Vanderbilt Cup Races

Great story Greg! It’s incredible that the car traveled 150,000 miles even with the best of care.

From Greg O's Garage: From the Peter Helck Collection- The Priest and "The Oldest of Them All"- An 1891 Panhard & Levassor

Ariejan-
I have no reason to doubt you as you have proven to be correct countless times. The book, online info, and the hand-written captions on the back of the original photos all call the car a Benz. If all of it came from Bradley himself, I would assume he’s the source of the misinformation.

From Greg O's Garage: From the Peter Helck Collection- The Priest and "The Oldest of Them All"- An 1891 Panhard & Levassor

P.S. Where I write “What is missing on the steering wheel, is not clear.”, I of course intended to say “What is missing on top of the steering column, ...”

From Greg O's Garage: From the Peter Helck Collection- The Priest and "The Oldest of Them All"- An 1891 Panhard & Levassor

Howard
  I met Mr. Frederick at a Military vehicles show back in 1983 where I had my second owner 1945 Willys Jeep on display.  Mr. Frederick said he had the original tools for the Jeep still in the factory box and would I like to purchase them for my Jeep.  After a few weeks he called me and invited me to his home in Salisbury, CT to see the tools.  He was right, still in the original box, still greased up from WWII, an amazing find.  He had a surplus jeep after WWII.  He was a P-47 fighter pilot during the war, and used the jeep to drive back and forth to college, but never used the tools.    While we were there in his garage looking at the tools I asked him what was under the covers. He said let me show you. It was a very low mileage Red MGTF he purchased new.  Last I heard about him was in the early 2000’s , he was still flying and was in an aircraft crash in CT. He was injured, but not killed.  So I am afraid he has gone West (passed away) like so many from the WWII generation.  He was a very intelligent and interesting man.  If he was still alive he would not have sold his beloved MGTF. 

Bob Adams

From Update Mystery Friday Foto #24: The 1955 MG TF-1500 #9052's owner in 2000.

Although the other vehicle in the hands of père Gavois looks like a Benz, it is not: it is a Rochet & Schneider of 1898 or 1899. The early cars of this make had indeed similarities in engine position and transmission, but from the picture it is clear that it cannot be a Benz: different frame, different steering and hand lever columns a.o. Most of the père Gavois pictures are available through the Gallica-BnF site and another picture of the Rochet & Schneider can be found showing the rear side. Comparing with the 1898 Rochet & Schneider from the famous Malartre Museum in Rochetaillée (France), it all falls into place. What is missing on the steering wheel, is not clear. The Malartre car has just a handle, whereas most earlier Rochet & Schneider cars had some kind of a bicycle handlebar. At some point, probably from 1899 a steering wheel can be found on these models too, put it is possible that these sometimes were just a retrofit to modernize the vehicle.

From Greg O's Garage: From the Peter Helck Collection- The Priest and "The Oldest of Them All"- An 1891 Panhard & Levassor

Great story! I loved reading about this bit of auto motive history.

From Greg O's Garage: From the Peter Helck Collection- The Priest and "The Oldest of Them All"- An 1891 Panhard & Levassor

Rest in peace, Steve.  Your legacy lives on with all who knew you (and those like me that didn’t know you personally but enjoyed your column or other endeavors).  I’m always amazed at the stories and accomplishments behind a person’s name.

From Update: Sad News: Steve Linden, collectible car expert, Classic Car Doctor columnist, dies at 65

Good idea, Greg - My next trip up will probably be sometime in August but feel free to put together an exploration day ahead of that.

From Kleiner's Korner: A Return to the Long Island Motor Parkway (Part 2)

Additional documentation - this NY Times article from Nov. 6, 1908 describes the route to be taken by Robertson from the Locomobile showroom in NY to Bridgeport, with several stops along the way.  The article in my previous response was from the Bridgeport Sunday Herald of November 1, 1908.

From Mystery Friday Foto #19 Solved; Old 16 Locomobile celebrating the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race victory in Bridgeport

The 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race winner, George Robertson and his Locomobile.
The celebration was held to honor the birthplace of the Locomobile, Bridgeport, CT.
Event was held on Main Street on November 9, 1908 which was closed to traffic in order to have Robertson perform speed tests for the crowd. 
Afterwards a dinner was given at the Hotel Stratfield.

From Mystery Friday Foto #19 Solved; Old 16 Locomobile celebrating the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race victory in Bridgeport

I came to know of him from his column, and we had some email exchanges several years ago.  He was very nice, and kind of concentrated on on helping people see common sense in what they were doing with collectible cars.  When he stopped his column, I wondered what was wrong.  He’ll be missed way beyond Long Island.

From Update: Sad News: Steve Linden, collectible car expert, Classic Car Doctor columnist, dies at 65

Mystery Foto #19… The car is the one and only Old 16 Locomobile racer as driven by George Robertson. And the crowd was there to celebrate Robertson’s victory of the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race in that car. They were in the city of Bridgeport CT, home of the Locomobile company, all this happening around November 9, 1908. After this event the driver and team went to dinner at The Stratfield Hotel along with more than 300 business and community leaders.

From Mystery Friday Foto #19 Solved; Old 16 Locomobile celebrating the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race victory in Bridgeport

Art, Mike, Frank-
We should pick a spot and all meetup for a Motor Parkway exploration day!

From Kleiner's Korner: A Return to the Long Island Motor Parkway (Part 2)

great article thanks

From Greg O's Garage: From the Helck Family Collection: Strange and Unusual Cars #2-1920s Rumpler

This is the “Old 16” Locomobile driven by George Robertson.  The trolley tracks in the street reminds me of Philadelphia, so I’m going to say that this was a celebratory drive in that city regarding his win on October 8th, 1908 in the Fairmount race.  As for the Kudos question:  I’m throwing out a guess that maybe the after party/dinner they went to was at the Clover Club in the Bellevue-Stratford hotel.

From Mystery Friday Foto #19 Solved; Old 16 Locomobile celebrating the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race victory in Bridgeport

Great 2023 update of the Motor Parkway section by Maxess Rd, Art. Please let me know when you’ll be exploring more LIMP in the future. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

From Kleiner's Korner: A Return to the Long Island Motor Parkway (Part 2)

Foley’s Mercer Raceabout is now offered for sale at August 18-19, 2023, Gooding & Co’s Pebble Beach Auction. Mr. Foley passed a few months ago.

From Three Vanderbilt Cup Race Winners Together in 1936

Must have been quite a sight, even then nothing looked like it.

From Greg O's Garage: From the Helck Family Collection: Strange and Unusual Cars #2-1920s Rumpler

That’s George Robertson driving “Old 16”, the Locomobile racer that won the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup. A special victory celebration commemorating the race was held on the streets of Bridgeport, CT, home of the Locomobile factory, on November 9, 1908. Later that evening, Robertson and his team and other other invited guests dined at the Stratfield Hotel, also in Bridgeport.

From Mystery Friday Foto #19 Solved; Old 16 Locomobile celebrating the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race victory in Bridgeport

Fascinating history.  And a reminder that so much of what ends up in production cars was first worked out in race cars, something the big 3 forgot, at least for a few years.

From Ford.com: Falcon vs Ferrari? Yes!- The Holman-Moody Challenger III