Vanderbilt Cup Races

Hello, history buffs. Just want to say I had partial assistance in my response to this mystery ( 4/16/11 Blog “Midget Auto Racing” )

Aerial location/Orientation: Overlooking Garden City, Westbury, East Meadow in a S/E direction.

Pkwys under construction: Wantagh Pkwy, definitely Northern State Pkwy.

LIMP data: Roosevelt field, Merrick Ave, Newbridge Ave, Stewart Ave, Carmen Ave, Westbury Ave, Wantagh Pkwy LIMP bridges.

Landmarks: Roosevelt raceway, Meadowbrook Polo Club, Clubhouse just opposite of Central RR, Salisbury Golf Club, Ladenburgh property. Mr. Kroplicks future childhood home.

Aerial date: 1939, time of the Midget Auto Racing and continuing construction of the Northern State Pkwy.

It would be neat to have a time machine for a day. This site and others are the next best thing.

From Mystery Foto #9 Solved: Northern State Parkway and Wantagh State Parkway Under Construction

The plane is flying over East Wiliston / Mineola with the camera pointed southeast toward Westbury & Carle Place. The parkway in the foreground is the Northern State with the Wantagh near the top. The LIMP bridges are (east to west) Roosevelt Field, Merrick Ave., Newbridge Ave., & Stewart Ave. along with the Meadowbrook Lodge. You can also see Roosevelt Raceway, Salisbury Links golf course, and the Meadowbrook Polo Fields. The date of the photo is probably sometime in 1938 since that section of the Northern State didn’t open until December 17th. of that year and the small midget car track is visable on the site of the Vanderbilt Cup Races held the two previous years.

From Mystery Foto #9 Solved: Northern State Parkway and Wantagh State Parkway Under Construction

great picture

From The Motor Parkway Toll Collection Structures: #15 & #16 The Brentwood Lodges at Commack Road

thats great wow meeting jay leno

From Chrysler's Chrysler Honored with Three Awards at the Boca Raton Concours d'Elegance Updated: 2/29/16

Hope to see you there

From Hold the Date 4/28/16: Presentation: New York Automotive Licenses, License Plates & Registration

Ok here goes we are looking at the Northern Parkway intersecting with the Wantagh Parkway looking southeast from the Objectors Bend possibly down to the southern state.  Due to the Race Track at Roosevelt Raceway the year is 1936. In this picture is the Motor Parkway over Ellison Avenue (Merchants Concourse), the Ladenburg Farm and the Newbridge (East Meadow Avenue) Bridge, Stewart Avenue conntcting with the Motor Parkway. North is St Brigid’s Church and the Holy Rood Cemetery. By Eisenhower Park is the Train Station and overpass over Meadwobrook Club Road, with the Salisbury Clubhouse before it was toxic. I cant seem to find the house from 1905 located in Eisenhower Park but it must be there. Hicksville is in the upper left corner. Looking carefully you can see the Motor Parkway Bridge over the Wantagh Parkway towards the upper middle of the picture and Hempstead Tpk in East Meadow and Levittown potato fields and possibly North Bellmore toward the top right. Middle right is the Meadowbrook Club and Polo Field. Across Merrick Avenue from that appears to be the swamp that they made into the Man made Lake at Eisenhower. Soooo much stuff to see in this picture and…..no i didnt need to look at the previous posts for help, im from this part o’ town.

From Mystery Foto #9 Solved: Northern State Parkway and Wantagh State Parkway Under Construction

hi I’ve been looking at W K V III as my grandfather acted as his valet for all his tour of europe,africa etc until his car accident . my grandfather was sent ahead by train rather than travel in the car luckily. i have only one photo of my grandfather and a few letters he wrote while on tour with them and am trying to see if there are others of the tour,hunting etc .chris.

From A Father's Day Tribute: Willie K. and His Children

What a victorous weekend. A wonderful reward for years of dedicated work.
Love the way you looped in your family! I am a friend of your sister Marilyn.

