There seems to be very little information out there about the Baby-Vanderbilt; presumably a support race for the 1915 Vanderbilt Cup; held that year in San Francisco as part of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Unlike the Vanderbilt, which ran as a longer road race throughout the area, the Baby-Vanderbilt seems to have been run entirely within the grandstand area as a sort of miniature circle-track race. This image is from a stereoscope of the start of the race, and provides a rare opportunity to see an early 3D(ish) image of a cyclecar race. I’ve animated it here to approximate the 3D view the stereoscope provides.
In my searches for more information, I came across a marvelous post at The Garage Blog telling the story of motorcyclist Bob Mibach pausing to dig through the chicken coop at a farm with a “motorcycles for sale” sign. In a moment of barn-find perfection, he came upon one of the Baby Vanderbilt racers: an Indian twin powered and very restorable little pile of smiles. Could it have been the Indian-powered machine that propelled Harry Hartz to victory in 1915?
There seems to be precious little information out there on the Baby-Vanderbilt. Here’s a thread on the Nostalgia Forum, that mentions film of the event that doesn’t seem to be online any longer. Please pass along any more info if you come across it.
One reply on “The Baby-Vanderbilt, 1915”
I have one of the Vanderbilt Baby Cup race cars, mine is the only known survivor of the 10 Harley cars built in a co-effort between Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee, Maggini and Perkins Harley-Davidson of San Francisco, and the Kissel Kar Company also of San Francisco who built the custom chassis for each of the 10 Harley cars – each with a different body to mimic the big cars of the day. Stutz, Mercedes, Fiat, Bugatti, Mercer, etc. Call me with any questions you may have.
John King