Need to learn about Barney Pollard's Collection

If I recall correctly the V16 Cadillac Towne Cars had a folding top stored inside the roof panel right behind the driver. The two sides would fold out and then the top would attach to the windshield header panel. The front windows would then roll up.

 

I don't know how others do it but I've seen John's work and it is flawless. Bob

http://handpaintedcanework.com/index.cfm?action=about

 

Bob interesting on your grandfather's experience. Out of all early cars the Town Cars are probably my favorites. At my grandfathers there was a separate room where he had town cars hanging from the rafters. I used to go in there and enjoy the view. I ended up buying a 1936 Peirce Arrow Brunn bodied Metropolitan town car. I never found the funds to restore it and eventually sold it to someone who restored it. It was great owning it though and I had great plans for the car. When I had my shop in San Marcos California I wrote to Herman Brunn and asked if he knew who he built the car for. He sent me the original build paperwork and told me his daughter lived near my shop and would I like him to visit. He came down and Ernie Follis, a big Pierce Arrow collector was my landlord (and friend) and he has a Brunn bodied Lincoln and my neighbor Wes Free (Free Building Supply) had a Brunn bodied Lincoln as well. We all visited with Herman Brunn and listened to his stories- a great guy. I asked him what was his inspiration for his Metropolitan Town car and he told me it was the Bugatti Royale that he saw while he was apprenticing at Kellner of Paris (where his dad had sent him to learn design from the French). The Bugatti had such striking colors and his Pierce was quite the opposite but he told me he wanted to use striking colors but his clients would not hear of it and went with muted contrast. You can see the swept bodywork on the doors(much like the Duesenbergs). Brunn bodywork to this day is probably right up there as a favorite. Some of his work on several of the Packard Twelve chassis are hard to beat.

I also interviewed Mrs Herbert Book in the 80s as her husband and brother in law owned a number of race cars including two that ran at the 1919 Indy (one which recently sold for 7.3 million) and she mentioned town cars and I asked her about their town cars. She told me her husband allowed her great leeway in choosing them. She told me they had a Twin Six Packard with Brewster coachwork (in Brewster green) and she told me she loved the car and had them remove the body and put in on their next town car in the 20s.

James is correct on the convertible top that folds away into a compartment above the chauffeur. Open drives look so much more elegant than an enclosed drive limo IMO. An enclosed drive limo looks very similar to a sedan whereas the open drive limo seems to really make a statement. The old money in the Detroit area as well as the money being made by the successful auto magnates during the early part of the 20th century probably made for some really nice town cars driving here and there. For some reason it intrigues me.

Here is a picture of Herman Brunn standing next to my 36 in the mid 80s in my shop. Good memory.

Here is a brochure photo from 1936 for what they called catalog customs of a similar car (mine was a eight but this picture may be a twelve).

 

Ohmigosh, this thread just keeps getting better and better. jimdillon, james426 and the 37kid, thank you, thank you, thank you for adding all of your personal stories. More please...

 

Bob you mention driving the cars in winter-I can only imagine how cold they may have been. When I restored a 1935 Packard 12 Convertible Sedan with a Dietrich body the car was super elegant and the only heater for the passengers was a floor mounted exhaust pipe heater (imagine how safe that was).

There was a car event in Lake Placid New York I believe when my grandfather and grandmother were in their 70s and they drove from Detroit to New York through a fluke snowstorm on the 401 in Canada in a 1923 Packard touring. My grandfather had side curtains for the front doors but no other protection from the elements and no heater. He and my grandmother wore raccoon coats for warmth and neither complained on their return. My grandmother never complained about anything dealing with the old cars that I remember, although I cannot say the same for all members of the family.

I believe I may have a picture of the Packard from a side view but I cannot seem to find it. Here is a picture of the car in the background on my wedding day in 1971. My wife and I were in the Stutz and the wedding party in the Packard. The Packard was later stolen out of a storage room in the Grand Boulevard Packard Plant in the 80s. Never recovered and I am sure someone is enjoying the stolen car to this day. Great driving car.

 

Jim, interesting that you know so many Pierce Arrow people. Perhaps you or some of them may shed some light on mine I currently own.

Info and many more photos can be seen here. I have offered a $1,000 reward for anyone that can PROVE who built this car. It is my belief it was built by Preston Tucker during his days with Pierce to both show his bosses the benefits of aerodynamics and to pitch for military contracts for the use of plastic which this car's original body was made from.

https://www.facebook.com/PierceArrowLandSpeedRecordCar/




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Not sure if I ever told the story and never looked too deeply into the whole story but always interested me. We had two Renault town cars-one with a Kellner body that was large and in rough shape and a smaller town car with coachwork that I seem to forget. Charlie the metal man who was born in Germany and had a load of talent was worked tirelessly by my grandfather bouncing around from one job to another. Charlie worked on the big Renault but the bodywork was not impressive and he felt it I am sure but he was always pulled off the job. The smaller Renault we never attempted but I certainly remember the car and it too was quite rough.

