Mystery Friday Foto #47 Solved: Jefferson DeMont Thompson in the 1906 #6 Hotchkiss
Did you identify this mystery racer?
Identify;
- The Racer
1906 Hotchkiss , owned by the Hotchkiss Company.
- The year and race
The 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race when it was driven by Elliot Shepard,Jr., William K. Vanderbilt , Jr's cousin.
- The gentleman in the passenger seat
Jefferson De Mont Jefferson, chairman of the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race Commission.
- Kudos Questions:
- Probable location of the photo (currently unknown)
Unknown. Best guess: Central Park
- The driver for this car in the race (The unknown driver in this photo was NOT the driver in the race
Still unknown
Comments (4)
Congrats to Steve Lucas, David Miller and Randy Reed for identifying the 1906 Hochkiss driven by Elliott Shepard, Jr..
Kudos to Steve Lucas for identying passenger Jefferson Dr. Mont Jefferson.
Happy Thanksgiving to all LIMPers!
Greg O.
Jefferson De Mont Thompson and the 1906 Cup Commission
The #6 Hotchkiss can be seen three times in this film of the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race:
-15 seconds
-48 seconds
-1 minute and 11 seconds
Comments
That’s the #6 Hotchkiss HH racer that ran in the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup race. The passenger looks like Jefferson DeMott Thompson. Since the driver of this car in the 1906 race was Elliot Shephard, Willie K’s cousin, I’m guessing the location of the photo could be in Central Park which was only a few blocks north of Willie K’s residence on Fifth Avenue.
There was no whitewalls being made in 1946, because of postwar ration, the following years, some more were alotted to maybe to GM and Ford in ‘47 then late ‘47 Chrysler, by ‘48 widely available with prewar whitewall designs and change to tire size from 16” to 15”. In ‘49 thru ‘53 introduction of the very wide WWs like on Howard’s and other Tucker’s owners have that looks glamorous on the show fields. Tucker may have ordered only blackwalls maybe in ‘47, a differcult time to get WWs?
This is the Hotchkiss that raced in the 1906 VCR. The driver in that race was Elliot Shepard, Willie K’s cousin. This racer is easily identified by it’s “cannon barrel hood”. Maybe this picture was taken near the Hotchkiss factory in Saint-Denis, Paris France but that’s just a guess. No guesses yet on the passenger in the photo.
The racer is the French Hotchkiss entered in the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup and driven by Shepard, an amateur. The car finished in 15th place when sidelined by a broken crankshaft.
My long comment about whitewalls was a response to the simple survey about the Tucker having whitewalls since been deleted.
The driver in the Hotchkiss could be a company official?