Vanderbilt Cup Races

Oh, sibling!  Most of the aerials (undated and blurry!) are completely unrelated.  We’re on the RoW centerline, looking at the back end of an abutment fill, with a huge tree and a house with a two-level roof aligned with the RoW.  That knocks out all but Nibbe as far as I can tell.  If the Nibbe pic is oriented N-S, we’re facing ENE.  Sam, III

From Updated: Mystery Postcard Foto #24 Solved: The Massapequa-Hicksville Road Bridge Under Construction

Thanks for your photos of Shinnecock!  A real treat.

From Off-Topic: My Day at the U.S. Open at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

I was at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Course only once, but it wasn’t for a golf game or to view one. It was for a fund raising dinner for ARF. ARF is the Animal Relief Fund, and was a favored charity of Charles Addams and his wife. The well know cartoonist and humorist and his wife suggested an automotive display during a fund raising dinner as Charles was a collector of pre war European automobiles, and could provide a few cars and knew he could make a call to get a few more for people to view. He invited Austin Clark , who was a close friend to attend and bring a car and Austin called me up and said he told Charles “I have a friend who will bring a car too” and that was me. I drove out with a gal I worked with as my guest in my 1941 Packard woody station wagon . We took the LIE and then headed south to go to meet Austin at his L. I. Auto Museum that was just east of the golf course by about a mile or more. The Packard had a factory overdrive unit so it was 75+ mph on the LIE.
Once at the museum Austin was a bit upset because the 1912 (?) Packard model 18 Town car he wanted to take to the event didn’t run, battery didn’t charge correctly or was totally beyond charging up, anyway what happened was that my friend/guest drove the 41 Packard and Austin got in his wife’s new Toyota and put a rope from the back of her car to the front axle of the Packard town car and said “this will get us there and back, mind/use the hand brake to stop”. So off we were , me now behind the wheel of the brass era Packard which was behind the Toyota and behind me was the 41 Packard woody as a sweep car. All of this being done at dusk. (if you are now rolling your eyes as you are reading this questioning our sanity, this is the kind of stuff we used to do and not get arrested for) It was an uneventful trip/tow to the golf course but Austin cut the right turn into the golf course driveway a bit close and I had to do some really quick thinking and turning not to see the car I was in flip on its side as we went down into the soft shoulder a bit (well more then a bit) as we turned in. Being a good driver I used my hand and signaled that we were turning in , later to be told by the gal who was driving my 1941Packard behind me - “were you $%#@$ nuts to take one hand off the steering wheel to tell that you were turning? ” I just shrugged and smiled.  We had a wonderful dinner and evening and the ARF made a considerable amount of money for their on going efforts . There were some other cars present there when we arrived on display, but all were about a decade or less old at the time , the sole exception was Charles Addams Bugatti and Aston Martin which where there as well . Charles was very pleased that I took the time to drive my 1941 Packard woody there (it was a 70+ mile trip one way) and I told him and his wife that it was my pleasure and that I liked and admired their efforts and most of all the puppies they were rescuing. We towed the Packard town car back to the museum after midnight and I then drove the 41 Packard back home and dropped my friend off on the way at her home. I recall that evening with great fondness , and yes I still like puppies and Packards.

From Off-Topic: My Day at the U.S. Open at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

Howard,
Thanks!  It is beautiful, and it’s made me homesick. (We live in CA now.) We’ve used the clubhouse as a checkpoint on the Bridgehampton Rally a couple of times. Car racing, golf and beaches are the specialties of the area.
Earl

From Off-Topic: My Day at the U.S. Open at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

I think we’re looking at the Powell Ave bridge being built from Powell Ave itself looking east. The house on the right is already dilapidated that I doubt it still exists today. I need to check this as well

From Updated: Mystery Postcard Foto #24 Solved: The Massapequa-Hicksville Road Bridge Under Construction

Love these puzzles! But this one is truly puzzling. The wind vane should give it away but haven’t yet seen one in any old Bethpage photos (Hoping someone spots one soon). Caption says “Motor Pkwy” but I believe were actually “near” Motor Pkwy. The dirt roadway appears to be an already established main thoroughfare, not a farm path nor the parkway itself being developed. Heck, it even has power line pole service already established.

On this overcast day it’s hard to tell orientation, but the siding of the house on the right seems to be well lit (photo facing northwest), but that’s a poor observation under this cloudy day. The puzzle continues….

I don’t think we’re on Motor Parkway, but on Powel Ave looking east with the bridge going over the Motor Parkway (which is underneath), traveling north-south.

I think this is it. Happy Father’s Day to all. This mystery puzzle made mine even more enjoyable. Thank you guys. Can’t wait for more possible solutions.   

From Updated: Mystery Postcard Foto #24 Solved: The Massapequa-Hicksville Road Bridge Under Construction

After a couple of days of thinking and imagining, here’s my best:

* ID Location/Orientation/Rationale: I decided that the photo was taken from the farm way road, east of the soon to be Nibbe Farm Way Bridge over passing the LIMP. On the Noel Gish Postcard Collection Blog here 10/22/2011, there’s a postcard titled “Motor Parkway through Nibbe’s Hollow. Central Park L.I.” You can see buildings & a wind vane or wind mill east of the Nibbe Bridge. The wind vane or wind mill has a square structure built around it. The wind vane in the mystery image doesn’t appear to have a structure around it. The stakes on the farm way road are likely center line markers for the bridge. The 4 poles that are west of the bridge & limp could be for telegraph/telephone service to the buildings, possibly west from Broadway. 1926 LRV aerial map shows the farm way road extending west to Broadway and east to Plainview Rd.

