1908 New York to Paris Race

[Graham Man]

Who would have guessed over 100 years later there would so many great pictures still in existence.  Thanks again for posting them!

[George Cole]

[George Cole]

On 1/3/2021 at 6:46 AM, George Cole said:

 

 

 

 

Just after posting the last set of pictures, i did a double-take on the first one of the German team in the Protos.  It establishes a long-sought-after personal connection to the race for me.  In the background is the end of a building with the lettering, 'A Finck & Sons.'  Andrew Finck was my great-great-great grandfather, on my mother's side.  Andrew and his family migrated to the US from Germany in the 1850s.  He opened a beer brewery in NYC, which became one of the larger breweries in the US.  I have attached a picture of a lithograph from sometime in the 1880s of what I believe is the front of the same building shown in the picture with the German race team. My lithograph shows the front of the brewery and ice house and close-ups of the lettering on each, which I found in an Ohio art gallery and purchased many years ago.  To keep from hijacking the thread, I won't go into any of the of the family history or details, although at least to me it is quite interesting...complete with an Irish servant girl, family excommunication, suicide, a Hungarian nudist colony, and more.  The remains of the Finck castle Wyndcliffe still stand alongside the Hudson River, about an hour north of NYC, and there is another Finck building still standing in NYC.

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by George Cole (see edit history)

[oldcarfudd]

George - While we're stuck indoors with this virus, I think your family story would be fascinating, possibly in a new thread.  You can tell us when the breweries started using motorized delivery, just to keep the forum police from getting their knickers in a twist.

[George Cole]

Happy Anniversary to the participants of the NY to Paris race, who began their race of endurance 113 years ago today.  Once again, our hats are off to George Schuster and the rest.

[T Flyer]

Thanks George for the starting line-up photos 113 years ago today!  They had no idea what was ahead of them, and many (including Henry Ford and Ransom Olds) said driving an automobile around the world couldn't be done.  Fortunately, they were the type of men that said nothing was "impossible" and they proved it!

 

We just have to remember that, the next time we hear "it's impossible".....