Vehicle Description
To be OFFERED AT AUCTION at Auctions America's Auburn Fall event,
August 31-3, 2017.
Chassis No.
3150069
Estimate:
$150,000 - $200,000 US
Pierce-Arrow commissioned this unique town car in 1936, as a
prototype "catalogue custom" offering intended to be launched in
production the following year. The car was bodied by the Derham
Body Company of Rosemont, Pennsylvania, one of the country's finest
old coachbuilders, with their usual superb attention to detail and
accuracy. Perhaps because of Pierce's turbulent financial state of
the time, the car was not catalogued for 1937, and remained a true
"one-off." It was sold by the factory to the flamboyant and wealthy
Charles Cobb Walker of Manchester, Massachusetts, one of the
factory's great customers in its later years; he bought three
Pierces in 1936 and 1937, reportedly arranging for consecutive
serial numbers!
Following the second world war, the Walker estate, Woodholm, was
sold to lumber magnate John Grossman, who also acquired the three
Pierces. The town car subsequently passed through a succession of
short-term owners, eventually being sold by Loren Holland of New
York to longtime Pierce-Arrow enthusiast Bob Sands in 1975. Mr.
Sands spent seven years on the car's restoration, after which it
was shown to award-winning results all over the country and enjoyed
on the road for many years. In 1990 it was featured in The Classic
Car, Beverly Rae Kimes's famous book, in which Mr. Sands noted, "It
drives and rides like a Pullman car. Its looks, appointments,
styling, and quality can be best summed up as the closest an
automobile can get to a palace on wheels."
Shortly thereafter, the car was purchased by the late, great
collector, Roy Warshawsky, who had further restoration work
performed and continued to display the car all over the country. It
also part of John Groendyke's renowned Oklahoma collection for
several years. In total, during a long and very successful show
career, the car has won top honors from both the Antique Automobile
and Classic Car Clubs of America.
This is undoubtedly one of the most significant and attractive
formal Pierces, and boasts a superb history and quality restoration
with which few can compare. It is a star of the Kughn Collection
and worthy of its next fine home.
