Pierce Arrow Tools

[3baygarage]

A little wrench came out of a box in storage this weekend reminding me of this thread.

I haven’t been back to this thread in a long time and somehow missed Dave’s nice Ohio made adjustable nearly two years ago!

Here is a small Williams No 21 , no size markings, stamped SPECIAL on the reverse. An ebay seller has the same wrench up currently, with all the same markings and also no sizes.

I’ll continue to look for any more as I eventually go through other boxes of misc..

 

[3baygarage]

Another mystery box today and one more wrench. Fairmount single end. It looks well used.

 

[3baygarage]

“On today’s episode of Diary of a Tool Hoarder: 3baygarage pounds through boxes, knowing his luck…and his wrenches…will run out soon.”

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It's a very faint marking, and the appearance is marred by some unsightly box rot splotches, but I was happy to find this 15" adjustable, made by Billings, on a table of rusty tools at the flea market this morning.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I was in pickers paradise this morning at the flea market when I walked up to table with a pile of old tools on it, all of them pulled out of the same falling down garage by a house liquidator. This was what I plucked out of the mess and laid out for a photo in my back yard. As I was saying on the Vlchek thread, I am not entirely sure the Vlchek toolset (on the left) goes in that roll-up, and I know that the Pierce Arrows tools (on the right) do not go in the felt (yes, felt) roll-up they're lying on, because the screwdriver is too long.



Better view of the Pierce Arrow tools...



Better view of the markings...

 

[3baygarage]

What an excellent find! Some different pieces there. I just found one today digging through 4 old boxes of old wrenches. It's a thrill when flipping them all over to find one in the lot.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

What an excellent find!

Thanks.

Some different pieces there.

Yes, when I reviewed the thread to see what I had found I saw the Offset Socket Wrench (made by Billings) and the Spark Plug Wrench (the handle to turn it is not original, appears to be a drift or punch) upthread in orphan finds (including yours) and inside the large toolkit. But I didn't see a screwdriver or the pressed steel 'Front Brake Adjustment' tool, as orphans or in that large kit. @PierceA mentions both in his posts, though.

I'd like to figure out what kit these four (4) tools are from and when.

As you probably know, there are a couple different Pierce Arrow Car Owner type sites on the internet, but membership is required to access the area with toolkit information, and gleaning anything from the forums is sporadic and hit and miss, with Q&A usually very specific and requiring context an outsider wouldn't have. Internet Archive has a few Pierce-Arrow catalogs, but they are devoid of toolkit information.

Lastly, and this is a real flyer, while I found the large roll-up with a few Vlchek tools inside it in the same lot of tools as the Pierce Arrow tools at the flea market (same old garage from a house liquidation), it doesn't match any of the many well-known and well-documented Vlchek toolkits, and I wondering if it's possible that the Pierce-Arrow tools belong in it instead. I see that it doesn't match the rollup for the large toolkit shown upthread, but I am wondering if it's possible there were various toolkits for other models or later years.

I've got some homework to do.

It's a thrill when flipping them all over to find one in the lot.

It is! I know you know the way it goes. I walk up to the table, I open the roll-up, and see the Vlchek tools. I immediately roll it back up and slide it against my body. Now I start digging for more Vlchek, but find one of the Pierce Arrow tools instead! Now I am pawing through everything trying to not seem overly excited looking for both. lol

 

[3baygarage]

Yeah, that’s where most of the fun is, in the hunt. Well, good luck searching for more info on those kits. I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer but. I’ll try and look around too.

This little Williams turned up today.

 

[driftpin]

Those are some good finds. I like they have been around for so-long and that they're easy to read. Note the car's radiator mascot, reinforcing the name of the car, and the company logo on the tools.

Noted American race car driver and 1961 F1 World Driver's Champion driving for Ferrari Phil Hill was an expert in dealing with Pierce-Arrow automobiles. He used to restore them, and he would judge them at concours events.



I saw Phil Hill driving a Ferrari in the F1 race at Watkins Glen NY in the mid-1960's.

The Pierce motorcycle was one of the best of its time, a longitudinal inline-four cyl. with a sturdy frame. They used to be part of Pierce-Arrow but separated early-on. A fellow from Central FL brings his Pierce 4-cyl. motorcycle to an AMCA Everglades Chapter event in Dania Beach FL each winter. The Gilmore Car Museum of Hickory Corners MI also has at least one Pierce motorcycle.



The Gilmore Car Museum Pierce, below.




When Pierce-Arrow went under (1938) Seagrave the fire truck manufacturer bought the rights to the Pierce-Arrow straight-eight cyl engine, (and the 12-cyl, also) and they used it up until about the 1970's. I learned how to drive and operate an engine company pumper on a '59 Seagrave open-cab 'crash' 4-speed gearbox w/a 1,000 GPM pump, a Hale, I believe it was. That was in 1975. It was 16 years old by then. The Seagrave/Pierce-Arrow engine used a dual ignition. If one went out of operation, you could switch to the other.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/people/how-f1-legend-phil-hill-helped-father-the-modern-collector-car-industry/

 

[PierceA]

The Pierce Motor Company used various maker's tools through the years.
Those tool rolls look like ones from a teen's Pierce or possibly an early '20's car.
All the teens cars had 'T' head engines, one intake and one exhaust valve on opposite sides of the cylinder bore.
Then halfway through '18 they went to two valves on each side of the piston, creating the 'Dual Valve' engine.
The Dual Valve continued through 1928, as the long chassis, big engine model from Pierce.
In 1925, Pierce introduced a 'mid priced' car to widen their market. It still cost 10x what a Model T cost!

The teens cars and the long chassis/big engine cars in the '20's had two tool rolls, one under a seat one in a glove box.
The tools Lugz found are likely from a car in the early '20's. I say this because of the tool rolls. The tools themselves were also issued with the 'mid priced' cars. Only the tool roll was different.
The mid-priced cars, called a Series 80 and Series 81, had a larger tool roll made by Fairmont. Often a triangle shaped label was sewn onto the tool roll. This roll had several leather pieces sewn onto it, with slots cut to accept leather straps, holding the various tools.
I could write for several pages about the tools. The tools while not common, were issued with every Pierce vehicle made.

Pierce made a LOT of trucks, and as mentioned Motorcycles, as well as automobiles. Every vehicle had at least one tool kit.
Even the bicycles Pierce made had a leather tool kit bag that strapped to the frame.

PierceA

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The tools Lugz found are likely from a car in the early '20's.

Thanks.

The mid-priced cars, called a Series 80 and Series 81, had a larger tool roll made by Fairmont. Often a triangle shaped label was sewn onto the tool roll. This roll had several leather pieces sewn onto it, with slots cut to accept leather straps, holding the various tools.

We have an example on this thread. You've seen and commented on it before. See post #30, page 1.