Online Auto Museum

Pierce-Arrow Model 845 Convertible Coupe Roadster, 1935

Location:
Radnor Hunt Concours d'Elegance, 2011

Owner: Will Ayd | Glen Arm, Maryland

Prologue:

Image Source: Nikon D200 (10.2 MP)

Image Source 2 and 4 by E, edited by the author

Owned at the time of photography by Morton Y. Bullock of Ruxton, Maryland, this car later past to Mr. Ayd, whence appearing at later concours under his ownership.

Welcome to 1935 at Pierce-Arrow... For starters, this Model 845 rolled around my stomping ground since new, first purchased in Baltimore and never leaving the region. At some point in my considerable time in Charm City, (a native myself), I might have located the original Pierce-Arrow dealership, though at present I cannot recall where. Kilduffs reports that the Foss-Hughes Company sold Pierce-Arrow trucks from 1315 Cathedral Street, across from the Baltimore & Ohio Mount Royal Station, part of the same neighborhood I called home for almost two decades. (A few blocks south sits the beautiful 1001 Cathedral Street, which was the Peerless showroom, known to locals of my generation as the City Cafe.) But new Pierce-Arrow cars more likely showed nearby along Mount Royal Avenue, the auto dealer hub.

In any case, this car pairs the 1934 Model 840A Convertible Sedan by LeBaron for its local roots, well known in the Baltimore region. And we've since captured a 1935 Model 1245 of the same style, whose profile I developed concurrently with this Model 845. Only a short visual survey, we can compare the 845 with the 1245 and wax about the lost world of our old city neighborhoods.

References:

  • "Pierce-Arrow" by Marc Ralston, A.S. Barnes & Co., Inc., San Diego, CA, c. 1980, pages 180, 194, 232
  • Automobile Quarterly, Volume 28, Number 4, Fourth Quarter 1990, "The Last Years of Luxury" by John C. Meyer III, The Kutztown Publishing Company, Inc. Kutztown, PA, pages 95, 98
  • Automobile Quarterly, Volume 6, Number 3, Third Quarter 1968, "Pierce-Arrow: An American Aristocrat," by Maurice D. Hendry, The Kutztown Publishing Company, Inc. Kutztown, PA, page 263
  • Kilduffs: A treasure, always a go-to source for the esoterica of lost Baltimore.

 

Last Updated: Nov 12, 2024