Tag Archives: Peerless
Barney Oldfield and a Very Early Peerless
This great very early photo shows Barney Oldfield and possibly his wife Beatrice posing in what is believed to have been his first Peerless racing car. Barney started driving for Peerless in 1903 and the first event that we were able to find him recorded as driving one, was a race meet in September at Grosse Point, MI., where he won a 5 mile race and finished second in a 15 mile race.
This car that Oldfield is posing in, appears to be very similar to the Peerless that Charles Wridgeway is seen in during 1903 at the New York, Empire City track in just below. The Wridgeway car is stripped of its hood at that meet, but appears to have the very same shape on the wooden dash board, along with sharing many of the other details as the car Oldfield is in. There is a possibility that this is a promotional photo taken, when Oldfield started driving the Green Dragons for Peerless late in 1903. Oldfield was also driving for both Winton ( he quit on April 12) and Ford earlier in 1903.
This photo above comes to us courtesy of Mike Schultz who found it over forty years ago with other Peerless and White steamer photos, one of which had a connection to Atlantic City, NJ. The photo below is from the Peter Helck Collection, courtesy of Racemaker Press.
Posted in Auto photos 1885 - 1920, Auto Racing Photos 1894 - 1942
Tagged Barney Oldfield, Peerless, Peerless Green Dragon, Winton
Joe Tracy and Friends at the 1908 Briarcliff Race
We have been following the exploits of Joe Tracy and his friends recently, and this series of photos shows Tracy with his Buick roadster in 1908 at the Briarcliff Road race where he was an official. We are going to let our readers who are Buick experts, date this car and tell us what model it is.
The third photo below shows Tracy and his girlfriend entering the Hotel Buena Vista, which was run by Fritz Walsch. Note the wood planks installed at the edge of the road to ease the passage of car tires over the stone curb. The last photo shows Tracy’s Buick along with a Peerless and a group of what may have been racing associates. Photos from the Peter Helck Collection courtesy of Racemaker Press.
Joe Tracy and a 1904 Peerless
Joe Tracy is shown in a very rare high quaility early automobile, a 1904 Type 7 Peerless. This model was on a 102″ w.b. and was 35 h.p., which at the time was the largest of three models produced that year (a smaller 24 h.p. model is seen in the advertisement). This may have been a car that Tracy was a chauffeur of for private customers in the NYC area. Peter Helck collection photos, courtesy of Racemaker Press.
Posted in Auto photos 1885 - 1920
Tagged Joe Tracy, Peerless
