Vanderbilt Cup Races

I was at that auction, yes the Tunick’s were brothers. One a lawyer and one a judge, tried to confuse the auctioneer by talking loudly so that they could buy the cars for less $ and put off other bidders. The field behind the garages was were people attended parked and it was loaded with classic pre war cars, driven ther from all over ( including N.J.) by collectors. I have some photos of those - didn’t take any of the auction cars in the garages as it was to dark and to many people in the way. There were a pair of mint low low miles original 1938 Buick sedans there on offer as well, looked brand new. The Duesenberg Beverly sedan that was there is currently owned by a collector from Va. and N.H.
Austin Clark did not live very far away and arrived in his 1927 (?) Rolls Royce Phantom I landaulet with friends along for the auction . The type 35 Bugatti race car he bought was used at Roosevelt Raceway in the late 1930s just before Wallace Birds death in the Vanderbilt Cup races there. Austin never got it running and it resided in one of his buildings out at the auto museum. I have period photos of Wallace and Winefred Bird that were rescued from the debris of their mansion after the car auction . They had a magnificent wood yacht named the Wal-Win.

I vas dere, too, Cholly (but can’t find myself in these pix)!  Three comments.  Amongst the fab. cars in the parking lot was a big 1931 Chrysler Imperial 8 CG sedan formerly from Garden City, across the southern Mott section, only a few blocks west of the LIMP.  There never was a Model 680 S Mercedes; it was a Typ S (also Modell S) of 6.8 litre displacement.  There seem to be holes cut through the bonnets of both Bugs!  Henry Petronis was a V.P. of Pall Corp. in Glen Cove where I worked then and his entire collection was later driven piecemeal from LI to Florida by shop employees (thus not I, dagnabbit it)!  Sam, III

Sam you are correct there were holes cut in the hoods of the Bugatti’s at least the one Austin bought , the type 35. I was told it was for easy/quicker access when used at the George Vanderbilt Cup Races in Roosevelt Field raceway to service anything quickly . Did that 1931 Chrysler Imperial CG sedan eventually find an owner with Bob Hibbard briefly about 1963-64? The one Bob had , had a transmission that needed attention.

Walt, not that I know of.  Bob turned up in my driveway in Mineola about then with his entire family aboard his 1932(?) Imperial 8 but the car was a CH, with a 135” w/b, not the bigger 145” w/b CG.  He came to see my CG Close-Coupled Sedan.  For the rest of you, Bob Hibbard was a dyed-in-the-wool Chrysler fan who was head of the local (LI) Chrysler club, as I recall.  The full ‘31 CG sedan resided next door to the remnants of Frank Buck’s zoo in Massapequa back then.  Oh, yes; I completely forgot to note that Weymann bodies were especially noted for having fabric door and body panels.  Sam, III

Couldn’t find this The Classic Car magazine other than a UK publication? Not Hemming’s, anyway interesting article, most not in good condition, worn tires, etc.
Living near Locust Valley, had to find out this Farnsworth Garage location, I got a online website Old Long Island, has a listing of old estates on the Island and information about them, I click on ‘Farnsworth’, would this be location of the garage? It has a Comments section, a comment from the one who posted the story about the Birds and what happened about the estates, GONE!

the garages had been converted into housing after the auction of the cars and were on the corner of the road that leads to the Planting Fields estate and the main gates to enter that estate ( no longer used for years) are not far away from the garages in question . The main ( Bird’s) house was demolished years ago as it was left to ruin when Mrs. Bird went to Europe to spend the rest of her life.

the garages should be on the NE corner of Chicken Valley Road and Planting Fields Rd.

Mark S. - far be it from me to quiz Walt but - not quite.  The garage complex is very much still there but sits one “lot” in from CVRd. (see attached aerial).  Sam, III

Thanks Sam! Haven’t been up there in 20+ years! that field shown next to the garages was where all the auction attendees parked their cars which as I mentioned included a lot of pre WII era classic cars. Quiz me anytime you like! Glad to have any and all information to get the story correct - ALWAYS!

I’m not a car guy, but I’m very familiar with this location. About two years ago a new owner bought the place, renovated/upgraded all of the garage space. My company did some work in there. The owner was nice enough to show me around before the renovation, as you know I love that stuff. Above the garages was always some living space. There were stables, as you know all the old estates had stables. The new owner is very much a car guy so maybe there will be some more shows in the future. I begged him not to remove the original mansion entry pillars that still remain on the corner of chicken valley and oyster bay road. I love ruins. We shall see!

Dave R. - kinda looks like you’re a wee bit late for those gates.  Attached is looking NNE at the corner.  Sam, III

I may be a wee bit late, but you’re a wee bit wrong!

I’m not talking about a gate, I’m talking about the original, magnificent OLD entry gate to the mansion, hidden in the woods. See pics.

Perhaps we’re getting too far afield here.  ???  I remember those old gate posts but weren’t they on the WEST side of CVRd., across CVRd. from the Bird estate?  As I recall, the Bird mansion was on the EAST side, north of the garage.  Another mansion, p’raps?  Sam, III

Check it out SB3

http://www.oldlongisland.com/2008/12/farnsworth-front-gate.html?m=1

Weird map - it shows the gate SOUTH of OB Rd.  Which way were you facing when you took the second pic (facing the fence), Dave?  Mayhap we should do this off-line or start a new thread continuing Farnsworth coverage in the 24 Oct 2018 blog post (with the gate ca, 1930).  Sam, III

Update: Photo credits have been added.

Did some research of the ‘Farnsworth’ Estates enclosed are before and now, that whole estate is located in the ‘village of Matinecock’, across Planting Field Rd. is the former Cole Estate that was also around that time now known as Planting Field Arboretum a 400+ acre state park in Upper Brookville that has a Oyster Bay address,  Farnsworth Estate could have a Locust Valley address also. The garage is the only one to survived. The old entry gate appears to be located at corner of Chicken Valley Rd. and Oyster Bay Rd. In Google street scene it doesn’t show the gate, I’ll drive by now to see if it’s there?

You are correct Mark, that is where it is. That is the original mansion gate, and yes it’s definitely still there.

Did some research of the ‘Farnsworth’ Estates enclosed are before and now, that whole estate is located in the ‘village of Matinecock’, across Planting Field Rd. is the former Cole Estate that was also around that time now known as Planting Field Arboretum a 400+ acre state park in Upper Brookville that has a Oyster Bay address,  Farnsworth Estate could have a Locust Valley address also. The garage is the only one to survived. The old entry gate is located at SE corner of Chicken Valley Rd. and Oyster Bay Rd. By the way anybody can enlighten me about The Classic Car magazine?

Sorry for the double posting, I’m new at this ‘Attach image files:’ wasn’t sure if it’s went thru because of ‘Error’ message when I had ‘SUBMIT’.

In the second picture from the 1962 auction we noticed one of the men with hats on looked familiar! It was my dad in the middle of the photo Vincent Fox. We lived in Huntington at the time.
He bought the Buick Estate Wagon when the auction was over. We had the car, partially restored, until 2003 when we sold it in Florida. Currently for sale by that owner and can be seen with a google search online.