Township test-drives cruise night
BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer
As one walks down Amboy Avenue on July 29, near the Provident Bank just past the Stewart's, the sounds of old '50s and early '60s standbys punch through the summer air cooled by recent rains, providing a welcome break from the intense heat of previous days.

Clockwise from top: Ed Hesse, of Edison, shows off his 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV convertible at the Edison Cruise Night on Amboy Avenue, held July 28 in the historic Clara Barton section of town. A 1923 Ford gives people a long, hard stare. The event featured people from all over New Jersey showing off their classic and custom cars.

Parked along the road, lined up for nearly a quarter-mile, are numerous cars, diverse in size, shape, make and model, with the only commonality between them all is their stark contrast to the other vehicles that drive down the road and occasionally slow down a little so their drivers can get a better look. They were classic cars, like a Ford Model A, or a '59 Lincoln Continental Mark IV convertible.

"I pass kids riding a bicycle and they yell, 'Hey, nice car!' You get it from all ages, even older people who haven't seen these cars in years, like some [cars] are 30-something years old," said Roy Halvorsen of Lawrence Harbor, who, along with his wife Anne and many others, was participating in Cruise Night in Edison.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS GAETANO

The cruise night was organized as part of a larger effort to bring more interest and attention to the Amboy Avenue section of town, an effort spearheaded by the local Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP), which coordinates with residents, businesses and local organizations to revitalize the neighborhood and give the road, which intersects Route 1, a Main Street sort of feel.

This effort has been helped along with a half milliondollar grant from the state Department of Community Affairs that the township received late last year.

Jimmy Roach, a member of the Edison Light Cruisers, a local club that participates in cruise nights across the state, said that Sharon Gray, the NPP coordinator for the Amboy Avenue area, contacted him, stating that the NPP was looking to organize a cruise night in the area and asked for his assistance.

Joe Coyle, chairman of the NPP, said they had been looking to get a cruise night organized in the area for years, noting that such events are usually very popular.

"It's worked in other towns, and we definitely follow what's working. And we have a lot of car-goers just in this community ... and they just put the word out, and we have our own cruiser club right here who definitely put the word out, and it's nice to have your neighbors come out," said Coyle.

Roach said that from there, it was just a matter of contacting other car clubs in the area, finding a spot, acquiring insurance, and getting assistance from local businesses. He noted that the Philadelphia Pretzel Co., located almost right on top of the cruise night location, extended its business hours that night, anticipating more visitors from the number of people the event would draw.

Roach said that helping local businesses as well as contributing their own money to charities are part of what makes clubs like the Edison Light Cruisers such a positive impact on the community.

The cars come from the participants' private collections, and many of them have been restored and repaired by their owners — hard work and elbow grease erasing the more harmful effects that time can have on such a machine.

When asked how they became interested in classic cars, the answer for many was that they had always been into cars. A specific reason was rarely offered, as if they were asked how they got into their current eye color or height. For them, it just was.

"I grew up with it, my dad used to do it and kind of passed it on to me, and I kind of passed it on to my son — I have a 15-year-old kid building a '63 Falcon. It's in your blood. Good American steel. That's all I can say," said Rich Hart of South Amboy, president of the Central New Jersey Car Club Association.

According to Coyle, there will be cruise nights at the same location every month through October, on the last Tuesday of the month. Scheduled dates are Aug. 26, Sept. 30 and Oct. 28.