Kleiner’s Korner: A 1902 Interview with Willie K.
The early 1900s saw different opinions of automobiles and road racing. Here is 24-year old Willie K's. as told from an interview he gave "Automobile Topics" in 1902.
Willie's opinions and more importantly his actions determined the significance of the automobile for decades to come. Sources are the September 13, 1902 issue of Automobile Topics and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of September 14, 1902.
Art Kleiner
Automobile Topics - September 13, 1902
Willie's interest with the automobile is colorfully communicated by the article's author!
Willie described his purchase from Louis Renault of the 1902 Renault that almost won the Paris - Vienna race and his own performance going 48.5 mph in a Mors auto.
Louis Renault in his 1902 Paris - Vienna entry.
The car later in Willie's garage.
Willie (on the far right) standing besides his 1902 Mors.
Correcting some inaccuracies about his brother-in-law and his own problems adhering to speed laws.
"The speed laws in America to-day are most absurd."
Thoughts on bringing road racing to America!
And building a speedway on Long Island!
Twenty miles from Brooklyn to Roslyn - ". . . is but the beginning of what we expect to accomplish in Long Island. Eventually we expect to have as good roads there as in France." Wonder if Willie K. ever envisioned what Long Island roads would become!
I'm sure Willie enjoyed espousing his views during the interview before driving off in his Renault towards Fifth Avenue.
The Brooklyn to Roslyn Speedway
Willie's vision of the Brooklyn to Roslyn speedway.
Support is given by the Automobile Club of America and north shore residents.
Future plans for the speedway included extending it to Montauk!
The general population of Long Island also supposedly supported it.
The estate of one of the lead backers, William C. Whitney, straddled the North Hempstead and Oyster Bay town borders in Wheatley Heights, directly east of the Mackey estate in Roslyn. The Whitney estate is where Howard K.'s home lies.
Safety measures of the speedway would allow a car to go 80 mph without police interference.
Comments
I believe the 1902 Automobile Topics map proposed to have the speedway connect Manhattan to Roslyn via the Queensborough bridge in Long Island City, not Brooklyn? The Queensborough bridge opened Mar 30, 1909
Art,
Who were the ‘Meadowbrook Colony members’ mentioned in the article?
Thanks.
Great article. It occurs to me as I read about early automobiles, that it seems really crazy for the Wright brothers (and others, less effectively) to think about taking an internal combustion engine up in the air when they could barely reliably travel across the ground. When I think further, one of the major problems for early automobiles was the condition and maintenance of roads. Perhaps the Wright brothers were trying to avoid all that infrastructure by going above it?
Lee - I’m not sure of the specific members of the Meadowbrook Colony of which the article refers but here are some articles with names associated with the Colony which was centered around the Meadowbrook Club. Mainly the polo and fox hound set in and around Hempstead and Westbury. Such as the Hitchcocks, Ladenburgs, Kernochan, Belmonts, etc.
And a few more articles - all are from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle between 1902 and 1911.
The brother-in-law William Vanderbilt is referring to was Charles L(ewis) Fair, who would die on August 14, 1902, together with his wife Caroline Decker Fair (born Smith) in a horrific car accident in Normandy, France. I thought the accident was described in one of the posts in this blog, but I couldn’t find it?
Fascinating. I wonder if he could have imagined how overcrowded and run down Long Island roads would become?
Ariejan, here is the link to my post which includes the information about the accident involving Charles and Caroline Decker Fair in France. It was included in a post on March 10, 2020 about Al Poole’s letters to family members, one of which referenced the accident.
https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/kleiners_kolumn_al_poole_letters_from_home
Art, thanks! I knew it was somewhere here 😉