The 67th Annual Pierce-Arrow Society Annual Meet was held last week in Eureka Springs, capped by a car show Saturday, June 14, in the parking lot of Pine Mountain Village. More than 100 Pierce-Arrow owners from across the United States and Canada participated. Based in Buffalo, N.Y., the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company operated from 1901-1938 and was best known for its expensive luxury cars.
Story and photos by Scott Loftis / Eureka Springs Times-Echo.
More than 100 Pierce-Arrow car owners visited Eureka Springs last week, traveling from homes as far-flung as Massachusetts to California and Canada to Louisiana.
The occasion was the 67th Annual Pierce-Arrow Society Annual Meet, a group founded in 1957 to bring Pierce-Arrow owners together to celebrate the iconic automobile.
Roger Bise of Rogers, who serves as the society’s vice president, said most of the cars arrived in Eureka Springs on Sunday, June 8, although the meet didn’t officially begin until Tuesday, June 10.
On Monday, June 9, several of the early-arriving participants drove their cars on a 205-mile loop on the “Pig Trail,” from Eureka Springs to Ozark, the PostWinery at Altus and back.
“That’s grueling, and the cars that make it are in good shape,” Bise said. “We had no breakdowns, no problems, none whatsoever. We had about five or six cars that made it.”
Bise himself brought three Pierce-Arrows to the meet, driving one and trailering the other two.
Bise said he bought his first “old car” in 1987, then bought his first Pierce-Arrow in 1996. He added a second around 10 years later and a third last summer. Just don’t ask him to pick a favorite.
“It’s like: Which child do you love the most?” he said. “You put so much time and effort into them that you realize they kind of have a soul, and they kind of know you, and you know them. I mean, they’re inanimate objects, but they still have a personality.”
The society’s annual meet is held in a different location each year, but Bise said the participants enjoyed their time in Eureka Springs. He thanked the owners of Pine Mountain Village and Eureka Springs Harley-Davidson for allowing the society to hold its car show on their parking lot.
