Vanderbilt Cup Races

I’m relieved to find out that Marty’s Motor Parkway plate has been found on the property.  I was concerned that someone had stolen it.  This kind of restores my faith in humanity.
All the best.
Rog

From Good News: The missing 1931 Motor Parkway Plate from the Himes Museum has been found

Yes, very good. I had a suspicion that would ultimately be the result of the search. Glad to hear of it’s recovery for the family.  ????????

From Good News: The missing 1931 Motor Parkway Plate from the Himes Museum has been found

Great finds, Howard.  Just keep adding to the collection!  And thanks Lee for the tip about resizing images.

From Rare Officials' Armbands from the 1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races

Note: To bypass auto-resizing of the image on this website making it too small to read legibly, Right Click on the link above and choose ‘Open Link In New Tab’ (or very similar verbiage).

From Rare Officials' Armbands from the 1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races

See enlargement of above map here:

https://www.amandfmmorningside.com/hempstead_plains_1914_map_with_modern_day_street_names.jpg

From Rare Officials' Armbands from the 1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races

Same map as above, although somewhat enlarged with additional details.

Correction, ‘Mitchel’ is spelled with one L.

As point of reference, the two sections highlighted in yellow pertain to roadways which at one time, long before concrete runways were laid down, enabled vehicular traffic to drive across the airfield.

One of these to the right is labeled, ‘Uniondale Road’.  This was the northern extension of today’s, ‘Uniondale Ave.’  It continued across what had been Alexander Stewart’s Central Railroad, Stewart Ave. and intersected with ‘Westbury Road’ (which ran in a Southwest by Northeast direction from today’s Oak Street across the Hempstead Plains) just before reaching the LIMP.

From there, Westbury Road continued on its trajectory with Whaleneck Road (today’s Merrick Ave. / Post Road) just South of Old Country Road.

The attached map of the airfield in 1914 makes clear these roadways crisscrossed with the major thoroughfares mentioned, though the dashed lines might suggest they were not paved roadways and were more likely dirt roads typical of the era.

From Rare Officials' Armbands from the 1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races

Great news that it was found RIP Marty

From Good News: The missing 1931 Motor Parkway Plate from the Himes Museum has been found

Howard,

Just very cool to obtain these artifacts supporting the races. Congratulations to you and your indomitable spirit of historical preservation

Regards, Mark

From Rare Officials' Armbands from the 1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races

Your Vanderbilt Cup Red Ribbon came, I think, from a recent auction.

Do you know who won the Morris Park ribbon with the Whistling Billy White steam car?

I have almost finished the 1904 Model D chapter of the White steam car and will soon be writing the 1905 Model E chapter.

Very best wishes!

Don Hoke

From A rare 1905 Vanderbilt Cup "Road Race" banquet gold medallion ribbon

Hi Greg,
Thanks about the names. I thought so too, but wasn’t sure. At some point I figured he might have had a brother as there were more confusing racing brothers in these days like the Farman brothers and especially the Guinness brothers.
About the steering wheel, that will need some research still indeed.

From Mystery Friday Foto #14 Solved: #1 Locomobile Vanderbilt Cup Race Driver Jim Florida

The wood wheel is wrapped possibly with leather in the photos of the restored #1 Locomobile in the links I posted above, but unsure how accurate the restoration was.

From Mystery Friday Foto #14 Solved: #1 Locomobile Vanderbilt Cup Race Driver Jim Florida

Ariejan- I am unsure about the wheel, but Florida went by all 3 names at any given time.

From Mystery Friday Foto #14 Solved: #1 Locomobile Vanderbilt Cup Race Driver Jim Florida

Amazing early Motor artifact still existing today! VERY RARE. Thanks for sharing!

From A rare 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race Contestant Ribbon Badge manufactured by The Whitehead & Hoag Co.

I didn’t expect nobody to come up with the answer, so I forgot all about it. However in my research last week after the mystery photo two questions came up:
The first one is: I find for Florida not only Jim, but also Joe and James as his first name. Which of these is the correct one?
My main interest in the photo however is the steering wheel, showing an interesting pattern that intrigues me. Normally the steering wheels are wrapped with a ribbon for a better grip, but that seems to be absent here (still). The steering wheel of the Old No.16 (in the Ford Museum ?) is made of wood, but on an older picture (from a post on TheOldMotor.com) you can observe the same steering wheel pattern. So my question is: what is it made of? Probably the answer is simple, but does anybody know?

From Mystery Friday Foto #14 Solved: #1 Locomobile Vanderbilt Cup Race Driver Jim Florida

I checked out the lot list before the auction and knew you would be there Howard.
Nice item to add to your collection. There were other Vanderbilia items of interest as well.

From A rare 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race Contestant Ribbon Badge manufactured by The Whitehead & Hoag Co.

Wonderful job Greg If anyone is interested in a presentation about many of the gentleman and thier equestrian adventures in NYC and Long Island let me know Jerry and Rita

From The REAL ladies of The Gilded Age from Julian Fellowes' HBO Show, 'The Gilded Age'

Nice job and research, Greg. I’ve definitely become a fan of this series. Perhaps they need some extras? lol Quite sad that Pastor Frank had such a hard & quick passing. Frank & Ada were just beginning to enjoy their lives together. Have to say the Van Rhijns & the staff were quite relieved with the Fortune that Frank left for Ada. I can see Agnes being a sound advisor for Ada with the finances. Looking so forward to Season 3 : )

From The REAL ladies of The Gilded Age from Julian Fellowes' HBO Show, 'The Gilded Age'

Is the actual name of the Cup Race, what is says on the ribbon?

From A rare 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race Contestant Ribbon Badge manufactured by The Whitehead & Hoag Co.

I think this might be Maurice Bernin and his mechanician Felix Prossen at the 1904 Vanderbilt Cup Race on October 8, 1904. Bernin drove the number 11 Renault and finished 17th.

From Mystery Friday Foto #14 Solved: #1 Locomobile Vanderbilt Cup Race Driver Jim Florida

It is great to read about Whitehead & Hoag Company. It is rare to see the companies mentioned who produced some really fine quality items to supply to car manufacturers and auto accessory stores. I have know about W & H for decades and always look to check at the center on the back of cast emblems etc to see their makers mark. They had a huge volume of business . It is not often that manufacturers of auto related items are mentioned but it puts a whole new light on how things were provided and their important part in automotive history.

From A rare 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race Contestant Ribbon Badge manufactured by The Whitehead & Hoag Co.