Vanderbilt Cup Races

A bit grainy, but I like the view!

*Location/Orientation:  Bird’s Eye View of Garden City, Northeast.

*Structures associated with LIMP & VCR’s:  LIMP, from right to left….Garden City Toll Lodge, General Manager’s House, Clinton Rd LIMP Bridge, and Mayan Ruins ( undisturbed/intact ).  VCR’s….1908 ( Ellison Rd., tough to make out; but it’s east and north of Roosevelt Raceway. 1909,10 ( Ditto for Ellison Rd. But Old Country Rd. is quite visible.  1936,37,60 ( Roosevelt Raceway, tough to make out; but I know it’s northeast of the Meadowbrook Polo Field ).

*Other Landmarks:  Westbury Golf Club, Roosevelt Field, Meadowbrook Polo Field, and Roosevelt Raceway ( again, hard to make out ).

*Year of Aerial/Rationale:  I recall images of this area around 1930 on your site here, Howard. They are much clearer than this one. There looks to be more trees,growth etc. in this image, but the parkway bridge over Clinton Rd. is still intact. Let’s say this is 1938.

From Mystery Foto #37 Solved: An Amazing Aerial of the Long Island Motor Parkway In Garden City

Hi Howard
I hate to bother you but, I have another question, and I think only you can answer, this time it’s about the Vanderbilt property turned over to the state in 1938 in lieu of taxes, as shown in the Motor Parkway map you had on the tables at the library, after the presentation I neglected to examine it as close as I should have, my mind was on the 70 mile trip I had to make getting back home my eyes aren’t as good as they used to be,  If these were the parcels turned over to the state in lieu of taxes, my question is, was the Petit Trianon and the property it sat on part of that property turned over to te state?  Your map would have the answer where the parkway terminated but I missed it.
Bob DeStefani
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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Howard Kroplick

Great question! My favorite co-author Al Velocci may have the answer.

From Great Turnout to the Presentation on Ronkonkoma and the Motor Parkway in Holbrook

Looking northeast over the Garden City-Weatbuey area about 1938….the bridge is still standing Clinton) and there’s lack of any development on either side of the LIMP.
The Clinton Road bridge visible at the lower right, with the Garden City toll lodge to its right.
The “Mayan Ruins” appear in the bottom center.
At the top center are the Roosevelt Field hangars and runways.
At the top right the rectangular Meadow Brook polo field.

From Mystery Foto #37 Solved: An Amazing Aerial of the Long Island Motor Parkway In Garden City

Very amazing photo ! We are looking northeast from Garden City across to Westbury, sometime around the mid to late 1930s. The lower left shows the Clinton Road Bridge, torn down soon after the parkway closed in 1938, and the Mayan Ruins just north of that, roads there are in place with no homes built yet.  The office and Toll Lodge on Vanderbilt place are visible. Toward the middle is the 1936 track at Roosevelt Raceway and the Polo Fields on the right. Also upper middle left side is Ellison Avenue LIRR Bridge where old #16 went airborne in 1908 Cup Race (too many stop signs to try that today). Waaay too many things to mention for this photo. Good Stuff !!!

BTW Howard, did they tear down the big old house next to the Westbury Hairpin Turn at Wheatley Road ? I passed it last week and noticed it wasn;t there.

From Mystery Foto #37 Solved: An Amazing Aerial of the Long Island Motor Parkway In Garden City

This is above the Mott section of Garden City looking NE .  This is Roosevelt Field mostly likely in 1930-1932 before the Meadowbrook was built.  You can see the Clinton Ave bridge, the Tool house and the Admin House - as well as the bridge to nowhere.

From Mystery Foto #37 Solved: An Amazing Aerial of the Long Island Motor Parkway In Garden City

Current day Roosevelt Field Mall.  Looking East.  We can see the Clinton Ave bridge, the LIMP Managers house, the Garden City Lodge, and the Mayan Ruins.  If the lens was just a smidge wider we may have even had a picture of the LIMP passing under Old Country Rd.  As for the year, I am unsure.  But the Clinton bridge is still there.  Yes some of the Garden City area is already being gridded out.  Carle Place looks like a little prairie town.  If anyone can help?  What is the building just north of the LIMP on the east side of Clinton?
-joe o

From Mystery Foto #37 Solved: An Amazing Aerial of the Long Island Motor Parkway In Garden City

Hi Howard,
The presentation in Holdbrook was extremely informative, I have a question, it wasn’t in line with the flow of the subject matter that’s why I didn’t ask it at the questions section of your presentation, in your book ”Vanderbilt Cup Races of Long Island"on page 110 in the lower photo of the Alco I noticed what looks like two steel rods one over each of the front wheels, at your Roslyn show I examined them closer and I still couldn’t see the purpose, can you tell me what they are there for ?
Thanks for invite to the presentation, it was great
Bob DeStefani
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Howard Kroplick

Bob, great to see you on Tuesday. Thanks for the stories of when Petit Trianon was your playhouse.

The two rods in the photo are brackets for a canvass fender when the Alco Black Beast was not racing.

