Author Topic: Hackensack Car Dealerships  (Read 18999 times)

Offline johnny g

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Hackensack Car Dealerships
« on: August 21, 2011, 10:49:09 AM »
At one time we had almost all of the GM franchise dealers in Hackensack. Feldner Cadillac in Hackensack (where I started working in 1985).. Guy-Ross Chevrolet (also worked there).. Jack Schlein Buick on Main St....and Joseph's Oldsmobile (formerly Ratner Olds)..the only one we didn't have was Pontiac, and there was Sifford Pontiac-GMC right over the bridge in Bogota, still very close..



Offline BLeafe

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2011, 11:31:05 AM »
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Offline Editor

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2011, 12:29:25 PM »
While we are back on the subject, can we solve this mystery?

http://www.hackensacknow.org/index.php/topic,1225.msg3927.html#msg3927

Offline johnny g

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2011, 01:02:08 PM »
I think there was a place called Hackensack Suburban, either on Essex St or maybe State St that did conversion vans? I remember something by where Robin Pet Shop was by the S4 military store, and a place called Fun Truck'n, maybe it had something to do with one of those places..either a former or later name.

Offline Chief Oratam

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2011, 02:32:26 PM »
I remember Shea Chevrolet....on river st behind Roy Rogers and the bus transfer station....

then there was a Jeep dealer on polifly rd..almost across the street from 7-Up.....name slips me right now....

Offline Homer Jones

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2011, 02:52:57 PM »
You are correct there, Chief, about Shea Chevrolet. Back in the early 1980's the City cut Atlantic Street through from Main Street to River Street. The Street extended through what had been a Salvation Army store on Main Street and a two or three story building right next to it. After that the road cut through a big old metal building on Moore Street that at one time was the George Young hardware operation. On the other Side of Moore Street was the Shea Chevrolet property. Shea had sold it to Guy Ross before the City extended Atlantic Street through to River Street. Anybody remember a decrepid diner on the west side of Moore Street right behind the buildings that the City bought for Atlantic Street? It was torn down in the mid 70's.

The Jeep dealer on Polifly Road was Kalman Motors.

Offline johnny g

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2011, 02:55:48 PM »
The people who bought the franchise from Guy Ross Chevrolet moved it down to where Heritage Lincoln/Mercury was and is now Hackensack Chevrolet...i don't remember the Jeep dealer, must have been before my time..
« Last Edit: August 21, 2011, 02:58:31 PM by johnny g »

Offline Top of the Hill

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #7 on: August 22, 2011, 01:01:47 PM »
Good call there "Ol Homer". I remember Kalman Motors, but definitely had forgotten the name. They also had a lot across Marvin Ave. that was full of old Jeeps, trucks (bread van types), early Toyota FJ series, etc... I remember a lot of the old jeeps were from "Steve's Pizza". I don't know where they were located. We used to play in the trucks and pretend to be driving and such. We used to go into the dealer and collect road maps of different states as it was also a Gulf gas station. This was in the old days when maps were free and readily available. We used to "buy" sodas from the vending machine out front. We actually stole them because we used slugs we picked out of the dumpster at a vacuum cleaner manufacturer that used to be on S. Newman St.

Offline Skipx219

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2011, 02:40:51 PM »
Kalman Motors also sold GMC, my Grand Father bought a 1965 pick up truck there that I drove off the lot. The was also Gatti Motors on State St where the Hackensack Fire HQ now stands...I believe they sold De Soto or Studebaker. ON Main St between the old " Begen Evening Record " office & The Fox theater was a BMW dealer the had several cars & mostly Motorcycles. This was all in the early 1960's.

Offline Homer Jones

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #9 on: August 22, 2011, 03:04:56 PM »
The best thing that ever happened to the neighborhood was when Kalman closed. The one lot you refer to was more of a junk yard.

There was also an automobile dealership on the south side of Banta Place in the middle of the block.

Offline WarrenG

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #10 on: August 24, 2011, 07:36:19 PM »
Well, what about a Plymouth dealer?  I remember my parents bought a '60 Plymouth from a small dealership on (I think) Passaic St.  They sold Plymouths and maybe Chryslers and maybe DeSotos.  Was it called McGahey???

Offline Chief Oratam

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #11 on: September 03, 2011, 09:23:17 PM »
Anybody remember a decrepid diner on the west side of Moore Street right behind the buildings that the City bought for Atlantic Street? It was torn down in the mid 70's.

The Jeep dealer on Polifly Road was Kalman Motors.

Thanks Homer,....Kalman Motors it was....your right..... also to the point that it was like a junk yard....

I do remember that Diner...but not the name..(if I didn't take so many pills already i'd start taking Ginko ).....I seem to remember a few little decrepid diners around town..but not their names, At the bottom of essex street just east of the railrond tracks and before you get to Green st. across from The Banjo Bar, there was one.....at the top of essex where simple simon is...I remember that name ...because a friend Mike Plati owned it for a while and it's been discussed  here once or twice...that was the Mayflower....

Who could forget Charcol Corners....The Tri-Boro Diner....The Fairmont Diner.....The Trolley Stop....The Heritage....The Famous Rosie's Diner...even though in Little Ferry...The Bendix Diner...also Little Ferry, I believe, There was also a Stewarts Root Beer right there by The Bendix...

I guess I do remember a few of them......

Offline johnny g

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #12 on: September 04, 2011, 11:48:06 AM »
I remember one in SOUTH Hackensack, right by the post office on Huyler Street...i believe it was called the Rosebud Diner? anyone else know?

Offline Long Ago

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #13 on: April 25, 2016, 12:40:25 PM »
There was a huge pent-up demand for cars in the years right after World War II.  My dad was a veteran, and even with a veteran’s preference he was on a dealer’s waiting list for a few months before he finally gave up and bought a new car from a local gas station.  It was from a Tydol station located on S. Summit Ave. right off an exit ramp from Rte. 17, and he got to choose between a dark blue chevy and a powder blue buick.  He took the buick which we all liked until my Dad discovered he was only getting 6 miles per gallon with it.  He traded it in for an oldsmobile a couple of years later.

Speaking of oldsmobiles, there was a dealer in Hackensack named West Oldsmobile.  They used to sponsor baseball teams in Little League and Babe Ruth League during the early 1950s.

I remember that there were jeeps for sale from a dealer on the south end of Polifly Rd.  Perhaps it was Kalman Motors or an earlier version of it.  When I was growing up they used to sell surplus U.S. army jeeps for $100 each. 

The 1948 Tucker Torpedo was a futuristic rear engine car with many advanced features that unfortunately was never mass produced.  If it had been, there probably would have been a dealership in Hackensack.  One of the few models that were ever made was on display in Hackensack for a short period of time.  There was a lot of advertising for it, and there was a rumor at my school that it was a three-wheeled car.  When I found out that the rumor was false, I lost interest in seeing it.  The Tucker had a third headlight centrally located between the two regular headlights, and apparently that fact got garbled into meaning a third wheel instead.  Anyway, my Dad went to see it without me, but he said he couldn’t see much because of how many people there were at the showroom.

Offline Editor

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Re: Hackensack Car Dealerships
« Reply #14 on: April 25, 2016, 02:52:32 PM »
Reminds me of this story Jay Leno told:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a3535/4277863/


In 1964, when we bought our new Ford Galaxie, seatbelts were about to become mandatory. We went up to Shawsheen Motors, and my father asked, "How about seatbelts?"

The salesman said, "Seatbelts? Seatbelts? Hey Louie, we gotta race-car driver here. He's goin' to the Indianapolis 500. He wants seatbelts!" My father was so humiliated.


 

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