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1908 New York to Paris Race Book --Thomas Flyer story
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1908 New York to Paris Race Book --Thomas Flyer story
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This old original book offered is a scarce account of the very famous 1908 " New York to Paris " automobile race. Subtitled " The Thomas Flyer- Champion Endurance Car of the World ", it is an illustrated history of the race as well as a sales promotion from the E.R. Thomas Motor Co. of Buffalo, NY. Most automobile lovers are familiar with the round-the- world race. In fact in a couple short weeks will be the centennial of the start of the famous 21,000 plus mile, 5 1/2 month journey that started in New York on February 12, 1908 . This monumental race started with six autos, of which only the Thomas Flyer was an American entry. Of course it went on the win the endurance contest/race-- giving the Thomas Co, the U.S.A., and domestic auto makers en masse a tremendous feather -in -the-cap. This car survives still today and resides in the National Automobile Museum In Reno, NV. It is arguably the most famous & valuable auto in the world. T are many articles & some books and films documenting this historic race. Searching the net will bring up many more sources of info regarding this fascinating event should you want to learn more. At the time it was the most famous trial of man & machine until Lindberg's similar conquest the other direction by air nearly two decades later! Also t are re-creations of the event planned this year. Back to the book, it was once owned by George Whiteside--production manager for the Thomas factory in Buffalo. See pic 12 for an explanatory excerpt from another article on the race. George was given orders via telegram from Edwin Ross Thomas, company owner, to choose a car & prep it for the race. This account says three days prior to the race, another I've seen says six--in any case George Whiteside chose the Thomas Flyer from stock and the rest is history! A margin note he wrote says "I selected it and sent it to the model dept. w my crew prepared it for the race." His pencil- written name is on the title page and t are a few places inside that have margin notes--such as w he switched front axles during the race stop in Buffalo. Only a couple more notations inside the text, none of which add much to the story. Most of the book is full of photos and stories of the journey. Deep snow from the start, followed by mud in Iowa, then lack of roads & mountainous struggles out west. After travelling across the continent, only four cars were still in the race. The Thomas was shipped from Seattle to Alaska, which was on the scheduled part of the jouney--w it was discovered that conditions t were too bad for traversing. The route then was altered to cross Japan, Russia, and the rest of Europe to the finish in Paris. The winning Thomas and crew were given a hero's welcome t and upon their return to NY. Crew members George Schuster and George Miller were aboard for almost all the race, and get the credit for the human stamina and ingenuity while the Thomas got accolades for its durability under continuous stress and hardships encountered -- mostly summarized by the lack of roads over much of the way! As for this book, it is in VG shape. It is about 5x8" with 76 pages and about 112 sepia photographs. At some point in its life (probably in the 1960s or 1970s) it has been professionally hard-bound. The frayed page edges have been neatly cropped, only slightly trimming some of the margin notes. It appears the original cover has been saved on the hard board and new staples added, but nearly all the interior pages are good & intact. A truly rare original piece of Thomas Flyer literature! In the early 1950s Floyd Clymer made reproductions of this book. Even those are scarce today. This one is the real deal and likely one of a kind with this personal history by a man who had a significant part in this historic automotive event. Hopefully this will arouse interest to a museum, Thomas collector, curator of a historical archive, or individual who truly recognizes the significance of this book that chro...
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