From Chrysler's Chrysler Honored with Three Awards at the Boca Raton Concours d'Elegance Updated: 2/29/16

Congratulations! A trifecta at Boca, who knows what will happen at Amelia. 2016 is starting out well for you and Mrs. Chrysler’s Chrysler.

From Chrysler's Chrysler Honored with Three Awards at the Boca Raton Concours d'Elegance Updated: 2/29/16

Thanks for sharing this with your “Florida Family”. The car is great and was fun riding in it. But you’re terrific!!

From Chrysler's Chrysler Honored with Three Awards at the Boca Raton Concours d'Elegance Updated: 2/29/16

Wow,you really made it big this time,three awards,maybe you should thank John,very impressive with the outfit,tell him that he looks great. Do it again next month,keep the awards coming,it’s something to be proud of and enjoy having

From Chrysler's Chrysler Honored with Three Awards at the Boca Raton Concours d'Elegance Updated: 2/29/16

Congratulations Howard! It appears that you will need a large trophy room in your house if this continues. Enjoy Amelia Island too. Any fan of classic cars should attend a Concour event. These events truly have the finest cars in existence and they all raise money for wonderful causes. The Jay Leno photo is a nice bonus!

From Chrysler's Chrysler Honored with Three Awards at the Boca Raton Concours d'Elegance Updated: 2/29/16

Go Howard, Go !

From Chrysler's Chrysler Honored with Three Awards at the Boca Raton Concours d'Elegance Updated: 2/29/16

From Greg O.:

Great mystery photo again this week even if I didn’t get all the answers!

Thanks! Have a good one!
Greg O.


-Where is the location of the aerial and its orientation?
  Flying directly over East Meadow looking North West.

-Where is the Long Island Motor Parkway in the aerial?
  Tough to see and can’t really make out too many LIMP landmarks, but roughly horizontal across the top.  More noticeable is the adjacent Central Railroad tree line through what will eventually be Eisenhower Park.

-Identify the major roads and landmarks including airports and golf courses.
  The usual suspects in view here… Meadow Brook Golf Club, Salisbury Golf Club, Coldstream Golf Club, Meadowbrook Polo Club, Mitchel Field, Roosevelt Field, Hempstead Tpke, East Meadow Ave, Merrick Rd,
Interesting here is the newly laid out neighborhood in East Meadow at the very bottom of the photo. The longest horizontal road across the bottom is Freeman Ave, the shorter one just above that would be McKinley Ave. Starting at the first vertical road East of East Meadow Ave along McKinley is; Cambridge, Oxford, Aberdeen, Rugby, York, etc.

-Identify the two airplanes.
  The plane closer in the foreground may be a Fokker F.14/C14, and the plane further back in the distance appears to be a Douglas Dolphin. Of course there’s a neat Dolphin & William K. Vanderbilt Jr.connection here as well.

As per Wikipedia;
      “William K. Vanderbilt Jr. bought two with custom interiors for use from the Vanderbilt yacht Alva as flying tenders…..Dolphin 119: Two aircraft built for A.G. Vanderbilt II and W.K. Vanderbilt II and operated from the yacht Alva. One of the two (which is unknown) joined the RAAF as A35-2.”

And sure enough, seen here on the Alva in 1934 as per vanderbiltcupraces.com;
http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/one_of_yachtinsg_dozen_william_k._vanderbilt_jr.s_alva

And a photo of one found on Instagram at his Miami Estate on Fisher Island;
https://www.instagram.com/p/_h98wlGDfs/

- What was the date of the aerial? Provide a rationale.   
  Not sure if this was an ‘event’, historic or otherwise, but judging by the runways at Roosevelt, Mitchel Hangars and build time for the Dolphin & Fokker, my guess is somewhere around 1935

Here and attached is a Google Earth perspective match.

