Pierce-Arrow

Of all the tremendous losses among America’s Independent automakers, the famed “Three P’s of Luxury,” Pierce, Peerless, and Packard, are perhaps the most grievous. Each had its own distinct style and advantages, and — although for a while they operated in roughly the same period of time — each had its own era in which it outshone the others. Consider Pierce-Arrow, for instance, a marque renowned for meticulous craftsmanship and refinement.

Pierce-Arrow was the brainchild of Percy Pierce, son of the owner of the Buffalo, New York-based George N. Pierce Company, aided by company executive Colonel Charles Clifton. In 1900, the firm —a manufacturer of diverse products including ice boxes and bicycles — began experimenting with car designs, both gas and steam. In the end, the Pierce company decided gasoline was the better idea, because steam cars were complex and subject to too-frequent problems.