Mystery Foto #39 Solved: Louis Wagner and Louis Vivet in the 1905 #6 Darracq
The Helck Family Collection challenged you to identify this weekend's Mystery Foto.
Mystery Foto questions:
- Identify the driver and mechanician in the Mystery Foto. Provide support for your answers.
The driver is Louis Wagner and his mechanician Louis Vivet in their 1905 #6 Darracq. Vivet is often confused with Victor Demogeot, Victor Hemery's mechanician. Rationale: Wagner's racing coat and the extensive collection of letter and photos from Louis Wagner in the Helck Family Collection..
- When and where was this Foto taken?
The photo was taken by F. Ed Spooner in September/October 1905 at the Darracq headquarters at Hotel Glenwood in Glenwood on Long Island.
Comments (6)
Congrats to Dick Gorman for identifying Louis Wagner.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Closeups
Louis Wagner and Louis Vivet unmasked. Note: The racing coats match those seen in the Mystery Foto.
The 1905 Darracq team with Wagner in the driver's seat and Victor Hemery on the far right at the Hotel Glenwood. Victor Demogeot and Louis Vivet are standing on the far left.
The 1905 Darracq Team. Victor Hemery was in the front and Louis Wagner was posing on a teammate's shoulders
Reverse Side of Photo
Caption: 1905 Vanderbilt Cup, Glenwood, New York
Photo by F. Ed. Spooner.
Comments
Mystery Foto #39… The driver is Louis Wagner and the mecanician is Victor Demogeot. The car is a 1906 Darracq in which Wagner and Demogeot won the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup race. Photo taken in 1906 at the Hotel Glenwood (headquarters for the Darracq team) in Glenwood Landing. I believe that this is the 1906 race because Wagner had different mecanicians in the other races in which he competed.
Below see Darracq poster and the race car as she looks present day.
Dunno about the clown in the duster with a fake mustache but that masked man in the rubber poncho is clearly Christopher Reeve - er, I mean Willie K. - look at that hairdo! Antique car afficionadoes (not I) should easily identify the car by that odd lever in the foreground. These blog posts so enliven Sunday afternoons (even with that strange, low, green thing somehow named for Australian bushfood)! :·) Sam, III
This is like trying to identify The Lone Ranger with his mask on but I’ll try to connect the dots anyway. Since this photo is from the Helck collection, and since Peter Helck did some artwork picturing the 1906 V.C. Races, which driver/mechanician pair had decent moustaches in 1906? I’m guessing Gustave Caillois and Marcel Pouxe who were part of the Thomas Flyer team. Maybe the photo was taken on the grounds of Krug’s Hotel in Mineola, which was the Thomas Flyer headquarters.
Batman & Robin?
Mystery Foto #39, Correction…
This is to correct a typo in the answer I sent in an earlier comment. Next to last sentence should read…
“I believe that this is the 1906 race because Wagner had other mechanicians when he competed in 1905 and other years of the cup race.”
I’m stumped on this one. So with no support and just a guess, I’ll say Bob Burman and most likely with his mechanician Howard Hale during the 1910 VCRaces.