Automotive Time Travel

Motorist alert.

Expect traffic delays along Wyckoff Ave on Wednesdays this summer. 

Cause for the slowdown?    Enthusiastic rubber necking as a parade of classic and vintage cars head to the Wyckoff Cruisers weekly Cruise Night on Greenwood Ave.

Wyckoff resident Lou Badaracco and Scott Helliesen of Franklin Lakes are credited with creating the first Cruise Night. About 18 years ago, the childhood friends brought their Corvettes to the parking lot of Boulder Run and the Wyckoff Cruisers were established.  Badaracco, a member of the Class Glass Corvette Association and a NCRS National Master Level Corvette judge said “word of mouth” helped attract classic car owners in the area to bring their cars out for public inspection and admiration.

Congestion at Boulder Run moved Cruise Night to its current location. 

"I think people love to reminisce about the cars of their youth,” said Oakland resident Tom Byrnes, the man with the key to Cruise Night.  The Inserra Corporation gave Byrnes the key to the Greenwood Ave parking lot and has agreed to allow the gathering to continue after the new Shop Rite opens. 

“The town council, police and chamber of commerce have been very supportive to Cruise Night for many years,” said Byrnes.   

Traditionally seen as a “boy’s hobby,” the love of classic cars also has its share of female fans.  Mary Hayes of Allendale calls her 1978 MG her “Green Child.”   A proud parent for 32 years, Hayes bought the MG from her best friend. 

“It was a graduation gift and I was so jealous but eventually it became mine,” she chuckles.

 Car owners tend to park their vehicles in rows with like models.  But what happens when you introduce a 1932 Ford to a 1965 Corvette? For Bill and Kathleen Roberts the outcome is love. 

“A mutual friend introduced us at Cruise Night and we will be married three years this August,” smiles Bill Roberts.   

 Among the rows of cars are Mustangs, Cadillacs, Corvettes and Thunderbirds.  There is no age requirement to participate in Cruise Night. 

“We have cars from the early 1900s to brand new Ferraris," said Byrnes.

Some classic car enthusiasts are born, while others are made. “It was a rust bucket,” said John Flannery of Cresskill about the 1971 Buick GTS he drove to pick up Diane Mannie of Hawthorne for their date.  “I fell in love with that convertible,” said Mannie.  Lucky for Mannie her date enjoyed restoring cars.    The rust bucket is now sand piper beige and fully restored and Mannie is now a classic car enthusiast.   

Wyckoff residents Ricky and Loretta Fuhrman have seven cars which they alternate bringing to Cruise Night. “Tonight it is my 1955 Chevy," said Ricky Furhman. The pewter and white car was one of over 200 cars on display for the multi-generational crowd of attendees.

The love of antique cars is a three generation hobby for the Memmelaar family of Midland Park. Sisters Olivia age 8 and Ava age 5 ½ help their dad wax and polish the fenders of their 1909 Buick. The two-cylinder, 27-horsepower car does about 25-30 mph. 

“I love to drive the car to the grocery store; it is the fun is getting there,” offers John Memmelaar Jr.  Memmelaar learned about restoring cars from his dad who had his 1912 Model T on display.  “Olivia is definitely continuing our family tradition, “smiled Memmelaaar.

Cruise Night is held every Wednesday night weather permitting.  Cars begin arriving by 6 p.m. and stay until dark.  Cruise Night runs from April – October.

 For more information about area car shows visit www.njcarshow.com.