Vanderbilt Cup Races

Hugh Nutting:

Hi Howard,  I contacted a friend at the Collier Collection. This car was not in the Cunningham Collection they bought. Likely Briggs sold it when he got a 1911.  Hugh

From Mystery Foto #40 Solved: An 1888 De Dion, 1902 Gardner-Serpollet, 1904 Mercedes and 1908 American Underslung from the D. Cameron Peck Collection

Greenwich Concours is scheduled for October 23 and 24. I have been to nearly every single year of the Concours. The first year it cost $5.00 to get in and hat included a BOX LUNCH!!!
Now the cost is $45 for pre sale tickets or $50 at he gate. I know some Concours’ cost mch more than this. (Don’t ask me about Pebble Beach). I want to go to Greenwich again but that will be $90 or $100 if my wife goes. Rather costly for a guy on fixed income like me. Does anybody know of any discounted tickets or passes and if so how do we get them? I feel like events like this across the country are gradually pricing the common man/enthusiast out of luck… why is it necessary to keep increasing the price of admission while excluding a large number of lifetime car lovers.

From The Alco Black Beast racing on the Jersey Shore and highlights from TROG (The Race of Gentlemen)

Mystery Foto # 40…
Automobile A is an 1884 DeDion steamer.
It sold at auction for 4.6 million in 2011.
Automobile B is a 1902 Gardner Serpollet Model F,
Victoria body by Kellner. Steam power.
Automobile C may be an OPEL. Can’t be sure.
Automobile D is a 1909 American Underslung, Model 50 roadster.
An Underslung raced in 1910 Vanderbilt cup and placed 26th.

From Mystery Foto #40 Solved: An 1888 De Dion, 1902 Gardner-Serpollet, 1904 Mercedes and 1908 American Underslung from the D. Cameron Peck Collection

Love the beach photos.  Glad the undertow didn’t do any damage!!

From The Alco Black Beast racing on the Jersey Shore and highlights from TROG (The Race of Gentlemen)

This is the Cameron Peck 1908 American Underslung that was in the Cunningham Museum at one time. That is where your Fot 40 was taken.

From Mystery Foto #40 Solved: An 1888 De Dion, 1902 Gardner-Serpollet, 1904 Mercedes and 1908 American Underslung from the D. Cameron Peck Collection

Just WOW!!

From The Alco Black Beast racing on the Jersey Shore and highlights from TROG (The Race of Gentlemen)

Great stuff, thanks Greg.  I did not know these stories.

From Greg O.'s Garage: From the Helck Family Collection: Ralph DePalma at the Danbury Fair

We were there Thursday and Friday to see some of the cars and also the migrating monarch butterflies along the shore. I hope you saw them also. There were tens of thousands of them heading with the northerly winds to Mexico.  Friday night we returned to Long Island. We did not see any of the races but I actually walked to the shore from our very clean motel on Atlantic Ave. That is one very wide shoreline due to recent reclamation of sand. Seems like more sand was moved in Wildwood than at the Palm in Dubai. I’ll have to check both out on google earth.

From The Alco Black Beast racing on the Jersey Shore and highlights from TROG (The Race of Gentlemen)

Well, I think I have 2 out of 4 but that’s it. (A) is a DeDion-Bouton steam tricycle circa 1885; (D) is a 1908 American underslung 50 HP Roadster. Looking forward to the answers.

From Mystery Foto #40 Solved: An 1888 De Dion, 1902 Gardner-Serpollet, 1904 Mercedes and 1908 American Underslung from the D. Cameron Peck Collection

Howard

Looks like a great time.  I can tell you as a car guy placing that car in the ocean water is against my better judgment. As a car enthusiast, I have a hard time with rain. Please make sure you team cleans it up as that is the beast

Regards, Mark
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Mark, the high tide was coming in fast. I participated in the final run of the day and needed to wait until all the motorcycles completed their runs. By then, the waves were reaching the Black Beast and it began to sink in the sand. A tractor help pull the Beast free and I was able to make it back to the Start Line under its own power. Scary but fun!

From The Alco Black Beast racing on the Jersey Shore and highlights from TROG (The Race of Gentlemen)

Howard we think it is a wonderful gesture for you to share the Black Beast with so many people. So many of these historical vehicles are stored away in museums or private collections never to run or be shared. You are a special kind of collector THANK YOU Jerry and Rita
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Howard Kroplick

Jerry and Rita, thanks for the kind words! I believe this was the first time the Black Beast was ever displayed and run in New Jersey. The TROG crowd was wonderful!

From The Alco Black Beast racing on the Jersey Shore and highlights from TROG (The Race of Gentlemen)

After the fair closed in 1981, fair structures were torn down and the large Danbury Fair Shopping Mall was built on the property. In a recently built neighborhood, a couple of miles from the mall, is DePalma Lane. Coincidence? Probably, but neat!

