Mystery Foto #34 Solved: Willie K in his 1900 Daimler White Ghost at the Brookholt Estate in East Meadow
Did you identify this weekend's Mystery Foto?
Answers to the Mystery Foto questions:
Identify:
- The manufacturer, year and racing record of the automobile
1900 23 HP Daimler Phoenix White Ghost, winner of 3 of 5 races at th1900 Newport Races at Aquidneck Park
- The driver
William K. Vanderbilt, Jr.
- The year of the photo
1900-1901
Kudos question: Where was the photo taken?
The Brookholt Estate of Willie K's father-in-law O.H.P. Belmont in East Meadow.
Comments (5)
Congrats to Greg O., Steve Lucas, Art Kleiner and Dick Gorman for identifying Willie K's White Ghost.
Kudos to Steve Lucas and Art Kleiner for identifying Brookholt.
Kudos to
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Caption below the photo
Close-Ups
Comments
The manufacturer, year and racing record of the automobile
1900 23 HP Daimler ‘White Ghost’.
From VCR.com: In this car, he cut the speed record between Newport and Boston to about half the previously recorded speed and remained only slightly above the railways’ driving time….On September 6, 1900, Vanderbilt and his society sporting friends gathered at a half-mile Aquidneck Park horse track near Newport, Rhode Island, for a series of automobile races. Willie K. was the star of the meet with the White Ghost, winning three of the featured five mile races, averaging 33.7 mph.
The driver
Willie K
The year of the photo
1900
Kudos question: Where was the photo taken?
A little thrown off by this question. The title clue, ‘father-in-law’s Long Island home’ is strange in that James Graham Fair lived in San Francisco and died in 1894, years before this photo. Not sure what I’m missing here…Confusion has set in….
Maybe I’ll come up with something before the reveal.
That’s Willie K. driving his 23 HP 1900 Daimler Phoenix “White Ghost” He used it to set a speed record for covering the distance between Newport, RI and Boston, MA. Additionally, he won 3 out of 5 races at the Aquidneck horse race track outside Newport, RI on Sept. 6, 1900. Since he bought the car in June, 1900 and was no longer the owner of record when it was used in a fatal accident in Feb., 1902, the date must be sometime in between so I’ll go with 1901. The location of the photo looks like “Brookholt” in East Meadow, his mother and step father-in-law’s mansion at the time.
Willie K exiting his mansion driveway on a cold winter’s day, with dirt road still in front of him at his property; the same reason for his goal for road improvements throughout Long Island at the time.
The four-seater is likely a Mercedes. Nothing else compared in quality at the time. That’s why he preferred them.
1900 23 h.p. Daimler Phoenix, Newport racing.
Willie K. driving the “White Ghost” in 1901
Photo taken at Brookholt in Hempstead, Long Island.
Mystery Foto# 34… Automobile is a 1900 Daimler Phoenix called the “White Ghost” by owner Willie K. One of the cars records was that it cut in half the speed record for driving from Newport to Boston. The driver shown here was William K Vanderbilt II. Photo taken in 1900. Can’t figure out where the pic was shot.
I obviously had a comprehension issue on this one! I was mentally stuck on Birdie’s father.