs all over the car that the body was complete at one point in time.

One of the guages, a Klossman Altimeter has a patent date of 1933 on it.

As for a street project.... it really could not be. No lights, no turn signals, no brake lights. Not ever. There is also no wiring for any lights and there is no back window, no mirrors and no way to see anything behind you. The engine is so low in the chassis that with flat tires the trans touches the ground, so it doesn't seem like it was ever a practical street application especially considering the condition of the roads back then. 4 inches of ground clearance isn't even enough for today's roads! So it is a puzzle.

This car is not the Thunderbowl/Comet above. While close in general shape it has been confirmed that the Comet is still in Existence in Arizona.

 

that's interesting because it sure looks like the same car to me!

check out this blurb from the link I put up:

RE: Lost Landspeeder, Part 2 We've received plenty of responses regarding the Thunderbowl Comet since we ran Charles Beesley's photo of it in the October issue. As many of you have pointed out, it was indeed in the 1936 Jimmy Stewart movie Speed, and several film buffs have also mentioned that it was in the early chapters of the 1947 serial Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. By far the most intriguing response we received, however, came from Ron Carbaugh of New Lebanon, Ohio, who told us about Harlan Fengler, one of the many personalities associated with early Indy racing. According to Ron, the Metro film studio retained Fengler in the 1930s to build cars for movies, which led Fengler to construct the long, sleek streamliner for the producers of Speed (in which it went by the name Falcon). At the same time, Fengler believed he could capture the world land speed record with the car (which he called America). "To the best of my knowledge, Harlan Fengler never actually attempted to run the sand at Daytona with his America," Ron wrote. Fengler later went on to become a test driver and consultant for Packard, working out of a propulsion lab at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, and spent his latter years in New Lebanon, where Ron made his acquaintance.

This article originally appeared in the December, 2011 issue of Hemmings C


it appears there were plans to run the car on the beach!

 

arnold sprowles owned the village inn in noel mo...

 

It would not suprise me if this car was also a Harlan Fenglar creation, because there are similarities in shape and construction, but of course I have no information to support that.

Another interesting note is the 1941 News article posted at the link provided above by revkev6 ...

http://www.gregwapling.com/hotrod/land-speed-racing-history/land-speed-racing-thunderbowl-comet.html

The article talks about the Comet, then called the "Golden Eagle" preparing for a land speed run with three seperate engines in order to attempt three classifications of records including one attempt with a straight 8 engine for the then 152mph record set by Harry Hartz and Fred Frame on Murdoc dry lake. The article also talks about the 7 inches of ground clearance on the Golden Eagle. So while this Pierce Arrow car may not have been attempting the all out speed record, there were land speed records within its grasp.

 

This is an amazing car with a amazing history I can not wait to see what you will find out out about this car next.

 

James -- Unless I missed it in your posts, once you track down it's full history -- what are your plans for it? Leave as-is? Restore to original specifications? Would be very cool to at least get it running.