From Great Turnout to the Presentation on Ronkonkoma and the Motor Parkway in Holbrook

Sorry I missed your presentation Howard. I was really looking forward to it but thanks for this summary of the highlights. What a great story! Hope to see you soon.

From Great Turnout to the Presentation on Ronkonkoma and the Motor Parkway in Holbrook

Thank you for asking, Dick Gorman, and since we were well west of the hurricane here in the Florida Panhandle, we had only some wind gusts.
And I was clueless on the Mystery photo.

From Mystery Foto #36 Solved: On the Long Island Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in East Meadow

Howard, a great informative presentation as usual.  I really liked the Suffolk County map of the LIMP

From Great Turnout to the Presentation on Ronkonkoma and the Motor Parkway in Holbrook

Thanks Dick Gorman ...I appreciate you…we were fine in the Panhandle, west of the storm path.  The mystery photo stumped me.

From Mystery Foto #36 Solved: On the Long Island Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in East Meadow

Have mixed feelings about the museum, I have many auto postcards from the LIAM in my collection.

From Hemmings Daily: Site of former Long Island Automotive Museum sells decades after it closed

Tim Ivers who answers the mystery Photos nearly every week did not respond to Mystery Foto #36. Hoping that he was able to weather the storms at or near his Florida home in recent days.

From Mystery Foto #36 Solved: On the Long Island Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in East Meadow

The photo is taken from the Eisenhower Park Red Course golf Path.  The photo is facing east towards present day Salisbury Drive (Old Newbridge Ave).  The location is just west of Meadowbrook Motor Parkway bridge.  The 1908 -1910 Vanderbilt Cup races was held on this section.

Cup racer Harold Stone’s machanician was killed in the 1910 cup race at the Meadowbrook bridge thus ending racing on the LIMP.

From Mystery Foto #36 Solved: On the Long Island Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in East Meadow

My guess is looking east from Merrick Avenue LIMP ROW toward the Newbridge Avenue Bridge, used in the 1908 1909 and 1910 cup races - the Major Accident occured 1910 with driver Harold Stone careening off the bridge top. Now its used as a path for golf carts.

From Mystery Foto #36 Solved: On the Long Island Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in East Meadow

I believe this is along Salisbury Park Drive in Westbury, with the pathway in Eisenhower Park looking south (the Red course?), just before the curve in the road veering east towards Newbridge Road. 

The 1908-1910 Vanderbilt Cup Races were held along here.

Accident was during the 1910 Cup Race involving driver Harold Stone (survived) and Mechanician Matthew Bacon who tragically lost his life.  Car veered off the Meadowbrook Bridge.

From Mystery Foto #36 Solved: On the Long Island Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in East Meadow

Thanks Sam, I am always interested to know what is what, and to have it explained so we can all understand it is great. Just from a coachwork standpoint of which I take special interest in, since this is a custom body made specific for an owner anything past the firewall was fair game for change even if the cowl, windshield etc was supplied by the factory, it all could have been altered to suit.

From Close-ups of Two 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Winners

Walt, I happen to be a bit of a specialist on the 1927-1934 series of S and SS model Mercedes-Benz cars so the little finesses matter to me, as noted at <http://sbiii.com/mercedes.html>, et seq.  The huge predecessor so-gennant “K” cars were drastically lowered in 1927 to create the radical low-slung S model with a monster 6-cylinder 6.8 litre supercharged engine.  The following year, 1928, M-B upped the stroke to get the SS’s 7,020 (“7.1”) litre engine but that exceeded the height of the bonnet so it was raised about 50mm.  The dead give-away is the height of the side hinge line above the top of the outside pipes; the hinge almost sits on the S pipes but clearly is well above them on the SS, as shown at <http://sbiii.com/mercedes.html#didja> or scroll down to DID YOU KNOW DEPARTMENT for the differences between S and SS models.  The S model was not continued into 1928, let alone 1929.  I did note two customizing features up forward on the McCaw car that I’d missed previously, though; the windscreen upper panel is divided and the whole screen is vee’ed and the bonnet top panels are louvred - both non-standard for early stock Sindelfingen bodies.  Later SS sports cars did offer the the upper bonnet panel louvres, as seen on the Trossi car.  [Hey, you asked!]  The ID panel with the body, chassis, and engine serial numbers would tell us for sure; those numbers can be run past the Daimler Museum’s Classic Archiv for verification.  Sam, III

From Close-ups of Two 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Winners

I think we’re looking east in Eisenhower Park along the park’s border with Salisbury Park Drive. The 1908, 1909, and 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Races all ran through this area. At that time there was a LIMP bridge over Bellmore Road / Newbridge Avenue at this location that driver Harold Stone, in his Columbia racer, failed to negotiate on October 1, 1910, resulting in an accident that killed his mechanician, Matthew Bacon.

From Mystery Foto #36 Solved: On the Long Island Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in East Meadow

Jim Barnes:

The mystery photo is a part of the motor parkway adjacent to the American legion hall where the greater by car club meets. At this min I am not sure of the town, but t will send it later today.

From Mystery Foto #36 Solved: On the Long Island Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in East Meadow