memaerobilia

Alsancle You are such a tease! Some of us are dying to see photos of the (at least two)race cars next to the #14 Chrysler Indy car

If I recall, correctly, My Dad,Joe Gertler Sr., said the parimutual bidding for the new midget races only lasted a week (or less?) or so, because it was just too easy for the guys to "pre-determine" the winners, and they had friends on the other side of the fences, making their bets for them. He built some 200 cars (midgets, sprints, customs, foreign exotic, modified classics and race cars) over the course of decades, at his Raceway Garage, in The Bronx. His specialty (bread and butter) was scratch built midgets, sometimes 6 at a time. Everything exotic was always passing through the shop, from Auburns, Cords, Duesenberg, Ferrari, American and German Grand Prix cars, The famous Bluebird land speed record car. As a kid, he would take me along to all the Long Island race tracks. It used to make me a little sad that a fair number of car owners kept ducking him, because they owed him money for parts. He eventually gave up his very mediocre driving experiences, when people appreciated the constantly changing midget and other constructions, more. 1937 and on. In his opinion, two of the things that killed off midget racing were the fact that fans got tired of waiting for each car to be push started. His number one "peeve" was that he said, the Kurtis Krafts became so dominant, that "if you took the paint off of every car, you could not tell on from another."

Does anyone have any of the programs from the Roosevelt track's brief foray into midget racing. Initially they had parimutual betting. Any photos of a #8 midget there? My Dad had said one of his midgets was feature in the first PR photos? Of course he had an album with his pre-war press clippings, but one of his 'stooges" asked to take it on his ship, that was sunk during WWII

You would probably love it, Bob. Every time I have gone, they had a great selection of rare race cars.

Thank you so much for these great photos of the beautiful cars. I have a fairly good amount of original photos of 1929-mid 30s Auburns and Cords (with L-29s) from Cliff Henderson, who ran the National Air Races from 29-39. He used a great many Cords and Auburns, and some "look like' Duesenbergs? He was good friends with E.L. Cord.I admit it is pretty hard for me to tell them apart from certain angles. Any tips or tricks?

Could be for Liberty V-12 WWI aero engine.

Hi Dave: I sent you an email, with a Southern CA contact. And Thanks, Terry, for the kind words. Getting to know you, Hardman, and many of the other collectors, were some of the the most enjoyable memories of a lifetime of collecting.

Been buying/selling antique aircraft & parts, all over the World, for 49 years. Look up memaerobilia.com for contact info. May be able to help you, once I know what you have there

ID help would be appreciated..I am in process of trying to ID old family photos, to pass on family history to my adult son. This is my great uncle. and the license plate is possibly 1923 or 1928? Wow! no shortage of headroom in this vehicle... (I am guessing that he may be on the way to add air to the left front tire)

Looking to buy QUANTITIES of Bethlehem spark plugs. Seeking the type that has approx 1" diameter black micarta top. Some have holes through micarta, or through bottom of metal body, at hex. Has a large circular electrode that almost fills entire bottom, except for small gap, all around, to rim

Looking to buy QUANTITIES of the old Bethlehem spark plugs. (some are labeled "five point") Want the type with (approx.. 1" diameter) black micarta tops and some have holes through the micarta, or through the metal hex section. The have a large circular electrode that almost fills the bottom of the plug, except for a very small gap space

Hi Bob; That answer and Dad's original old negs and photos would fill a book. His first love was any type of racing car, boat plane. He loved the lines of classic cars, and when they were just 15-20 year old "old cars" that few people wanted. He restyled and re-engined a fair amount of them, into exotic show cars. He also did some extraordinary rare and unusual hydroplane race boats in all classes. When I joined him in 1969, we were strongly into vintage aircraft, engines and parts and had the shop building, in the Bronx, piled to the ceiling with antique planes, engines and parts,, nearly to the ceiling, or hanging from it. Additional planes & parts were store in the alley between us and the private homes, in old back alley, wooden, one car, private garages, *and even on the Roof! We got back into restoring and collecting mostly pre-war, vintage race cars, around late 70s, when they started having clubs and meets for them.had or did, 38 of them. In the two Auburns below-note the length of the hood and side panels on the dark one, and the space of side-trim to the firewaall. Dad lengthened the frame and engine panels one foot, in order to put a Duesenberg engine in it, Also faired headlight pods into the front fenders. He kept the beautiful lines of the Cord Phaeton, when he put a Chevy 409 engine into it. He had several old Cords in the back garages that were cut in half, by someone! All were used for projects, parts, or restorations, None scrapped. He did a lot of work on the famous Fitch "Bitch, race car, This is the car outside the private home next to the Raceway Garage shop. Note, that most of Dad's negs and photos, show the cars on the partially paved Bronx street, and his favorite place to take photos of completed or special cars was either outside the shop, or acroos the street, in some-es driveway. It was mostly a residential street of private homes. Last photo shows the World Famous LSR "Bluebird' being unloaded outside the shop, and Dad would do a ton of work and modification to it for a planned new attempt at speed record (that never happened) but it went into the International Motor Sports Show at Madison Square Garden, in mid-1950s, with the faired in wheels. (* If anyone has good photos of it in that show-other than the 2-3 little ones that turn up in Google, I would sure like to find some more. Most of our Bluebird originals were stolen some 40 years ago..) I have numerous photos/ Dad's private negs of it in the shop, apart and being worked on.

Then there are so many pages with photos and specs of all the cars, with tables and photo groups for numerous different body styles and price ranges, with VERY detailed specs down to carbs and mags and much more, in the multi-page tables. It is a bit mind-boggling to see how long the chart for Cars that cost More than $3,000, in 1914!

No ads in these, just many hundreds of photos, lists, charts and detail reports. Example, one reason i love these, are the many race reports. have you ever seen details and photos like these? practically lap by lap,minute by minute, details of tires, oil, mechanical problems, pit problems etc for each car and driver. here is a small part of multi-page report on the 1914 American Grand Prix, at Santa Monica, only a few days after the race. It featured Eddie Rickenbacker,Barney Oldfield, Ralph DePalma, and many others in Mercedes, Mercers, Sunbeam, Mason-Duesenberg, Isotta Fraschini, Marmon & many others. It even includes a detailed dwg of the race course.

Hi Dave; Your question (and sharp observation) makes me smile It is one of a half dozen original negatives I have, of a beautiful Duesenberg, that came to my Dad's shop, Raceway Garage. on a side street, in The Bronx NY, in the early 1950s. Dad worked on restorations and even "hotrodding' of some of the old cars back then, and had many famous and wealthy customers. Everything from scratch-built midget and sprint racing cars, US and European exotic sports racing cars, and full customs. Early Ferraris, Bugatti, Auburns, Grand Prix cars, including pre-war Adler, Mercedes gull-wing, He even did major renovation of the famous "Bluebird." Bob/1937 got to see some of them,"back in the day.I have LOTS of photos of them on my website www.memaerobilia.com I know that putting a Chevy 409 into a Cord Phaeton is blasphemy today, but in the early 1950s it was more f an "obsolete" car than a treasured Classic. He had numerous cars that won trophies in The International Motor Sports Shows on NYC I dont know if the Duesenberg bumper was Dad's (or one of his workers) mistake, or one of the reasons it came to the shop for work on.