Team Blog

Pierce Arrow Museum, Gray Cliffs and Lake Erie

Posted on Jun 14th, 2009 at 12:07 pm by The Team

Jim Sandoro organized an interesting visit to the Gray Cliffs Estate, just north of Buffalo. Its right on a cliff, overlooking Lake Eire. The estate was designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright as a summer house for a multi-millionaire back in the twenties, a lot of unique design features make this a really interesting treat. They are currently in process of restoring it, sounds like somewhere upwards of about $5million for the restoration process, Jim has been involved in that process.

Jim also has been doing some amazing work on developing the Pierce Arrow Museum, which houses a number of Pierce Arrows and Thomases. Both of these cars were built in Buffalo back when Buffalo and Niagra falls used to one of the major automobile building cities in the world. He also has a Buffalo Electric Car, a 1902 electric car that runs on batteries and an electric motor, pretty amazing stuff. Reminded us of the 2006 documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car which explored the creation, and the destruction of the General Motors EV1 in the 1990s. Although the EV1 was one of the first mass produced electric cars, the Buffalo Electric car was built almost 90 years previously! Jim has done a wonderful job on the museum and you really should go visit it if you are in the area.

A huge thanks to Jim Sandoro for putting a lot of time and effort into our drive, he was an extremely gracious host.

Today the weather is beautiful, blue sky and a sunny 73 degrees. We are currently moving through the Eiree, PA right now. There seems to be a stop light on every corner which is frustrating, but we are on the road, the car is running good and we are making good progress. Today we are cruising along at an average 35 miles an hour.

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We are excited to see our cousin Peter and his family in Aurora tonight, (Kaisa is especially looking forward to meeting her family!). We also will be visted by Terry and Ed Huston, these are the good folks who donated the engine to this car. Terry’s father Tom Thoburn, a very well known Maxwell collector and restorer gave us Alice Ramsey’s first autographed book along with his blessing to go on this trip. He was going to try and put together this car and he and his wife were planning on doing this centennial drive originally, but sickness intervened. After Tom passed, Terry had this engine in a barn and donated it to us, and now the spirit of Tom is traveling along in the engine with us down the road. We are running a dark-green pennant on the car in memory of Tom and Tina, a duplicate of the ones Alice ran on her car. There is a circle on it with four letters inside the circle, like the four quads of a pizza. MBMC, standing for M = Jonathan Maxwell, B = Benjamin Risco who started the Maxwell company originally, for a long time it was called the MB motor company, the MC stands for Motor Club. This was the original Maxwell’s owner’s club where all the Maxwell owners would take their cars out and go on picnics and drives together. We plan on giving the pennant to Terry tonight when we get to Aurora.

The pennant we flew on the car yesterday was a red one, we gave that to Jim Sandoro as a thank-you for his incredible hospitality.

We are just now cutting through NW corner of PA, in about ten miles we’ll be in Ohio!

Day 5 – Niagara Falls

Day 6 – WE MADE IT!!!

9 Comments

  1. I am enjoying your accounts very much. Please keep them coming.
    I’ve bought the book about the original drive and also have From Sea to Sea in a 1903 Curved Dash Oldsmobile. I have a replica 1903 Curved Dash Olds about 75% complete that I hope to drive later this summer.

    Lyle Hegsted on June 14th, 2009 at 12:52 pm #

  2. You guys are having way too much fun!!! Keep on trucking, or I should say motoring and keep up the posts they are a nice way to get a little sense of almost being there. I think it is especially nice that you are getting an extra good dose of auto-enrichment from the good folks along the way.

    Tom Duckworth on June 14th, 2009 at 3:13 pm #

  3. Great Blog and outstanding web site. Giving an Shout Out to my sister-in-law Sally Barnett…you go girl, we are so proud of you, what an adventure. Namaste, Kathy

    Kathy Parker on June 14th, 2009 at 3:22 pm #

  4. What a blast to see the group tonight in Aurora! We loved meeting Kaisa and the rest of the crew and are even more excited to follow your trip west after seeing the beautiful car in person. We’ll be thinking of you every day and are so incredibly proud to see people we know pouring so much of themselves into this unique and momentous journey. Ride on!!!

    Peter Eckman on June 14th, 2009 at 6:28 pm #

  5. So glad to finally get to the net to read up on your whereabouts! Priscilla and Ron told me of your adventures and the trouble on route 20 just past Cherry Valley in NY state, but I wasn’t sure what had happened after that. I told some folks at Mount Vernon today about your journey and they had never heard of Alice Ramsey, but they now know about her and you, Emily! Here in D.C. there are quite a few things older than 1909, but I haven’t seen a car that old in these parts. I am so happy to know that you were back in the saddle (so to speak) of your horseless carriage today and that motoring was going well through Ohio. I miss you all and have a sweet little movie of the inside view of us going into Vassar on day #1, so will try to post that later in the month. You are all so courageous and full spirited that I know everything on your adventures along Alice’s Centennial route, and now Emily’s drive, can only bring more blessings and joy with each passing mile. Godspeed and much luck for the road to rise up to meet you and bring you safely to your journey’s end, one day at a time. Thank you for the excellent posts and keep them coming!

    Kaye Gamper on June 14th, 2009 at 8:06 pm #

  6. I saw your car going by in Mentor Ohio on route 20, I had no idea what it was all about but your support trailer gave me impetus to hunt you on the internet. This is really exciting. I will be following you on the net. I love the daily reports on your blog. Good luck !

    Tom Trenney

    June 14,2009

    tom trenney on June 14th, 2009 at 8:18 pm #

  7. Glad to here everything is going well the car is running great you have good weather and it sound like you are haveing the thrill of a life time with all your events!!!!! Well happy motoring and keep us posted we will see you in Iowa soon

    Dennis McGuire on June 14th, 2009 at 9:31 pm #

  8. Fabulous ladies!!! We are following your journey and spreading the word here in Southwest Colorado.
    Thanks for representing…

    Loads of kisses Christie, We love you!

    Jess,jon, rohan, raven, stout on June 17th, 2009 at 8:12 pm #

  9. Dear Emily:

    Thanks so much for visiting the Graycliff Estate. It was a pleasure to meet you. We have some wonderful photos of you and your Maxwell at Graycliff..sp photogenic with you and the auto posed in front of the ISabelle R. MArtin House and Lake Erie behind. Please let us know how we can post them. We were so glad the weather was so beautiful for this leg of your journey. Wishing you a safe trip with sunshine all the way!

    Reine Hauser on June 20th, 2009 at 7:12 am #