Greg O’s Garage; Henry Austin Clark Jr.‘s 1955 Automobile Auction Part 2
Part 2 of a three-part series of the automobiles Henry Austin Clark, Jr. auctioned off after the closing of the Carnival of Cars in New York City in 1955.
On July 15th, 1954, Henry Austin Clark opened the 'Carnival of Cars' in Times Square, NYC, as a satellite museum to his Southampton Long Island Automobile Museum. Unfortunately, the Carnival of Cars only lasted a short 7 months of operation and closed in 1955. At closing, H.A. Clark decided to slim down his collection and had an auction of some of the very popular cars within the collection. A list of 53 cars were identified for auction and made their way to the selling block.
This original list has been graciously provided by Walt Gosden, Clark's friend and employee.
Postcards are from the Walt McCarthy collection.
Many of the actual cars on the list were featured in Clark's postcard collection that were available to visitors for purchase at both locations in the city and Southampton. In this three-part post, I have tried to unite the list descriptions with the cars from the museum's postcard collection. Some are the actual auction car on the postcard, but many are near identical which I included as well.
If anyone knows the whereabouts of any of the actual cars on the list today, please feel free to add them in the comments or email to [email protected].
Greg O.
The impressive list continues on Page 4...
#16 1909 Hupmobile Runabout
"This is the only decent car we have ever found in Southampton, and it's a nice one. The nice little model 20 with the high radiator spout and the little four cylinder engine. Unrestored, and all ready for someone to get at it."
This 1910 from the postcard is restored and what the auction car could look like
#18 1910 Brush Runabout
"Restored. Painted fire engine red by the next lousiest painter we ever tried. Looks fine from a few feet away, however. Belonged to a fire chief on Cape Cod, so the story goes. This is a real cute trick. If candy and flowers fail you, give her this for her birthday...Hurts to write this one off, but our panel delivery is even cuter."
An almost exact 1908 Brush Runabout on the postcard, with their 'cute' panel delivery below.
#20 1910 Packard Model 18 Landaulet
"Remember what they always say: "Never buy and old taxicab." Well, that's what this is. It drove on the streets of New York in the Delmonico period...Unrestored, and even worse. Rough, boy...We have about what this car should look like after one of you high class restorers spends about a year on it, so we don't need it except for our 'before and after' exhibit."
The 'before' is the auction car, the postcard is the 'after' car
#21 Stanley Steam Runabout 10hp
"Joe Tracy drove this in one of the Bridgehampton exhibition runs. It ran low on water due to a leak and Joe shut it down. In other words, it needs work, but what Stanley doesn't...Painted by THE lousiest painter we ever tried (Greg O. note; The Brush above was painted by the 2nd worst painter!) Looks fine from 100 feet with dark glasses...No side lights or brackets on this car; brass finish on head lamps..."
The postcard car has those brass head lamps, but with side lights, probably not the auction car.
Page 5
#24 Cadillac Roadster 4cyl 30hp
"Here is one of the choice unrestored cars of the lot. Original except that the previous owner (the original one) built a neat sloping back and round gas tank back of the seat...All there...Run, do not walk for this car..."
Restored and without a sloping back, it's safe to assume the postcard is not the auction car.
#25 Delauney Belleville Touring Car
"Restored with new Firestones. This is the well known former Joseph Reutershan yellow Delauney..."
Not yellow, so not the auction car on the postcard
#26 ALCO 7pass Touring Car
"Unrestored, but all there and in nice shape. This is the 6 cyl 60hp White Band ALCO and is a rare find indeed. This is a way to beat all the bums in the 1929 Rolls-Royces to end each days Glidden run. We must be nuts to let this car go, but we do have the Pierce 66..."
Rare then, and even rarer now, this is the ALCO after restoration
#27 1912 Renault Berline 4cyl 35hp
"This is the rather flashy green and yellow enclosed drive limousine that we took on the 1946 Glidden tour. A lovely car on the road, but poor brakes and little acceleration...A beautiful car ready to go anywhere."
This is the yellow and green auction car on the postcard.
Stay tuned for the upcoming part 3 for the rest of the list! See PART 1 HERE -Greg O.
Comments
Thanks for the great history.
Here’s #21 on the Clark auction list - 1910 Stanley Model 60 #5440. After a recent mechanical recommissioning, it’s again being driven.
I bought this Poster / Lobby Card several years ago from Jacques Vaucher, l’art et l’automobile <[email protected]>. He used to have a shop in East Hampton and now in the Texas hill Country. It appears to be a mock up or the original for a poster. The edges are painted but the lettering is cutout and pasted in place. I’ve looked for years for a copy of the actual poster. I’d be interested to know what you can tell me about it. I’ve met Howard at a few shows with the Tucker.