Mystery Fotos #19 Solved: Old Country Road and Glen Cove Road intersection (circa 1952) and a Volvo that made the news in 1957
The Cradle of Aviation Archives challenged you to solve this special two-part Mystery Foto.
Answers to the Mystery Foto questions:
Identify in the aerial:
- The location and orientation of the photographer
View looking north at the intersection of Glen Cove Road and Old Country Road in Mineola/Carle Place. The Texaco service station was located on the northeast corner (now the site of the Carle Place Diner).
- The structures associated with the Motor Parkway
The Mineola LIRR Motor Parkway Bridge and the Jericho Turnpike Motor Parkway Bridge (see Brian McCarthy's Comment).
- The major roads and buildings including the service station on the right corner
See Brian McCarthy's Comment.
- The approximate year of the aerial. Provide a rationale.
Based on the below Comments, the aerial was taken sometime from 1951 to 1953. Rationale: Absence of E.J. Korvette's store.
Kudos questions for the ground image:
- Identify the automobile that is parked in the same service station on a different date
A gray 1956/1957 Volvo PV444
- Identify the driver in the automobile
Lee "Night Train" Donahue, a disk jockey art radio station WKIT (WTHE today) in Mineola
- Why did this driver and automobile make the news?
In June 1957 as a promotion for WKIT, the new Roosevelt Field Shopping Mall and Texaco, Lee Donahue drove around the 1.4 mile road that encircles the Mall for 44 hours, six minutes and 3.3 minutes-a total of 1,653.4 miles
- What was the price of a gallon of gas?
31.9 cents per gallon
- Identify the date of the photo
The photo was dated on June 8, 1957, likely a press release image for the actual event which occurred on June 17-18, 1957.
Comments (12)
Congrats to Joe Oesterle, Greg O., Al Prete, Steve Lucas, Brian McCarthy (wonderful jpeg!) and John Cunningham for correctly identifying the Carle/Place/Mineola location.
Kudos to Greg O. and Steve Lucas (the Mystery Foto dynamos) for identifying DJ Lee Donahue.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Close-Ups
Ground Image
Newsday, June 19, 1957 (Submitted by Art Kleiner)
1956/1957 Volvo PV444
The Volvo PV544 was introduced in 1958.
Comments
Glen Cove Rd north at Old Country Rd. No Korvettes, so picture is pre-1956. LIMP bridge is over Mineola LIRR on left edge of picture.
I don’t know the answer, but this reminds me to get my Marfak lubricated!
Aerial:
-The location and orientation of the photographer
Looking North at the intersection of Glen Cove Rd/Clinton Ave and Old Country Rd.
-The structure associated with the Motor Parkway
At the very left edge is seen the LIRR Parkway bridge taken down in 1983.
-The major roads and buildings including the service station on the right corner
Old Country Rd, Glen Cove Rd/Clinton Ave. Just North of the tracks is the large building of Consolidated Lithographing. Texaco in lower right.
-The approximate year of the aerial. Provide a rationale.
Judging by other photos of the area, and the long gone Westbury Ave bridge, 1951
Ground:
-Identify the automobile that is parked in the same service station on a different date
1956 Volvo Pv444
-Identify the driver in the automobile
-Why did this driver and automobile make the news?
Just a guess, but Lee Donahue was a DJ at WKIT Mineola, who, in 1957, tried unsuccessfully to set a 50hr record for a round trip from NY to Miami in a Jaguar. I’ll assume this is him trying to set some other record in this Volvo. 1957 Article below.
-What was the price of a gallon of gas?
Sign says 31 cents a gallon.
-Identify the date of the photo
1959 (1957 license plate)
It looks like Old Country Road and Glen Cove Road in Carle Place. The photographer is looking north. That may be the Motor Parkway in the upper left, but I have no idea about any particular structure.
That’s a Texaco station on the right. That looks like a much larger gas station across the street from the Texaco. It might be a Gulf station. Next to the Texaco you can see a diner and if you look carefully, you can see its sign “Old Country Diner.”
