History Who Remembers The Northeast Street Rod Org.(NESRO)

I was there in 1991. first rod run with my deuce. not even registered yet. NESRO show was in New Hampshire mountains that year at a ski lodge.

 

Electric City Timers were in Schenectady at that time. Their garage was off upper State Street.

 

Ahhh yes, NESRO. Ray, It's Frank Palmisano here and I'm the guy in the '30 grey primered Model A sedan that lost the pulley on the mass pike, turning a 4hr ride into a 9hr trip. At that time I was the rep. for Mass Street rods. I attended monthly meetings in Wallingford, I believe it was at Mickeys or Kevin's house. I faintly remember one or both worked for Purolater, before Total Performance. Anyway these names come to mind.:Fran Olson, Boston Area Roadsters, Doug Farley, Connecticut Street rods:, Dick Royer Vintage Tin Rhode Island; Tom Tulley, Long Island street rods;I think The guys name was Sampson from Downeast street rods from Maine.
It was at the Granite II in Kingston, NY the first weekend after Labor Day in !972,
At lot of work for alot of fun. We met with Dick Wells From NSRA and he had this guy with named Jerry Kugal ( hmmm seems I've heard that name latter on in life) Veron Walker drove his T sedan from Tennesee to give away one of his Radiators. All in all it was a great time back then. NESRO the First interstate Rod run in the country. Kingston attendance i believe it was 239 pre '48 rods. Ray the rumor is I'll see you at The Alltimers meet in Mass in August this year

 

I still have a NESRO glass mug from Sturbridge

 

Here's a couple pics from the run to Granit II in Kingston NY There is no date on the button and I thought it was in 1971 as I had been married in August of that year and the paint was still fresh on my 60 sedan delivery.
Anyway the pics were cut from Street Rod magazine and I re-photographed them so the quality isn't all that great.
1st pic is the header of the article.
2nd pic shows an overview of the parking lot taken from atop a dumpster.I know because I have almost the exact same picture that I took.In the foreground is Frank P(oleman)and myself and I believe acouple other members of the MSRA.The girl in the knitted cape is Mike Stevens wife Kathy.
3rd pic is Ed Bower's orange Model A I had striped that I think at the Hartford Autorama the year before.
4th pic is Mike Steven's orange 33 Ford sedan originally built by Walter Brooks.I rattlecan flamed the car just prior to the run.
5th pic is Dick Manley 's 32 Ford roadster originally built by Norm Wallace and now owned by Larry Hook.He drove home in the pouring rain on Sunday (4 1/2 hours)with no top!
6th photo is Walter Brooks 34 2 door sedan turned phaeton .The car still exists;I think Frank Manos(the guy who bought it from Walter)son has it now.
7th photo is Tony Salvaggio's T under the wrapping.He was driving home on Sunday when the top section of the windshield came loose and blew back in his face at about 60 mph!Luckily he managed to get the car stopped safely and sustained no serious injuries(I think he got a broken nose and some facial cuts).
Last photo is a pic of the button.
Hope I didn't bore everyone with the details but when I look at these pictures they bring back memories(mostly good ones).

 

You guys are making my brain dust sift around thinking about NESRO.

I remember Kingston NY, Sturbridge MA. Will pull out old box of Rod Run plaques/buttons then look thru my photo albums.

President of Rhode Island "Vintage Wheels" 74-82.

Chopped black 32 Ford sedan with blown 427 Chevy then a chopped/channelled 32 3 window highboy with 427 Chevy tunnel ram.

 

Any history on Shoreline Street Rods from back in the day?

 

Hi, Kevin,
I'm Pam DiNofrio, Dondi's ex wife. We speed many happy times at the different runs. Dondi has since passed away, and I'm trying to find some old stuff about those early days to give to the grand kids. I remember him going to meetings to help in the early set up of NESRA, or am I mistaken? Any info you remember or old pics would be greatly appreciate. Also do you remember Davey Jones? We still see each other in Florida.
Thanks

Boy does this bring back some great memories.....thanks


Pam Ballengee
[email protected]

 

I was the NESRO secretary for a number of years in the seventies . At the time, I belonged to Street Rods Ltd from the Springfield, MA area. I resigned my position in NESRO in '78 but continued to attend various events. I laid out two of the poker runs during the Sturbridge years.

