Precariously perched Studebaker Six - Yosemite

On June 10, 1916 photographer Arthur Clarence Pillsbury broke the driving time record from Oakland to Yosemite in his new Studebaker Six, covering the distance via Big Oak Flat Road in less than nine hours. Three months later, to prove he could pass yet another difficult test, he navigated the Studebaker up to Glacier Point on a sunny mid-September morning. Surveying the approach to Overhanging Rock it was determined that a runway was necessary to pass over several boulders that barred the way. Carpenters working on the Desmond Glacier Point Hotel quickly agreed to erect a trestle, and the car was slowly edged outward. The rock measures roughly seven feet wide and fourteen feet long, and beneath falls blue space for 3240 feet. The driver stopped about a foot from the rock's end. Pillsbury's photo postcard recording the event shows Foster Curry at the wheel and Arthur Pillsbury himself straddling the hood. Pennants reading Yosemite and Studebaker 1916 are attached to the car. Facial expressions on the fourteen people around and in the automobile betray some degree of tension; but seven raised arms, some holding hats, succeed in giving a wave. Two of the men appear to be the helpful carpenters. Here is the resulting shot in all its glory! Two of the individuals featured are marked by a cross and on the reverse of the card is the note Can you see Reggie and me?

Balanced Glacier Overhanging Pillsbury Precarious Precariously Studebaker Viewpoint Yosemite

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