Vanderbilt Cup Races

Well put Sam. That early in the game there was nothing in sight for miles!

From Mystery Foto #43 Solved : A 1955 View of the Motor Parkway in Levittown Looking West

I was about to note that only one tiny patch of the original prairie still exists [at southeast Mitchel Field, tended by Hofstra/LI Studies Inst.(?)], but thought better of it and looked first; there’s more than I realized: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hempstead_Plains> - take a look; its well worth your while!  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #43 Solved : A 1955 View of the Motor Parkway in Levittown Looking West

Here is some evidence that helps my hypothesis that it might have been the “New Bridge Road” railroad station: http://www.lirrhistory.com/central.html . I don’t know why the Motor Parkway would build a railroad station for another company; perhaps they had some kind of agreement to be partners.

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: One-Acre Property Purchased by the Motor Parkway for a Borrow Pit

It’s just south of Salisbury Park Dr and the end of my block Grace Lane in Levittown. I can only guess it was purchased to facilitate the construction of the Newbridge Rd Bridge.
The LIPA power substation is there now.

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: One-Acre Property Purchased by the Motor Parkway for a Borrow Pit

New Bridge (or Newbridge) is an old name for Bellmore, but this property is in the Levittown postal zone. Today, it’s the SW corner of Newbridge Road and Salisbury Park Drive. My guess is they purchased the property to build a train station. My rationale is the property is south of the Central Rail Road tracks, but the parkway is north of the tracks, and I found an old timetable of the CRR that lists a “New Bridge Road” station. The property is now occupied by an electrical substation.

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: One-Acre Property Purchased by the Motor Parkway for a Borrow Pit

Anecdotally, 30 years ago a friend of mine was working for the LIRR.  He told me another employee had walked the tracks for years, and made dozens of hand drawn maps of the railroad tracks.  When this mapmaker retired my friend asked for copies of everything, and he gave them to him.  We looked at his drawing from Bethpage. His hand written note regarding the LIMP crossing just said “Removed 1950.”  Don’t know what that is worth, but it has always remained in my mind.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Removal of the Central Avenue/LIRR Motor Parkway Bridge

The Armour museum is quite impressive.  As you would find at American Airpower Museum, much of the equipment on site runs, and does get out and about at times.  Most they own.  Some, as I’ve been told, is still owned by the US Army, and the museum won’t do anything to get them up and running since they don’t own them.  My personal favorite is the M551 General Sheridan light tank, Viet Nam era.  Probably at Fort Bragg, I got to ride one over 40 years ago.  Also saw one air dropped out of the back of a C130 at very low altitude on a pallet.  It’s crew parachuted down nearby, unhooked the tank from its pallet, and drove off.

From Sam & Dave’s “Excellent 2019 Vanderbilt Day”- #12 Bethpage #3

That first photo shows well just how sleek the Tuckers are.

From Highlights From The Bridge IV: 1948 Tucker 1044

Not to quibble with Frank F. (Heaven forfend!) but the LIMP did not “cut through a small town”.  For our neophytes, there WAS no town there ‘way back; only the open Salisbury/Hempstead Plains, the East Coast’s only true prairie.  The town(s) grew up on either side of the LIMP.  Later on, though, it sure did look that way, as we “experts” know and Frank notes.  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #43 Solved : A 1955 View of the Motor Parkway in Levittown Looking West

Art - Amazing schematics of the parkway and bridges; particularly the ‘Detail Plans’ showing Central Ave eastbound just before reaching the Motor Pkwy bridge, curving SE first, then immediately curving NE before crossing the RR tracks. I remember this twist took a while to figure out using the 1926 aerial below. Here it is now accurately drawn in plain sight! Great stuff, thanks for sharing

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Removal of the Central Avenue/LIRR Motor Parkway Bridge

Credit for the above goes to The Nassau Daily Review Star.

