Vanderbilt Cup Races

This is the Gordon Bennett cup race trophy.  The car shown is a Panhard and it is steered by the Genius of Progress with the Goddess of Victory standing on the seat.  It was designed by the jeweler Aucoc.  Today it is located at the Gordon Bennett salon at the Automobile Club de France building, located on the Place de la Concorde in Paris.  The Gordon Bennett race helped established the idea of a “closed circuit” race which links the types of races that William K. Vanderbilt Jr. organized.

The Gordon Bennett Trophy. 1901-1905. Plate inscribed with the races and winners. When I saw it, I did not ask for the other details you require.

So what was soldered up and recut “Thiery” on the plaque? I never could get a straight answer.

This is the Gordon Bennett trophy.

That’s the Gordon Bennett Trophy awarded to the winner of the Gordon Bennett series of annual races that were run from 1900 through 1905. The automobile on the trophy is a Panhard which won the the inaugural race. Designed by Andre Aucoc, it shows the Panhard being driven by “The Genius of Progress” with “Nike”, the “Goddess of Victory”, as the co-driver. Along with the artwork “Thery Winning The Gordon Bennett Race” by Frederick Gordon Crosby, the trophy is in the Louwman Museum in The Hague. Possible links to Vanderbilt include: the Gordon Bennett races were an inspiration for Willie K. to establish his Vanderbilt Cup Races;  a Panhard won the first race of both series; Joe Tracy drove a Locomobile in the 1905 Gordon Bennett and several V. C. race events. 

Mystery Foto #17…The trophy is the “Gordon Bennett Cup,” crafted by the jeweler Aucoc.  It is the allegorical trophy of Progress. Today it decorates the wood paneled Gordon Bennett salon, on the mezzanine level of the Automobile Club de France building, located on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. In the early twentieth century, its conquest brought the European nations together, while setting them against each other, in an annual motor race with considerable repercussions. This major event—the beginnings of motor racing—was also the beginning of motoring. Gordon Bennett, before settling in Paris in 1877, on the other side of the Atlantic he became the youngest commodore of the New York Yacht Club, and won the first transoceanic race in 1866. Once established at the head of his father’s newspaper, The New York herald, his first editorial project was mounting Stanley’s famous expedition to Africa in 1869 to find Dr. Livingstone.

Mystery Foto #17 Addendum… Part two of my answer is that the car depicted on the trophy is a racing Panhard steered by the Genius of Progress with the Goddess of Victory upright upon the seat.

Oh. As a researcher, I suppose it would have been allowed to research the questions on the internet. Duh. Anyhow, I suppose the faux pas on the plaque which required the re-engraving of Thery’s name is lost in time. I usually try to bury my mistakes which are legion. Thanks for a good brain twister. I am guessing the gentleman in the second image is Károly Méhes. If not it would be a real stumper.

The booklet on the Gordon Bennett races notes “research by Michael Sedgwick” . Mike Sedgwick was a great friend of mine as we were both active in the Society of Automotive Historians decades ago. He was the man in charge of the library at the National Motor Museum - Beaulieu . He contributed considerably to that book. After he left his position at Beaulieu he lived in Midhurst , West Sussex. He had his office in the attic of a 17th/18th century building on the main road in Midhurst that you accessed by a narrow flight of crooked stairs, 4 stories up! It was Mike that introduced me to his friend Peter Moore of Pulborough , West Sussex and that is how I acquired most of my archives of European and British auto sales literature, motor show programs ,coach builders photographs and catalogs , car mascots, toys etc all pre war . Peter Moore acted as my agent to find things for me and also ran a great auction catalog of automobile material that came out 6 times a year. When Mike Sedgwick passed away I was in England soon afterwards and helped remove the contents from his office and purchased a fair amount of it that I still use in my research. It is amazing how active the sales of American cars were in England and Europe pre WWII and also that sales material printed and developed there on American cars showing European coachwork was part of what was produced. Some totally outstanding material with incredible art. Most American collectors have no idea that this stuff exists or was even produced. Much of it disappeared in WWII.

Re: “It is amazing how active the sales of American cars were in England and Europe pre WWII and also that sales material printed and developed there on American cars showing European coachwork was part of what was produced.”

If you would like to see miracles, visit the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, USA. There are sales statistics from 90 (!) countries from the 1920s, 1930s by type (car, truck, bus) and by brand.
Plus hundreds and hundreds of photographs, not just cars, but a lot of other stuff. And it shows a lot of American cars outside USA. I attach a few examples.

Furthermore. Michael Sedgwick is my idol. I just love his writing style, his throughness and his knowledge.