I noticed that you included the streamliners of Ray Russell. There is a connection to the Russell cars and this car. Ray Russell built one of his streamliners in plastic. The body was covered in a stainless steel mesh and then he applied Ethyl Cellulose over it using a modified caulking gun. This is exactly how the original body of this car was built. The body on this car has the original mesh in places as well as the Ethyl Cellulose layers. You can even see the three inch wide striations from the application of the caulking gun!
Amazing indeed!
When I had a look into my HD, I noticed this car...nothing to compare to yours, but it got my attention.
I don't know if it's the one you mentioned, but it's one of Russel's cars!
PJ,
I just got done reading your article about your Harris Special!! Amazing!!. The Biggs barn fire story was one I remember from long ago but could never find info on regarding the Alfa that was burned. In your article you talk about the influences of other streamlined cars at the time... Is it just me, or do you see definite resemblances between these two cars in shape, construction and form? They were both built during the same time period. It's a chicken/egg thing. I have no idea where or when the Pierce land speed car was built, but it was definitely in the 30's. The front end tapper, the grille opening, the flat sides that round at the top, the hood bulge (which you can't clearly see from my foil body) and basic form are all very similar. AMAZING. I attribute the blunted rear design of the Pierce to a 1934 article in Modern Mechanics outlining the elimination of rear vacuum if a blunted, rounded rear body is used rather than a long tail type body previously thought to be best. I feel the builder of the Pierce may have also read that article and incorporated that new technology into the design of this Pierce streamliner.
Please note that the article was posted by me but realized by the happy owner of Harris' car, motorcar1. I just helped him composing the article adding some pics.
Harris' car is quite similar to yours and they both took quite a radical diversion from the usual 'streamline' concept of that era, not a teardrop but straight lines!