Barnstormin’ in South Carolina

Our barnstormin’ adventures with the Backroad Gold TV Show sent us on a mission to South Carolina with a lead on an abandoned piece of automotive history. It had been in a dairy barn for decades, owned by twin brothers who drove it around the farm many years ago. Since then, it had not seen much attention, until we barged into its hiding place and dragged it out. Keep reading to find out more about this rare sedanAs we found out more about the car, we learned it was a 1936 Pierce-Arrow. Billed as the “world’s safest car”, the ’36 Pierce-Arrow weighed in at nearly 6,000 pounds and offered luxurious features throughout. Unfortunately, sales did not reflect the car’s beautiful styling and luxurious features, so less than 1,000 Pierce-Arrow passenger cars rolled off the assembly line in 1936. The cars had a number of options, including three different wheelbases for the standard models, as well as a limousine, which featured an extra-long wheelbase. Among all of the wheelbases, the Pierce Arrow was available with an eight-cylinder or twelve-cylinder engine. The one we found in South Carolina is the 139-inch wheelbase sedan, equipped with the twelve-cylinder engine.
The car’s history is rather interesting, as it was parked in the dairy barn more than 45 years ago. The brothers drove the car regularly until the tires wore out. At the time, they didn’t have a source for vintage tires (Coker Tire was in business but had not yet ventured into the vintage tire market) so they literally drove it until the tires came off. And then they drove it some more! The Pierce-Arrow is surprisingly complete, but obviously needs a lot of attention. It’s a cool piece that was rescued from a long slumber in an old barn.