To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION WITHOUT RESERVE at RM Sothebys' Amelia
Island event, 8 - 9 March 2019.
Estimate:
$100,000 - $150,000
- Offered from the Leon-Hackney Collection
- "The Birthday Present," a sentimental favorite in the
collection since 1981
- Well-maintained older restoration, with rare artillery
wheels
- Two-time winner of the Pierce-Arrow Society Vanderveer
Trophy
- Accompanied by a thorough restoration and history file
- Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) Full Classic
In 1981, Berta Hackney achieved every woman's dreaded milestone:
her 50th birthday. "I had asked her what she wanted to do for her
birthday," Jay Leon recalled to Beverly Rae Kimes in her 1990 book,
The Classic Car, "and she said she was going to cry all day, but
something special to ease the pain would help. When I located this
car and asked if it would do, she replied, 'what pain?'"
The car was this 1932 Pierce-Arrow Model 54 convertible sedan, with
a 125-hp inline eight-cylinder engine on a chassis with a 137-in.
wheelbase, overbuilt and beautifully engineered to the Buffalo
automaker's usual standards. Its history was traceable back to
1954, when it was registered in New York State by Donald and Joan
Davis. In 1973, Mrs. Davis sold the Pierce to Ray and Dave Lipka,
who restored it in black and silver with a red leather interior,
and installed a correct 1932 engine. The Lipkas had exhibited the
car at the Pierce-Arrow Society's National Meet in 1978, winning
the Vanderveer Trophy for Best of Show.
After Berta Leon acquired the car, she took it back to the PAS
National Meet, and again won the top award, in 1981. The following
year, it was shown at both the Meadowbrook and Pebble Beach
Concours d'Elegance. Additional restoration work followed in the
late 1980s, improving the authenticity, fit, and finish, including
a new interior, top, and chrome plating.
In addition to its show career, the car was driven by the Leons in
the 1986 Texas Bicentennial CARavan, covering about 900 reliable
miles, and by Berta Leon-Hackney 20 years later in the 2006 Heart
of Texas CARavan. Today it remains a well-preserved and very
attractive older restoration, recording 20,547 miles.
"Convertible sedans are always elegant bodies," Mr. Leon noted in
The Classic Car. "This car particularly so."To view this car and
others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM
website at rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/am19.