* Image Date/Rationale: Aug/Sept 1908. Prior to the 1908 VCR in Oct.

From this Dad to All, have a great Father’s Day!

From Updated: Mystery Postcard Foto #24 Solved: The Massapequa-Hicksville Road Bridge Under Construction

I wasn’t able to be there, but several weeks ago I saw the Tucker exhibit at AACA.  Amazing cars!

From Tucker 1044 Conservation Report II: Highlights from the Memorable Open House

We donated our original 1936 #25 plates to the State of Montana and in return the Deer lodge Prison made us a set of replica plates. See : WWW Good Roads Everywhere in Montana. I drive my 1936 Chevrolet #25 every week here in Hamilton, MT. Great article! Steve

From Charles Davis, the Good Roads Everywhere Movement and Long Island Motor Parkway License Plate #25

Just great!

From Autoweek Magazine: This one-off 1937 Chrysler Imperial town car hides a spring-loaded secret

West side of the jerusalem Rd Bridge???? Around where the groundbreaking took place.

From Updated: Mystery Postcard Foto #24 Solved: The Massapequa-Hicksville Road Bridge Under Construction

from the facts in the book Lost Road Courses, the track got funded from selling sand ,10 years worth .They then did much repairs to the track including the tunnell 1962 or so the tunnell to run for parts or whatever you needed in the paddack It was scarey to leave the paddack when a race was under way

From Saturday Search Findings: A Map of the Bridgehampton Race Circuit

Amazing how Peggy has locked this moment in time so vividly in her descriptive notes nearly a century later. I’d swear I was there.

Willie K and guest had just visited the manager’s office and dropped by the lodge. I doubt they were entering the hilly parkway with the trailer at dusk. Sounds more like a bigger trip elsewhere was planned, especially in the later years (‘30’s) where more roadways were being improved. I vote “not parkway.” 

Fantastic story Gordon, thank you!

From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive: From the Lodgekeeper's Family Archives-The Garden City Lodge

I know it was a completely different car but can’t you all just see Chrysler’s Chrysler towing a house trailer with Della inside!  Thanks, Gordon; this is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind.  Sam, III

From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive: From the Lodgekeeper's Family Archives-The Garden City Lodge

I’ve just found the following in my mother’s notes.  It’s an incident that I remember her telling me about, but that I didn’t remember well enough to describe it accurately. I didn’t realize until I read this that there had been a gas pump at the lodge, but it makes sense. 

My mother wrote: “One afternoon I was in my room (probably doing homework) and looked out when I heard a car stop near the gas pump, and saw a trailer attached to a big, black chauffeur-driven car! It was very late afternoon and just dark enough for the lights inside the “RV” to be on.  There was a table with a lamp and a lady sitting in a lovely chair.  This was unbelievable! - a table, lamp, chair, wow! Mr. Vanderbilt had stopped and was in the office talking with Dad - his wife was in the trailer.”

From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive: From the Lodgekeeper's Family Archives-The Garden City Lodge

Al, I just realized Gordon may have lived by Motor Lane nearer to Stewart Ave (bridge) instead of the Bethpage Lodge. Gordon’s accounts remain truly inspiring.

Gordon, the details of your early childhood on the LIMP are much appreciated. It helps with unanswered questions about the LIMP. Thank you for responding, and always open to hear more of your experience with the Motor Parkway.     

From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive: From the Lodgekeeper's Family Archives-The Garden City Lodge

My father, Mitchell Scott, was born on Mitchel Field on October 31,1957. I am actively looking for old photographs or articles that are relevant to the base. Does anyone know of any good sources?

From Then & Now: The Long Island Motor Parkway, Mitchel Field and Sonny Corleone

Sam, thanks for the welcome!  My family moved from Bethpage to Saint James in Suffolk County in 1958, so the LIMP stopped being part of my life then except when I visited my grandparents and when I drove the Suffolk portion and imagined what might have been, but I kept a love for it. I moved to California in 1969 and was heartbroken in 2000 when I returned to visit Bethpage and discovered that the part of the LIMP where I spent so much of my childhood had been obliterated by Albergo Ct.

From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive: From the Lodgekeeper's Family Archives-The Garden City Lodge

I mistakenly asked to be removed from mailing list. Please keep on the list. Thanks, Dick Gorman
_________________________________

Howard Kroplick

Dick, will do!

From Mystery Foto #23 Solved: A Caproni CA-5 Taking Off at Hazelhurst Field in September 1918

The airfield would be the L.I. Aviation Country Club in Levittown.  The plane is taking off to the north and the photographer is facing towards the southeast.  In the background you can observe the LIMP Jerusalem Ave highway bridge.
The club started operating in 1929 so I would say the photo is in the early 1930’s.

From Mystery Foto #23 Solved: A Caproni CA-5 Taking Off at Hazelhurst Field in September 1918