Welcome to the Meadowlands Street Rods Home Page. We are a small club dedicated to support and enjoy street rods. Our club was created in 1984. We live in Northern New Jersey. We have no by-laws and only a note taker and money keeper. No dues but we have a 50/50 which helps to pay for a new tent, etc. Being a small club we have a meeting each month at a members home and we always include our wifes. They make the desserts!
Our club has enjoyed the Lead East event for the past 24 years and we offer a Rod Repair Shop to anyone who attends this event. Since this is not only a Street Rod event, we work on cars newer then 1948. The satisfaction of helping a stranded car owner back on the road is a pleasure to us. We've seen many repairs that were extremely dangerous. Broken steering arms, leaking gas tanks, broken electrical wires. That's what we're there for, to help anyone in need. If you ever attend Lead East, stop by our tent and say Hi.
We also support the National Street Rod Association. Our member, Dennis Dahlinger, is the Northern New Jersey State Safety Inspector for the past 28 years. Included on his team of inspectors are many members of our club. We do an average of 150 cars per year. There is a great deal of satisfaction inspecting street rods. We all agree safety is our #1 concern, and what better way to help then to check out our cars to ensure everything is ok.
Being such a close and family oriented club, we took on a major restoration project for a local hot rodder. Maybe you've heard of Andy Kassa, Passaic, NJ. He is the owner of a well known 1932 Ford street rod. His 32 was one of the leading show cars in the country from the early 50's to the early 60's. It had many names, "Jersey Jem, The Ruby Rod, The Kassa Coupe, The Dream Boat, and last known as the Cyclopes". In 1963, While in California, Andy had George Barris's shop make an unusual one head light front nose grille housing and also create a unique tail light assembly. If you have any old magazines, "Car Kraft, Rod & Custom, Speed & Style, Rod Builder & Customizer, Hot Rod, or even Life", to mention a few, you probably have a picture of Andys 32. It was just in a 1996 issue of Rodders Journal. These folks heard what we were doing and wrote a great story. We hope to have an updtated article in Rodders Journal soon.
In 1964, Andy decided it was time to put it away. He has owned the 32 since 1948 and is still the proud owner. Many years of storage took its toll on the car. Paint was ruined, engine needed rebuilding, and lots of chrome needed cleaning and replating. All we asked of Andy was that he pitch in on some expenses and we do all the work. After 15 months, working only on Friday nights, the 32 was done. We had a great time! Many nights, we would just sit and look at the car and tell stories of how we remembered the car as kids. We kept the car as it was. The interior was still in great shape. No changes to its looks other then a different color. It's now Vipor Red. We only chromed a few pieces, as plating can empty your pockets real quick. Only changes we made were for safety. Fresh wires, electrical and fuel shut offs, and improved body supports.
We took the car to Lead East in 1996 and the NSRA Nats East, York, Pa. in 1997. It was greatly appreciated by those who remembered it. If you ever see Andys 32, you will probably see one of us. It's become part of our family. Thanks Andy.....