History H.A.M.B. Sleuths, one for you guys to solve.

Great back story regardless of what the car is.
Grandad had a late teen's Pierce Arrow that was aluminum and he turned it in during a WWII scrap drive as family lore goes. I suspect a lot of cars met their demise that way....that and the guy @VANDENPLAS posted deciding he was in better shape to drive than walk...he'd have a steering wheel to hold onto during the crash

 

Most is not all (MINA) - the majority of P-A's were fitted with the distinctive lights, but not all. Here's a '21 P-A roadster in the P-A museum.

 

I believe air cooled Franklins were aluminum bodied also.

 

"Davis soon became general manager of the firm and a director in 1892. He continued as general manager when the firm became the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) in 1907; he became president in 1910 and chairman of the board in 1928, in which capacity he served until 1958."

One would assume that cars used by Davis would have been marques with Alcoa produced aluminum bodies. That should narrow it down a little.

 

@Hemiman 426

Ok. Here is what I am going to go with as my final guess.

This is an "all aluminum" car produced by Alcoa in the 1920-1924 era. It was apparently designed by Lawrence Henry Pomeroy, who worked for Alcoa for a number of years. I think it is based on a Pierce-Arrow???
It looks like it could actually be the car in the original post. The front bumper was the hard part to match up. It could very well be the one in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
Would be great if @Deuces could get over there and try to confirm. That would make the day for Hemiman's wife.
Really interesting stuff.

 

Headlights and headlight bar are different, and no fender mounted spare.

 

Grump, Carla and I again thank you, and the others for all the help!
Bill

 

Well guys, did a little digging and found this! Now, my wife remembers the car in a show in Pittsburgh. She remembers an all natural finish. So, I would suspect the Dark car was probably the Knight.

 

Same animal.
If you remember from an earlier post, it said they built them as seven-passenger sedan and five-passenger sedan.
My pic = 7 passenger with extra rear side window. Your pic = 5 passenger without said window.

All things easily changed. I would still put money on it being "one of these".

.

 

Grump...I agree! My reference to the Dark car was the the first pic (paper article) that I posted.

 

The car in your article seems to be a seven-passenger (count the windows on the passenger side). The info I found says that Davis had the five-passenger version. Who would know what is correct after all this time???

Some more pics.



I still think the one in the article is the seven-passenger (top picture).

 

Should have looked closer at the pic before putting mouth and words in gear. Yes, it does have the extra window. I'm going to contact Alcoa and see what they might have and share. IF the Ford Museum states that the car was donated by Davis or Alcoa, I'm pretty sure that Carla's Grandfather drove it!

 

Yes, please post any info you can get.
I see a trip to Dearborn in your near future.

 

"I see a trip to Dearborn in your near future.."

Only if the Governor allows out of state visitors!!

 

Be patient and sensible. You will get there and make a certain Carla very happy.

In the meantime, @Deuces , are you out there ????????????????????????

 

Hudson made an aluminum car or was it stainless steel like in 1932 or ????
That old car in the picture sure was classy...

1Nimrod

 

Cast body panels?!?! I cannot get my mind around that one! I spent a hundred years one decade working in an aluminum smelter, some of it casting billet, never would I have thought you could cast a panel like that... I'd love to know how they did it!

EDIT: just did a little research... they sand cast these bodies. That's amazing.

 

I'm pretty sure Peerless used cast bodies in th teens or twenties. Grumpy 65 (which I'll be as well come Feb 7th!) your wife's grandfather saga should be turned into a movie... maybe call it "Driving Mr. Davis". Oh wait, too similar to that other Chauffer story.

 

If the Handley had the Knight sleeve valve engine like the Willys-Knight I can see why the rich guy would hire somebody handy with them.Sleeve valve engines tend to be mechanically sensitive to a poor state of tune.The sleeve valves had fairly tight clearances that carbon build up could quickly close causing mechanical issues.WW II era Napier Sabre and Bristol Hercules aero engines were very intolerant to rough running.

 

luv a good mystery........

 

Ask @31Dodger , he can name that car in 4 square inches of fender. PA used both drum and fender headlights, you had a choice.

 

Didn't mean to say that car was a Franklin but Franklins were aluminum and how many aluminum companys were around then? So even though the car in question isn't a Franklin I find it interesting Alcoa made bodies for more than one car company. Lippy

 

Now this is interesting.

 

Not my story. Not my wife's grandfather. Hemiman 426 is the one chasing info. I just rolled up my sleeves to help.

 

Hey @1Nimrod , I see you are in Michigan. How far are you from the Henry Ford Museum? Apparently the aluminum car driven by [edit] Carls's grandfather is there. Would be great if someone close could get to the museum and get some pics/info.

 

Grump, Carla's Grandfather drove it, didn't own it!! On Monday I will be calling Alcoa.

 

Yeah, sorry. Will go back and edit.

 

A couple of observations:

1. Steel is about 2.5 times denser than aluminum. Steel bodies of the period were typically about .048" thick. If you multiply that by 2.5 how would an aluminum body be any lighter, especially since the aluminum may have had to be thicker around the mounting points to prevent fatigue? 2.5 x .048" = .120" equivalent aluminum thickness

2. Not every car owned by The Henry is on display. Many are stored in off site warehouses (much to the chagrin of donors who donated relative's car(s) with the intention of seeing it displayed).

 

FTF, I have thought of that too. No way were the bodies lighter. I think it was a new industry and bragging rights. Everyone was trying their new killer idea back then, some worked most didn't.

 

Here are a few more pics of the one in the Henry Ford Museum. Very close, but that front roofline is different. The one in the museum comes out and acts like a visor. http://trombinoscar.com/piercearrow/pa2501.html