1933 Pierce Arrow 1245 2/4 Coupe x-Dee Howard Famous Car Strong Performer

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, boats, camp trailers, motorcycles, and bicycles. The Pierce-Arrow was a status symbol, owned by many Hollywood stars and tycoons, and a favorite was the Pierce-Arrow Town Car. Most of the royalty of the world had at least one Pierce-Arrow in its collection. Some have described Pierce and two of its rivals among American luxury cars, Peerless and Packard, as the "Three P's of Motordom.

In 1914, Pierce-Arrow adopted its most enduring styling hallmark when its headlights were moved from a traditional placement at the radiator's sides, into flared housings molded into the front fenders of the car. This gave the car an immediately visible distinction in front or side views. At night, the car appeared to have a wider stance. Pierce patented this placement, which endured until the final model of 1938, although Pierce always offered customers the option of conventional headlamps; only a minority ordered this option.

Starting in 1918, Pierce-Arrow adopted a four-valve per cylinder T-head inline-six engine (Dual Valve Six) and three spark plugs per cylinder, one of the few, if only, multi-valve flathead design engines ever made. The company did not introduce an 8-cylinder engine until the 1929 Model 126, and a V-12 engine was offered in 1931 until the company closed in 1938.

This car was restored about 30 yrs ago by D U Howard. Mr. Howard had a museum in San Antonio TX with 200 cars in it. He restored many cars and this was one of his favorites. He was a huge Pierce Arrow fan and was especially interested in the development of the Pierce V12 engine. The exploits of the Morman Meteor driven by Ab Jenkins on the salt flats gave Mr. Howard the idea to built V12 race cars to duplicate these achievements. It's no surprise then that when it came time to restore this car this car, Mr. Howard opted to install a V12 engine in it. Pierce used the same chassis for both the 8 and 12 cylinder cars, so the engine swap was pretty straight forward and required no modifications to the body or chassis.

The interesting Color choice also is very unusual but works well on this stunning and rare coupe. This is a pretty famous car and has always drawn considerable interest on the 2 occasions when it has been offered. As you can see this car was restored to a very high standard and still presents as a freshly restored car. Now offered for the first time in roughly a decade this is a rare opportunity to acquire a fast and powerful Pierce that will provide years of spirited driving enjoyment to the lucky new owner.