MOTORING 'ROUND MASTIC

SOME MORE CARS OF THE STARS

OF THIS WEBSITE

THE VERY FIRST AUTOMOBILE IN MASTIC

MISS EMMA M. LAWRENCE's OLDSMOBILE 1904

Lawrence Estate Journal 1904 courtesy of William Floyd Estate

Major Langley's Ladies, Loaded In His Lozier At "Old Kentuck" Bellport, NY circa 1915

The ladies are identified as "Show Ladies From New York City" who were not appearing at the Gateway Theatre across the road, as it still was the Mott Residence back then. Perhaps they are off to Patchogue & The Star Palace? Leaning on the rear fender is Pop Barton. Langley's secretary. Charles Williamsen, his chauffeur is at the wheel of the Major's Lozier.

This fantastic photo appears in Victor Principie's new book "Bellport Revisted" and seems like an ideal way to kick off this addition to the "Knapp Autos" page I added last month and the first addition in 2009 too.

William Hy Langley 1841-1919,, was the son of a millionare wool wholesaler and was known in NY Social circles as Maj. Langley. He had a fine home in Brooklyn and a fabulous estate known as "Old Kentuck" on the east end of Bellport Village. In the 1910 Federal Census, Claire and Sylvia Knapp appear enumerated right next to the Langley Estate which was on the south side of South Country Road . Old Kentuck got torn down around 1949 to make way for a housing development. You can see the entire house in color up on its hill here

How do I know Langley's automobile is a Lozier you ask ? Simple I now have possession of a copy of this very rare book...

It has over 65,000 Automobiles Listed That Were Registered In New York State In 1914. Notice the publishers address...sound familiar?

Here's where J. R. Burton & Co had their offices.

Langley wasn't the only one who loved the Lozier either.

J. P. Knapp's big sister "Netty" had two of them

1911 LOZIER TOURER

(photos courtesy ConceptCarz.com)

1913 LOZIER "MEADOWBROOK" RUNABOUT

This Lozier has 58 sets of Ball Bearings! More Than Any Other Car Ever Built. You Could Say It Really Has A Lot Of Balls. Henry Abram Lozier, who started as a bicycle manufacturer, built his luxury automobiles in Plattsburg, NY from 1904 -1913. In 1913 they were priced at $5,000.00 to $7,500.00 and were offered with two body styles, "Winter" & "Summer". The Lozier was one of America's highest quality and most powerfull automobiles. Their main competition was Cadillac, which Lozier could initially outperform, but when Caddy brought out it's 70 hp model in 1915 that sold for $2000.00, it was the beginning of the end for the Lozier. With new management, the bankrupt the company struggled on from 1915 till 1918 when the factory closed its doors.

Another name that I never knew actually produced entire automobiles was Hotchkiss, though I have long known about the Hotchkiss drive system. They were pretty wild looking cars ..... and seemed a good match for this then 22 year old batchelor millionaire from Mastic.

IT SEEMS FITTING THAT THE RADIATOR CAP HAD THE EAGLE ON IT , FOR THIS HOTCHKISS OWNER ALSO BUILT A BIRD SANCTUARY ON HIS ESTATE.

William S. Dana

If NY State had drivers license photos at that time, this one would of worked,

it's from his 1916 passport.

In The 1920's, Bill Dana Was Married With A Family And Went To Something With A Little More Room In It. A Rolls Royce Tourer ... He Owned Two Of Them, A 1922 and 1928 Silver Ghost . You Can Watch Him In A Home Movie In One Of His Ghosts Coming Up His Driveway At "Moss Lotts"

HERE

I have it on record from several people who knew her, that for a spinster, Miss Eugenie Smith was quite the live wire. Her choice of a Hudson Speedster in 1914 when she was already 50 years old, certainly supports that.

The book has her typoed her as Eugene , however there was only one E.A.T. Smith in the greater Manor of St. George area, and that was Eugenie . ( Moriches is her PO Address ) In the 1920's, Arthur Penney recalls she drove a Stutz Bearcat,that probably was a runabout too.

