The Pierce Arrow Story

The beginning

George N. Pierce (1846-1911) came to Buffalo, Pennsylvania, in 1863 from Friendsville at the age of 17. Shortly after, he got married and ten years later, after working through several jobs, he partnered with two other local entrepreneurs and they created the Heinz company where they manufacture refrigerators and other items. Pierce remained with the company until 1878, establishing himself on his own account under the name of George N. Pierce & Company. In 1888 he added products for girls' tricycles to his catalog, a product that became very popular.

In 1895, five different models of tricycles already appeared in its catalogue. The smallest, with a 16-inch wheel, was intended for girls between 3 and 5 years old, and sold for $5.00 or $8.50; The largest, with a 32-inch wheel, was aimed at girls between 8 and 15 years old, and sold for $12.00 or $18.00, both models with rubber tires.

Shortly after, in 1889, he began to build a complete line of harder bicycles, with safety shock absorbers for adults. In 1892 the other product lines had disappeared except for refrigerators, and in 1895 he also stopped manufacturing them, remaining exclusively as a bicycle manufacturer. The plates that identified their bicycles sport an arrow, which would become the brand's family seal for decades. The different improvements that he gradually applied to his mechanisms made them probably the best bicycles of their time. The bicycle model that the company marketed in 1887 sold for $75.00.

The cars

Already, in 1891, the interest in building automobiles had reached the company. In 1899, after a reorganization, George K. Birge and some friends bought part of the business from Pierce, and hired Scottish engineer David Fergusson.

With faith in steam-powered vehicles gone, in 1900 the gas Motorette was introduced to the market. Two years later the company manufactured its own engines and a year later it marketed the 15-horsepower Arrow and the 24-horsepower Great Arrow.

George N. Pierce & Company built two cars in early 1901, and they were exhibited to the public at the Pan-American Exposition along with their line of bicycles on May 1 of that same year. Pierce's "Motorette" was powered by a 1-cylinder De Dion engine and sold for $950. In 1901 and 1902, the company sold almost two dozen automobiles. In 1903, Pierce replaced the De Dion engine in the Motorette with one of his own design and manufacture.

In 1904, Pierce Arrow introduced a 4-cylinder that sold for $4,000. By early 1905, Pierce Arrow was producing some of the largest and most expensive automobiles in America.

In 1905 they won the Glidden Trophy, also known as the National Reliability Runs. A series of endurance events organized in the United States in which great distances were traveled to test the reliability of the cars presented. A kind of rally that Percy Pierce, founder of the brand, won after 1,100 miles in a Great Arrow.

As a curiosity, the first two official White House cars were two models of the Pierce-Arrow White Model M Tourer, which were used at public events for the first time starting in 1909 by President William Howard Taft.

The brand commonly used engines between 4 and 6 cylinders with a displacement that reached 13.5 liters. We already know how they spent it at the time. Although its great innovation was the side valve engine or SV engine (Side Valves), which had an L or even T-shaped cylinder head.

The camshaft was located at the bottom and connected directly to the crankshaft to operate the valves using push rods. It is a very primitive design that lacked sufficient compression and was unable to burn fuel effectively.

In 1914 the distinctive look of the Pierce-Arrow was designed. The headlights were moved to join the fenders and were integrated into them with a particularly curious figure. Something that became a tradition with all its vehicles until 1938.

The company had positioned itself as a luxury benchmark and the big Hollywood stars used them. In fact, it was around this time that The Three P's of Motordom or the Triple P were formed: Pierce-Arrow, Peerless and Packard. All of them leaders in the sector.

Studebaker took control of the Buffalo factory in 1928 and both companies worked in parallel. They even benefited from the Indiana's new 6.0-liter inline 8-cylinder engine. Although the economic crisis exploded drastically.

The sensational Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow was introduced. An aerodynamic car, with its characteristic headlights on the fenders, silver in color and with a 7.5-liter V12 engine with 175 HP of power and a maximum speed of 185 km/h. Although it cost 10,000 dollars at the time and only five units were sold, of which only three remain.

The company did not know how or did not want to lower itself to selling cheaper cars and finally declared bankruptcy in 1938 and the chief engineer, Karl Wise, managed to finish one last vehicle using the last manufactured parts while the rest of the components (and up to forty Arrows already assembled) were auctioned that same year.

Currently there are very few units. Those from the beginning of the 20th century fetch more than $500,000 at auction and those of the latest generation have sold for more than 350,000 euros. The best pieces, surely, signed by LeBaron.

Carl F. Burgwardt, author of "The Buffalo Bicycles" and owner of the Pedaling Bicycle History Museum (perhaps the largest bicycle museum in the world), summarizes Pierce's career: Actually, George Pierce was probably more of a bike passionate person than a car passionate person. Pierce was the founder and main driver of his bicycle business for more than 20 years, and remained in the automobile business for only 8. Most of the automobiles that bore his brand and name were built after 1911, after being retired from the company and after his death. During the time the automobiles were produced at his bicycle plant Pierce was a token and virtually immobile president, while other major shareholders (such as George Birge) were much more involved with the automobile. Pierce was primarily concerned with quality, but he was not committed to automobiles to which he did not transfer that vocation.

Pierce died of a heart attack in 1910 at his home in Lenox.