Vanderbilt Cup Races

Walt’s personal recollection reminds me why I quit the Classic Car Club long ago (I was a charter member); it was when I realized that cars were being trucked in to meets in padded vans with paid crews of “detailers”, gussied up out of sight, and then driven a block or to two magically appear in pristine condition.  Kinda defeated the whole idea of cars being built to be driven.  Kudos to Howard for driving his, at least locally.  Sam, III
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Howard Kroplick

Funny, I took Tucker 1044 out on the road yesterday. Many thumbs ups!!

From The Winning Thomas Flyer at the Long Island Automotive Museum

Whoo!  I’m really on a toot, here.  That 1902 Curved-Dash Olds on the entry canopy apparently was for real and was the subject of your 28 Jun 2010 blog post, “A Research Challenge: The 1902 Curved-Dash Oldsmobile on Austin Clark’s Roof”.  It would seem nothing more ever came of that.  In the ‘80s or ‘90s, two couples used to tour LI and New England in a C-D Olds and a companion flat-dash REO.  I seem to remember seeing them once on Martha’s Vinyard or Nantucket ca. 1955 and last ca. 1990 at the tavern on the north side of Buckram Road east of Locust Valley (somehow I don’t think it was Barney’s - it wasn’t at Barney’s Corner but off by itself).  An I recall me aright, those two couples crossed the entire country in those two tiny, ancient, open cars.  Sam, III

From Joe Tracy at the Long Island Automotive Museum in Southampton

Post-script thought - perhaps uncharitable.  Did Austie employ Joe as a serious, working employee or was it more of a way to repay an old timer for many past courtesies?  Quite frankly, I don’t remember ever seeing Joe out there.  Possibly only Walt would know.  Sam, III

From Joe Tracy at the Long Island Automotive Museum in Southampton

OMG!  That trike!  See my <http://sbiii.com/limpvcp1.html#vandtrik> for much more about it.  Sam, III

From Joe Tracy at the Long Island Automotive Museum in Southampton

Lindsay - Ditto to Sam. Many LIMP sections including Melville, now rests on wide opened areas on LIPA property and easily accessible from the curbside, electrical towers/power lines running overhead usually present. Sometimes locals seeking shortcuts can be spotted. I find a GPS unit helpful to locate the hidden roadway buried below. Never had any problems with locals in these areas. It helps to be aware of your surroundings especially near private backyards, the barking dog will send out an alert. One time visiting the more secluded area near Madonna Heights, the trail ended abruptly at a water basin and we stumbled onto someone’s backyard! The homeowner spotted us and approached. Brian and I explained our exploration and it ended as a history lesson. The homeowner was unaware the iconic roadway once passed through his backyard. He was more concerned his German Shepherds being lose in the backyard in our presence. Good thing they weren’t! :D Be careful and have fun.

From Sam and Dave's "Excellent 2019 Vanderbilt Day"- #1 The Start in Lake Success

Audrey—-that’s a tough section that doesn’t have the same history as the Nassau section, but it is cool but the thickets from Madonna heights eastward are not fun at all!

Brian—-we always took bikes! Just one time we did the Suffolk journey we walked but other then that we always rode the bikes. There are long stretches with nothing to see, the bikes are the way to fast forward. There are many points where it’s tougher, and throwing bikes over fences is not fun, but it’s part of exploration!!

Frank—-again you are the map master. But I think when we come to Bethpage I’m going to prove you wrong!

Lindsay—-very cool. Five years ago I was in your shoes. Thankfully for us the technology available for us makes it so easy. Study the maps of Wayne and Frank, available on Howard’s site. Get a feel for what’s what and where. This site (and that of SBIII) has all details you need. Obviously you can take your phone to locations and see exactly where you are vs the LIMP. What I suggest is you visit some of the “well known” areas first and get a general vibe of the motor parkway and then go from there. Go to Roslyn lodge area, garden city till manager house section, dead mans curve in Bethpage, and the Bethpage bridge. When you go to spots here and there you can just drive, get out, check it out and go. Then maybe after you get a feel for things you’ll get crazy like me and Sam and do huge stretches in one day. Explore our former journeys on Howard’s site. If you get to that point reach out to us! Maybe we’ll meet you at friendlys for a post Vanderbilt day celebration! There is so much to see. So much history that very few people are aware of. Good luck!
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Howard Kroplick

Here is the interactive Motor Parkway map:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ll=40.77962705687104%2C-73.56535213626057&z=10&mid=1396j0_672hYkvbcNFJInbc1mXNJspD9f

From Sam and Dave's "Excellent 2019 Vanderbilt Day"- #1 The Start in Lake Success

Howard,
Thanks for those great Joe Tracy photos.  Also, thanks to Wally McCarthy.
By the way,  I knew you were a Mets fan.  Some game yesterday!
Rog

From Joe Tracy at the Long Island Automotive Museum in Southampton

Thank you Sam!

From Sam and Dave's "Excellent 2019 Vanderbilt Day"- #1 The Start in Lake Success

Never tire of seeing pics/video or hearing stories related to Austie and the L. I. Museum….Thank You for posting. About that last picture….Look out Mets, those reformatted and pesky Twins are coming to town next week!
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Howard Kroplick

Jeff, they will be facing DeGroom and Thor!

From Joe Tracy at the Long Island Automotive Museum in Southampton

RIP Joe Tracy….

