Test drive Bentley Flying Spur against Pierce-Arrow Model 54

Between the Bentley Flying Spur W12 and the Pierce-Arrow Model 54 Club Sedan for 86 years and a huge technological gap. But there is something that unites them

Oddly enough, the Buffalo-based George Pierce firm began with graceful birdcages. With the solidity and gigantism that she will demonstrate in the years to come, elephant cages would be more suitable for her. The company produced bicycles, motorcycles, trucks, buses and trailers, but it became famous for its cars.

The very first was created in 1901, and reliability was immediately put at the forefront. Everything was done with a huge margin - aluminum body panels were not stamped, but cast. In 1910, 4-cylinder engines with a volume of almost 12 liters were replaced by even more monstrous in-line "six" - 13,5 liters. Naturally, Pierce-Arrow have withstood grueling endurance marathons, and their power and reliability of archery vehicles quickly won the sympathy of the American elite. One of the advertisements proudly showed a car belonging to a family of brewing tycoons (remember Budweiser beer?) To Adolphus Busch III and emphasized that the car has been regularly used by the owner for more than eight years.

In June 1919, US President Woodrow Wilson, who had just returned from the Paris Peace Conference, was waiting for a new Pierce-Arrow limousine. At the same time, the Englishman Walter Owen Bentley was just about to register an automobile company named after himself. At the London Motor Show, he showed a chassis with a mock engine, and prototypes were built in the stable on Baker Street. The first buyer received the car only in September 1921. And he immediately appreciated the main advantage of the new brand - the motor. The power unit with four valves and two plugs per cylinder developed 65 hp, and the power of the racing versions was brought to 92 horsepower.

Not much: even with a lightweight body and short-wheelbase chassis, the first Bentleys were not lightweight. Nevertheless, the engine was reliable and it was thanks to this quality that the Bentley 3 Liter began a triumphant road in auto racing. Moreover, a circle of desperate racers, playboys and adventurers - Bentley Boys - has been organized around the new brand. In 1924 they were the first in Le Mans, and then they won several more times. Ettore Bugatti contemptuously called Bentley “the fastest truck in the world”, but his “purebred stallions” achieved results a few years after the British brand left the 24-hour race.

One of the Bentley Boys, Wolf Barnato, racer, boxer, cricketer and tennis player and whatnot, decided to acquire his beloved company. Fortunately, the state of the heir to the diamond empire allowed. His squat Gurney-Nutting coupe was pictured racing the luxury Blue Train. Barnato argued over a glass of champagne that he would overtake the express train and be the first to get from Cannes to London, and despite the setbacks that followed him, he won. He was driving a car with a 6,5-liter inline "six". This engine was also preferred by those who ordered luxurious heavy-weight bodies on the Bentley chassis. Later, an even more powerful 8-liter unit appeared.

Headlights-cones embedded in the fenders - this is what makes it possible to define a Pierce-Arrow car with absolute certainty. They were invented by the young designer Herbert Dawley back in 1913, but even in the 1930s it looked non-trivial. It was guided by practical considerations - the headlights located on the wings provided better illumination of the road and turns, and in addition, they were more reliably protected from stones. Electric lighting was lighter than acetylene, so there were no problems with placing it on the wings, and the thickness of the Pierce-Arrow's wings is impressive.

Additional light was still placed in front of the radiator grill. So in the dark, the Piers glowed like a Christmas tree. It’s safer and it would never occur to any cyclist to ride between two lights located at a decent distance from each other. The headlights on the fenders became an integral part of the Pierce-Arrow image and were even protected from copying by a special patent.

By the late 1920s, Pierce-Arrow cars were overly conservative and cost more than their competitors. As a result, the company had to cut prices, and then go for a merger with the less famous automaker Studebaker.

“The directors are faced with a serious question whether the isolated auto production unit can successfully compete for a long time with companies like General Motors, Studebaker, Kreisler and others, whose production volume, variety of models and sales organization provide stable customer demand and financial power far exceeding the capacity of an individual company with a limited production figure, ”the magazine“ Za Rulem ”quoted Pierce-Arrow directors to shareholders in 1928.

The merger was more like saving Pierce-Arrow from bankruptcy, but thanks to this, the Buffalo-based automaker received the necessary funding and was able to expand its dealer network. “Studebaker” got the legendary brand. By joint efforts, a new inline 8-cylinder engine with a volume of 6 liters and a capacity of 125 horsepower was developed, just such is the one under the hood of a car from the "Kamyshmash" collection, released in 1931. Otherwise, the design departments of the two companies continued to exist independently.

Typically, Pierce-Arrow posters featured exquisitely dressed men and women who had just arrived at a theater or yacht club. Occasionally, the painted Pierce-Arrow climbed into the American outback, but only in order to demonstrate vaunted reliability. There is certainly a chauffeur in a cap and a gray uniform next to the carefree life-givers.

This is not only a status element - in order to cope with the giant car, a specially trained person was needed. He knew what the outlandish handles and levers were for, how to use the freewheel and how many windows to open in the sides of the hood to make the giant motor breathe easier. And besides, he was distinguished by good physical shape, acting as a power steering, anti-lock braking system and a parking assistant. Here, even the sun visor is designed for a person in a cap, otherwise it covers the driver's floor.

