Collector Cards - World on Wheels

Recently, I picked up an interesting set of vehicle cards.


World on Wheels Card No.2

They were published in 1953-54 by the American company Topps in a 160-card set under the title "World on Wheels". They later added 20 more cards, and featured it as a 180-card set; I guest these have blue+black printing on the back and are rarer and more valuable.

The sets included a fairly eclectic mix of vehicles, including passenger cars, sports cars, race cars, buses, commercial vehicles, and military vehicles.

I acquired 17 sports car/race car cards. I haven't finished scanning them, but I thought I'd show off a few of them.

World on Wheels Card No.23














World on Wheels Card No.110

World on Wheels Card No.38

World on Wheels Card No.43

World on Wheels Card No.35

World on Wheels Card No.30

The Vanderbilt Cup Races

Prismacolor pencil on Neenah Classic Laid stock
� Paul Chenard 2008
Gary Faules Collection

The Vanderbilt Cup races were the brainchild of millionaire sportsman William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. in an effort to bring European style road racing to America.

Modeled in the Gordon Bennett races, the first race took place on Long Island, New York in 1904. Though it was a bit disorganized, it was a huge success. This led to a series of successful, well attended races every year until 1916. They were also run in Savannah (Georgia), Milwaukee (Wisconsin), and Santa Monica and San Francisco (California).

The Vanderbilt Cup races returned off and on, in various forms, in 1936 and 1937, in 1960, and from 1996 to 2007 but these were nothing like those early pioneer days.

My friend Gary Faules of California's Best, Inc. has written extensively on the Vanderbilt Cup races; check out his great stories:
http://thegarageblog.com/garage/?s=Vanderbilt

Enjoy!