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The six Vanderbilt Cup Races held on Long Island from 1904 to 1910 were the greatest sporting events of their day, and the first international automobile road races held in the United States. The races had a far-reaching impact on the development of American automobiles and parkways. This site provides comprehensive information on the races, the Long Island Motor Parkway and current Long Island automotive events, car shows and news.
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Co-Founder and Writer: Howard Kroplick
Co-Founder: Dana Kroplick
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Fiat factory Lingotto building in Via Nizza Turin Italy
From Mystery Friday Foto #7 Solved: The former FIAT Lingotto Factory in Turin, Italy
Turin, Fiat
From Mystery Friday Foto #7 Solved: The former FIAT Lingotto Factory in Turin, Italy
Old Dodge Cars & 1929 Model “A” Roadster Ken Ball A Part Of My Collection
From The "Sensational" 1910 Port Jefferson Hill Climb
That is the only photo that was taken to my knowledge that day in this world I would have sent more if I had Them A Pair Of My Old Dodges From Years Ago
From The "Sensational" 1910 Port Jefferson Hill Climb
Lingotto Building Turin Italy where Fiats were built.
Cars were built starting at ground level and going to be tested on roof
Building was completed in 1923.
Connection to Vanderbilt cup is hard. Fiat raced at Vanderbilt before building was built. Vincenzo Lancia drove for them in 1905. Lancia made cars and became part of FIAT.
I believe building test track was used in the first version of “The Italian Jib.” I remember it from a movie.
From Mystery Friday Foto #7 Solved: The former FIAT Lingotto Factory in Turin, Italy
That’s the FIAT Lingotto in Torino (Turin), Italy where FIAT cars were produced from 1923 until 1982. There is a test track on the roof where cars that had just been assembled could be tested. While many FIATS raced in the early years of the Vanderbilt Cup, after 1923 the only Vanderbilt Cup Race that had a FIAT entered that could have been built at Lingotto was in 1960.
From Mystery Friday Foto #7 Solved: The former FIAT Lingotto Factory in Turin, Italy
From Greg O.
Kenneth- Thank you!
Would love to see the rest of your Grandfathers photos!
From The "Sensational" 1910 Port Jefferson Hill Climb
Just seen another picture of that it think, Fiat factory in Italy with a test track on the roof.
From Mystery Friday Foto #7 Solved: The former FIAT Lingotto Factory in Turin, Italy
Fiat Lingotto factory
Turin, Italy
Test track on the roof
Building was finished in 1923, I assume cars from cup races were built here.
From Mystery Friday Foto #7 Solved: The former FIAT Lingotto Factory in Turin, Italy
This is Fiat’s Lingotto factory in Turin Italy. The rooftop test track is the obvious feature that makes this factory unique. It gives off a “steampunk” inspired design if you ask me. This track was featured in the 1969 movie “The Italian Job,” among many other notable events and incarnations throughout its history.
From Mystery Friday Foto #7 Solved: The former FIAT Lingotto Factory in Turin, Italy
My grand father Wilford Ball participated in the hill climb in 1911 in the 8th event with a 75mile per hour National Speedster—I have the _Photo in black and white A Spooner & Wells Photo
Kenneth Ball Jacksonville Florida 32250
From The "Sensational" 1910 Port Jefferson Hill Climb
The mystery photo is The Fiat’s Lingotto factory in Italy, 1923
From Mystery Friday Foto #7 Solved: The former FIAT Lingotto Factory in Turin, Italy
Fiat’s Lingotto factory in Italy, 1923
From Mystery Friday Foto #7 Solved: The former FIAT Lingotto Factory in Turin, Italy
Dear Ariejan, Thank you for your quick and very informative response. Much appreciate the registration plate info. A short while ago Howard put up a photo of the two automobiles, both of them had 1930 Motor Parkway plates numbered 1000. Plates that ended with double and triple zeros were reserved for Vanderbilt’s family and close friends. At the time William K. Vanderbilt the third was living in both London and Paris, my guess is that the two autos were his, trying to confirm. Again, thank you. Al
From Kleiner's Korner: A Light-Hearted View of the Automobile
Joe,
Thank you so much for this information. I’m sure Page 178 of Plate 3 for ‘New York Street’ is precisely what I am looking for.
Does anyone know how this information can be accessed? Has this information and that which Joe is looking for been digitized?
From Greg O's Garage: Newly Discovered 1919 Blueprints of Camp Mills in Garden City
That is Lingotto, the former Fiat factory in Lingotto Turin Italy. Raw materials would enter on the first floor and exit as fully built cars on the fifth floor where there was a test track on the roof. It was built from 1915-1917. So the Fiat driven by Louis Chevrolet couldn’t have been built there. You can still drive on the roof today.
From Mystery Friday Foto #7 Solved: The former FIAT Lingotto Factory in Turin, Italy
Thanks for the comments Ariejan! Always can count on you for further details.
From Kleiner's Korner: A Light-Hearted View of the Automobile
Lee…there are a few plates in the collection that could help you out with your New York St. research, not sure if you saw the bottom of the index page image. Under ‘Concrete Roads’ there is a listing for ‘New York St.’, wondering if that could provide you with additional information (see attached).
From Greg O's Garage: Newly Discovered 1919 Blueprints of Camp Mills in Garden City
This is great stuff! I moved to the area in 2019 and have been interested in learning more about the history related to the land around my home. Obviously, Camp Mills dominates the area’s history and is of particular interest. I was able to overlay the “blocks” map image with a modern map of Eastern G.C. to discover that my house is located on the border between “Block VI” and “Block VII” (Tremont seems to be the divider). Does anyone know if there is a way to obtain images of pages from the blueprint collection? I’m specifically interested in the pages for Blocks VI & VII, highlighted in the attached image. Just curious to see what information/goodies they have to offer.
From Greg O's Garage: Newly Discovered 1919 Blueprints of Camp Mills in Garden City
Dear Al, for registration plates I often use the site https://francoplaque.fr/site_html/index-english.html
This site contains an enormous amount of information, but just clicking around will get you there. It has an english and a french version.
I checked the numbers and these were my findings: the Lincoln plate with the extension XB was an import plate and probably attributed after having passed the customs (I uploaded an XB example from their site); the Rolls-Royce plate must probably be 2930-RD9 (RO does not exist!) and in that case was issued between April 1, 1930 and April 24, 1930. There is a rather detailed book on prewar Rolls-Royces, but I don’t have access to that. I could try to find someone who does. It was probably a Phantom II, is that correct?
From Kleiner's Korner: A Light-Hearted View of the Automobile
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