(balance unindexed to date - please scroll away)
For other of the many, many pages covering the Long Island Motor Parkway, see the LIMP Index Page.
This is yet another new (18 Dec 02) page to cover additional information and photographs of this interesting old highway and race; see also my Automotive, Chrysler, Dudgeon (really!), Mercedes, and SS and JAGUAR car pages and other related pages.
A Motor Parkway Panel has been convened to keep the LIMP alive in situ and in minds and museums.
There is also a lot of automotive material on my ORDNANCE and HISTORY pages.
Also, if you like automotive history, see the links on the Automotive page, et seq.
RoW = Right-of-Way.
(Courtesy of Northport Public Library)
[Thumbnail image; click on picture for larger image.]
William K. Vanderbilt, Jr.
"Willie K."
LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY
and the VANDERBILT CUP RACE
{material about the Race will be moved here from the main LIMP pages as time permits.}
- - - * - - -
Vanderbilt Cup Disclaimer.
As noted on LIMP History Page 2, although the Vanderbilt Cup races are of great
interest to any Long Island Motor Parkway aficionado, they are NOT the provenance
of this site, except when they were run on or across the LIMP. However, these
separate LIMP-Vanderbilt Cup Race pages have been created to cover the
races as they related to the Motor Parkway (and material formerly on the LIMP
history pages has been moved to this page).
1909 FIND:
LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD
Schedule of Special Trains
and Map showing the
Course of
VANDERBILT
CUP RACE
=======
Saturday, October 30
1909
[In plain English, that's the special timetable for the race.]
Here is the front cover, the inside, and the back cover, as BIG thumbnails; click on the
three images to get the full (VERY large) images of each::
[Thumbnail images; click on picture for much larger images.]
{Corrupted thumbnails restored 12 Mar 04, 17:40}
(12 Mar 04)
That map is really odd, since the south/Grandstand/Start-Finish leg of the race was
run on the LIMP and the RoW of the rest of the LIMP, which was a primary way to get
there, isn't shown! Wait a sec.! Of course it's NOT
shown! This is an LIRR map and the LIMP was the first serious overland
competitor of the RR! Also, the LIMP wasn't fully opened until 1911.
I scanned the map at 600dpi, but it was some 44Mb! So, this is a drastically reduced version, but still excellent resolution. The white line down the middle of the map is where I had an alignment problem; I'll rescan it in one piece soon. Since the original measures 8¾" x 8¾", I'll lose a tiny bit of the margin on each side.
[Actually, "find" is not strictly accurate, since the schedule-cum-timetable was GIVEN to me outright, with no strings attached, by an LIRR buddy.]
Here are a few other maps of the area and era; starting with the 1904 (first) Vanderbilt Cup Race course, run clockwise, east on the Jericho Turnpike from Westbury to Jericho, then abruptly south on the Massapequa Road (now Route 106) through Hicksville and Central Park (now Bethpage) to the Hempstead Turnpike, then sharply west through Hempstead into Queens (Village) and then U-turning east through New Hyde Park on the Jericho Turnpike and back to the finish line in Westbury:
(moved from the main LIMP Vanderbilt Cup page on 18 Dec 02)
[All are thumbnail images; click on pictures for larger images.]
Another copy of the map of the 1904 race (from a large reproduction):
Then the 1905 (second) course:
Next, a race map for the "Third Contest" of 06 Oct 1906, run counter-clockwise:
This is an undated (but clearly prior to 1926 - no western extension) rate card for the Parkway, with a map naming only the Hotel Astor in Manhatan, the Great Neck Toll Lodge, and the Petit Trianon Restaurant. The rate for a motor car appears to be $1.00 and that for a monthly ticket $15.00 (sorry it turned out so blurry):
A real friend GAVE me an almost-mint copy of the LONG ISLAND
RAILROAD {mis-spelled as one word} Schedule of Special Trains and Map showing the
Course of VANDERBILT CUP RACE for Saturday, October 30, 1909, shown above and,
not content with the multi-generation copies posted above, I scanned both sides of
the entire sheet (unfortunately, my scanner refused to pick up the full width in a
single pass, so I had to paste the two half images of the inside, the map, together
VERY carefully) and danged if it wasn't near as good as the copies shown above!
Oh, well; back to the drawing board!
