{"id":495769,"date":"2016-08-15T15:33:56","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T15:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=34128"},"modified":"2024-12-02T14:20:36","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T14:20:36","slug":"1907-thomas-flyer-automotive-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/1907-thomas-flyer-automotive-icon\/","title":{"rendered":"1907 Thomas Flyer\u2014Automotive Icon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) has announced that that the 1907 Thomas Flyer has joined other\u00a0automotive icons on the National Historic Vehicle Register. The car, winner of the 1908 New York to Paris Automobile Race, will be exhaustively measured and documented by the HVA using the guidelines set by the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Heritage Documentation and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). Once complete, the material will permanently reside in the Library of Congress, joining such legendary cars as the Shelby Cobra Daytona prototype, the first Meyers Manx dune buggy, one of the last surviving Futurliners and the Marmon Wasp\u2014winner of the very first Indianapolis 500. This is being done to preserve an important chapter in America’s automotive heritage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Thomas Flyer is owned by the National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection) in Reno, Nevada.<\/p>\n

<\/h6>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The car was in very poor condition, from years of neglect, when it was purchased by Bill Harrah, founder of Harrah’s Automobile Collection and Harrah’s Hotels & Casinos, in 1964 from Henry Austin Clark, Jr., of Long Island, New York. To authenticate the car, Harrah contacted 91-year-old George Schuster, who had driven the Flyer to victory, and invited him to Reno. During the dismantling of the Flyer, Schuster witnessed cracks in the frame and repairs he had made during the race, proving its authenticity.<\/p>\n