The story I had heard later was that it was identical to the Renault that went down on the Titanic (you may remember the racy scene in the movie in the hold of the ship that I believe was the Renault town car). The man that bought the car from my grandfather I heard contacted the White Star lines records as the car was insured on the crossing and they found the body description and/or plans in great detail and were able to recreate the body. I know this sounds pretty fantastic and bordering on the absurd (which may be the case as many tales were spun on my grandfather's cars) but it made me chuckle. I never would take the money to the bank on the story but I was at the Glenmoor Gathering with my friend Greg Dawson (and his 1915 Twin Sin Packard racer my grandfather had worked on during his time in the Packard experimental department in the teens) and I walked around the show and saw the Renault and on the card it made reference to my grandfather's ownership. I tried to engage the owner on the topic but he could have cared less about any history and knew nothing of my grandfather or the claims (true or otherwise) of it's tie to the Titanic. I shook my head in wonderment as to why he even pretended to be a car guy and walked away.

Here is a picture of the car today.

Here is a picture of me explaining the history on the Packard racer to Ed Hermann (the actor who played Goldie Hawn's husband in the movie Overboard). He told me he had grown a beard for another movie he was to be in. He was the guest of honor at the show and was a real Packard afficianado. He came back and talked at length with us (Greg is in the suit alongside the car). The car won an award that day and Ed came alongside us and congratulated us. He was a super guy that has sadly passed on.
Greg loved to drive everywhere with his foot all the way down on the floorboard and my wife used to get mad at me for some of the rides I took in that Packard. The Packard is in the Gilmore museum today.

 

James I have seen your interesting car on the web. Not sure I know that many Pierce people anymore. I have moved on to other stuff moreso than classics and have been out of the loop for a long time.

My grandfather had the one and only Waldon that had been designed and built by Sidney Waldon who had been with Packard. The car had an aluminum body (cannot off hand remember the coachwork) and a unique overhead cam engine (built in the late teens I seem to remember). I acted as Ernie Follis' agent in a sense in getting him to buy the car from my grandfather and ship it back to his collection in Vista California. I have read where Ernie donated the car to the Pierce Arrow museum (not sure where). The only way I could prove any connection to Pierce was we had the actual blueprints and paperwork associating the car with Pierce-otherwise we may have been in a similar situation to your unique car. Where ever the Waldon is (whatever museum) they may have something on your car, but I imagine you have tried to chase down some leads yourself. I hope you can prove it's history.

And by the way let me know when the article on the Adler is published in connection to the split window. I would love to read it.

 

Jim and all the others, thanks for sharing your stories. Glad this old thread was dug up again.

 

Wow, what a fascinating thread. Thought Jim was just the Corvette expert but apparently that underestimates the man.

Thanks all for sharing your information and pictures.

 

My 1932 Chevrolet Sport Deluxe Roadster was bought at one of the Pollard sales in the 70’s
When I purchased it about 6 years ago from the fellow who got from the auction, he told me a funny story about buying the car. His brother had owned a number of late 20’s and early 30’s Chevy and he always wanted one but was always too slow in making up his mind when his brother offered them for sale. So he found out that one was going to be in a Pollard sale so he headed down from Newtonville, Ontario to the auction in New York State (If I recall correctly). He arrived in good time and gave the car the once over and decided that was the car for him and he was gonna buy it, even if it bid higher than the limit he and his wife had set. He grabs a set near the front and waits patiently for the car to roll onto the block. The auctioneer starts the bidding and he is first bid, then within seconds another bid comes in from somewhere in the back. Dammit, he says to himself, as he was hoping that he would be the only one bidding. This went on for about 5 bids until he gets so flustered he stands up when he makes his next bid and turns to the back to see who he is bidding against. Well the other bidder turns out to be his brother who had gone to the auction to buy the car for him as a surprise. Needless to say a few words were exchanged and the bidding stopped. Fortunately a ways before his maximum price was reached.
My dad had a bunch of 32 Chev coupes when I was a kid and it’s still one of my favourites.

 

Glad this thread came back up, I missed a few stories, good to be up to date on things now. Bob

 

Thanks for a great thread!

 

Jamie, the auctions were in Detroit mainly in the late 70s. There were two or three 32 Chevrolets in the collection. The nicest IMO was a yellow coupe that looked pretty decent from 20 feet. Pretty rusted in spots but I am sure it was restored. Sold at the first or second auction. I was not in charge of the first auction which was a failure but my grandfather put me in charge of the remaining auctions and we did OK on the rest of them. For all of the complaining I heard from some as to the sad condition of some, I have had people send me pictures over the years after they restored them. Glad you have the car-looks great.

 

Just found this post from October 2015 ... Looking for more information on this 1927 Falcon Knight

 

I saw the car for sale at an auto show/flea market near Peterborough Ontario years ago. It had a new top put on it and new tires but was otherwise unrestored. At least in appearance. It ran and drove so I expect some work had been done. I don't recall who owned it but suspect it was Ron Fawcett's old car dealership in Whitby.
https://www.fawcettmotors.com/

 

The markings are interesting because I had a couple clients ask me to look for any unusual or non- factory stamping on the vehicles I was working on for them . I have heard of a couple cars here on the west coast having what was termed to me as being ' Personal IDing of cars .One collector uses 6 punch marks to represent dice . I wonder how many cars are actually marked BP ?

 

You have a great car story thank you for sharing it's astounding how we won't give up