A 1926 Pierce-Arrow is returned to the Carus family

Car brings back nostalgia for family members, who reunited at the Hegeler-Carus Mansion

A 1926 Pierce-Arrow luxury car, originally bought and owned by Elizabeth Carus, was returned to the Hegeler-Carus mansion in La Salle after 60 years.

The car cost $3,350 in 1926, which is equivalent to about $56,000 in today’s money. At the time, Pierce-Arrow cars were the ultimate luxury car, driven by kings, presidents and celebrities.

Blouke Carus, 95, and Edward Carus, 93, said they have fond memories of riding around in the car as teenagers during summers in Benton Harbor, Michigan in the late 1940s. The family had a vacation home there and kept the car in a barn in Benton Harbor year round.

“Have you ever heard the term ‘cruising?’ Because that’s what we did,” Edward said. “It was the Mercedes-Benz of the day. Nobody else was running around with a 1926 Pierce-Arrow.”

In order to use it 20 years after it was originally purchased, the brothers spent weeks fixing up the car and scavenging junkyards for parts. Once the brothers stopped using it, the car sat in the barn until 1959, when Arnold Faulkner heard about the car. Elizabeth Carus gave the car to Faulkner at no cost when he expressed interest in it.

Faulkner intended to restore the car. He wanted it to be a retirement project with his grandson, Dan Faulkner. The two had some success and got the car up and running. Dan said he even drove it up the road a mile or so, and his grandfather passed the car down to Dan when he was 17.

Dan called the car a “unique” and “fantastic” automobile. He held onto it for years, moving it with him when he moved multiple times across the country. Dan now lives in Oregon.

He said he decided to donate the car back to the Carus family because he didn’t see himself having the time and determination to restore the car like he and his grandfather had planned.

“I had to be honest with myself,” Faulkner said. “I realized I was never going to finish the project.”

Blouke and Edward said they were pleasantly surprised when they heard the car was being brought back to the Hegeler-Carus mansion. They thought the car was destroyed when the barn that stored it caught fire less than a year after Dan’s grandfather purchased the car.

“It was a big part of our lives,” Blouke said.

“It brings back a lot of nostalgia,” Edward said.

On Friday, members of the Carus family flew in from around the world for a reunion to see the car. Family came from places including Germany, Austria, Croatia, Mexico and Canada. Edward flew in from Hawaii, and Blouke still lives in Peru. Dan told the story of his grandfather and the car to the family and officially presented the car to them in front of the mansion.

The family plans to complete restoration efforts on the car and put it on display as another attraction for the mansion.