Holy shnikeys, that's a 1929 Pierce-Arrow Model 133 roadster, and your aunt must have been a tycoon, funtime flapper heiress, or a notorious gangster's moll. Officially my favorite #DavesCarIDService request ever.
That's about a $3000 car in 1929, when a Ford Model A roadster was $375.
yeah, but inflation works different for cars. Better way to think of it is compared to other cars of the time; a Pierce Arrow was about 8X the price of a new Ford, the everyman's car. More like a $200k car in today's money.
Another way to think of it: that car cost approximately 3x the US average annual household income in 1929.
The same car today is surprisingly affordable. From what I gather, you can get a nicely restored Pierce-Arrow Model 133 roadster at auction in the $50k-$70k range.
in 1929 Duesenberg was undisputed top of the food chain among American cars; next notch down was Packard, Cadillac, Lincoln, Pierce-Arrow, Cord, Stutz, Marmon, Ruxton, and REO (yes, they made "Speedwagon" trucks but also made luxury cars).
btw, since your flapper aunt is so delightfully fetching, I will forgive her for obscuring the Pierce-Arrow's hood ornament- which is one of the greatest ever made 
fun fact: Pierce-Arrow made a brief foray into high performance motorcycles, 1909-1914. I saw a couple of them earlier this year. Based loosely on French FN inline 4, it was a side project of Percy Pierce, son of P-A founder GN Pierce
The saga of the flapper aunt continues: all signs point to Uncle driving a 1929 Hudson Super Six cabriolet. A fine car in its own right, but he was a true gent for letting Auntie have the big bux Pierce-Arrow
by the way, Rockwell Iowa is near Mason City (model for fictional River City in "The Music Man"), where my automotive unicorn/great white whale, the Colby Red Devil, was made; Rockford Iowa is hometown of the car god brothers Fred & Augie Duesenberg
and for what it's worth, Rockwell *City* Iowa (aka "The Golden Buckle In The Corn Belt") is home to the Iowa State Women's Penitentiary
If you are in the vicinity of Mason City Iowa and know of a Colby Red Devil resting quietly in a barn somewhere, I would appreciate you contacting me post-haste
And a special hat tip to these Albanyites (Albanians?) for identifying the precise location of Auntie Flapper's photo shoot
a little more Iowa car history: the Duesenbergs' first foray into racing was with Des Moines-made Maytag-Mason, a car company founded by washing machine mogul FL Maytag. Driver was daredevil Eddie Rickenbacker, who later became a famous WW1 ace
Here's Eddie Rickenbacker beating Barney Oldfield at the July 4 Sioux City 300 in 1914 in his Duesenberg-Mason. For you Siouxlanders, the Sioux City Speedway was located in the Riverside neighborhood
A better pic of Rickenbacker & his mechanic in the Old Glory-festooned Duesy-Mason #10 after their 1914 win in Sioux City. He also won the race in 1915. In old timey car racing there was a mechanic on board to do repairs during the race.
Oddly, the Duesenbergs' first experience in auto competition wasn't racing, it was hill climbs. Their Masons/ Maytags/ Maytag-Masons were well known for success in hill competitions.
Here's a Maytag-Mason winning the hill climb competition in Glidden Iowa, circa 1910. If you don't have actual hills, Iowans say "build it and they will come"
"The Whirlwind On Wheels," "For Business Or Pleasure," "Silent As the Sphinx" - M-M's had some great slogans.
Maytag was basically out of the car business by 1917, but from 1934-41 you could buy a gasoline-powered Maytag Toy Racer for a very lucky Depression-era boy or girl
Had a chance to buy one of those Maytag Toy Racers last year, but pretty rusted / hacked up and, at $1500, too rich for my blood. They were powered by a Maytag 2 cylinder gasoline washing machine engine.
Yes, you read that correctly, a gasoline-powered washing machine. These were popular among farm families before rural electrification. My grandma had one up to WW2 (farm had no electricity until 1944 or 45), and my dad collected them.
sorry if this whole thread had taken some weird side routes, sometimes I can't control my synapses
Anyhoo, back to Pierce-Arrows: they were made in Buffalo NY, an early rival to Detroit. More than 20 car makes were made there, including the Thomas Flyer, first car to drive around the world. I visited that famous car in Chattanooga earlier this year.
Buffalo was also home to the Buffalo Electric Pleasure Vehicle, which sounds suspiciously like a marital aid. Formerly know as - wait for it - the Babcock Electric.
After the demise of Pierce-Arrow in 1938, the Buffalo car biz was basically gone, but there was the briefly lived (1948-48) Playboy Motorcar Company. They hoped to make 10k, but only 97 were made. Can't really see Hugh Hefner driving one tbh.
Pierce-Arrows are easily identified by their frog-eyed, fendertop integrated headlights, a look they kept from its introduction in 1915 to the final 1938 model year.
The apotheosis of Pierce-Arrow was the 1933 Silver Arrow, an amazing bit of streamline deco sculpture. Priced at $10k in 1933, only a handful were ever made. They're a real Faberge Egg to the car collector world, and last one sold was around $2.5 million.
but back to the Buffalo-made Playboy car: these are not to be confused with the Cleveland-made Jordan Playboy, the landmark 1923 "Somewhere West of Laramie" ad for which marked the rise of the modern advertising industry
Sadly the Jordan Playboy passed away in 1931, but not before inspiring a lot of creative copy pizzazz on Madison Avenue.
All right, I should pull the plug on this thread before it leads down any more synaptic rabbit holes. As always if you'd like to request a car ID, hashtag it with #DavesCarIDService and I'll get to it soon as I can.
