Vanderbilt Cup Races

Perhaps it will be ready for the Audrain Concours in October! Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

From Restoration Update #2: 1930 Duesenberg J Murphy Convertible Sedan Berline #2448 J-399 (1/17/2025)

Facing east/ south east over Mineola-Carle Place- Garden City
Old Country Road on right, Long Island MP upper right going from south edge of Roosevelt Field past meadowbrook Polo grounds
Airfields are Roosevelt field in foreground and Mitchell Field in distance, upper right
Links to LIMP- LIMP seen in distance/Several Vanderbilt Cup races run at Roosevelt Raceway seen in distance upper left,
Sporting events/ historic events-several famous polo matches at Meadowbrook polo grounds, dirigible landed at Roosevelt field 1918, Lindberg took off from this end of Roosevelt field on his historic trans Atlantic flight,
Murray the Ks disco, Astroworld was in one of the hangars on Old Country Road
Buildings include Avis World headquarters, east of the hangars at 900 Old Country Road
Date of photo between 1951 and 1954 ( no planes on runways which closed around 1951 but before creation of Meadowbrook parkway)

From Friday Mystery Foto #4 Solved: Newly Discovered 1953 Drennan Aerials of Roosevelt Field

By far the most beautiful car in your collection (IMHO).

From Restoration Update #2: 1930 Duesenberg J Murphy Convertible Sedan Berline #2448 J-399 (1/17/2025)

Can’t wait to hear it roar again !!!!! Thanks for all you do for Long Island’s car culture

From Restoration Update #2: 1930 Duesenberg J Murphy Convertible Sedan Berline #2448 J-399 (1/17/2025)

The photographer is looking east and is over the Roosevelt Field area. The airfields are Roosevelt Field in the foreground and Mitchel Field in the background. That’s Old Country Road on the left. I’m old enough to remember when the three hangars just south of Old Country Road were still standing. One of them housed Murray The K’s World, a short-lived disco, in 1966.

A previous Mystery Foto has five hangars and is dated 1951, so this Foto was taken between 1951 and 1955, as there’s no Meadowbrook Parkway just west of the hangars. I’m going to say 1953.

The LIMP ran south of this location. The 1936 VCR was run on a track just east of here.

From Friday Mystery Foto #4 Solved: Newly Discovered 1953 Drennan Aerials of Roosevelt Field

We are looking east (or maybe slightly southeast) over Carle Place, Westbury, and East Garden City. Major roads include Old Country Road, Stewart Avenue, LIMP, and Merrick Avenue way in the distance. Other roads are the early incarnations of East Gate Blvd and Zeckendorf Blvd. The two airfields are Roosevelt (foreground; apparently closed) and Mitchel Field in the distance. The LIMP links are the remnants of the road in the distance along with its bridge into Roosevelt Field. Events include the following Vanderbilt Cup races: 1908, 1909, 1910, 1936, 1937, 1960. Buildings include the Mason Mint and Renwal Plastics factories. Murray the K’s “World”, a disco venue, was established in the hanger that’s closest to the bottom of the photo on Old Country Road. I think the date should be about 1953 because of the existence of East Gate Blvd. but no evidence of any construction for Meadow Brook Pkwy.

From Friday Mystery Foto #4 Solved: Newly Discovered 1953 Drennan Aerials of Roosevelt Field

Incredible process for recommissioning the Deusy!

From Restoration Update #2: 1930 Duesenberg J Murphy Convertible Sedan Berline #2448 J-399 (1/17/2025)

Looks like great work Howard. Looking forward to seeing it drive again.

From Restoration Update #2: 1930 Duesenberg J Murphy Convertible Sedan Berline #2448 J-399 (1/17/2025)

Incredible car Howard. Good luck with the restoration. It’s gonna look fantastic.

From Restoration Update #2: 1930 Duesenberg J Murphy Convertible Sedan Berline #2448 J-399 (1/17/2025)

The location is Roosevelt airfield, the photo is facing east, taken on November 6th, 1953. Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located in Westbury, Long Island, New York. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a training field (Hazelhurst Field) for the Air Service, United States Army during World War I.
In 1919, it was renamed in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt’s son, Quentin, who was killed in air combat during World War I.
The Hempstead Plains Aerodrome originally encompassed 900–1,000 acres (364–405 ha) east of and abutting Clinton Road, south of and adjacent to Old Country Road, and west of Merrick Avenue.
Hazelhurst Field No. 2 was renamed Mitchel Field on July 16, 1918, to commemorate John Purroy Mitchel, the former mayor of New York killed in a flying accident on July 6, 1918, while training with the U.S. Air Service in Louisiana. On September 24, 1918, the Army dedicated the eastern portion of Hazelhurst Field No. 1 as Roosevelt Field.
Once in civilian hands, the owners sold portions along the southern edge of the field and split the remainder of the property into two separate areas. Curtiss Field, a 300-acre (120 ha) airport on the original site of Hazelhurst Field, occupied half of the western portion along Clinton Road. Roosevelt Field occupied the remainder, consisting of seven hangars and a large parking ramp adjacent to Curtiss Field, and an east–west packed clay runway 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in length on the bluff. The area between Curtiss Field and the Long Island Motor Parkway, which ran north of and parallel to Stewart Avenue
Both fields were bought in 1929 by Roosevelt Field, Inc. The western field, called “Unit 2”, and the runway atop the bluff, called “Unit 1”, were connected by a broad earthen taxi ramp and the consolidated property was named Roosevelt Field. Unit 1 was sold in 1936 and became the Roosevelt Raceway, while Unit 2 continued to operate as an aviation center under the name Roosevelt Field. At its peak in the 1930s, it was America’s busiest civilian airfield.
In 1966, Murray collaborated with media art collective USCO to design and produce the psychedelic multimedia event The World, which took place in the Roosevelt Field abandoned airplane hangar in Long Island and was dubbed the first discotheque.[10][11][12] Live and recorded music played while slides and film were projected onto the crowd. Music acts that performed included The Young Rascals, The Hollies, Del Shannon, The Isley Brothers, and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels.[11] The World was featured on the cover of Life magazine in May 1966.
The grandstand for the 1936 and 1937 Vanderbilt Cup Races. After the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup Race, no major road race was ever held again at Roosevelt Raceway.
The track was soon used for midget racing and then harness horse racing.
Roosevelt was the premier Golden Age airfield of the eastern U.S., enjoying many on-site operators. Among them were Bird, Lockheed, Monocoupe, Kittyhawk, Stearman, Stinson, Waco, Aeronca, Fairchild, Fleet, Standard, Travel Air, Kellett, Curtiss-Wright and Rearwin aircraft sales and service. It housed service hangars and flight training facilities, as well as repair services including aviation welding, sheet metal, engine and instrument companies.
It hosted aircraft manufacturers including Fleetwings, Loening, and Amphibions, Inc. The Roosevelt Flying Corp provided short haul air transport, and Plane Speaker Corp., Skywriters, Inc. and Air News, Inc. provided aerial advertising services. A branch office of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) was on the field

