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One of the Greatest American AutomobileBy Richard Lichtfeld
The three P's were: Peerless, Pierce Arrow and Packard. Peerless set the standards for engineering in the Auto Industry and had many firsts in design, such as: an engine under the hood; a drive shaft with floating rear axle; a stamped steel frame; the first side entrance touneau; a tilting steering wheel; an accelerator pedal; the use of aluminum to save weight; and the first enclosed body. The first starters and electric lights, and the list goes on and on.
In 1900, Peerless secured a license to make machines under the French De Dion patents. They used to De Dion chassis and built their own body. The first Peerless Motorette was displayed at the New York auto show in Nov. 1900 and advertised as the 1901. In October 1901, Peerless displayed the first "Peerless" built. This was a 2 cylinder, featuring sliding speed gears and a real muffler. Louis Moores was hired in 1902 and set out to design and build a 4 cylinder racing car (see Racing), for the Gordon Bennett race in Ireland. In August 1903, the engine that was developed for the race car was put into their production automobiles with a price range from $2,800 to $11,000 for the 60 h.p. limousine.
Barney Oldfield was hired in 1904 to race the Peerless Green Dragon. For two years Barney and the Green Dragon broke track speed records all over the USA and made Peerless a name to reconcile with. In August 1905, Peerless dropped out of racing and began competing in reliability runs called the Glidden Tours (see Glidden Tours). With three cars competing, the Peerless's finished with perfect scores, again putting the Peerless name above all other marques in automobile reliability.
In 1908 Peerless produced their first six cylinder engine. The 4 and 6 cylinder engines were used through the 1915 models. In 1911, Peerless brought out a full line of trucks (see Trucks). Peerless had been using an air starter on the big six, but in 1912, they introduced a successful electric starter. Electric starters and electric lights were standard equipment on the 1913 models. Peerless again set the pace for American automobiles.
In 1915, Peerless and Hershel-Spillman engineers worked together to develop a V~8 engine. Hershel-Spillman were famous for their carousels, but they also designed and built gasoline engines. In 1916, the 4 and 6 cylinder engines were no longer available. All Peerless cars had the model 57~80 hp, V~8 series 1 engine.
At this point, I have to explain some of the internal happenings at Peerless and why major changes took place at this time. Peerless was a unique company in the fact that they didn't use borrowed money to expand their operation over the years. They used profits and as a result they had large assets and no debts. They were a stock company and this made them very susceptible to being taken over by stock trading with people manipulating for control. The first take-over was in 1913 and another occured in 1915. This meant a change in management both times. This disruption caused Peerless to fall behind in the auto industry.
