Right at the very edge of the precipice

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The story behind an extraordinary picture

We all know the striking image named ‘Lunch atop a Skyscraper’, don’t we? It has become a real classic ever since it was published for the first time in 1932. But how about the one here? Originally, when we saw it the first time, the only information with it was that the man on the photograph was a tourist, who had parked his car at the edge of the Grand Canyon, sometime in 1914.

That is until we found out more, quite a lot more. The man was not just any tourist, but one who had decided to undertake a journey to the bottom of the Grand Canyon - by automobile. That man turns out to be a Mister L. Wing of Los Angeles, who carried out the expedition with Mister O.K. Parker in a 22hp Metz roadster.

Parker wrote a report about the trip and noted about the photo spot: “There was a sheer wall at this point, making a clean drop of over two thousand feet, and the ledge projected so that we could run the car out to the extreme point, and make a photographic record of the Metz on the Canyon rim at El Tovar Point. It took a lot of grit to drive the car right towards that fearful plunge, but Mr Wing, who handled the wheel, had every confidence in the car and its control, and did not put on the breaks until the front wheels were right at the very edge of the precipice.”

Now, this was just the beginning, as they planned to drive their little roadster all the way down. Read the full story, lovely illustrated with more photographs, here.

Words by Jeroen Booij.

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