From Mystery Foto #8 Solved: A 1935 East Meadow Flyover by the United States Army Air Corps

S. Berliner, III asked…“C’mon, Howard, be a sport - tell us us how Tom Gibson found the relationship to Willie K., please!” Howard, first, thanks for posting the pics of the Simplex, I’m glad they’re appreciated! To answer S.B., III’s query, I took the pics because of the display cars’ dramatic surroundings, knowing only that I was shooting the main gallery at the Museum, and the they had to be special.

A few weeks ago on the AACA Forum, Terry Bond, avid Vanderbilt Cup collector, asked if we could have a sub-forum about swap meets, also those outside the U.S. Having gone to the Museum as part of a trip to the Veterama Show in Mannheim (same weekend as Hershey), I posted some images quickly, sans captions http://forums.aaca.org/topic/268848-how-about-a-swap-meet-forum/?p=1451823 from what we saw in Germany. Terry informed me of the Simplex’s provenance, so I forwarded the pics to Howard, in case he ever wanted to use them.

As with the images of Mrs. Chrysler’s Chrysler from 1986, I take pictures of appealing things, and they seem to come back to Howard years later…
He always, “krops up”!

From Willie K's 1902 40-HP Mercedes Simplex in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart

My guess is a flyover above East Meadow, looking Northwest, as the Meadowbrook Polo Grounds is in the forefront of the Garden City Gas Tower which reveals a northwest view from approx Hempstead Tpk at East Meadow Ave. The Motor parkway is east west across the middle of the picture visible from just west of Merrick Avenue travelling east across Eisenhower park. You can see Stewart Avenue Crossing the park and meeting the LIMP after the Newbridge Avenue Bridge. Looks like Meadowbroook Hospital (NUMC) in the lower middle part of the picture before the big tower was built. My guess about the date of the photo predates the 1930 Roosevelt Raceway Polo Field and the primitive runways at Mtchel Field indicate a photo from the late 1920s, which seems to suit the vintage planes. I count 4 gold courses, one at Roosevelt Field, another at Mitchel Field, the Cold Spring Golf course south ofHmp Tpk and Salisbury Links with its Merrick Avenue Clubhouse. Good Stuff !!!

From Mystery Foto #8 Solved: A 1935 East Meadow Flyover by the United States Army Air Corps

I’ve been going to Rothman’s since I was a young boy (Jolly Fisherman in Roslyn is the other) and 60 + years later it is still comforting to know that somethings never change.  Thanks for sharing this one.

From 1937 Ye Mappe to Rothmann's East Norwich Inn

  What a map.  Just loaded with great stuff.  It’s one of those things where the more you look, the more you see.  Thanks.  I really enjoyed it.

From 1937 Ye Mappe to Rothmann's East Norwich Inn

Not sure. Best guess were over Howard’s East Meadow home facing NW. Down below that could be Prospect Ave on top of the street grid. Front Street (barely visible) more north and mostly parallel to Prospect. Hemp Tpke is further north and diagonal in the center. On top is Salisbury golf course, and tree-lined Stewart Ave cutting through, and Motor Pkwy north of that running parallel to Stewart. I don’t see Mitchel Field. The flying boat is a Douglas RD-4 Canopus Dolphin Amphibian and the other? - both most likely just took off from Roosevelt Field, mid ~‘30s. I do see a grinning kid waving from his front porch. Tough mystery, waiting for this week’s answers.

From Mystery Foto #8 Solved: A 1935 East Meadow Flyover by the United States Army Air Corps

This photo appears to have been taken over the area around East Meadow looking northwest. The LIMP would be going from left to right approximately in line with the plane at the top of the photo. Landmarks include Meadowbrook Golf Club, Cold Stream Golf Club, Salisbury Links, Meadowbrook Polo field, Mitchel Field and Roosevelt Field. Major roads would be Hempstead Tpke and Merrick Ave. By the look of the planes, I’m guessing the photo was taken around 1928.  As to the identity of the planes, I have no clue.

From Mystery Foto #8 Solved: A 1935 East Meadow Flyover by the United States Army Air Corps