Speaking of Sturbridge, the year Norm Grabowski attended, he missed the turn-off in Hartford and stayed on I-91 all the way to Northampton before he realized he was "lost". He and his bride turned the Henway around and were headed southbound near Mt Tom in Holyoke when the engine quit.

I got word of his predicament while I was in the registration room so I headed out there to see what I could do. I had a pretty good idea where he was broken down because I'd grown up out there so I headed out to Holyoke.

I made a U-turn in the median just north of the southbound I-91 rest area and headed south and found him on the shoulder. I hooked up the tow cable and pulled him the rest of the way up the grade and into the rest area.

It wasn't long before we figured out that the fuel pump in his 383 had gone south so I towed him 20 miles to the Friendlies Ice Cream parking lot on Riverdale St. in West Springfield where we made some phone calls.

Larry Larrivee came up with a source for a used pump (out of a junker at the shop he worked at) and we pulled it off and installed it in the Henway and Norm and Sandy were on their way.

I led him to Sturbridge then went home to Littleton.

I took the pump apart the next morning and found it full of dried rubber bits.

.I cleaned it and put it back together and it worked just fine.

I took it back to Norm later that day.

Oh, yea, what'd tow the Henway with? The 34, what else?

 

I was in North Jersey club in those days (and am still a member) and we belonged to NESRO for several years. During those years our club produced the Playboy Club event. I remember difficult times. One club boycotted the Playboy event for reasons that are surely long forgotten. And there were problems at events like driving golf carts into the lake and pouring motor oil into a grand piano. Our members who were active in NESRO and represented us at NESRO meetings were Pete VanIderstine, Ed Flanagan, Bill Pries, and Lenny Zaccaro. There may have been others. We dropped out of NESRO after several years. Pete is in CA now and still playing with 32 Fords. I keep in touch with him. Ed is stilll building rods and his cars are well known in the northeast. Lenny died many years ago.

 

If I recall, the boycott was due to North Jersey overriding NESRO committee votes and taking over the planning of the event. Not only did one club boycott the event altogether, many NESRO regulars from other clubs did so as well. As a show of support, so did I.

 

At the Brickman in '73



Sturbridge in '80

 

I have a picture of my coupe that year with plastic tarp on it somewhere. Will try and find it.

 

"oleman" would have enjoyed an earlier interstate rod run held in New Paltz, NY, in the fall of 1969. It attracted cars foom NJ, NY, CT, and possibly elsewhere. A contingent of our North Jersey cars were there and reported 70 to 80 rods - a huge number by the standards of the day.

 

i remember that car!

 

I remember NESRO Very well, having attended a couple of their shows in Lake George in '84-'85 with Friends Art DeSarbo (from USRA) (R.I.P.) Phil Wolfe and a few others. Although today at 53, I'm the youngster on this post. NESRO decided to pull out of Lake George, Once this was heard, Art and I went to the NESRO Meeting to confirm this, once confirmed, Albany Rods and Kustoms created the "Adirondack Nationals." I am an original member of ARK from back in the daze.

Lot's of great memories, lot's of work, lot's of ol' friends. Now I'm gonna have to dig out the old photos somewhere!

We do have a very active Adirondack Nationals Car Show Fan Page on Facebook, and are currently highlighting some photos from way back then.. . . well not as far back as NESRO, however by today's standards, they are nearly 30 years old. https://www.facebook.com/groups/88436817216/

JP

 

Just got caught up in fine memories!

 

The ducks were Fred Steele's doing and the ducks were in the bathtub, not the pool.

I towed the broken down Henway with Norm & Sandy off I-91 in Holyoke (he missed a turn and drove to Northampton and turned around) down to West Springfield where we replaced the fuel pump in the Henway and he made it to Sturbridge late that evening.

 

I had a fullfender roadster at the Sturbridge one, I bet 1980.. I only have one lousy polaroid pic taken of it there ......I built most of that car at the Tyrods club barn in Talcotville, CT.

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