1931 PIERCE-ARROW 42 DUAL COWL SPORT PHAETON

Pierce-Arrow Company was founded in 1901 in Buffalo, New York. Some idea of the rapidity of Pierce-Arrow’s rise to prominence may be gauged from the fact that as early as 1909, the White House ordered two for state occasions. From then onwards, the name Pierce-Arrow would be synonymous with the ultimate in motoring luxury, ranking alongside Cadillac, Packard and Rolls-Royce. Royalty, Heads of State and countless celebrities were numbered among its clients, including Emperor Hirohito of Japan; the Shah of Persia; King ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia; King Albert of Belgium; American Presidents Woodrow Wilson, William Howard Taft and Franklin Delano Roosevelt; John D Rockefeller; Orville Wright; Babe Ruth and Ginger Rogers. Woodrow Wilson would famously be chauffeured around Washington, DC in the Presidential Pierce, sitting in the back seat contemplating issues of state, with no one to barge into the Oval Office and interrupt him.

Clinging to traditional styling and handicapped by a range of sixes in an increasingly multi-cylinder marketplace, Pierce-Arrow saw its sales decline throughout the 1920s. In 1928, an alliance was forged with Studebaker, which viewed Pierce-Arrow’s acquisition as a means of gaining entry into the luxury car market. A new range of straight-eights was introduced, and Pierce-Arrow sales doubled in 1929.

This Pierce Arrow is in a very good condition today. The Pierce was in 2011 and 2012 on the Pebble Beach Motoring Classic, which is the 1,500 mile tour from the Seattle area to the Pebble Beach. The car completed both tours.