From Joe Tracy at the Long Island Automotive Museum in Southampton

Mark, I got into collecting “old cars” in 1963 when I was in my early teens ( at that time an old car was one built prior to WWII) My passionate interest in auto history was always there too - I wanted to know who designed and built them and where. Friends had Franklins so I got interested in them as well - as a teenager I was amazed a car had been built in NY for decades . Bill Harrah loved Franklins and would always attend the Franklin club meet in/near Syracuse NY where they were made . He really knew his cars - didn’t just own them! The fellows that ran his collection became friends and for years would seek me out when they arrived with the cars days before Bill did . The driver of their tractor trailer to haul cars was Yarrow Slovack and Clay Thomas, Paul Larios was head of the collection and would arrive a day before Bill Harrah flew in to rent a modern car to get the boss at the airport. All became friends and when they weren’t around I was the one trusted to move the Franklins they hauled in ( usually 3 or 4) for the week long event. Bill brought his two adopted sons at least two years in a row when they were about 8 - 10 years old. They liked to climb the trees that were on the campus of the college in Cazenovia NY where the Franklin meet was held. During the year if a Franklin at the Harrah shop was being restored, Mike Moore their head of research would call me if they were focused on a detail that their library didn’t have the exact information on to see what I had and I usually could answer that. As of 2019 I have been collecting pre war period magazines, literature, period photographs etc for 55 years. Other kids were buying Beatles records in the 1960s and I liked Pierce Arrow, Locomobile etc.  sales literature and brass car mascots/hood ornaments better so saved up and bought those instead.
Austin Clark only lived about 15 miles north of me so due to my collecting of period material we got to be friends too, and I was his part time librarian at his library at his house in the early 1970s when I was going to college for graduate school.
All kinds of stories and great memories of my friendships with both Bill and Austin who were collectors in the true sense of the word, not investors like a lot of enthusiasts who claim they are collectors today.

From The Winning Thomas Flyer at the Long Island Automotive Museum

My guesses:
Picture of western terminus of Long Island Motor Parkway (Nassau Blvd).
Photographer was looking E-ESE.
Year was 1938 because of 40 cents toll rate. And most likely exactly 91 years ago this week as only major snowfall in early 1938 was April 6-9, 1938.
Truck appears to be 1931 Ford Model AA “heavy” (dump) truck, due to the rear wheels. Some call this truck the “heavy duty” truck. This model was made only in one model year, so the model year is easy to determine!

From Mystery Friday #14 Solved:The Motor Parkway Sign at the Western Terminus at Fresh Meadows

Lindsay - in all the many years I was doing this, only once did I (with Howard and Al) have a belligerent homeowner confront me (us).  That was out near Ronkonkoma and even that ended peacefully.  The owner of the Roslyn Lodge was firmly negative but polite (but then she’d been besieged by LIMPers for years).  Just be respectful of people’s privacy and courteous and all should go well.  Most adjacency homeowners have been more than helpful.  For starters and planning, you might look at my old tour guide, <http://sbiii.com/limptour.html>.  Have a ball, you two!  Sam, III

From Sam and Dave's "Excellent 2019 Vanderbilt Day"- #1 The Start in Lake Success

Walt, I am impress that you’ve known two of the most prominent men in the vintage auto world. I was at Harrah’s 1977 some 3 months before he pass on, had a great opportunity to view his vast collections (had to sit down at times on some of the benches) unbelievably sight. Besides the Thomas Flyer, 2 big coach style Bugatti Royale town car among other Bugatti’s, a surviving 1923 Chevrolet Copper Air Cooled coupe, the 3 P’s, all the years made of Packard, Pierce Arrow, and Peerless, among the other gems like the Duesy, Caddies etc. Think Howard’s Alco might have been there? All gone, scattered about.

From The Winning Thomas Flyer at the Long Island Automotive Museum

My boyfriend and I would LOVE to explore the LIMP but aren’t sure how we should go about it. We’re afraid of someone calling the police on us. Any suggestions? We live in West Babylon so the Melville area seems to be the closest to us.

From Sam and Dave's "Excellent 2019 Vanderbilt Day"- #1 The Start in Lake Success

Could someone tell me the actual date of the museum’s closing? Thanks.

From Sad News: The buildings of the Long Island Automotive Museum are gone

The bridge was just 60 ft before the bleachers on the right track field (westward). This is a great before and after, ~100 years later. Glad to see the Sam and Dave team back again! The double post is an oddity. This could be the precise location where the Moses’ embankment started towards the bridge

From Sam and Dave's "Excellent 2019 Vanderbilt Day"- #1 The Start in Lake Success

Mystery Friday Foto #14…. This Motor Parkway sign was located at the parkway’s western terminus on Nassau Boulevard west of Francis Lewis Boulevard. The photographer was facing north east, maybe? The toll was reduced to 40 cents in 1933 so let’s call this photo date winter 1933.
Truck in photo is very vague… possibly a late 1920s Ford Model TT.

From Mystery Friday #14 Solved:The Motor Parkway Sign at the Western Terminus at Fresh Meadows

Frank Femenias
Then & Now in Lake Success

From Sam and Dave's "Excellent 2019 Vanderbilt Day"- #1 The Start in Lake Success

Horace Harding Boulevard in the late 1930s when the toll was lowered to 40 cents.  Recognized this pic from the images of america book.  As far as the truck goes, i got nothing.

From Mystery Friday #14 Solved:The Motor Parkway Sign at the Western Terminus at Fresh Meadows