Two kinds of horsepower at Tanforan Park

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There’s no doubt this picture is staged, but the advantage of that is that it couldn’t be sharper, revealing all the detail you could wish for up to the size of those Goodrich tyres. The photographer clearly knew what he was doing. The car is a Pontiac convertible coupé of 1935 with ‘speedlined styling’, as the manufacturer called it. The 1935 models also heralded the arrival of the famous ‘Silver Streak’ brightwork, with the vertical bars of the chrome grille continuing onto the bonnet and right up to the split windscreen.

Interestingly, the place where this car was photographed contains some early automotive heritage. It’s the Tanforan Park horse-racing track, a mile-long oval in San Bruno, California, which opened in 1899. After that, it wouldn’t take long for car racing to become at least as popular as horse racing, so it’s no surprise to learn that the track was soon used for motor-car racing, probably from as early as 1903.

There is a beautiful panoramic photograph of the track taken during an event called the 2nd Annual Olympic Club Automobile Track Meet on September 20th 1908. It shows an abundance of four-wheelers in all shapes and sizes within the inner track. This event supposedly drew some 10,000 participants and spectators to watch the races. Ironically, the horse racing at Tanforan Park would stop not long afterwards.

Words: Jeroen Booij; pictures: Pontiac Motor Division / R. T. Waters & Co. Photography
 

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