Vanderbilt Cup Races

Al, found on an older map that NH Tpke stretched east to Hollis Court Blvd; which I think used to be Queens Rd.

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

What happened to the old North Hempstead Turnpike? Sources that I found say it was renamed to Booth Memorial Avenue, but Booth Memorial Avenue ends at the Horace Harding Expressway north service road. How far east did the old turnpike go?

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

Thanks, Mitch. I remember you followed the late Sam Berliners History websites ( he had quite a few interests ) There’s a Mystery Foto #2 - Jan 15 2018 - Fresh Meadows, that has excellent views of this area; around the same time period. Nice mix of the old & new then. Below is a screenshot looking Southeast.

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

Frank- You are correct! My mistake for just quickly snagging an improperly captioned Google photo. The tanks in the demo photo were on Maspeth Ave in Greenpoint and not the Elmhurst tanks. Good catch!

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

Very interesting story, hope all cars are owned and cared for somewhere.

From The InstaGRAM Report: Austin Clark Jr.'s 'Silent' 1963 Long Island Automotive Museum Auction Part 1

Oh wait! Greg, I don’t remember the Elmhurst tanks being checker-board on top.

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

Correction to my comment above. That is not “the LIMP from HHB to NHT”. That was Peck Avenue, built after that section of the LIMP was taken down. The LIIMP was a little to the east of that road, but basically ran parallel.

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

Sorry I missed this one! Brian McCarthy’s markup is very good, but that is not North Hempstead Turnpike. That’s the LIMP from HHB to NHT. The NHT angle was different…it went throught the Oak Grove, the woods to the upper right, just above the “N” in your label “North Hempstead Turnpike”. NHT was gone by this time. So the dotted line showing the path of the NHT was also not correct.

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

Oh-no, there goes the tanks!! Great pic Greg!

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

From Greg O.

Elmhurst gas tanks off in the distance

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

I marked up the birds eye view aerial below with road names etc. Photographer was facing Northwest in Queens NY, guessing 1950; no later than 1955. 2 landmarks for the LIMP? Parkway itself, bridge over 73rd Ave. From what I can tell. the N Hempstead Tpke bridge has been removed, but I noted on the map where it was located.

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

The photographer was over present day Cunningham Park and/or Clearview Expressway. Picture was taken before construction of the LIE so probably late 40’s early 50’s.The LIMP is crossing over 73rd Ave. running parallel to Francis Lewis Blvd.

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

Looking forward to this meeting. Should be interesting.

From Hold the Date: Thursday, October 26, 2023 7 pm- Special Presentation at the Fall Meeting of the Long Island Motor Parkway Preservation Society

20 20 hindsight, the following Sunday would have been a huge dud, though there was no way to know that. 

The rain leads to a question; how effective are the Tucker’s windshield wipers, and how well do the brakes work in the rain?  I’d expect that with disc brakes, they’d have been far better than most drum brakes of the time.

From Tucker 1044 at the 50th Anniversary Jaguar Concours at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum

Fresh Meadows, Queens looking west
Late 1950s during LIE construction and after the tower/incinerator next to the tall buildings were built
Motor Parkway is in the trees running across the bottom of the photo
North Hempstead Bridge, 73rd Avenue Bridge
Francis Lewis Blvd., Horace Harding Blvd., Union Turnpike

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

Looks like we’re over Cunningham Park looking west with the freshly built Fresh Meadows apartment complex in the center. The date should be about 1950 since the L. I. Expressway construction hasn’t been started yet and Cunningham Park development north of Union Turnpike has just begun. The LIMP runs left to right following the tree line with the 73rd. Avenue and North Hempstead Turnpike bridges visible. Other major roads include Francis Lewis Blvd., Horace Harding Blvd., Peck Avenue and Hollis Court Blvd. As to landmarks, I think I see the Elmhurst Tanks and possibly the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings.

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

Looks like the Fresh Meadows area with Francis Lewis Boulevard,73rd Avenue,and a small tree-shaded remnant of the Motor Parkway with the 73rd Street bridge visible. It is hard to see the LIE in the area of the Francis Lewis B’lvd interchange although you can see it off towards the northwest. No sign of Bishop Reilly HS yet. I would guess late 1950’s/1960.

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens

More documentation . . .

From Kleiner's Korner: Assorted Maps of the Motor Parkway

Here are some of the newspaper clippings Al mentioned.  And a photograph of the proposed track during construction.  Some infighting between the Brooklyn and Queens Jockey Clubs around the time and an eventual reorganization of the Queens club may have resulted in the proposed track’s demise.  And possibly the realization that more money could be made by developing housing.

From Kleiner's Korner: Assorted Maps of the Motor Parkway

I believe this aerial is taken over Cunningham Park in Fresh Meadows looking west.
Date is 1940s since Francis Lewis Blvd is present
The motor parkway is running north-south just east of Francis Lewis Blvd , most of it lined by trees.
Can only ID one MP structure, the 73rd Ave Bridge
Major landmark is Empire State building in distance

From Mystery Foto #38 Solved: A 1951 aerial of the Motor Parkway in Fresh Meadow, Queens