Roy D. Chapin driving Oldsmobile automobile

View of Roy D. Chapin, president of the Hudson Motor Car Company, driving an Oldsmobile car. Handwritten on back: "Biography--Chapin, Roy." Typed on back: "Many of America's leading motor car manufacturers began their careers as mechanics and test-drivers. An exception was the late Roy D. Chapin, who got his start with Oldsmobile at the turn of the century as a photographer. Ind addition, he spent from eight to ten hours a day filing castings by hand. He loved the work, and because of his diligence and enthusiasm, attracted the attention of R.E. Olds, founder and president of the comapny. When asked by the latter if he would like to drive from Detroit to New York, young Chapin leaped at the chance. He is shown here with the 1902 Oldsmobile car in which he made the trip, the first of its king up to that time. It was extremely arduous and required nine days to complete. On his way down Fifth Avenue the Runabout skidded into the curb, damaging one of the wire wheels, in spite of which he made his haven at the hotel where Mr. Olds was anxiously waiting. The doorman would not admit the young man in greasy garments, and Chapin had to find his way around the building and sneak in unobserved through the servants' entrance to find his employer. How times change! This same hotel now caters whole-heartedly to personnel of this vast automobile industry. In his later years Chapin became of America's most prominent business figures. He organized the Hudson Motor Car Company and was Secretary of Commerce in the Hoover cabinet."