February Pick-Ups

[39special]

Originally Posted by CarltonHendricks

13" x 10" c1924 Auto race track in Beverly Hills Ca. All wood, made of 2x4's


13" x 10"













February’s been a bang up month. Did real well in Hunt’s the other night, post later…Round one above, I picked up these photos at the Turlock auto swap meet a couple weeks ago. I’d heard about Turlock for decades and finally made it…I’d heard there was a significant amount of antiques mixed in....I wouldn’t drive 3 hrs again to get there but if I lived closer….

All these photos came out of a scrapbook, are about 10x13 inch and all have the name Earl Cooper printed on the back. The dealer said Earl Cooper 1886-1965 was a big name racer and died in 1965 and that he had bought a lot or all his racing memorabilia from the estate….There were a lot of his things in flat display cases including two of his goggles...The first two photos below of the Los Angeles Raceway have an embossed stamp for Keystone Photos, which I believe was Keystone Studios in Los Angeles that made the early silent films. As you can see some of the photos have old writing dated 1924.











The dealer selling them, who I see around at antiques shows, was kind of high pressure but a nice guy….I looked over all six racing photos he had…Not being very familiar with early auto racing I zeroed in on the two of the race track because of all the clear details….and because I could see all the rural land around Beverly Hills in the background…Plus in the back of my mind I thought they'd display well with a Barney Oldfield poster I got a couple years ago.



The seller wanted $150.00 each…not knowing photos I didn’t know if that was a good deal or what…I didn’t have too much on me and left without them…but they kept speaking to me….I ended up coming back later and got both for $160.00….Once home I researched them and learned the Los Angeles Raceway only existed four years and was sold to build the Beverly Wilshire hotel…and that Beverly Hills High School is also located where the track was….

I took photos of the other portrait photos of racers and once I got home kicked myself for not getting them all…Tommy Milton 1893-1962 is in the Motorsports Hall of Fame and so is Earl Cooper…Tommy Milton won the Indianapolis 500 twice….

A week later I saw the dealer at the Alameda Point show and he had sold the photo of Earl Cooper..I bought the remaining photos he had left of Milton and Harry Hartz, another big name…and one of the Altoona PA race track…I started to leave and ended up buying the last pair of goggles he had….He had another light brown rubber pair at Turlock that were cooler but they were sold…The strap appears replaced but the seller said he got them that way so Cooper probably replaced the strap.

Below are the ones I got a week later at Alameda.


Tommy Milton




Harry Hartz


Shot at Altoona PA

Great Pictures!! I love old racing stuff!!