Few marques worldwide have developed the legendary reputation of the Pierce-Arrow. As a leader in the luxury car field, Pierce-Arrow built its name and reputation on its exquisitely engineered, smooth, silent, and massive six cylinder engines and the overall fine workmanship put into their vehicles.

Pierce-Arrow worked with its Buffalo, New York, neighbor, Aluminum Company of America, to perfect casting techniques, which resulted in producing cast aluminum body panels as thin as 1/8-inch. The resulting Pierce-Arrow bodies were exceptionally strong and lightweight. Body design was handled within Pierce-Arrow by the talented Herbert Dawley. In 1913, it was Dawley who patented the feature that would come to be Pierce-Arrow’s trademark: the headlights faired into the tops of the front fenders. Most subsequent Pierce-Arrows throughout the company’s history came with this treatment.

The engineering, refinement, and attention to detail had made Pierce-Arrow a leader in the luxury car market. Yet, by the late 1920s, Pierce Arrow was in trouble. Its competitors were able to undercut Pierce-Arrow prices through the use of faster, more modern production methods.

The Model 80 had first appeared in 1924 as a smaller, “owner-driver” companion to the T-head dual-valve six, introduced following the armistice. In 1927, Pierce-Arrow offered the aluminum-bodied Model 80 with four-wheel vacuum-powered brakes. The temperature gauge was on the dashboard, but the fuel gauge was on the gas tank.

The Four-Passenger Touring offered here is equipped with freestanding headlamps, the so-called “New York” headlamps necessitated on cars ordered in Pierce-Arrow’s home state, where, for many years, the company’s famed “fender lights” were illegal. Freestanding lights were also regularly ordered by the company’s more conservative customers; however, they are an extremely rare sight today. Other features of this car include painted wooden artillery wheels, a sporty single rear-mounted spare, a second windshield with “wind wings,” and a Motometer atop the radiator. Presented in pale green over black, with a green leather interior accented by the beautiful wooden steering wheel and dashboard, this is a most striking and sporty “owner-driver” Pierce.