To start a giant motor, you need to painfully press your foot into the round button of the foot starter and at the same time squeeze into the pliable back of the sofa. The inline six-liter "eight" wakes up with a booming clang, the metal is heard and its rough low rumbling, but it works very smoothly. Later, the motors, resting on rubber cushions, will acquire hydraulic valves and become even quieter. The rear axle of Pierce-Arrow seems to be already silent, hypoid, but it also howls. However, for its age it is a quiet car. The twenties are not only roaring, they are also howling gears and clanking gearboxes without synchronizers.

The steering wheel only turns relatively easily when the car is in motion. In the courtyard of the "Kamyshmash" exhibition hall, Pierce-Arrow is like an elephant in a china shop, and additional mirrors on the storage cases do not help much. Only between the axles of the car is 3,5 m, plus a huge turning radius, plus glass windows and valuable exhibits around. The main thing is to break out onto a wide highway with a minimum of turns: there the engine will finally develop its 339 Nm of torque and show what it is capable of. Demonstration of power does not require high speeds, although theoretically a heavy car can easily accelerate to 100 km / h and more. The main thing is to stop in time.

Three gears can be shifted with a long lever without problems, and the effort on the huge pedals is acceptable, but from the point of view of the driver, Pierce-Arrow resembles a truck, and from the point of view of passengers - a large carriage with soft springs. The privileged compartment occupies the entire rear of the body. An open shelf is made for luggage at the stern, and a chest with a waterproof cover is fixed on it. The interior and seats are upholstered in thick and very high quality woolen fabric, in theory, it protects passengers from the cold. However, there is also a heater.

Ashtray lampshades, with mirrors, door handles, flower vases - everything is done in the highest degree stylish, but this is the last hello of the outgoing era. It’s not surprising if the body was released earlier than the chassis - it happened. Every year, the lines of Pierce-Arrow cars became more and more like advertising illustrations, where cars were depicted more squat, but they were still the same old-fashioned carriages.

The company entered the Great Depression on the rise: sales for 1929 doubled in comparison with 1928, but then the expected decline began. The new V12 engine appeared on Pierce-Arrow cars later than competitors, and the attempt to create the car of the future failed - the Pierce Silver Arrow with a streamlined body turned out to be fabulously expensive and was built in only five copies.

Even worse, Studebaker began to have problems: in March the company filed for bankruptcy, and after a while the president of the company, Albert Erskine, committed suicide. Ironically, the Pierce-Arrow had a higher safety margin, and the firm continued to sail on its own. However, neither money from new investors from Buffalo, nor more streamlined bodies could already equalize sales.

Nor was the more affordable 8A 836-cylinder model, available as gold versus platinum. The car was built to the same high standards and was naturally too expensive. In 1937, the company returned to the idea of ​​a model in the middle price segment, but it was too late, and in May of the following year the denouement came.

In 1931, while Pierce Arrow was still doing relatively well, Bentley was sinking into debt. The development of the 8-liter engine required significant expenses, and the onset of the financial crisis completed the defeat. Wolf Barnato was no longer able to save the company, and in November it was acquired by a British central peer trust, which turned out to be Rolls-Royce.

The new owner stopped the production of 8-liter Bentleys and turned the new models into sports versions of the Rolls. Having lost its independence, the British brand nevertheless continued to exist. After moving under the wing of the VW Group in the late 1990s, it was separated from Rolls-Royce. Retaining the conservative Arnage and Mulsanne models, the Germans launched more affordable models, providing them with all the best VW had at the time - the platform of the most luxurious Phaeton model and a masterpiece of technical art, that is, the W12 engine.

The Flying Spur sedan was not as successful as its sister Continental GT coupe, but it still sold an impressive number of copies for the Bentley car. This car is considered illegitimate, pointing to knots and buttons from lesser-known VW Group models, but this is the look of a man emerging from a Polo Sedan. After a day spent surrounded by classic cars from the Kamyshmash collection, you notice something completely different.

Surprisingly, this remake has the spirit of a classic Bentley. What defines a luxurious and expensive car. And this is a driver's car, unlike the Pierce-Arrow, which is half truck and half carriage. Neither the sporty interior with carbon inserts, the stiffer shock absorbers of the W12, nor the black rims combined with the orange bodywork can overshadow the old-fashioned charm of the Flying Spur with all its shiny handles and thick leather. This is why a car, introduced in 2005, ages more slowly than its infotainment system.

“I don’t want to drive a car at 125 or even 100 miles per hour, I want to own a car that is built and designed in such a way that normal speeds are just child's play for it,” commented company spokesman Eba Jenkins' record in this spirit. reached 128 miles per hour (200 km / h) on a prepared machine.

The same can be said for the Bentley Flying Spur. In the W12 S version with a 635 hp engine. and 820 Nm, it is capable of easily reaching 320 km per hour. But even at low speeds, confident solid power will not make you doubt the stated figure.

A type	Sedan	Sedan
dimensions (length / width / height), mm	5299/2207/1488	ND
Wheelbase, mm	3066	3480
Cargo space, l	475	ND
Curb weight, kg	2475	about 2200
Gross vehicle weight, kg	2972	ND
engine's type	Petrol W12	Gasoline 8-cylinder, in-line
Working volume, cubic meters cm	5998	3998
Max. power, h.p. (at rpm)	635/6000	125 / n / a
Max. cool. moment, Nm (at rpm)	820/2000	339 / n.d
Drive type, transmission	Full, 8АКП	Rear, 3MKP
Max. speed km / h	325	137
Acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h, s	4,5	ND
Fuel consumption, l / 100 km	14,4	ND