Mystery Friday Foto #36 Solved: Harry Grant in an Alco at the 1912 Old Orchard Beach Meet in Maine
Kelly Williams challenged you to solve this holiday weekend Mystery Foto.
Answers to the Mystery Foto questions:
Identify:
- The driver
Harry Grant, winner of the 1909 and 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Races.
- The manufacturer and model of the automobile and its manufacturing location
Grant is driving his own Alco built in Providence, Rhode Island. Rationale: The Alco logo on the wheel and the license plate#7815. Note the Mystery Foto is misidentified in the Maine Historical Society's website as a 1911 Locomobile.
During the 5-mile event in the Old Orchard Beach Meet held on July 4, 1912, Grant won the 5-mile event in a Berkshire owned by Stuart H. Clapp, a co-owner of the company. The Berkshire was manufactured in Pittsfield, Massachusetts,
- The race event, date and its location
Old Orchard Beach Meet held from July 4-6, 1912 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
Comments (3)
Congrats to David Miller, Steve Lucas and Ariejan Bos for identifying Harry Grant.
Kudos to the amazing Ariejan Bos for recognizing the chain-driven Alco. Was it a modified Black Beast as suggested by Ariejan?
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Close-Ups
Harry Grant
Massachusetts license plate #7815
1912 Old Orchard Beach Meet (Submitted by Kelly Williams)
Indianapolis Star, July 4, 1912
Boston Globe, July 5, 1912
Berkshire County Eagle, June 12, 1912-
The Berkshire
1910 Cycle Auto Trade Journal
Boston Evening Transcript, March 7, 1910
Harry Grant's Alco in the Mystery Foto
Grant's Alco had a 7815 registration (see top) matching the license plate # in the Mystery Foto. Submitted by Kelly Williams.
A comparison of the Mystery Foto's wheel versus the Alco Black Beast's wheel. It is another match! Submitted by Greg O. and Gram Spina.
Comments
The driver in this picture looks like Harry Grant. The winner of the 1909 and 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Races. The car is a 1911 Locomobile Runabout. It was manufactured by the Everitt-Metzger-Flanders (E-M-F) Company built in Bridgeport Connecticut. The car has a 1912 Massachusetts license plate on it indicating that this might be his personal vehicle. He may be taking advantage of the closed course to make an informal speed run. The location here is Old Orchard Beach in Maine. And the event is probably the 10 mile loop race held on July 5th 1912.
I’m fairly certain of the location so I’ll try that first. I think it’s Old Orchard Beach in Maine. Everything else is guesswork. The driver looks like Harry Grant. The car could be a 1911 Locomobile model 30 speedster or runabout manufactured in Bridgeport, CT. Since the registration plate is 1912 Massachusetts, I’ll go with that as the year of the photo. In July of that year there was a 100 mile race at Old Orchard Beach so maybe that’s the event.
The photo shows Harry Grant in an Alco. The event was the Old Orchard Beach race held from 4 to 6 July 1912. Now the interesting thing is that Grant was a participant in this event, not in an Alco but in a Berkshire. I tried to find a picture of Grant in his Berkshire, but was unsuccessful so far. As for the Alco, I have a strong feeling that this is a road version of the racer with which he won the 1909 and 1910 Vanderbilt Cup races. Could it be the same car?
The argument for it possibly being the Black Beast becomes a little more likely when you consider ALCO switched from chain drive to shaft drive around 1909 or so, making this a much older car than 1912.