Tag Archives: Winton
The J. P. Stevens Residence Garage, Rome, New York, Circa 1904 -1905
J.P. Stevens stabled his fleet behind his very impressive house in this garage in Rome, NY, were he lived, which is about an hour west of Albany, NY. Stevens appears to have been part of the J.P. Stevens & Co., a large textile firm founded in 1813, that is still operation today.
Stevens could afford the best and at the time and that was a Mercedes-Simplex 60 h.p., one of which with its oval lamps is what you see parked on the far left of the garage. Just to the left of it is a beautiful quarter-sawn oak oil-dispenser with a smaller portable unit on top of it. The walls and ceiling are covered in wainscoting with a high gloss finish and decorated with period lithographs. The windows have the shades drawn, possibly to protect the cars varnished finishes from sun light or to keep excess light from spoiling the photograph.
The second car from the left in this impressive garage is a 1904 or earlier Winton. The car in the middle is an unknown and is likely to be older the its mates to the left. The last two cars on the right, the first being a touring car and the second a roadster have the appearance of being early steamers.
The garage is also equipped with a hanging lighting fixture in the center of the ceiling and off on the far right, next to the wall can be seen a cast iron radiator, which tells us that it was heated by central heat and was a well equipped and modern garage at the time.
We will show you two more photos of the very impressive house and garage soon, along with the Mercedes, the chauffeur, the footman and also J.P. Stevens posing out in front of the house. We will also include more infor-mation about the 60 h.p. Mercedes, the general design of which, was copied and imitated by most all automobile makers at the time.
The Mercedes was one of the hottest things on wheels then and a S. B. Stevens, who if memory serves us right, was also from Rome, NY and was an early racer. He is seen just below in the number 28, 60 h.p. Mercedes, racing Sardoni on the beach at Ormond-Daytona in the 1905 Speed meet. S. B. Stevens was quite involved with early racing and also had profession drivers race his car for him later on.
If any of our readers can help, we would like to know the following; The makers of the car in the middle of the garage along with the two on the right. Can anyone provide a positive connection between J.P. and S. B. Stevens? Photo above courtesy of Edward Fiore. Photo below from Auto Topics, April 1905 issue.
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
The Dealers Association of Oregon Tour – 1917
This photo shows us four cars that participated in some form of a tour which was put on by the Dealers Association of Oregon. The banners on the windshields tell us that it was from Portland to Crater Lake and we are assuming that this may be at the Lake next to a lodge that was in the finishing stages of construction.
The date is 1917 and the cars left to right are Winton, Velie, Mitchell and an Overland. Hopefully our readers can tell us more about this photo and the Dealers Association. The Old Motor photo.
Posted in Auto photos 1885 - 1920
Tagged Mitchell, Overland. Crater Lake., Velie, Winton
