A funeral home full of classic cars
The fifth annual Gallaway & Crane Funeral Home Car Show hosted vintage cars from all over New Jersey on June 22 in Basking Ridge.
Like a street-sized time machine, vintage bodies spanning every decade since the 50s lined the curb. Car enthusiasts stood amid spotless paint jobs and modded engines in mutual admiration as their chrome-wheeled legacies overflowed from the parking lot behind Gallaway & Crane Funeral Home and onto South Finley Ave. — which had been closed to make space for the home’s annual car show in Basking Ridge, N.J., on Sunday, June 22nd.
Funeral Director Michael Badolato was just a kid when his dad starting taking him to see car shows, a tradition he continues with his daughter. Five years ago, he decided to have one for himself, and turnout has only grown ever since.
“I have a passion for cars,” said Badolato. “[Car guys] like to talk about how old something is. What engine. Make and model. If they built it themselves, if they use a shop.”
Competitor Kenny Sinnott’s father bought a Chevrolet Impala SS brand new back in 1965 at a dealership in Irvington, N.J. He drove it every day, stood on it to paint houses, stacking ladders on the roof, it was a real workhorse car, according to Sinnott.
“He left it in the backyard in 1975, and then in ‘781 I got my license and started hot rodding it,” said Sinnott. “It used to be a deep blue metallic, I painted it yellow. And ever since then, I’ve been making it faster and faster and crazier and crazier.”
“Hot Rodding" means modifying a car — i.e. swapping the engine, chopping the roof, re-painting it or otherwise, to make it faster, more personalized. For example, Sinnott’s car boasts a 700 horsepower big block motor, faster than triple that of an average SUV or sedan.
Howard Dreispan has been competing in shows for 35 years, the last 32 of which, have all been with the same former Mitsubishi mechanic. His 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX won a Judge’s Choice Award.
“It gives me such a great feeling,” said Dreispan. “I feel like I’m doing something right. It just warms my heart watching people’s expressions over something I made.”
Bryn Chalifoux, a competitor from Needham, used to drive an Mazda RX7, a car his mom brought brand new in 1984 and drove for 25 years. Then he drove it for 15 more. After about 40 years of New Jersey snowstorms, the salt ate through the bottom and soon mice made a home in it. So he bought the same car again.
“After I caught 10 mice in it, I put a sticker on my car that said so,” said Chalifoux. “That was at a cars and coffee that was judged and nobody voted for me and no one put pictures of my car on the website. That was an ‘84 Mazda RX7. This one’s an ‘83.”
Chalifoux commutes every day in it. It’s not a traditional show car. But he likes to enter this car because it’s nostalgic. People always have memories of owning one or seeing them around, they used to be everywhere back then, said Chalifoux, who also a Judge’s Choice award for the condition of his 1983 Mazda RX7.
Local artist Andrea Giordano entered her 1950s Ford Mercury; named “Blue Flame,” the car was her dad’s, an auto body professional who customized and painted it himself. Giordano said he drove it all over the country, even with her mom from New Jersey to California and back. He passed away from lung cancer in 1994.
“It sat in storage for a very long time and we had to decide what to do with it,” said Giordano. “We decided we would go with a restomod, which was complicated because it meant taking the car apart but keeping my dad’s work intact.”
A restomod treatment keeps the classic look but adds modern tech like bluetooth or AC, for example; Giordano says she kept her father’s interior, but replaced the brakes, upgraded the engine, and fitted custom wheels. “Blue Flame” received a Judges Choice Award.
Head Judge George Ahto competed in his first car show 10 years ago by accident, being in the right place at the right time driving a ‘73 Cadillac, and since then has gone on to win over 300 trophies. According to Ahto, he can’t stand seeing unfair losses and unorganized shows, which is why he began judging based on cleanliness. No exceptions. Spotless stuff only. It’s fair and it’s professional.
“We have categories,” said Ahto. “Corvettes are in a class of their own, they won’t compete against Mustangs because it’s a less expensive car. Then there are trucks. Some cars are modified, some aren’t. Then we do different decades: 50s 60s 70s 80s.”
The show began at 11 a.m. and was over by 3 p.m. Despite the rain that day, the streets stayed full. All proceeds were donated to Heartworks, a local Basking Ridge nonprofit supporting grieving families as they recover from loss.
According to Sinnott, the show that started it all for him was at Sun Tan Lake off Route 23 in Riverdale. This was the 80s, and for a North Jersey teen like him, there was no place he’d rather be. That was the first show where it all made sense, he said. There was a cement-lined floor pool that left bruises, nevertheless, it filled up every week. Rock and roll bands played day and night. Now there is a huge parking lot, a Target store, and a Home Depot.
i know that town!!!