Vanderbilt Cup Races

*Driver - Believe he’s William K Vanderbilt, with acquaintance.

*Auto - Should be Mr. Vanderbilts 1907 Renault.

*Location & Orientation - The photographer is facing northwest. The car is heading east on the LIMP, just passing over Bellmore Ave via the Meadowbrook Pkwy Bridge. Land to the right is the Ladenburg property.

*Historical Significance - During the 10/1/1910 VCR, driver Harold Stone & mechanician Matthew Bacon crashed through the wood railing on the north side of this bridge in their Columbia Racer. Mr. Stone survived, but Mr. Bacon did not. This mystery foto is likely afterwards in 1910. Probably experiencing just how wicked this curve was.

Due to its uniquely-shaped front end, I recognize the car as a Renault, but other than that, I don’t know more. Could it be the car that inspired Willie K to ask Renault to make replicas for him and his friends?

Not much time for research this weekend so I’ll go with some guesses. Looks like it could be Willie K. himself driving one of his 1908 35 HP Renault Racers. I think he is heading east having just come over the Newbridge Avenue bridge on the LIMP. So that would place the photographer facing approximately northwest. No rationale, just looks like it. Could this be just prior to the grand opening of the LIMP in October, 1908?

Haven’t had the time to search this one, and initially, it’s a head scratcher!

Knee jerk says it’s possibly Willie K in a Renault checking out a new section somewhere on the LIMP in the Hempstead Plains in 1908, but having a hard time identifying it. That’s not the Newbridge hotel, hmmm…..

???  Looks like a big Renault.  Significant because it’s the first record of a car with one fender and one headlight and with an inner tube instead of a bumper?  :·)  Sam, III

This could be Willie K in Levittown heading home on his Motor Parkway towards Deepdale, after testing out the speedster with passenger resembling Louis Chevrolet. They’re descending from the Old Westbury Rd bridge. Photo looking about SE. I believe that’s the CRR branch alongside the Motor Parkway. The year is about 1908. Another great historic shot during early Long Island development.

Great observations! Agreed it’s the Meadow Brook bridge over Newbridge Ave looking NW. The two sets of telephone poles and guardrails flaring at the end should nail it. The guardrails north of the Central Ave bridge ended straight (photos below). The right most telephone pole is on the Motor Parkway RoW outside Ladenburgh’s property fence. The mystery structure west of the Ladenburgh’s estate was likely located on Merrick Ave.

My first thoughts were the LIMP bridges over Central Ave & LIRR and Newbridge Rd. Couldn’t think of anything Historic happening near the Stymus Property, and like Greg said, that’s not the Newbridge Hotel. There’s a split rail fence on the right parallel with the pole line. Figured the other pole line is running along Newbridge Ave,which becomes Post Ave to the north.

Howard, My first inclination was that we were looking north west from the Westbury-Bellmore bridge and the large building in the distance was the Ladenberg estate. After looking at the aerial of Central Park area,  I now am of the opinion we are looking north west from just north of the bridge over the Central Ave./Central RR. and the large building in the distance is a hotel located on the east side of Broadway just south of Powell Ave. (Central Park Hotel ? )

Almost convinced the mystery photo is near the Ladenburgh estate looking NW. Attempting to locate the structure that is west of the estate and north of the Motor Parkway. Top photo below shows 1908 Merrick Ave/ Bridge looking north from the parkway. The avenue here appears free of any structures.
Bottom photo shows the Salisbury Plains looking east from the Merrick Ave bridge in 1909. I spotted three objects in the field (Eisenhower Park) but they’re difficult to make out, even after enhancing the photos.

Al, I’m keeping all options open and still consider the Central Ave bridge in Bethpage a prime candidate. Tricky mystery.

Frank, This might help. Note that the guard rail on the driver side in the mystery photo is curved at the end while on the passenger side the guardrail is straight and extends past the opposite curved rail.  In the accompanying photos of the Bellmore/Westbury bridge area, both guard rails east of the bridge are curved and of the same length while in the photos of the race cars on the northside the Central Ave./Central RR.. bridge, the guard rails are straighter and the one on the vehicle passenger side is longer….just like in the mystery photo.

Pretty sure you nailed this one, Al.

Now you’ve got me going!  We identify gnat’s eyebrows.  If the “large building” was still there in 1950, SOMEONE must know what it was.  Sam, III

My .02 on the possible location. My thought is the Meadowbrook bridge looking North. The telephone poles for me match in all angles and heights and locations. Some of my other observations are the fence for the property and the roofline of the house. There is fencing in the race photos and I drew a crude line on the mystery photo and what I think matches the 1926 aerial. While the resolution is tough, It appears that the roofline could be a match by the peaks pointed to in the 2 photos.