The Selling of the George Vanderbilt Cup Trophy at the 1994 Hershey Region AACA Meet
While looking through a collection of magazines from the Helck Family Collection today, I came across an ad that really caught my attention- the selling of the one and only George Vanderbilt Cup Trophy used for the 1936 and 1937 races. Details follow.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
History of the George Vanderbilt Cup Trophy
This press release featured George Vanderbilt and his wife examining the trophy at the Cartier plant.
Cartier placed this ad in the 1936 Vanderbilt Cup Race program guide.
George Vanderbilt helped Tazio Nuvolari celebrate his 1936 victory in an Alfa Romeo with the huge trophy.
The Selling of the George Vanderbilt Cup Trophy
In October 1994, Charles and Mary Schalebaum placed this ad in Mobilia magazine offering the trophy to "one lucky person" at the the Hershey Region AACA Meet.
Now: Museo Nicolis, Verona, Italy
The trophy is currently on display at Museo Nicolis in Verona, Italy.
Just two names were placed on the base of the trophy: Tazio Nuvolari and Bernd Rosemeyer.
Comments
To be 100% correct, the Vanderbilt Cup was acquired in California by the Museo Nicolis in Verona (Italy), where it is on display. The Alfa Romeo Museum didn’t play any role in the acquisition.
Charlie Schalebaum always had high end automobilia , car mascots etc. The “blue field” he mentions he had to move from was the first flea market space of any size at Hershey and is now where all the roller coasters are located east of the old stadium, and what today is the red field. The ‘white filed’ was on a long narrow strip of land that was across the road from the current flea market and now motor homes that attend the Hershey event are now parked there. The white field was a former runway for a tiny airport (of sorts) that was there in the late 1960s and early 1970s. You could pay to go for a plane ride and take photos of the huge flea market and surrounding area. The flea market at that time wasn’t half of what it is today size wise. As far as I know the Schalebaum family still had flea market spaces in the current Chocolate field of the flea market .
I do remember seeing that trophy when it was in the flea market and thought it a stark contrast in style - very art deco as compared to the original trophy that W.K. Vanderbilt Jr. had made that today is in the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.
In case anyone is interested in the airport Walt mentions, it was the Hershey Airpark; see:
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/PA/Airfields_PA_Harrisburg.htm#hershey
Sam, III