Mystery Foto #8 Solved: Hubert LeBlon & Albert Clement Jr. at the 1906 Weigh-In at Garden City
This weekend's Mystery Foto documented two Vanderbilt Cup Race drivers preparing for the 1906 race.
Mystery Foto questions:
- Identify the two 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race drivers
Hubert LeBlon-Drove the #1 Thomas to an eighth place finish
Albert Clement, Jr.- Drove the #15 Clement-Bayard to a fourth place finish
- What were these drivers preparing to do in this photo?
They were appearing at the weigh-in with their racers the day before the race on Friday, October 5, 1906. According to the 1906 rules, the race cars could not weigh more than 2,204 pounds.
- Where was this photo taken?
The scales were located at the "Garden City Coal and Wood Yard". Does anyone know the address? Update 3/4/2017: See below map.
Comments (6)
Congrats to Art Kleiner, Ariejan Bos and Gary Hammond for identifying Hubert LeBlon and Albert Clement Jr. at the Garden City weigh-in. Kudos to Art Kleiner and Ariejan Bos, who both submitted the below November 1906 issue of Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal documenting the 1906 weigh-in.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Close-Ups
A judge of weighting?
"...the most noteworthy feature was the presence of well gowned women, who crowded about the scales with lists of contestants in their hands, and then followed the cars back into the coal yard and clustered about them while they were being lighten by heroic stripping. These women asked no questions, had no eyes nor words for men, but simply watched what was done, and recorded results by pencilled memoranda on therir score cards." See article below.
Submitted by Brian McCarthy: Howard. I was trying to locate where the “Garden City Coal and Wood Yard” might have been located. As you will notice, I circled the “Coal Elev. & Silos” in blue. Perhaps this was the location. You’ll see that I penned in some current rds., etc. in either black or red. My penmanship isn’t the greatest, but I guess my writing sort of matches the rest of the map. The “P.O.” refers to the Post Office on Stewart Ave. I remember the rear entrance from where Commercial Ave curves, then crosses the tracks.
Hubert LeBlon
Albert Clement, Jr.
Kleiner's Korner (Submitted by Art Kleiner)
Courtesy of the Detroit Public Library
Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal, November 1906 (Submitted by Art Kleiner and Ariejan Bos)
"Henry Ford was at the scale beam..."
Henry Ford at the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race
Henry Ford, representing the Detroit Automobile Club, was a member of the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Commission.
Ford was a judge of weighing at the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race. Two years later, he would introduce the Ford Model T.
Was the image of Henry Ford captured at the Garden City weigh-in?
Comments
I’ve seen these pictures before,now to answer the questions,got some searching to do,hope I can get to it,got a busy weekend
Identify the two drivers: Albert Clement (on left) and Hubert Le Blon (on right)
What were these drivers preparing to do in this photo? Preparing for the race weigh in
Where was this photo taken? Garden City Coal and Wood Yard
Without doing any research my first thought was that it looked like they were standing on an old fashioned hay scale for weighing wagon loads of hay. With the 1906 date I immediately came up with the following on Google - From the Detroit Public Library National Automotive History Collection: “View of drivers Hubert Le Blon and Albert Clement at weighing station during the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup races on Long Island, New York. Several men stand nearby; group of women in background. Stamped on back: “Photo by N. Lazarnick, 29 West 42nd Street, New York.” Handwritten on back: “Le Blon and Albert Clement at weighing car station. Races and racing—Vanderbilt Cup races, 1906.”
That looks like Felice Nazzaro and Hubert LeBlon with his back to the camera. Unsure of the where and why….
Since my attempted research only led to dead ends, I’m going with a few wild guesses. The two drivers look somewhat like Hubert LeBlon and Felice Nazzaro. They appear to be standing on a large commercial scale so maybe they are waiting to have their cars weighed for qualification. I believe there was an official scale somewhere in Albertson. Can’t wait to find out the real answer.
The drivers are Le Blon (with beard) and Albert Clément, waiting for their cars to be weighed in. They are standing on the weight bridge. The location was at the Garden City coal and wood yard.
Hello all. The map/sketch that I submitted to Howard that he posted here is probably not the location of the Garden City Coal and Wood Yard. I searched for the location of this yard again via “nyshistoricnewspapers.org”, Nassau County. Found a page within “The Garden City News” year 1923. An advertisement for “The Garden City Coal Co.” is displayed as #2 Franklin Ave (next to Porrier’s Corner). I believe this is the actual location of the Yard.
Then I had to search Porrier’s Corner on Howard’s site here. The search led me to a past blog “Mystery Photo#15, 4/13/15. Art Kleiner provided some nice old aerial views of Porrier’s Corner within that blog. Thanks Art, you always come through.
http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/mystery_friday_foto_15_can_you_identify_this_vanderbilt_cup_race_team