Mystery Foto #35 Solved: Robert C. Watson, Jr. was Willie K’s mechanician at the 1904 Ormond Daytona Tournament
Did you identify this weekend's Mystery Foto that had stomped me for 16 years?
Answers to the Mystery Foto questions:
Identify:
- The driver and his automobile
William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. in his record-breaking 90 HP Mercedes.
- The location
Ormond and Daytona Beach, Florida
- The approximate date
Around January 28, 1904
- What is significant about this automobile?
Set the one-mile land speed record of 92.3 mph.
Kudos question
- Identify the mechanician. Hint: His initials are R.C.W., Jr. Provide the rationale for your answer.
Robert C. Watson, Jr. who was employed by Wall Street firm H.B. Holland & Company. A champion golfer with the National Golf Links of America in Southampton, Watson was president of the United States Golf Association from 1913 to 1914.
Comments (7)
Congrats to Art Kleiner, Frank Femenias, Greg O., Ken Parrotte, Steve Lucas, and Dick Gorman for correctly identifying Willie K. and his Mercedes at the 1904. Ormond Daytona, Florida Tournament.
Special kudos to Art Kleiner and Steve Lucas for solving and documenting the mystery mechanician Robert C. Watson, Jr.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Close-Ups
Robert C. Watson, Jr.
1913
The New York Times, March18, 1913.
Comments
Willie K. in his 90 HP Mercedes.
Ormond Beach, FL
Sometime between Jan. 26 and Jan. 31, 1904.
Significant features:
A wicker driver’s seat
No fenders
A low mechanician’s seat
One hood strap
Oil tank on mechanician’s side
Horn on the left side
Bracket in front of mechanician’s position
No chain guards
This Mercedes was engraved on the Vanderbilt Cup trophy.
Kudos: R.C.W. Jr. are the initials of Robert C. Watson, Jr., a friend of Willie K. from LI and a prominent golfer of the time. He accompanied Willie to Ormond and participated in the car’s test runs. Based on Brooklyn Daily Eagle and NY Times articles of the time.
I don’t know off hand but guessing it’s Willie K (after!) driving his 1-mile-speed-breaker Mercedes in Ormand, Fl. It looks like a beach-front environment (Willie K is facing the ocean here in the racer). I can’t identify the mechanician though. His face is clearly displayed in the photo. Anticipating this week’s answers that might identify the mechanician. Standing by. Great photo!
-The driver and his automobile
Willie K. In his 1903 90hp Daimler
-The location
Ormond Beach Florida
-The approximate date
Sometime between January 28, 1904 to February 1, 1904 when the Ormond Beach contests were held.
-What is significant about this automobile?
Willie K. broke the one-mile land speed record going 92.3 mph at Ormond in 1904
-Kudos question- I do not have an answer.
Identify the mechanician. Hint: His initials are R.C.W., Jr. Provide the rationale for your answer.
We may never know. There was never much information or reporting on mechanicians back then. I reached out to Dan Smith, former Vice-President of the board of directors for the Ormond Beach Historical Society and The Motor Racing Heritage Association, and even he was unsure of the individuals’ identity, but did mention he will look into it further.
W. K. Vanderbilt set a new world one mile record at Ormond Beach January 26, 1904 driving a 90 HP Mercedes with a time of 39 seconds.
Vanderbilt lowered Henry Ford’s January 12, 1904 record of .39 2-5 on frozen Lake St. Clair.
Of interest is the official timing. Vanderbilt and Ford both used regulation timing rather than the Mors timing instrument. Regulation timing used stop watches and the start line and finish line and the times averaged and subtracted.
That’s Willie K. in his 90 HP Mercedes that he had ordered in 1903 and was delivered in January, 1904. The location is on the beach between Ormond and Daytona, Florida. The date is probably January 27, 1904. Around this time, Willie K. set several land speed records most notably for the fastest one mile which had recently been established by Henry Ford. I believe the mechanician could be Robert Charles Watson who was from Rochester, NY, was a bank president and had investment interests in railroads, which could be the Vanderbilt connection. His initials are on one attached photo which appears to have been taken at the same time. The other attached photo identifies a R. C. Watson as having been at the 1908 V. C. Races. Both photos show a person who appears to resemble the mystery mechanician.
Mystery foto #35… William K. Vanderbilt II is the driver and the car is his 90 HP Mercedes. The location is Ormond-Daytona Beach Auto Tournament. And the date is January 1904. This Mercedes with Willie K driving set a one mile land speed record on the beach going 92.3mph.
I am afraid I can not identify R.C. W. jr.
This again is the 1905 Locomobile commissioned by Harold Thomas of Chicago, Illinois. I can’t identify the driver or mechanician but the driver is probably the same as the guy who drove the car in the 1906 Vanderbilt cup. It is nice to see these additional pictures of the car come up. It is routinely confused with old 16 but the two cars were very different. This car had a 7x7 b&s T head motor while old 16 has an F head. It appears as though Andrew Riker tried to erase this car from history so that nothing would overshadow old sixteen’s win in the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race. The history of this car disappears in the shadow of old 16.
Another photo of R.C. Watson Jr. taken by Willie K. himself in Oct., 1903. From the Vanderbilt Museum Collection.
Came across this Willie K letter with a Motor Parkway letterhead denoting R.C. Watson as Treasurer of the Motor Parkway.
Greg - Mineola, NY letterhead! Motor Parkway office building on NW corner of Old Country Rd and Mineola Blvd? This would be the first letter revealed from that office.