Vanderbilt Cup Races

Greg Oreiro: "Turns out, that’s a trick question! My first thought was that must be a model of Cord I’ve never seen, (since no other manufacturer had such beautiful styling like that in the 30’s) but I guess I was wrong. Here’s the info on the car from IMDB:

“The fancy finned-back car driven by the Kerbys was custom built by the Bohman & Schwartz Co. using a 1936 Buick Roadmaster chassis. Originally the producers had in mind to use a coffin-nosed Cord, but it wasn’t large enough. In the custom-made Buick there were special compartments for camera equipment, etc. The Buick resembles a Cord, but the supercharger pipes on the side were just decorations (a Cord comes with an actual supercharger). After filming the Buick was bought by the Gilmore Oil Co. and was used for promotional purposes for many years. It was updated in 1954 with a Chrysler Imperial chassis and drive train. The car driven by Cosmo Topper is a 1936 Lincoln Model K.”

Upon looking at the Topper car a little more closely, (after finding it was custom built) I discovered that the Topper car is a much closer match to a 1935 Auburn 851 Speedster than the Cord 810.(The Topper car and the Auburn are almost identical)

Joseph Oesterle: "In the spring of 1983 I was 16 years old and got a job as a busboy in Wheatley Hill Golf Club. I saw old maps there leading the parkway south over Hillside Ave. The next Sunday morning, I went to church early, and set out on my bicycle following the parkway and the power lines south. From the south I saw the LIRR bridge. I went around and approached it from the north. I climbed dangerously out on a barbed wire ledge from the parking lot of 1 Old Country Rd. Down under powerlines through brush to the base of the bridge. I climbed the side wall from the north end. I remember my knee was scraped and bloddy. As soon as I stood on the bridge I swore it swayed. So to test my theory I jump up high and let myself stomp down. No doubt, that bridge moved.

Unlike the LIRR LIMP bridge in Albertson which was 100% solid. I remember the steel side walls of the bridge being lower that Albertson. In Albertson I could lean against the side, and my center of gravity was far below the steel side walls. Here, I was too afraid to even go near the edge. The were pot holes where I could look down and see rebar. My clearest memory was the south side. The motor parkway and the cement sidewalk (as I used to call them as a kid) extended off the bridge, but the land underneath was gone. So the roadway was just hanging there. The blacktop part had seperated from the sidewalk. The sidewalks extending further away from the bridge than the road part, before sagging with gravity. A train was approaching from the east. As it came close, the conductor or that trains eyes and mine locked, until he disappeared under me. The entire bridge shook. I did not have to be a genius to know I was in a place that was unsafe. I climbed down, made it back to my bicycle, and headed home. I remember I stopped by the bridge in Albertson on the way home.

About two weeks later, my dad and I were in the car as my mom was shopping in the center just oppostie Voice Rd on the eastern side of Glen Cove Road. I told my dad to take a ride, I wanted to show him something. We drove down Voice Road, back behind the building at the far northern end of Voice Road to where we could see the bridge. There was a work crew taking it down. I used to joke with friends that I was probably the last person to climb on that bridge before it was dismantled.

Thanks to you and Ron for the pictures. Your Fan"