Vanderbilt Cup Races

After looking at close up,Must be road race at Bridgehampton?

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: Two Pegaso Z-102s Parked at the 1953 Bridgehampton Races

I believe the cars are Pegasos.Made in Spain under order of Trujillo.Seems to be early 1950s.Looks like early(mid 60s) parking lot of NY Inst.of Tech.(Whitney estate?) in Old Westbury. haha.

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: Two Pegaso Z-102s Parked at the 1953 Bridgehampton Races

Missed that.  Glad Fox 5 TV broadcast this segment!

From Roslyn Landmark Society in the News (Updated: 2/21/2019)

Absolutely wonderful to see all this restoration work evolve and become reality - it took many many decades to see the hopes and dreams that this would happen come about. Congratulations to all of those involved who made this dream come true, especially you Howard. The restoration pays so much respect to the memory of all the people that worked there at the grist mill when it was new, this is a monumental achievement.

From Roslyn Landmark Society in the News (Updated: 2/21/2019)

If you stop the 1936 race at 2:20 is that the Bob Swanson #51 OFFY? That it the one car that it at the very top of my Want to Find list. Just a few bits of it would justify a restoration. Bob

From Jerry Helck: Anyone Here Ever Seen A Vanderbilt Cup Race?

A crew of guys who enjoy what they do for a living. Must have been chummy with Willy K for them to be having a ball on his estate.Maybe they gave Willy K a quick lesson on surveying , I was always curious too.

From Surveyor Clinton Robertson Photo Album: The Surveyors of the Long Island Motor Parkway

Spanish Pegaso cars circa 1954. They were the re-boot of the Hispano-Suiza pre war cars. They have an over head cam super charged V8. Most of the Z-102 Pegasos were bodied by Touring in Italy. Following the death of their main racing driver at LeMans car production was stopped and the company built trucks and busses for about 20 more years. The Pegaso cars are well over $1M today. Looks like at Watkins Glen.

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: Two Pegaso Z-102s Parked at the 1953 Bridgehampton Races

Both Pegaso?

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: Two Pegaso Z-102s Parked at the 1953 Bridgehampton Races

This seemed to be commonly used pre-WW II.  I don’t have any for the Parkway, but have 2 from Lakehurst to identify/pay the landing crews handling the big rigids.

From Mystery Foto #6 Solved: A Rare Long Island Motor Parkway Paycheck

I found the spot on Google Maps. There is a NYS historic marker on Stewart Avenue at the site of the east embankment. The Central Railroad would have been just to the south, and Dead Man’s Curve just to the east.

From Surveyor Clinton Robertson Photo Album: The Construction of the Jerusalem Road Motor Parkway Bridge

To answer some of John’s questions, the laborers were provided with sleeping accommodations paying 50 cents a week in dormitory like buildings that were built on skid like platforms and were moved as construction proceeded. They only went home, mostly to Brooklyn and Manhattan, on late Saturday by railroad looking forward to a very hot shower and heaping plates of pasta returning early Monday morning. Many of the laborers brought food back with them, mostly consisting of cheeses, sausage like meats, bread and fruit. You can imagine what the those dorms smelled like. Local farmers and teamsters, knowing the drill, would show up with work wagons and take them to and from the nearest railroad station.  Merchants would come out to this moving army also provided hot coffee, sandwiches etc. One could also buy clothing including work shoes. Merchants offering alcoholic beverages were not permitted on the job sites.  When in season nearby farmers would come around selling fruit, berries were especially popular. Regarding payroll records, most still exist at the Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport.

From Mystery Foto #6 Solved: A Rare Long Island Motor Parkway Paycheck

Imagine how important the paymaster’s job was. I’m sure the workers were paid in cash. Maybe the paymaster went to the Bank Of Mineola (just speculation it would be a local bank).  to make a payroll account withdrawal the morning of payday. Well in 1909 the only withholding would have been for worker related expenses if there where any ( company brought lunch to the site?).
Wouldn’t be great if somewhere a payroll accounting record still exists. That’s why history is a never ending revelation.
Howard,Al et. al. are all great. Love to meet you someday and just talk for hours.
John Ulrich
Just reading about these items is endlessly interesting,and each event raises more questions. For example, how did these workers get to the site? Maybe they rode he trolleys from their neighborhoods in Williamsburg or Ridgewood to Jamaica and then transferring to trolleys out to Mineola.

