Never Before Published Photos of the Long Island Automotive Museum
Mike Vargas provided these photos of the Long Island Automotive Museum at the recent Long Island Motor Parkway Preservation Society meeting.
Mike Vargas: "The photos were taken by my friend who passed away last May. He’s in a couple of the pictures. I was given all his old photo albums which contain old toy train and r/c boats photos. I just happen to find those pictures and figured you’d like them. I had visited the museum myself in early 70’s and always had fond memories of the place."
Can anyone identify the following?
-The estimated year of the photo
-The year, manufacturer and model of the automobiles
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Comments
Thanks, Howard,
That museum was the life passion of Henry Austin Clark, also a founder of Bridgehampton Race Circuit, an automotive historian and writer and an unparalleled collector. And, not unimportant, with a great sense of humor.
Earl
Wonderful images, thank you Mr. Vargas.
As far as The Museum Image, the 1902 Curved Dash Oldsmobile isn’t on the overhang ( sold by Mr. Clark Jr. in 1965 ). Maybe the image was taken in 1970?
Maybe someone else wants to ID the Autos?
Not all cars seem to have been portraited for the LIAM post card series, so it took some research to identify all cars on the photos. On the photos (always left to right if applicable):
A. A rare 1906 Pungs-Finch Limited roadster
B. A Ford truck, Bugatti and 1911 Mercer 35
C. A 1901 Waverley electric and 1904 Stevens-Duryea stanhope
D. A 1906 Cadillac and 1910 Buick model 10 toy tonneau
E. The 1910 Buick (see photo D), 1923 Ford town car and the front end of the 1907 Locomobile
F. The 1907 Locomobile model E tonneau
G. No idea, but probably someone will remember!
And finally of course the well-known 1915 Ford chief’s car
the picture of the museum was early the first year as the olds wasn’t over the door yet ant the flag pole isnt there either.i no this as i was the guy in charge of setting the flag.i was the first employee of the auto museum.me and austie drove the mercer in 1950 at the bridgehampton race.we clocked 87 mph.our picture is in the 1951 program of bridgehampton races
GENE MARTIN
How or why did the museum close. It seems that Mr Clark and the museum were and have been so important to the legacy of the automobile. Maybe you can help me understand .
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Howard Kroplick
Lack of revenue was the primary reason that it closed.
I always think there are people much smarter than me,that can realize important events, or artifacts, or in this case a museum dedicated to the conservership, preservation of such an important time.. Baffling….
great pictures, going way back to about 1956,55/57??? i was there with my mothers fathers brother, his name was harry (ginsberg) gilbert. on some level or another, he was involved with the museum,and had a few cars there. if anyone knows anything about my uncle harrys connection,i would be very happy to receive. there was also a connection with “chryslers chrysler”. Im going to send a foto to howard. i grew up in lake sucess area but had to leave n.y. in 1967 to move to phoenix. i walked in and out of old motor parkway many times, it was a natural splendor indeed. thank you, arthur ginsberg fielder santa monica
Howard,
Thanks for posting those great photos of the L.I. Museum. I visited Austin Clark’s museum many times and loved those wonderful autos and accessories on display. Austin could be seen wearing his coveralls working on one of his cars and the visitors to the museum didn’t know who it was. I always wondered where that curved dash Olds went. Remember the Olds that was placed above the entrance to the museum?
Thanks for the memories.
Rog
The three photos of the lights/lanterns and memorabilia are great!
By coincidence I discovered that photo G shows a 1918 Sizaire & Naudin. It must have been one of their last models and doesn’t resemble in any way the sporty little car from a decade earlier. It seems that the car is in Europe again, but I have no idea where.
I remember as a kid there was WW1 liberty truck restored in the Gulf oil livery . On the ATHS site someone posted a picture of what’s left of it, not much pretty sad. Are there any photos of it,or specs. I would like to know the history of it for my own curiosity. I just remember she looked grand when I saw it in the museum. Thank you sir