Mar 1 (edited)

Interesting Museums

These are notes from Jeff.

https://www.autoworldmuseum.com/

Have you heard of the Auto World Museum, the one in Fulton, MO? There are museums by that name in India, and Belgium, too. This museum 100 miles W. of St. Louis was started by a guy with a regional potato chip business, William Backer, and his daughter runs it now (Collection has 80+ cars, incl. a 1932 Reo Royale, 2 Packards, and 2 Cords). My records of Peerless cars, KPAIE, suggested there might be a couple of Peerlesses there and once I visited with a friend in 2016... they had a couple of Packards and a Pierce-Arrow, and I asked if I could see their 1928 Peerless I thought they had. The docent in the office said it was in a separate building, but she didn't have a key. A friend and I were on a 1-day junket from Lawrence to check out the '28 (and a 1926 "6-80" a dealer had in another town in central Missouri) and the friend said to the 18-year-old woman that I had just driven 1,600 miles to see the car. Meanwhile, I was banging my head on a countertop.

THIS YEAR, I succeeded in seeing both Peerlesses. Kathy & I were driving back from a 1700s living history event in Indiana last October and first stopped into Nash Simmons’ upholstery shop in New London, MO. Nash has a 1926 "Six-80" Sedan—more or less identical to the one Louis Chevrolet owned 100 years ago. [A.J., add photo]. We took a couple of photos of the car... it runs & drives and is for sale for $8000 (last I heard). I bid on it once on E-Bay 20 years ago — but didn't have the money. Having called ahead to the museum curator (Tom Jones), we were given the run of the place (since he knew who we were, former museum curators ourselves) for 1⁄2 an hour & followed Tom to a decrepit barn a few miles away where he and the Museum owner thought they had found the big 1928 Peerless. Looked at it and discovered it was a Marmon (missing the engine, but probably a 1930 "Big 8" Sedan). Then we went to the other side and found the Peerless, a 1928 "8-69" 7-Passenger Sedan. It has dual sidemount fenders. The heads were off...those were in the back seat...and the rad fan was in the front seat...but an ambitious restoration could restore it. Perhaps they could farm out the restoration of this "8-69". The very last year for the 332 Cu. In. Peerless V8s and their 13-year run. Production for the 1928 "8-69s" was just 362 — so it's kind of a rare bird. There were 1,762 "8-69s" built between 1926-1928. They had 133 1/2" wheelbases, and the research I did for the Auto World Museum suggested there are only 11 still around. I told the AWM Curator about someone who is restoring two of them, a 5-Pass. And a 7-Pass. John Lehnert of Belle Plaine, Minnesota. We've corresponded & he sent me a ton of information about them. In my letter to Tom Jones, I included some artwork suggesting how they could capitalize on the fact they are one of only about a dozen collections having all 3 of the Three P's of Motordom.

Mar 1, 2026

Reply to alsancle…

Replies (18)

· Mar 1

Here is the photo of the of the 6-80 Sedan owned by Louis Chevrolet that Jeff is referring to. We have it on the homepage also.

· Mar 4

Here a poor cellphone shot of the 1928 8-69 Peerless I took last fall:

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· Mar 4

Here is another scary picture of the interior -- at least it's out of the weather. That thing that looks like a second steering wheel is the radiator fan. These largely-aluminum Peerless V-8s had huge fans.

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· Mar 4

@Peerless28 Jeff, how many 8-69 cars were built? We should start a topic on them.

· Mar 4

@alsancle 1,762. An 8-69 owner I talked to at Hershey said only 362 for the swan song year of 1928. I saw an announcement of the "All New 8-69" for 1928, and basically they changed the speedometer from 90 mph to 100 mph max.

I think they were great vehicles, but there are only 8 to 12 on the planet. I talked to a guy on the west coast who says his is an excellent road car, but can you imagine how they would have been hammered when Ford came out with a cheap V-8 not long after?

· Mar 6

Another Interesting Museum:

THE FOUNTAINHEAD ANTIQUE AUTO MUSEUM
Wedgewood Resort, 212 Wedgewood Dr., Fairbanks, AK 99701
PH: #(907) 450-2100........E: www.fountainheadmuseum.com
One of only about a dozen collections worldwide to have all 3 of the Three P's of Motordom.
Motorcar below is in their excellent museum_ _ _ a 1912 Peerless Model 36-K Touring Car.

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· Mar 25

The Nethercutt Collection, Sylmar, CA. The Parthenon of Antique Motorcars. Has a 1903 Type "4" and a 1914 Mod. "48-Six" Peerless.

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· Mar 25

Heritage Museums & Gardens Sandwich, MA. Has a 1910 Mod. "27" Peerless Roadster.
The car collection was amassed by pharmaceutical magnate Josiah Lilly III & includes an 1899 Winton, a Stutz, a Mercer and A-C-D among its 42 autos.

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· Mar 25

The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI. Has a 1911 Peerless Mod. "29" Park Phaeton. It is not on display, but a double of the better-known Doris Duke park phaeton or victoria landau car that went thru several auctions before disappearing somewhere.

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· Mar 25

The Key Museum, Izmir, Turkey. Has the ex-Jack Tallman 1910 Peerless Mod. 27 Landaulet, Brewster Body.

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· Mar 25

California Automobile Museum, Sacramento, CA. Has a 1910 Peerless Mod. "27" 7-Pass. Touring Car on loan from Sue Wiseman.

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· Mar 25

The Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, OH has a 1905, 1914, and 1932 Peerless.

· Apr 3

[3 pics from my visits to Auto World Museum; couldn't figure out how to attach them to bottom of the letter A.J. posted at top of this page]

Tom Birt photo of 1932 DeSoto/1932 Franklin and 1932 Hudson/L: 1941 Packard 120 and R: 1926 Packard

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· Apr 3

@Peerless28 32 is the Desoto to have.

· Apr 3

@alsancle This place is heavy with 1932 cars. I think you said once America didn't produce an unattractive car in 1932. They even have a '32 Royale 8-35! Sadly, their Marmon 16 is just a '31.

· Apr 3

@Peerless28 Jeff, do you have any pictures of the Royale that I can put on the Royale site?

· Apr 3

@alsancle This Model 8-35 was equipped with a 125 hp, 358 cubic inch straight-eight cylinder engine coupled to a four-speed manual transmission with a vacuum controlled clutch and a top speed of 90 mph. It featured "one shot" lubrication and thermostatically controlled radiator shutters. The wheelbase is a generous 135 inches, though a special custom version was available in 1932 on a whopping 152-inch wheelbase. The factory price was $2445.

· Apr 4

@Peerless28 Thanks Jeff! They are taking a bit of poetic licence as the standard transmission is the 3 speed and the 4 speed was optional To date my car is the only known car with the 4 speed.