Film and Photos: The 1905 Ormond-Daytona Beach Automobile Races
King Rose Archives posted this four-minute film of the 1905 Ormond Daytona Beach Automobile Races including a segment with William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. competing in his 1905 Mercedes.
Before the Bonneville Salt Flats became the site for Land Speed Record attempts, automakers and individual, daredevil auto pioneers flocked to the sand at Ormond Beach, Florida to demonstrate their cars speed. Ransom Olds, Henry Ford and Alexander Winton, tested their inventions at the beach. The American Automobile Association brought timing equipment in 1903, and the area acquired the nickname "The Birthplace of Speed."G. W. Bitzer, who became D. W. Griffith's cameraman was sent to Florida by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Studios to record the race in 1905. He set his camera up to get the direct approach, some overhead shots and mostly from the vantage point of the crowd on the beach.
Several automobiles that were shown in the film are highlighted below.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Sir Thomas Dewar Trophy
In the first heat for the Sir Thomas Dewar Trophy at the Ormond-Daytona Beach races held on January 24,1905, Vanderbilt in his #1 90-HP Mercedes (second right) competed against the #6 Mercedes driven by Edward Hawley (far left), the #5 Napier driven by Arthur McDonald (third from right) and the #4 Stanley Steamer driven by Louis Ross. In a surprise, the 20-HP steamer won the heat and then went on to win the final race for the Dewar Trophy.
In a surprise, the 20-HP steamer (far right) won the heat and then went on to win the final race for the Dewar Trophy.
Film Mark: :01 seconds to .15 seconds
#1 Mercedes driven by William K. Vanderbilt Jr.
#4 Stanley Steamer driven by Louis Ross
#5 Napier driven by Arthur McDonald
#6 Mercedes driven by Edward Hawley and owned by E.R. Thomas
#2 Mercedes driven by H.L. Bowden
#13 Renault
#22 Mercedes driven by James Breese
#25 FIAT Driven by William Wallace
#30 Christie driven by Walter Christie
#41 De Dietrich driven by H.W. Fletcher
Comments
There’s a great collection of Ormond Beach racing images now in the Detroit Public Library online digital collection…
http://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora:181985
Fantastic video and story on the cars and people who participated. Especially interesting was info on Christie. Oldfield made some interesting comments after driving that car.
The 15 Litre 1904 Napier L48 Samson reconstruction will return to Florida for the first time in 120 years. It will be in the beach parade during Daytona 500 week It will also be will be offered for sale at the Bonhams Auction at Amelia Island, Florida on 29 February 2024. For those interested, the history of the car is at https://www.motoringpast.com.au/the-napier and this link will provide auction details https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/29261/preview-lot/5775130/1904-napier-samson-l48-15-litre-240-bhp/