The Baked Potato: 1930 Pierce-Arrow Landspeed Car

This next feature is a pre-war Pierce-Arrow chassis reconfigured into a long, rear-cockpit streamliner with aircraft-inspired construction and controls. The photos show the car in a skeletal state, but the proportions are wild: long nose, rearward cockpit, tapered tail, narrow greenhouse, and body framing that is more pre-war aircraft construction and less coachbuilt car. The “Baked Potato” nickname comes from the aluminum foil added around 2013 to make the missing body shape easier to visualize. It sounds ridiculous, but it does help explain why the car looks like it lost a fight with a deli sandwich. Find this 1930 Pierce-Arrow Landspeed Car offered for $11900 in Clearwater, FL via facespeed aerocarmarket. Tip from Dave in Tampa.

From the seller:

1930 SRT pierce arrow land speed race car
$11,900
Listed 9 weeks ago in Clearwater, FL
About this vehicle
Driven 999 miles
Automatic transmission
Exterior color: Grey · Interior color: Red
Fuel type: Gasoline
Fair condition
Seller’s description
1931 Pierce Arrow Land Speed Race Car. The car was built using an aviation type “bird cage” construction that was then covered with stainless steel screen and a nitro cellulose plastic body that was extrduded from a large caulking gun. Basically, the 1930’s equivaluent to bondo. It would not be a difficult body to replicate. This is the first known plastic bodied car ever built, well before Henry Ford’s 1941 attempt. Every single part on this car is pre-war, including the tires. The body was partially covered in aluminum foil around 2013 so that the shape of the design would be easier to view. It is now nicknamed the “Baked Potato”.
General Specifications: Engine number and chassis configuration show a 1930 model “A” Pierce Arrow 144 inch wheelbase. Engine is a 1930 Model Straight 8 with a custom four carburetor set up and a 4spd transmission. The passenger compartment was moved back to just in front of the rear axle, and all controls were extended. Dash includes a full array of instrumentation, including a 300MPH speedometer (see photos). Other instruments include an altimeter, aircraft clock and compass. Doors have always had electric door releases. This car uses aircraft aluminum body spars, flush aircraft rivets, aircraft gauges and even unique aircraft style door scissor hinges, plexiglass (Perspex) windows were fitted and other aircraft features. There is also a hand crafted aluminum encased “transmission” attached to the rear of the exterior water pump/Generator shaft that converts the car’s RPM’s to accurately be reflected in the Aircraft tachometer.
Missing are the radiator, four carbs and both hood sides. The car is missing its unique spring loaded bomb-bay outward opening hood sides. These operated on four hinges that opened towards the outside of the car by a pull handle on the dash to open immediately upon finishing the required initial one way run to cool the engine as fast as possible before the return speed run. (Daytona/Ormond Beach used to require a run in each direction averaged to remove wind factors with a 30 minute refuel, maintenance and cool down period in between). When you wanted to remove either hood side for repair, each side had an additional pull cable latch per side to release “hood pins” on the actual hinges to remove the hood.
History: THE CURRENT OWNER OFFERS A $1,000 REWARD FOR ANYONE THAT CAN PROVE WHO BUILT THIS CAR.
The current owner has multiple reasons to believe that this car was built by Preston Tucker during the time he worked at Pierce Arrow as regional sales manager in the early 1930’s. There are numerous reasons to attribute this car to Tucker, such as his employment at Pierce Arrow to access a valuable late model chassis base for the car, his friendship with Harry Miller and their collaboration on the 1935 Ford Indy cars, Tucker’s aircraft related businesses and endeavors, his love of all racing and his presence at all of the Daytona Speed events during that time
period.
Tucker was also good friends with Ab Jenkins, who famously walked out of the Buffalo Pierce Arrow factory with a slightly used 1932 Pierce Arrow roadster to set multiple speed records with on Bonneville. Even though the board of directors nixed the idea according to sontemorary news repirts. It was rumored that Tucker tossed Jenkins the keys to the car and let him take it to make the speed runs after his bosses said no. Ab Jenkins also worked with Tucker and a designer named Tremulous at the Tucker factory. Tremulis collaborated with Jenkins on the “American Meteor” streamliner project in 1946. The seller of this car does not feel it was a serious land speed contender, but built by Tucker more as a design exercise to try and show his bosses at Pierce Arrow that the straight 8 engine could out perform the V-12 using aerodynamics in an attempt to convince them to give up the stodgy outdated designs of the early 1930’s Pierce Arrow cars with their ungainly headlight configuraton. This car also shares multiple design cues with the 1933 Silver Arrow show cars. If you google “Pierce Arrow Land Speed Facebook” the car’s facebook page has more information about that.
The body is state of the art aerodynamics from the early 1930’s, including the cam back design and the entire car being wedge shaped to create downforce. There were only a handful of people back in the early 1930’s that understood these concepts.
There is a short blurb in an Ormond Beach newspaper about a radical looking car that broke down on its first one way run in 1931. The current owner believes that is this car that was abandoned at the Orange City Hotel.
The car was abandoned in the basement of the Orange City Hotel that was formerly owned by Pappy Hankinson, the “king” of board track racing. Hankinson set up the hotel as a New Orleans style speakeasy and brothel to attract the “party” crowd from the dry and conservative Volusia County where the races were held. Pappy Hankinson is semi-famous for petitioning the government to permit automobile racing during WWII, adding that he had all of his own tires from the Pennsylvania Tire Company” that he owned, so it would not take “rubber” from the war effort. Two of the tires currently on this car are from Hankinson’s Pennsylvania Tire Company that went out of business during the war. The Hotel also offered garages under the hotel. This car remained in the basement until about 1988 when the owner liquidated the contents at auction where it was purchased by the family I bought the car from.
American Pickers: This car was also part of the 2012 segment “Pandora’s Box” episode of America Pickers. Mike Wolf explained “How Epic! A land speed race car in a backyard in Florida”, but they did not purchase it. I purchased it from this same backyard in 2013. It also appeared at the 2013 St. Petersburg Festival of Speed where it won a large Cystal trophy for the “American Racing Spirit” award. It has not been shown since.
Car is currently located in St. Pete Florida on the trailer pictured which comes with the car if it is wanted.
Will speak directly to serious buyers and answer all questions.

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