Peerless

Peerless

Peerless was a United States automobile produced by the Peerless Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The company was known for building high-quality, precision luxury automobiles. Peerless' factory was located at 9400 Quincy Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. [http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=9400+Quincy+Ave&csz=Cleveland+OH&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=]

Established in Cleveland in 1900, Peerless Motors began producing De Dion-Bouton "machines" under license from the French Company. At the time, Cleveland was the thriving center of automotive production in the United States. Peerless employed Barney Oldfield as a driver of its Green Dragon racecar; in early speed races Peerless proved the durability of the product and setting world speed records. Peerless was noted for its use of flat-plane crankshafts in its engine designs.

As the Peerless evolved, it, along with makes Packard and Pierce-Arrow, became known as the "Three-Ps of Motordom" (premium vehicles) in the United States.

Peerless' downfall was in its quality.Fact|date=March 2008 In the 1920s, the company was producing conservatively-styled vehicles that would last for ten or more years. Current Peerless owners held onto their cars, which ran very well; new buyers of luxury cars were attracted to LaSalle, Packard and the Studebaker President series.

In 1930-31, Peerless commissioned Murphy Body Works of Pasadena, California, to design what the company envisioned as its 1933 model. The task was assigned to a young Frank Hershey. Hershey's design for Peerless was a remarkably clean, elegant vehicle, powered by the company's planned V16 engine.

Just as the car was ready to be shipped back to Cleveland, the Board of Directors pulled Peerless out of the automobile business and reöriented the company to brew beer under the Carling Black Label brand.

Hershey's prototype was walled up in a room at the Peerless factory where it sat until the end of World War II. Hershey's prototype is now owned by the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland.

Today, Peerless vehicles are hard to find.

References

*
* Howell, James W. and Hershey, Hershey Franklin Q. Franklin Q. Hershey's Murphy-Bodied Peerless V-16 Prototype "Collectible Automobile", Volume 12, Number 4, December 1995. pp. 56-63.

External links

* [http://www.PeerLessMotorCar.com Peerless forum, how to, and parts]
* [http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=PMCC Peerless Motor Car Co.] entry from the "Encyclopedia of Cleveland History"


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  • Peerless — ist der Name folgender Automobilhersteller: Peerless Motor Company in Cleveland (Ohio), USA, 1900 1931 Peerless Lorry Company Ltd. in Slough (Berkshire), Großbritannien, 1919 1933 Peerless Cars Ltd. in Slough (Berkshire), Großbritannien, 1960… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Peerless — Peer less, a. Having no peer or equal; matchless; superlative. Her peerless feature. Shak. [1913 Webster] Unvailed her peerless light. Milton. [1913 Webster] {Peer less*ly}, adv. {Peer less*ness}, n. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • peerless — index absolute (ideal), best, inestimable, invaluable, laudable, noteworthy, outstanding (prominent) …   Law dictionary

  • peerless — early 14c., from PEER (Cf. peer) (n.) + LESS (Cf. less) …   Etymology dictionary

  • peerless — surpassing, preeminent, *supreme, superlative, transcendent, incomparable Analogous words: paramount, sovereign, *dominant, predominant: unmatched, unrivaled, unequaled (see affirmative verbs at MATCH) …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • peerless — [adj] having no equal; superior aces*, all time, alone, best, beyond compare, champion, excellent, faultless, gilt edge*, greatest, incomparable, matchless, most, nonpareil*, only, outstanding, perfect, second to none*, solid gold*, super,… …   New thesaurus

  • peerless — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ unequalled or unrivalled …   English terms dictionary

  • peerless — [pir′lis] adj. without equal; unrivaled peerlessly adv. peerlessness n …   English World dictionary

  • peerless — [[t]pɪ͟ə(r)ləs[/t]] ADJ GRADED: usu ADJ n Something that is peerless is so beautiful or wonderful that you feel that nothing can equal it. [FORMAL] ...two days of clear sunshine under peerless blue skies. Syn: matchless …   English dictionary

  • Peerless — This unusual and interesting name is the metronymic form of the female personal name Pearl . Metronymics are themselves very uncommon, since European society has been patriarcal for hundreds of years and it was usual for the given name of the… …   Surnames reference

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