From Friday Mystery Foto #4 Solved: Newly Discovered 1953 Drennan Aerials of Roosevelt Field

Fresh Meadows aerial above is a Fairchild aerial photo from Sept 5, 1951

From Update with Aerials: Video of the Week: Robert Moses: Long Island's Master Builder

Roy Warner - Here’s a high resolution aerial of Fresh Meadows including 51st Ave and 199 St. See above.

From Update with Aerials: Video of the Week: Robert Moses: Long Island's Master Builder

The first time I saw this Mustang was at the engineering building in Dearborn, Michigan before you even owned it Howard. It is so gratifying to know that it is in your safe hands along with all of your other treasures. Thank you.

From MSM and Motor Junkie- 20 Ford Mustang Prototypes That Didn’t Make It To Production

Howard, I almost bought the LIMP plate advertised on eBay. Thank you for the article.
Love your website, we’ve met at Amelia when you had the Tucker there.
Thanks for your work.

From Fraud Alert Update: Guide to Identifying Authentic Versus Reproduced Long Island Motor Parkway and Roosevelt Field Porcelain Plates

One more . . . results

From Mystery Friday Foto #3 Solved: The 1904 Panhard #15 At the Starting Line

90 hp Panhard
Driver George Teste, Mechanician E. Artent
1904 Vanderbilt Cup Race, October 8, 1904
Finished 12, had to pull out in 4th round due to ignition problem.

From Mystery Friday Foto #3 Solved: The 1904 Panhard #15 At the Starting Line

The 1989 FWD Mustang wasn’t completely abandoned by Ford. Instead of becoming a Mustang, it became the Probe, which was in production for about 10 years.

From MSM and Motor Junkie- 20 Ford Mustang Prototypes That Didn’t Make It To Production

Interesting article on one of the many tours in the US at the time. However in this post a few errors have crept, which I would like to correct. The car on the last photo is not a Maxwell, but a rather unknown make, a White Star. A photo of the same car is shown below, where its participant number 29 can be clearly seen. The make name can be read vaguely on the hood. The make had only a short life, from 1909 to 1911.
Further there is mention of a Mrs. Cameo and Mrs. Schwabach in an Locomobile: I suppose the first lady was the well known Mrs. Joan N. Cuneo, who was driving her own Rainier car as a press car. In the added page from Motor Age (including participant list) the second lady is named Schwaibach.
By the way I count only 38 paricipants and 8 official cars, but indeed in the Motor Age article it is mentioned that several participants had withdrawn.

From Alco, Ty Cobb & the 1909 New York to Atlanta Good Roads Tour

That’s the number 15 (90 HP) Panhard & Levassor driven by Georges Teste with mechanician E. Artent at his side. The photo was taken on October 8, 1904 during the first Vanderbilt Cup Race. The Panhard finished in the number 12 position. I’m fairly certain that’s Willie K. in the fur coat (foreground) with his back to the camera. Standing near the left rear wheel could be the starter C. H. Gillette although at first I thought it was Jefferson DeMont Thompson. Standing next to the driver (Teste) could be A. R. Pardington. In the lower right corner with the distinctive bowler hat could be Peter Prunty although he wasn’t the starter that year.

From Mystery Friday Foto #3 Solved: The 1904 Panhard #15 At the Starting Line

The French Panhard #15 at the 1904 Vanderbilt Cup Race, Oct 8, 1904. This 90hp racer driven by George Teste with mechanician E. Artent led the first three laps but then encountered ignition problems on Lap 4 in Bethpage (Central Park), ultimately finishing in 12th place. Willie K is standing at the bottom center with a cap and fur collar with his back to the camera. I believe that’s Mr Dermott by the mechanician’s rear wheel with the white band on his left arm. If the photo is at the starting line on Jericho Tpke in Westbury between Post Rd and Hitchcock Ln, the photo is looking SSW. But the photo may have also captured one of the two Controls on the 1904 course. I would assume Willie K and race officials were likely tending near the Start/Finish line in Westbury.

From Mystery Friday Foto #3 Solved: The 1904 Panhard #15 At the Starting Line