Miss Eugenie & Her Portrait In 1890

THE LUCKERT DUCK FARM WAS JUST WEST OF WHERE THEY BUILT THE MORICHES GRAMMER SCHOOL IN THE 1920s
Later Known As THE ANNEX Not sure how many cars there were in Mastic area in 1914, as I'm sure not everyone registerd them. Some didn't even do that in the 1940's & 50's. I also don't know what year Buick Mr. Luckert drove, but here comes a 1914 Model C-25

AUGUST FLOYD, LIVED HERE , JUST NORTH OF THE WILLIAM FLOYD HOUSE ON HOME CREEK, HE WAS A LAWYER AND AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, WAS VERY ANTI AUTOMOBILE . HE WROTE LETTERS & NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND CAMPAIGNED FOR STRICT SPEED LAWS. THAT SAID IN 1914 HE WAS DRIVING TOO ....

IN A DeDION, PROBABLY LIKE THIS ONE

A FEW MONTHS BEFORE HE PASSED AWAY AT AGE 81 IN 1926, AUGUST FLOYD, WOULD SELL THE LAND THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR WARREN SMADBECK, TO BUILD A ROAD THAT WOULD TAKE YOU DIRECTLY TO HIS NEW DEVELOPMENT THE TINY TOWN OF MASTIC BEACH. BEFORE THAT YOU HAD TO DRIVE ON MASTIC ROAD DOWN TO WHERE THE FIVE CORNERS WOULD EVENTUALLY APPEAR AND THEN TURN EAST ON THE NEIGHBORHOOD TRAIL , THEN CIRCUM-NAVIGATE THE KNAPP ESTATE, TO GET TO SECTIONS ONE & TWO WHICH WAS ALL THERE WAS FOR MASTIC BEACH IN THE SUMMER OF 1926. THAT ROAD WARREN HAD BUILT STILL EXISTS TODAY .... IT'S CALLED MASTIC BEACH ROAD

TWELVE YEARS BEFORE THAT, WARREN SMADBECK WAS COMING & GOING TO HIS HOME GUARDIAN CO. NEW YORK CITY OFFICE IN HIS FINE ITALIAN CAR ....

By the time this photo was taken in 1924, Warren had already been developing Mastic Park for two years. Two years later he would start on Mastic Beach.

Builder Ernie Barber had the concrete block firm of Barber & Smith in Center Moriches and built many buildings (like the Bowl-Away) in the area. Barber & Smith also did the concrete livestock and landscaping pond work I saw on the Knapp Estate. Like Mr Luckert, Ernie drove a Buick too. Frank Mauran Lawrence's, sister Emma who along with her sister Elizabeth always lived in the Mastic (beach area) on the Lawrence Estate , was chauffeured and rode around in her Packard, probably similar to this 1913 model .

1913 PACKARD

Widow Grace Masury Had Two Simplex Autos To Take Her To & From The Masury Estate

MOTORING MASURY STYLE

As I said at the top of this page, this car thing started here last month,with a few pics of the cars Dodi Knapp was driving in 1914

Getting the actual entire book ( it's 900 some pages) revealed a few more Knapp Cars. Just Like His Son, Old J. P. Had Several Automobiles Too

THE 1914 PEUGOT , DIG THOSE PURPLE SPOKES !

AN OVERLAND

CHECK OUT THE PLUMBING!

The Overland Was An Advanced Automobile For Its Time. But Like Many Manufactures Suffered From Cash Flow. Auto Dealer John Willys Stepped in to bail it out in 1907 and it later became known as Willys- Overland

1913 OVERLAND TOURER

& THE LITTLE KNOWN TODAY, FINE AUTOMOBILE THAT WAS BUILT IN READING., PA. THE

S.G.V.

NOW BESIDES DODI's PEERLESS & THE STEARNS THAT ARE PICTURED HERE

I WOULD LEARN HE HAD TWO OTHER FINE MACHINES IN 1914 FROM THE SAME MAKER

A TRULY MAGNIFICENT AUTOMOBILE

And the book provided a clarification too. The original abstract I found of it stated that Claire Knapp who lived in Greenlawn in Huntington Township at the time drove a Pont. Which I naturally assumed was the abbreviation for Pontiac.... however there was a problem with that as I knew Pontiac as a brand name did not exist in 1914. What eventually became Pontiacs in 1926, were originally Oaklands and they were built in Pontiac, Michigan. It must of been an OCR computer error as like Pont her actual car was a four letter word.

SO , JUST WHAT DID CLAIRE ANTOINETTE KNAPP, A WOMAN OF WEALTH & PRIVILEGE, ACTUALLY DRIVE IN 1914 ?

A 1914 MODEL T FORD

... I BET SHE HAD WHITE TIRES ON HERS TOO!

HOME JANE !