Vanderbilt Cup Races

That’s a 1917 Winton 6 cylinder 48HP house car with custom body by McKay Carriage Works originally built for Dr. E. J. Fithian of Grove City, PA. In 1957, it was owned by Metropolitan Opera star James Melton, who nicknamed it “The General”. In the 1970’s, it resided in the Harrah’s Automobile Collection in Sparks, Nevada. The most recent owner could be Buck Kamphausen, a California mortuary and cemetery entrepreneur. Our very own movie star, Howard Kroplick portrayed Alexander Winton in the History Cannel’s “The Men Who Built America” series.

From Mystery Foto #51 Solved: The 1917 Winton House Car Owned by James Melton

Possibly a ‘20’s model, could this be the world’s first RV sporting Confederate flags?

From Mystery Foto #51 Solved: The 1917 Winton House Car Owned by James Melton

Brian, When the Mitchell Gardens complex was laid out there were three entrances from Stewart Ave. From west to east they were, Linwood Ave., Kenwood St. and Willow St. Based on your map, it appears Linwood Ave. was the first to go because of the Meadowbrook ROW.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Part I-Mapping the Motor Parkway, Mitchel Field & Mitchel Gardens

Do you mean 2020?
______________________________

Howard Kroplick
Tom, good catch. I just want the decade to go another month! Happy holidays!

From Willie K. Presentation Draws Capacity Crowd in Roslyn

Thank you for another year of photos and facts relating to Long Island, the Vanderbiltds and Motor Parkway.
Wishing you and your family the best of health and happiness this holiday season.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 
_____________________________________

Howard Kroplick

Thanks Phil! Happy holidays and a wonderful 2020 to all. 

From Mystery Foto #51 Solved: The 1917 Winton House Car Owned by James Melton

Thank you for anothery year of fascinating photos and facts relating to Long Island and the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway.
Wish you and your family the best of health and happiness this holiday season and a HAPPY NEW YEAR. !!

From Mystery Foto #51 Solved: The 1917 Winton House Car Owned by James Melton

I have had the same thought RE: Kleiner’s Corner vs. Kleiner’s Kolumn.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Part I-Mapping the Motor Parkway, Mitchel Field & Mitchel Gardens

Fantastic footage!

From Video of the Week: The 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Maybe we can do a poll of the readership.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Part I-Mapping the Motor Parkway, Mitchel Field & Mitchel Gardens

Port Jefferson?

From Willie K. Presentation Draws Capacity Crowd in Roslyn

Maybe at the Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport.

From Willie K. Presentation Draws Capacity Crowd in Roslyn

Where it was headed?  Many years ago I saw Willy’s own maps at Stony Brook I believe that showed his possible routes to the Hamptons.

From Willie K. Presentation Draws Capacity Crowd in Roslyn

What happened to Kleiner’s Korner?

When did this change to Kleiner’s Kolumn?

Ralph wouldn’t be happy.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Part I-Mapping the Motor Parkway, Mitchel Field & Mitchel Gardens

A wonderful award. Congrats to Howard and associates.

From Society of Automotive Historians Honor VanderbiltCupRaces.com with the E.P. Ingersoll Award

1917 Winton Custom House Car

-What year was this house car built and who was the original owner?
1917, The original owner was Dr. Fithian of Grove City PA. He used it to campaign for the Prohibition Party.

-Who were the manufacturers of the body and chassis?
1917 Winton 6-cylinder, 48-horsepower house car custom built by McKay Carriage Works

-When this photo was taken in 1957 which Peter Helck famous friend was the owner?
-Which museum owned the house car in the 1970s?
Bill Harrah purchased the Winton for his Harrah’s Automobile Collection in Sparks, Nevada

-Who is the most recent known owner of the Mystery Auto?
Automobile collector Buck Kamphausen acquired the vehicle when over twelve hundred of Harrah’s vehicles were auctioned off after Harrah’s death in 1978.

-Kudos question: Link the manufacturer of the House car to a character that Howard Kroplick played in a cable series.
Howard played Alexander Winton racing Henry Ford in The Men Who Built America on the History channel.

From Mystery Foto #51 Solved: The 1917 Winton House Car Owned by James Melton

I didn’t realize I grew up in the “Desert of Queens”!  It’s funny that the most desert-like part of Nassau Co. (formerly the eastern half of Queens, pre-consolidation) was the Hempstead Plains, central-to-south. The north sides of current Queens and Brooklyn were the rich farmland and woodlands of the townships of old Newtown and Flushing (including Bayside) where I grew up and where my ancestors farmed.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: The Long Island Motor Parkway in Maps (Part III)

I remembered the below 2 “stub roads” on my 1994 Hagstrom. At the time, I didn’t know what these roads were about. ‘Willow’ may have become the entrance way to the substation, and ‘Kenwood’ could be the old entrance just west, before the overpass.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Part I-Mapping the Motor Parkway, Mitchel Field & Mitchel Gardens

Howard, thanks for this article! Didn’t know about it.  Happy Holidays.

From Popular Mechanics (February 1938): George Robertson "Making of A Race Driver"

Howard knows that I’m a model/slot car guy. I enjoy admiring models done in a different media. Excellent work, nicely done! Thank you and Happy Holidays to all.

From Alexander Buchan's Kinetic Sculpture: The Checkered Flag

Howard and Art, I ran across this map, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island#/map/0, on which it is amazingly easy to trace virtually the entire length of the LIMP RoW.  One more resource.  Sam, III

From Kleiner's Kolumn: The Long Island Motor Parkway in Maps (Part III)