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.
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.