Vanderbilt's 1898 DeDion-Bouton Motor Tricycle
Reed Martin (301-229-3482) called to
tell me of his 1898 DeDion-Bouton motor tricycle which, in itself, is of only
general interest to me, BUT this one is very special. It was custom
built for a Vanderbilt but we don't know which one; possibly for a "Harold" but far
more likely to be for Willy K., as you shall see. This vehicle, with gasoline
engine number 7615, was custom-built for the so-far-undistinguishèd Mr. Vanderbilt
to his specifications for use as a pace "car" on the board track inside the old Madison
Square Garden; it was specially fashioned at 32" outside width (instead of the
standard 48") so it would fit in one of the lanes of the track! That sure
SOUNDS like a Willy K. machine, eh? So, here she is, in several views cropped
from photos loaned by Mr. Martin, the last of which shows her in back of a 1900 Orient
(of Buckboard fame) motor tricycle (the sole survivor of its kind) with standard tread:
(cropped from photos by R. Martin - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
The trike's ownership, as far as is known (incredible coincidences and all), is this:
1898 - ~1903 - __?__ Vanderbilt
~1903 - ~1935 - __?__ Black
~1935 - 1952 - D. Cameron Peck*
1952 - 1958 - Kirkland Gibson#
1988 - present - Reed Martin
A note on the back of an old photo says "Vanderbilt Pacing Vehicle for the Bike Races";
possibly wealthy sportsmen sponsored teams for the races, as they did for auto
racing. Burgundy was the Vanderbilt family color, so it can logically be assumed
that that was its original color but it was completely restored in 1948 by the famed
Ralph Buckley and he painted it very dark green [perhaps like the Pennsylvania RR's
Dark Green Locomotive Enamel (so-called Brunswick Green - almost black)?] and so it
remains.
Now, as to the coincidences -
-
* - D. Cameron Peck was a renowned collector who just happened to own the
1928 Mercedes-Benz SS Tourer that was displayed in New York City's Museum of
Modern Art in 1956 and which I subsequently drove and for which I have extensive
coverage as linked!
# - Kirkland Gibson was a renowned collector who just happened to co-own the
Civil-War-era Dudgeon Steam Wagon, which he donated to the Smithsonian
Institution, for which I have extensive coverage as linked!
[The DeDion-Bouton trike could conceivably end up in a suitable museum if all the
necessary guarantees as to its care and display were offered.]
I have placed this material here because it relates more closely to Vanderbilt
motor racing
than to my many other related interests.
1908 Vanderbilt Cup Plaque Returns to Long Island - The plaque
given to driver George Robertson for winning the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race
was purchased by a Long Islander from a famous automobilia collection.
Although the winners of the 11 Vanderbilt Cup Races (1904-1906, 1908-1912,
1914-1916) could not keep the one and only Vanderbilt Cup, bronze plaques
were given to both the driver and owner of the winning car. The oval
plaques were produced by Tiffany & Co., weigh 13.4 pounds, and measure 13"
by 18".
(29/30 Dec 05)
The 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race was won by George Robertson in the 120 HP
#16 Locomobile on 24 Oct 1908. It was the first of three Vanderbilt Cup
Races held on the Long Island Motor Parkway which had opened only two
weeks prior to the 1908 race. It was also the first Vanderbilt Cup Race
won by an American car, further encouraging American manufacturers to
develop competitive quality automobiles compararable to their European
counterparts. The #16 Locomobile was owned by the prominent artist
Peter Helck and is currently located in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn,
Michigan.
(Photo courtesy of new owner 29 Dec 2005 - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail image; click on picture for larger image.]
The copy on the 1908 plaque, in raised lettering, reads as follows:
CHALLENGE CUP
PRESENTED BY
W. K. VANDERBILT, JR.
TO THE
AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
under deed of gift to be raced for yearly
by cars under 1200 Kilos.
FOURTH RACE IN AMERICA
OCTOBER 24TH 1908
Won by Locomobile Car
120H.P., Driven by George Robertson
Time 4 Hours, 481/5 seconds
Distance 258.6 Miles
An image of William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. in his 90 HP Mercedes, setting the 1904
one-mile land speed record at Daytona-Ormond Beach, is engraved at the top
of the plaque. This same engraving was used on the Vanderbilt Cup
itself. A "Tiffany & Co." imprint was placed on the bottom of the plaque.
[Information substantially as provided by new owner.]
More material not directly pertaining to the Motor Parkway will be extracted
from the LIMP pages and placed here as time permits.
THUMBS UP!
THUMBS UP! - Support your local police, fire, and emergency personnel!
S. Berliner, III
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
of this series of Long Island Motor Parkway pages.
© Copyright S. Berliner, III - 2002,
2003, 2004,
2005
- All rights reserved.
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[If my discs weren't floppy, my photos wouldn't be LIMP!]
times since the counter was installed.
