Pierce-Arrows

1918 Pierce Arrow 7-Passenger Touring Car

Last Saturday night I was privileged to speak about the James Melton Antique Car Collection at the 25^th anniversary dinner of the Pierce-Arrow Society (New England Region). One of the highlights of the evening—and there were many— was meeting John Walsh, the current owner of a 1918 7-passenger Touring Car that once belonged to my father. They gave me a framed photograph of the car and a summary of its history. Some highlights of that history: Although we don’t know exactly when James Melton bought the car from Sam Adelman’s salvage yard in the Bronx, we do know that the it was used as the Press Car for the 1946 Revival of the Glidden Tour, which my father orchestrated. The car was driven on the Tour by his friend, Arthur K. Watson, of the IBM family. In 1951, the car was sold to George French in Pennsylvania, and the Walshes purchased it from him in 1996. In 2001, at the Pierce-Arrow 100^th Anniversary gathering it won a First in Class Award.

As I said in my talk last weekend, I’m amazed that fifty years after my father’s death, the provenance of having been in the James Melton collection provides value to those cars.

Below is another Pierce-Arrow from my father’s collection, a 1912 Vestibuled Sedan. Wonder where it is now.