From Mystery Foto #43 Solved : A 1955 View of the Motor Parkway in Levittown Looking West

From Art Kleiner:
Look for an upcoming blog providing further details about Salisbury Park Drive; however here’s a picture of the Newbridge Road Bridge (at the easterly end of Salisbury Park Drive) being demolished in 1948 and 1947 County improvement plans to Salisbury Park, including changes to the Motor Parkway.

From Mystery Foto #43 Solved : A 1955 View of the Motor Parkway in Levittown Looking West

I do hope this unfortunate accident didn’t cause a future disability for him.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Removal of the Central Avenue/LIRR Motor Parkway Bridge

I recall the 11/8/1954 article from a past blog. A strong guess is that the boy was on the LIMP N/O the LIRR. The 1953 aerial below shows the ENTIRE bridge removed, but the remaining berms were cut back JUST ENOUGH for Old Central Ave & the LIRR. Norcross Ave was not yet extending S/O Revere Ave. The 1966 aerial seems to show the south extension of Norcross and the berm appears to be removed, but it’s ‘footprint’ is visible. So this berm must have been completely removed with the extension of Norcross Ave, which ‘looks recent’ in 1966. The berm on the south side of Central was cut back again with the new route of Central Ave. There’s still an incline in the PSEG row.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Removal of the Central Avenue/LIRR Motor Parkway Bridge

Whatever happened to the LIAM?  Still for sale?
__________________________________________________
Howard Kroplick:

Here is the latest info: http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/update_the_site_of_the_long_island_automotive_museum

From Hamptons Road Trip: A 1928 Renault Barn Find & Site of the Long Island Automotive Museum Up for Sale

Greetings,
Seeking info on the 1907 Thomas Flyer for a serious scale modeling project to be presented at the 2020 Dayton(Oh.) Concours ‘de Elegance.
I’m needing info and images of the car in ‘as found’ condition when purchased by Harrah.
**ANY** information would be greatly appreciated !

Thank you,
Don Strong
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
___________________________________________

Howard Kroplick

Don, this may help you: http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/the_winning_thomas_flyer_at_the_long_island_automotive_museum

From What was the Long Island Automotive Museum?

Alex Cauthen has added an image form a 1906 Peerless sales brochure.

From In Search of Driver/Mechanician Charles Burman Updated: 10/30/2019

I used to spend my childhood days riding my bike along what we used to call “Old Motor” in Levittown and we had no idea why it was called that… Between Orchid Road where it curved towards carnation Rd to Newbridge. We were curious about the curved pavement next to the sump between Orchid Road and Pintail Lane. We had bike trails headed east past Pintail Lane school and down to Skimmer lane in the rear yards on Orchid Road where the sump is. Many years later I met my wife who grew up on Orchid and Skimmer which turned out to be the site of the grandstand. Today the is a sign on Skimmer proclaiming the site of the grandstand next to my In-laws house.

From Mystery Foto #43 Solved : A 1955 View of the Motor Parkway in Levittown Looking West

From Art Kleiner:
Thanks Mike, now you’ve got me interested in answering your question about when Salisbury Park Drive was built!  Remember, Salisbury Park Drive now extends from Newbridge Road to Old Country Road - back in the 50s it didn’t so the answer is not as straightforward as you may think.  But look for an answer with some documentation in hopefully the not too distant future.  Initial thoughts are in the mid-50s for the section in question.

From Mystery Foto #43 Solved : A 1955 View of the Motor Parkway in Levittown Looking West

From Art K:  I live about a 5 minute walk from this location and have walked in the woods next to Salisbury Park Drive many, many times.  Back in 2006 several Motor Parkway posts were there. Up until a couple of years ago I confirmed they were there (at least pieces of them) but have to go back now and see if they are any remaining.  In 2009 LIPA did a major undertaking which I detail on on my website which also shows the posts and several pieces of original Parkway. 
https://www.freewebs.com/limparkway/levittownsalisburypkdr.htm

From Mystery Foto #43 Solved : A 1955 View of the Motor Parkway in Levittown Looking West