Vintage photos of cars in NJ

Greg Hatala/For NJ Advance Media

Vintage photos of cars in NJ

By and large, American auto manufacturing is associated with Detroit and surrounding towns in Michigan. As is often the case, New Jersey is short-changed. For decades, the Garden State was home to American auto manufacturing, turning out classics like the Mustang and Cadillac.

Only five years after the first Ford assembly line started in Highland Park, Michigan, and missing from most listings of New Jersey automaking sites, Ford operated an assembly building in Kearny from 1918 to 1930. According to hemmings.com, Henry Ford purchased a four -story building after World War I and built Model T’s there, “metal parts on one side of the building and wood parts on the other.”

In 1930, the Ford Motor Company Edgewater Assembly Plant opened. Located in Edgewater, of course, it replaced the Kearny location, which the company had outgrown. The factory closed in 1955.

The Ford plant known as Mahwah Assembly replaced the Edgewater plant. The factory began operations in 1955 and was closed in 1980. A total of 6 million vehicles were built in Mahwah.

In 1938, General Motors opened the Inland Fisher Guide Plant in the West Trenton section of Ewing Township. A LIFE Magazine article from 1951 notes that “the facility was initially part of the Ternstedt division of GM’s Fisher Body units and was used to construct auto parts such as body moldings, door handles and other interior components. During World War II, the facility was converted to build torpedo bombers for the United States Navy as part of GM’s Eastern Aircraft.” In 1961, the plant was the site of the first industrial robot used in the United States.

Linden Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory that operated from 1937 to 2005. During World War II, the plant was also used to produce fighter planes for the United States military. By the 1970s, the plant was producing luxury GM models including Buicks and Cadillacs; a Chevrolet Blazer was the last vehicle to leave the line on April 20, 2005.

Edison Assembly, also known as Metuchen Assembly, was a Ford manufacturing plant in Edison at 939 Route 1. The factory began operations in 1948 and was closed in 2004, and produced Fords arranging from the Mustang and Ranger to the Pinto. During its operation, it produced 6.9 million vehicles.

Here’s a gallery of vintage photos of cars in New Jersey. Click on the links in the final slide to see more vintage photos. And if you have vintage photos you’d like to see in our slide shows, send them in an email to [email protected].

Courtesy of Bob Baptista

Cars just about ready for shipment come off the production line at the General Motors Assembly Plant in Linden in this photo from the 1960s.

Courtesy of Bobby Cole Photo Archives

A photo taken during Boonton’s Centennial Parade in 1967; Sunny Sullivan is the young woman standing; what kind of hybrid vehicle that is, I can’t say.

Courtesy of William Garrett

This photo of William Garrett’s 1927 Model T Ford roadster pickup truck was taken in Plainfield in 1969. Garrett’s mother and niece joined him for the picture.

Courtesy of Old New Jersey

These unidentified folks paused for a photo before climbing into their Plymouth in Sussex in 1954.

Courtesy of West Jersey History

The smooth sand in Atlantic City was ideal for testing cars and trying for speed records more than a century ago; this was Matheson Racer Number 3 with Tom Cooper at the wheel in 1910.

Courtesy of Diana Janos

Darlene Lamberti is shown with her custom racing truck in Hackensack. Lamberti raced at drag strips around New Jersey in 1969 and 1970.

Courtesy of Cynthia Montes

Talk about a ‘home-built;’ Adolph Heuer of Columbia took a 350 V-8 motor and chassis in the 1960s and built this futuristic body out of lumber, masonite and plastic. At 20 feet long, it attracted attention, especially from the police the one time he took it on the road.

Courtesy of the Monmouth County Historical Society

Mechanics service a Chevrolet at the Tydol service station on Broad Street in Eatontown in this 1950s photo.

Courtesy of David Guetzlaff

“Cruising the circuit at Asbury, Eatontown drive-in, drag racing on Asbury Ave … yes, we did live the real American Graffiti.” Those are David Geutzlaff’s words, pictured here with his Studebaker Hawk in the 1960s.

Courtesy of Vintage Bergen County

Edward Kornhoff of Garfield, right, was the proud winner of this 1928 Pontiac sedan in a contest sponsored by the Garfield Guardian. Peter Regal, left, won a 1928 Ford sedan; andMrs. William Seifert won a $100 diamond ring.

Courtesy of Carrie Weber Hook

A first car is a first car; Joelle Hook with her first, a Barbie car in Lodi in 1988.

Courtesy of Beth Miller Schofield

Belford Miller Sr. posed with his Packard in this undated photo taken on Laurel Street in Bridgeton.

Courtesy of Janice Bunting

The husband drove a 1966 Ford Mustang; the wife, a 1971 AMC Gremlin. Here they are parked side-by-side in a driveway in Bridgeton in a photo from the early 1970s.

Courtesy of Pat Wild

Pat Wild’s husband Rob posed for a snapshot with his Corvette in Lodi in 1974.

Courtesy of John Mazurick

John Mazurick sent in this photo, identifying it as “My first car at Rahway High School, 1968.” A convertible Camaro with hood vents, racing stripes and Cragars; all teenage boys should be so fortunate.

Courtesy of the Caruso family

Boys horse around on a vintage Model T Ford in this photo taken in North Plainfield in the 1950s.

Courtesy of Kathy Franzoi

A Chevy gets a bath at the YMCA car wash in Vineland in 1960.

Courtesy of Sharon Cornell Keyes

Bob Calvert sits in his 1956 Chevy convertible in Bound Brook in this photo taken in 1964.

Courtesy of Bill Barnaskis

Bill Barnaskis said “The picture was taken on Valley Brook Avenue when the dumps were known as the dumps, before they became The Meadowlands.” From its given name, this vehicle apparently didn’t win street races too often.