Vanderbilt Cup Races

Always welcome a new perspective Greg. Thanks for sharing this gem!

Bethpage (Central Park) looking north, close to 1910 (early bi-plane)

1 Hemp Tpke
2 Lincoln Blvd
3 Roosevelt Dr
4 Lowell St/Park Ln
5 Rose St
6 Rose St towards the Barnes’ Tract (1908 LIMP Ground Breaking Ceremony Site)
7 Long Island Motor Parkway
8 Hicksville Rd Rt 107 (Massapequa Rd)
9 N Wantagh Av (Jerusalem Av)

LIMP structures:
N Wantagh Ave bridge (Jerusalem Ave) 1908 - 1940s visible. The Massapequa Toll Lodge and Hicksville Rd bridge (Massapequa Rd) hidden under the plane’s right wing.

Grumman Airport will eventually occupy the space just above the plane’s propeller, decades later.

History in the making. Great photo!

From Mystery Friday Foto #46 Solved: A 1936 Long Island flyover surveying the Hempstead Plains by the Braman-Johnson Flying Service

So far all I got is a guess on the plane.  The “N” may identify this plane as U.S. Navy and the “C” indicates it is of “standard airworthiness”.  This identifier was valid from 1919 to 1950.  But I’ll guess maybe this picture was taken in the early 1930’s.  Brush fires were an issue for a while, so maybe he’s out patrolling for that.  Maybe this pilot is somewhere close to Mitchell field but so far I can’t get my bearings on the roads and landmarks on this picture.  I hope to submit another comment if I can figure more out.

From Mystery Friday Foto #46 Solved: A 1936 Long Island flyover surveying the Hempstead Plains by the Braman-Johnson Flying Service

Over the Hempstead Plain, Island Trees/Levittown.  Plane is heading west.
7 is the Motor Parkway. 
Plane was owned by the Braman-Johnson Flying Service and used to make aerial surveys.

From Mystery Friday Foto #46 Solved: A 1936 Long Island flyover surveying the Hempstead Plains by the Braman-Johnson Flying Service

Congratulations once again Howard! Those Chryslers along side yours are beauties as well. Looks like I missed a great show. Better than the Greenwich show. Hope to be in Hilton Head next year.

From Chrysler's Chrysler awarded "Best in Class- Classics Closed" at the 2022 Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance

Congratulations on another stellar performance by one of LI’s favorites!

From Chrysler's Chrysler awarded "Best in Class- Classics Closed" at the 2022 Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance

Amazing display of one of the earliest racing automobiles during automotive infancy, now in display at the Savoy Museum, GA

From Alco Black Beast on display on the "Fast Brass" exhibit at Savoy Automobile Museum in Cartersville, Georgia

Austie Clark 1965

From Mystery Friday Foto #45 Solved: Peter Helck and James Melton go for a ride in Old 16

Great to read this profile of George Robertson. He lived in Bellerose Village , Nassau county just south of the village train station and about a 12 minute walk from my house from where I write this. ( there are three Bellerose areas, the Village I mentioned, Bellerose Terrace an area that surrounds the Cross Island Parkway - which cut the Terrace in half when the parkway was built and there is a Bellerose , in Queens County that is north of Jericho Turnpike ( aka the Jericho Road in years of distant past, Rt. 25)
I used to go out to lunch with Crawford Robertson in the early 1970s on almost a monthly basis , he lived in an apartment house on Stewart Avenue opposite the property of the Garden City Hotel on the corner. Austin Clark and I would spend a great lunch time with Crawford who was a really fine outstanding gentleman , very down to earth , kindhearted etc.

From Profile of George Robertson- Winner of the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race

I do believe that’s my father, tenor James Melton, at the wheel.  He was a collector of antique cars. He was also a friend of Peter Helck.  As for the date of the photo, I would say it’s from the 1940s or 50s, given my father’s age in the picture.
This is a photo I have never seen before.  What fun!

From Mystery Friday Foto #45 Solved: Peter Helck and James Melton go for a ride in Old 16

That’s James Melton, a popular singer in the 1930’s and 1940’s. He also had some success on the stage, in film, on radio and in opera. He became a well-known antique car collector, opening his own museum in 1948 in Norwalk, CT with his collection numbering over 100 vehicles. Based on the attached photo taken in 1948, I think the mystery photo could have been taken around the same time, maybe a bit earlier.

