“Its colorings are rich and daring,” the advertisement read. “It is as comfortable as an easy chair to ride in. There’s a roomy rumble seat when the party is four—a commodious locker for golf bags and luggage. Its lines suggest fleetness—and it is fleet. Its silky, 70 horsepower, Pierce-Arrow, six-cylinder engine is off like a streak. It is a runabout with that fine degree of mechanical perfection, that ability to glide away smoothly, silently, and speedily, which every other car owner envies.”

Pierce-Arrow was speaking of the Series 80 Runabout. Despite its status as one of the company’s entry-level models, it was still a very large car, and it was constructed with the quality typical of the Buffalo automaker to the presidents. The hand-hammered aluminum body covered white ash framework, and only the finest of finishes and leather were used throughout. Under the hood was the durable, smooth-running Pierce-Arrow straight six.

The Series 80 Runabout was claimed to be the lowest-priced car ever offered by the company, although its $2,895 was still a considerable sum for an open two-passenger automobile, even as the prosperous twenties roared. Still, there were those who could afford the best, and for those people, Pierce-Arrow’s factory was ready.

The Runabout offered here was previously owned by noted enthusiast Irv Steele, of Titusville, Florida, and it was acquired from him by the present owners 13 years ago. The car had undergone a partial restoration and was displayed at the 100th Anniversary of Pierce-Arrow in 2001, and it garnered its Antique Automobile Club of America Junior First a year later. Steve’s Executive Cars, of Tavares, Florida, finished a photo-documented restoration in 2003, and the car was then judged at 99 points and earned Senior status that year. It won its AACA Senior First in 2004, and it has graced the manicured lawns of many of the country’s noted concours, displayed at the Burn Prevention Foundation, Meadow Brook, Amelia Island, Keeneland, Cranbrook, and the Ocean Reef Club, among others.

The car continues to show well in white and black with a tan interior and top. Its sleek and sporty lines forecast the Classic Era designs to come, while the high backrest of the rumble seat and the wooden artillery wheels recall the best of the Brass Era, which had come and gone. The fender-mounted headlights are pure, classic Pierce-Arrow. It can be easily said that this desirable roadster is one of the finest Series 80 Pierce-Arrows in existence. Then as now, it is outstanding.