From Greg O.'s Garage: From the Helck Family Collection: Ralph DePalma at the Danbury Fair

Thanks Art for a very entertaining post. Two footnotes.
(1) As for Jake Becker, Williamsburgh German-American, former court interpreter and printing shop owner, and a nonagenarian Freemason in 1926, a reasonable answer is “Yes.”  But it was “only” a $20 million proposal! (see attached) All part of a larger, great story for another time.
(2) The Huntington (train) station is a bit of a 1860s scam by the LIRR because it was far from Huntington village. The station was designed to steal riders away from a proposed expansion of another RR that could have served Huntington and undercut LIRR’s business. (That other RR is today’s Port Washington line.) It’s not as off-topic as Greg O. thinks, because that action has many ripple effects will affect the LIMP, especially its western terminus, much later.

From Kleiner's Korner: And Now For Something Completely Different: Part 5 (Motor Parkway - 1907 - 1929)

Mystery Car : 1907 - 1908 Apperson 40-45Hp Gentlemen’s Roadster

From Six degrees of Separation: A Mystery Car, Motor Parkway, the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race & the Titanic

Correction: I meant Bayside Hills, not Gardens.

From Mystery Foto #39 Solved: A 1950's aerial view of the Motor Parkway Western Terminus in Fresh Meadows

At the top of the photo is Douglaston, Little Neck Bay, Bayside, Bayside Gardens and the Oakland Golf Course that soon would become the site of Queensborough Community College. (A cousin of mine was golf pro there in the 1930s.) I live in the middle garden apartment building on Horace Harding just off Francis Lewis. The easternmost of the buildings (including garages) were acquired by use of eminent domain and razed for the Clearview Expressway. The houses on the streets between 204th and 207th Streets were physically moved to other lots.

From Mystery Foto #39 Solved: A 1950's aerial view of the Motor Parkway Western Terminus in Fresh Meadows

Obviously the article attached to my comment was an incorrect attachment.  Watch for this in an upcoming Kleiner’s Korner.

From Mystery Foto #39 Solved: A 1950's aerial view of the Motor Parkway Western Terminus in Fresh Meadows

We are looking northeast over Fresh Meadows in Queens with Cunningham Park on the right. Major roads include Nassau Blvd. (Horace Harding Blvd.), 73rd. Avenue, Union Tpke., 75th. Avenue, Francis Lewis Blvd. The LIMP structures are the 2 bridges over the old North Hempstead Tpke. and 73rd. Avenue. The complex is the Fresh Meadows Apartments. This complex was previously the location of the Fresh Meadow Country Club, the site of the 1932 US Open and 1930 PGA golf championships. Since it looks like the apartments have either just opened or are almost ready to open, the date should be around 1949.

From Mystery Foto #39 Solved: A 1950's aerial view of the Motor Parkway Western Terminus in Fresh Meadows

I grew up on the other side of what was Horace Harding Blvd. I can see PS 162 at the intersection of 201 St. and 53rd Ave. I lived at 51st Ave and 199th St in a newly built house which is not shown. Given that we moved into it in June, 1953, with construction of the homes in the area taking about one year, the view looking Northeast is most likely from the early 1950s. Indeed, the overpass for the Motor Pkwy over what was N. Hempstead Tpke is visible. I used to start my bike rides on the Motor Pkwy at the point where it is today; south of what became PS 179 and its playground/park. The view shows the two hi-rises, which were the originals; the third hi-rise opened in 1964. And construction of what became the LIE through Fresh Meadows didn’t start until 1957-58, which I remember well. As for the sporting events, the only one I know of was the U.S. Open for the PGA at the original Fresh Meadows CC, which was bought by NY Life to build Fresh Meadows just after the War.  Nothing but vacant parcels are shown at the NW corner of the intersection between Horace Harding Blvd., Francis Lewis Blvd and Hollis Ct Blvd. The huge Penn Fruit supermarket opened in 1958 as part of a small shopping center, which included “Friendly Frost,” an appliance store chain where, among other things, window air-conditioners were sold. Four years later in 1962, both the Blue Bay Diner and Bishop Reilly (today’s St. Francis Prep) opened. Thanks for the trip home.

From Mystery Foto #39 Solved: A 1950's aerial view of the Motor Parkway Western Terminus in Fresh Meadows

Thanks Howard Kroplick and the VanderbiltCupRaces.com for sharing this information. I have the drafts of the biography Story by Varley P. Young @ Mars Inc. 919 N. Michigan Ave.,Chicago, IL. along with notes from Barney on this bio called The Barney Oldfield Story which was never finished. Never knew that Barneys scrap books were never returned. My Aunt Bessie had donated some scrap books to the Helms Hall of Fame which is now the LA84 Foundation https://la84.org/. Barney Oldfield, Master Driver of the World & America’s Legendary Speed King. Keeping American Automotive Racing History Alive!

From Greg O.'s Garage: From the Helck Family Collection: Barney Oldfield on Ormond Beach in his own words