From Mystery Friday Foto #45 Solved: Peter Helck and James Melton go for a ride in Old 16

My guess is the fellow behind the wheel is James Melton

From Mystery Friday Foto #45 Solved: Peter Helck and James Melton go for a ride in Old 16

Mystery Foto # 45…The friend in the driver’s seat is James Melton. He had a career as a popular singer and later an Opera singer. On 7 December 1942, Melton debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. He continued to perform at the Met through 1950. Melton spent the 1950s making records, singing in nightclubs, appearing on television, including Ford Festival (1951–1952) also known as The James Melton Show, and collecting rare automobiles. He founded the Melton Museum (1948-1953) in Norwalk, Connecticut to store and display his collection, which, at one point, grew to 110 automobiles. After that Melton put his collection on display in Hypoluxo, Florida, at the James Melton Autorama, a museum featuring nearly 100 antique automobiles in period sets, as well as an exhibit of toys, music boxes, baby carriages and a giant Cyclorama, “America the Beautiful,” illustrating great moments in American history.
Approximate date of photo… at Lowell Thomas’ private party on September 11, 1948???

From Mystery Friday Foto #45 Solved: Peter Helck and James Melton go for a ride in Old 16

Lovely to read. thanks for sharing your experiences

From Autoevolution Website: Iconic Vehicle: Meet Shorty, the Oldest Surviving Mustang and the Only Fastback Two-Seater Ever Built

Looks like you had a terrific agenda of presentations Howard. Sorry I missed it due to a medical procedure I needed to have done.. Looking forward to the next one!

From Highlights from the Long Island Motor Parkway Preservation Society Meeting

I brought home a photo of this bust to Adolf Wolter’s grandaughter, Elizabeth Wolter in 2008.  At the time she was living in CT.

From Mystery Foto #71 Solved: A Bust of Louis Chevrolet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

On a related note this article from the “Technical World” magazine of Sept., 1913 discusses the issue of passing another vehicle on the right or left and where to put the drivers seat.  The desire to do things different than the English following the Revolution had a part to play with this as well.

From Greg O's Garage: Why Do We in the U.S. Drive on the Right Side of the Road?

I’ve always had the impression that the Bethpage State Parkway was one of the originally proposed roads in 1931, and was guaranteed to reach the Northern State Parkway at the time. The Massapequa Preserve is visible enough, though.

From Update #3-Behind the Scenes: The Long Island Parkway planning map in David's new play starring Ralph Fiennes as Robert Moses

Not only are the pedals on RHD cars the same as on LHD cars, but also the shift pattern for stick-shift cars is the same: Lower gears on the left, and higher gears on the right, by international agreement. Most cars outside of North America and Australia have manual transmissions, so in drive-on-the-left countries, an American would have two challenges: Driving on the left, and shifting with the left hand.

From Greg O's Garage: Why Do We in the U.S. Drive on the Right Side of the Road?

Bob-
Thanks for your email.
As far as right hand drive pedals, they are the same configuration as left had drive. ie; gas on right, brake in the middle and clutch to the left.
There was an aspect to this post about current car manufacturers making cars more ‘predominantly right-handed’ that I didn’t include, but might have to save that for part ll.

From Greg O's Garage: Why Do We in the U.S. Drive on the Right Side of the Road?

Thank you Howard for having Greg explain this to me.  What made me think about it is all the old race cars (like the Black Beast) with the steering wheel on the right.  So I wonder just when they changed the driver position in race cars.  I suppose one thing to consider is at some point the cars didn’t require a mechanician to pump fuel so the cars could be designed with a driver basically sitting in the center.
I also asked how the pedals are typically positioned in a right hand driven car versus our left side driven: is the gas still on the right?  I’m sure some readers and contributors to this newsletter are more travelled than I and have driven cars with the driver on the right…
So thanks again for delving into my question! —- Bob Allen

From Greg O's Garage: Why Do We in the U.S. Drive on the Right Side of the Road?