If the ground image and the aerial are from the same time, it would have to be between 1956 and 1959. The sticker on the door of the car reads “WKIT 1520.” The radio station at that frequency in Mineola (WTHE today) had the WKIT call letters between 1956 and 1959. I’ll guess 1956 and the car (a Volvo PV444) was the first Volvo in America. I have no idea who the driver is. Gas was 31.9 cents a gallon for Sky Chief (premium).
The aerial photo is looking north or slightly north-west toward Carle Place and Mineola. The intersection is with Old Country Road and Glen Cove Road and Clinton Road. Near the Texaco station is the Old Country Diner. The LIMP structure is the bridge over the LIRR mainline. Based on the newer cars and the lack of E. J. Korvette’s store (opened in 1954), I think the date is 1952-1953. The ground image is the same Texaco station with Lee Donahue behind the wheel of a 1957 Volvo PV444. The photo-op was probably for a promotion between Donahue’s radio station WKIT 1520, his show “The Night Train” and Texaco gas, probably a sponsor. The price of gas was 31.9 cents per gallon. Based on the license plate, the date was either 1957 or 1958. I’ll go with 1957.
In Ground Image, the car is a ‘56-‘57 Volvo PV-544, in the photo showing cars parked off to the side, a ‘55 Ford Customline Sed. beside a ‘51-‘52 Plymouth.
I believe the white automobile being fueled up is a VOLVO. Based on a 1955 Ford parked just beyond the gas pump area I suspect the date of the photo is about 1955. The gasoline price per gallon , posted on the pump , is 31.9 per gallon. I cannot ID the driver of the white car.
As an addendum to my “Comment” of a few minutes ago a quick trip to GOOGLE indicates the VOLVO automobile to be a Model PV444 or perhaps a PV544 which were produced from 1944-1966. The wonders of internet access to information are amazing, including this fine blog. Thanks, Jonathan Richards in Missouri.
Mystery Foto #19…Can’t identify the aerial pic at all. As for part 2, the car is a Volvo 444 (NOT A 544, note split windshield). The price of gas was 31.9 cents per gallon. The best I can date it is 1957 as per the year shown on license plate. Wish I had more.
No kudo for me, aerial it’ll be. My answers are on the marked aerial attached. I’m guessing the date to be 1952. Consolidated Lithograph and Woodhall Industries were built in 1950. Korvettes was built in 1954, not seen in this foto.
This one took some sleuthing and im still not sure about it. I dont have answers to every question. Here goes
- Intersection of Old country Road (E-W) and Clinton Road (S) and Glen cove Road (N)
-Facing North
-Mineola train motor parkway bridge is visible on the far left.
-1950 - westbury ave bridge is completely gone
Bonus
-volvo pv444 1956
-31 cents a gallon
-1957 is my guess for the date of the photo
-no clue who the gentleman is
service station would be the present day carle place diner
He almost drove for 2 days straight around a 1 mile track! Insane indeed, but he was beyond determined.
Al, That is a Gulf Station on the north west corner of the intersection, Must have been there a while as the name was Airport Service Station. At the time the photo was taken the Texaco Station was either Hy’s Super Service or Rainbow Texaco Service Center. Regarding the diner, it didn’t replace the Texaco Station, the gas station there disappeared with the last widening of Glen Cove Road. The diner that replaced the one in the photo is same place, now a corner landmark.
Al V.,
partially obscured by he telephone pole in the photo, but the sign in front of the Gulf station is the same sign and pole that Howard has in front of the Waterfront.
Amazing mystery solved! Sorry could not participate; my oldest daughter got married this past weekend. Loved how the intersection changed over the years. Great job by all! Proceed with caution: There are red-light cameras all over this intersection today.
Great news, Frank! Daughter that lives in California?
Brian - yes Kimberly. She came down from CA to NY to marry at St Agnes in Rockville Ctr where she used to sing. The party was at Old Westbury Country Club near Howard’s home. In fact, the limo driver was lost on Howard’s block and I had to redirect him to the club. How embarrassing! Lol We all had a blast