From Mystery Foto #6 Solved: A Rare Long Island Motor Parkway Paycheck

Carlo’s 110 year old brass tag lost under dirt moisture will patina (turn light blue) at best, serving as a protective layer, but its alloy - zinc, copper, or tin will corrode under moisture and can weaken it to soft brass. Brass alone however does not rust.

From Mystery Foto #6 Solved: A Rare Long Island Motor Parkway Paycheck

Carlo Triola Lost his tag December 1908. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure approximately what section of the motor Parkway was being constructed at that time. Let’s get out there with metal detectors.  I know silver holds up perfectly to the elements of nature, how does brass hold up?

From Mystery Foto #6 Solved: A Rare Long Island Motor Parkway Paycheck

My maternal grandfather, Emil Gairing, was superintendent of the tool room at Royal Motor Car Company during this era.  He later moved to Detroit and was founder president of the Gairing Tool Company.  His company made cutting tools that were sold worldwide.
______________________________

Howard Kroplick

Very cool!

From The Royal Tourist in the Vanderbilt Cup Races (1904-1910)

Hi Howard, Thought the respondents to the mystery photo would like to know more about the tag. I acquired it in the early 1990’s from a surveyor whose firm had taken over a similar company . He found it in a file marked Motor Parkway.  He did some research and discovered the Parkway borrowed a page from machine shops that used similar tags to keep track of borrowed tools. During construction, the Parkway hired hundreds of Italian laborers but they were not actually Parkway employees. Instead, the Parkway used what was known as the “Padrone” system where companies would not only supply the laborers but also a level of oversight since most of the workers did not understand or speak English.. When reporting for work in the morning the laborers were issued the tags which most of them wore around their necks. The tag I acquired I was told had a leather strap attached to it at one time. This way foremen and others knew who was where and who was doing what. At the end of the workday (ten hours) the tags were turned in , the process repeated the next day. The majority of the laborers were supplied by the Panza, Russo Company located at 73 Park St. in the City. In December 1908 a Carlo Triola who had lost his tag, hired the Protective Italo-American Company whose office was located in the Bowery Bank on Grand Street in little Italy, to recover three days pay he said was owed to him by the Parkway. I know of only one other similar tag, hope this mystery photo turns up others.

From Mystery Foto #6 Solved: A Rare Long Island Motor Parkway Paycheck

Initially, I figured this was a ID tag for a employee of the parkway. Attach it to a key chain etc and display it upon demand. I then witnessed this item within a LIMP History Book describing it as a ‘Parkway paycheck issued to each field worker, using this as their timecard’. My imagined scenario:  A worker would hang their paycheck on one of many hooks in a office at the start time and retrieve it at the days end. Trying to not misplace it and needing to display it on pay day.

From Mystery Foto #6 Solved: A Rare Long Island Motor Parkway Paycheck

Since there’s no way to do any real research on this, I’m going with a few guesses:
1) coat check tag at Petit Trianon; hole to go on hanger
2) valet parking at Petit Trianon; hole for key chain
3) LIMP employee ID tag; hole added later for necklace or charm bracelet
4) ID tag for keys to one of the lodges; hole for key chain

From Mystery Foto #6 Solved: A Rare Long Island Motor Parkway Paycheck

Forget to thank Al and Howard for including this in their LIMP book.

From Mystery Foto #6 Solved: A Rare Long Island Motor Parkway Paycheck

A Parkway paycheck made of brass. Issued to Motor Parkway construction workers and used insted of time cards.

Would suppose the hole was to keep it attached to the worker during the day.

From Mystery Foto #6 Solved: A Rare Long Island Motor Parkway Paycheck