Cruising 101 & Shiftin Gears

CRUISING 101

Hi Gang:

Well, once again, we’re at the beginning of a cruising season. It may even be with groups of people under tents at events without a mask — eating and socializing like we used to do. But we will have to wait and see. Or should I say hope?

Looking forward to some local events: Mr. Bill’s weekly on Wednesday nights at Hammonton, N.J.; Mighty Joe’s Cruise Nights on Mondays at Shamong, N.J); Nifty 50’s every third Wednesday at Turnersville, N.J.; Lapp’s Dairy Bar every second Wednesday at Carney’s Point, N.J.. And, of course, The Cruise Down Memory Lane at Vineland, N.J. on June 11th.

A few tips for those lucky people in charge of an event: 1. Listen to any comment — good or bad 2. Have cool water available 3. Handicap parking would be nice, plus enough parking without needing a shuttle 4. Provide a day-of-event phone number for those without GPS and those needing last-minute information.

It’s unfortunate Cruising Magazine was not able to host our annual Interclub Meeting this year. But it just wasn’t feasible due to COVID. That said, please get your event information to us ASAP. You can submit it online at CruisingMagazine.net.

I’m looking forward to the return of many older events sidelined last year. Events that were held had a lower attendance, but hopefully that will improve this year. Time will tell.

If questions arise, give me a call or a text. I don’t know that Deb or I can help, but we will try.

See you at the events,

Larry Lazareff

Cell: 856-297-5012 before 8pm • larrylazareff@gmail.com

For those who need to send me information, please forward to:

Larry Lazareff 1920 S. Delsea Dr. Unit #6 Vineland, NJ 08360

SHIFTIN’GEARS

By Ben Notaro • red63vetnj@comcast.net

Many of us who grew up in the days before television expanded into cable networks were mostly limited to three channels. That meant each network had certain shows that came on each week and each had its own “cult” following.

A major genre of those early days of television was the detective show. Each private eye was a distinctive personality and often was associated with a special automobile. As a matter of fact, some of our fellow cruisers have gone to great lengths to keep these special rides alive today with tribute cars of the TV stars.

So, yours truly decided to do some detective work of my own and research some of the cars that became as important to the TV shows as the stars themselves. Here is a list of some of the cars I remember as the one-off rides of television detectives:

• The Rockford Files

Car of choice: Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. James Garner was a cool Jim Rockford

• Columbo

Car of choice: 1959 Peugeot 403 Cabriolet. Peter Falk played the ramshackle Lt. Columbo

• Starsky and Hutch

Car of choice: 1976 Ford Gran Torino. David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser were two casual cops. David Starsky and Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson seen in a red ride with a big white stripe.

• Magnum P.I.

Car of choice: 1984 Ferrari 308 GTS. Tom Selleck was a cool private eye named Thomas Magnum solving cases in Hawaii.

• Miami Vice

Car of choice: 1986 Ferrari Testarossa. Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas (aka Crockett and Tubbs) solved crimes in Miami in a very Miami-type ride.

• Hawaii 5-O

Car of choice: 1964-68 Mercury Marauder. Jack Lord is a no nonsense Steve McGarrett and drove a no nonsense Merc….”Book him Danno”

There were many more TV cop shows where cars have been featured as well as held an identifying role. As they would say on Adam-12…..signing out. Department of Cruises: Lots of events in 2022. Try to avoid conflicting dates. Department of Defense: Don’t sit on de fence — get out and cruise. Department of Business: Support businesses that support the hobby.