Christmas Eve adventure: The Peerless Motor Co’s farewell V16 sedan
Aunt Daisy swears it’s true
Little Merry-Belle Noël stood – one chilly December day in 1935 – clutching the pinkie-finger of her new Daddy’s left hand while staring, googly-eyed, at the most breathtaking automobile that she’d ever seen.
Aunt Daisy, who told me this tale when I was but a rug-rat, filled me in on some background: Merry-Belle was given her name when she was found wrapped in a pink blanket, on Christmas Eve 1929, at the doorway to the Jones Home for Friendless Children in Cleveland, Ohio. The bells of St Timothy’s were ringing merrily nearby. Authorities guessed that her parents may have lost home and livelihood in the devastating stock market crashes, called Black Thursday and Black Tuesday, of that past October.
Merry-Belle remained at the orphanage until she was fostered, by the Abernathy family, shortly after her presumed fifth birthday.
The car holding her rapt attention was a prototype; the recently-defunct Peerless Motor Company’s final design (mentioned here: https://oldcars.net.za/blog/2025/10/22/1929-peerless-model-6-81-sedan/) that was to have been its 1933 halo model. Boldly displayed in the Brewing Corporation of America’s front lobby, on downtown Quincy Avenue, it was huge; almost fifteen feet long, over six feet wide and as high as freshly ripened Yellow Dent corn. Bold, black and magnificent, it boasted a shine at least a yard deep.
A plaque recorded that it had a V16 engine of 464.6 cubic inches, it produced almost 175 horsepower and was capable of a top speed of 99 mph. It further noted that body, crankcase, cylinder heads and block were made of aluminium to save weight.
“Daddy,” she asked, gazing appealingly upwards, “do you think Santa might like this as a special sleigh for delivering toys to my friends at the Jones Home this Christmas?” Mr Abernathy was doubtful: “Santa will surely be too busy,” he replied.
But someone had overheard. Smartly dressed Mr. James Bohannon, the brewing company chairman, smiled secretly to himself upon entering the building. He had things to arrange.
December 24th dawned chilly. The forecast for Christmas Day estimated a high of 22 degrees Fahrenheit. No record was kept of overnight temperatures but they surely dipped well below freezing. Only cops, firemen and hoboes (the name given to homeless people back then) dared to venture out in that.
It’s been reported that Jerry Kann, an ex-stock market whizzkid, was among those indigents. He had lost everything and been a ‘man of the road’ since 1930. Apart from raggedy clothes, and a threadbare blanket, his only barrier against the bone-chilling cold was occasional bottles of Red Cap Ale that he bought when panhandling proceeds allowed it.
Jerry did not believe his eyes, shortly before midnight, when he could have sworn that he observed the Brewing Company of America’s magnificent display car drifting silently down Quincy Avenue. Then taking a ghostly left towards the orphanage; leaving no tracks in the soft, powdery snow. And, most startling of all, there was a sixteen-reindeer sleigh team harnessed up front.
Found delirious, hung-over and near-frozen on Christmas morning, Jerry insisted to his rescuers that, shortly before he passed out, he had seen the car and its reindeer team parked up on the Jones Home’s roof. Without a soul inside it.
Yet strangely, despite every child finding a wrapped and labelled present beneath the home’s festively decorated tree, no-one ever believed his story. Except, perhaps, for Merry-Belle…
Some technical stuff in case you’re interested:
Body type: 4/5-seat sedan
No. of doors: 4
L x W x H: 4445 mm (175 in) x 1890 mm (74.4 in) x n/a
Wheelbase: 3683 mm (145 in)
Mass: 1837 kg (4050 lb)
Engine: V16 OHV, two valves per cylinder, water-cooled
Displacement: 7613 cc (464.58 cu.in.)
Bore x stroke: 82.55 mm (3.25 in) x 88.9 mm (3.5 in)
Compression ratio: n/a
Power: 129 kW (173 hp) @ 3300 rpm
Torque: 373.3 Nm (275 lb/ft)
Power/weight ratio: 70.2 W/kg
Transmission: Three-speed manual
Zero to 60 mph: 13.0 seconds
Maximum speed: 160 km/h (99 mph)
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