I used to ride on this road with my dad when I was a kid living in Irvington. It was always fun to get out on the open road and travel at "turnpike" speeds in our 1955 Ford. I remember there used to be signs posted along the way that read "Speeders Lose Licenses". Not so much today. Thanks for the memories!
Yeah before the 1973 oil shock..I hitch hiked over it in the 1970s to Newport news Va and my Aunt's house from Massachusetts..some sections were 6 lanes each side?..
When the film talks about the service trucks requiring nearly everything an automobile needs, with the spare parts that are shown, it got me thinking of the quality improvements there's been with fan belts and radiator hoses over the years. Back when I first started motoring in the US a half-century ago, radiator hoses were good for around five years before failure. Broken fan belts used to litter the freeways I drove on. Nowadays, a radiator hose can last 15 years or more; and I can't recall the last time I saw a broken fan belt on the roadway.
I love watching these old films. My family (before and after I was born, in 1960) used to travel the NJ Turnpike going from Norfolk to New York and Connecticut to visit relatives. My parents would let me get on the drivers side back window and throw coins in the basket, or hand tolls to the collectors. Great memories!
I own a 1953 Plymouth myself. The fan belt is really easy to change. And adjusting the generator isn't that hard. Now lower rad hose is a different story. To change that the entire radiator needs to come out.
samedeepwater3 Service is still exactly like that on the NJTP. One of only two full service gas states left. I worked on the pike, you are required to wash the windshields, ask to check the oil, look for bad tires. The vans still go out for break downs. Only difference now is its Sunoco and they all have roofs over the gas pumps. You also get a lot of tips out their for providing full service.
What few people know is that Eisenhower patterned the U.S. Interstate system after the highway system Hitler had created in Germany. The latter helped move his troops, weapons and prisoners. When Eisenhower was in Germany during WWII, he was very impressed.
D. Garbato. Sorry this is wrong! The first modern Highway (Autobahn) build at 1926 in west Germany, between Köln and Bonn. The have all details at a modern Autobahn. The Demokratic Republic have a plan to build 2000km modern Autobahn in Germany. But the big depression 1929 stop this plan. Hitler hate the Autobahn and stop the idea ~1930. But 1933 as Hitler was "Reichskanzler" he rebout the program.
At around @16:30 into this film: What a marvelous time-capsule this is of what motoring life was like in the US back in the 1950s; when motorists were lavished with service. And notice that the traveling public back then always dressed up. Traveling back then meant you had to make yourself presentable with dressing to impress. Casual dress for traveling motorists was for campers, fishing, or hunters. Ah! For that guy waiting for roadside service with smoking a cigarette . . . typical smoking of a cigarette could take up to 10 minutes.
Oh how things have changed. Today you'd never hear a planning agency or department bragging about how MUCH something cost. Today people will often avoid the highways if they can because they're congested in many major cities. And not really related to the highway itself, but I chuckled when they mentioned that smoke might be a visibility issue in industrial areas, classic.
The southern 34 miles of the Turnpike is still in the original 2 lanes each way while the rest has been widened, the most recent, was between exits 6 and 9, and completed in late 2014. Wow, what a wonderful film, where did you ever find this?
Mitch Dakelman We look everywhere for things of quality Mitch! BTW are you the author of the book "Images of America: The New Jersey Turnpike"? It's marvelous. www.amazon.com/Images-America-The-Pennsylvania-Turnpike/dp/073853532X
+PeriscopeFilm That link is a actually to the Pennsylvania Turnpike book, which is apparently the one he wrote...neat little film here, and a reminder of what things looked like back in the day...
The turnpike is a major cash cow today. The authorities are being sued to the tune of $9 billion by trucking associations. They over charge tolls and redirect money for expenses not in their charter of purpose. Motorists are getting ripped off.
And that there was actual courtesy too. Now one has to hope that some a hole does`nt slam into you while they pass on the right and just miss your bumper.
NJ inspection stickers are a lot bigger than when I was a kid, and they moved from the passenger side to the driver's side. They now only test for emissions.
I remember when we were poor and our car wouldn’t pass inspection my mom would hand craft amazing looking inspection stickers that looked good at a glance from passerby police.
Don't forget the two most interesting aspects of the Jersey Turnpike: the bizarre smells and the huge volume of speeding tickets (which generated more than enough to pay for the special contingent of highway patrol). The speed limit was very low, and they'd nail you for going 1mph faster.
@Butch Jones I don't want to think about the cost of that ticket! The contrast with the Garden State Parkway was extreme - they apparently didn't care how fast you drove there. My personal top speed was on the Garden State, when was a teenager (in the early 70's). I was going 123, I think. The tires on the car were underinflated and they started to disintegrate, so I had to stop. This took quite a while in a 1971 Sedan De Ville, which was slightly larger than the Queen Mary. The car belonged to the father of my best friend, and my friend was annoyed because he had wanted to drive fast after me, and now couldn't. However, the next summer he found a deserted road on Grand Bahama Island, and got their 'island car' up to over 140, an event I wasn't present to see.
They typically allow you to average 75 without issue. Most cars average that speed out there anyway. I got pulled over doing 90, 8 years ago on there. He said if I had been doing 75 he would have left me alone.
I'm pretty sure the big Chrysler New Yorker that cruises by in the passing lane at 19:15 was an unmarked troop car. The NJSP began using Chryslers as unmarked patrol around 1951 or '52. By the mid to late 50s all the turnpike patrol cars were New Yorkers. I remember them being painted grey and we called them Grey Ghosts because of their speed. Also, the New Brunswick Administration building pictured in this film has been torn down. I drove past there today and it's just cement rubble now.
In 1962, a friend of mine who knew a trooper on the pike said they had one unmarked cordovan colored New Yorker that was fuel injected (mechanical of course).
Now they are all Sunoco (Sun Oil). The prices are changed once per week to some sort of calculated average of local gas prices. They can be a really good deal when the price of gas jumps significantly during the week, as the prices cannot change except for that one time per week.
@@jasonfullerton7763 Noy anymore. I used to work out there. It used to be every Thursday night. They raised it on a Tuesday mid day to stay above. That one isn't set in stone, I've seen them break that several times. Power of the oil companies.
Cities Service changed colors and names in the late 60's to Citgo, and was later sold to Venezuelan interests in the 1980's. This 1954 film predates the Interstate Highway Act by two years.
Yes they later became the symbol of Hugo Chavez. There was a huge neon Citgo sign just outside Boston's Fenway park for years. Guessing it went away when the company went to Venezuela
Service Plazas monopolized by Sunoco and HMS Host Foodservice, yet always a fun drive. Walt Whitman Roy Rogers overcooked their Roast Beef last week. Z-1000, No Turns. Take I-295 from Delaware Bridge to exit 7 Trenton/Bordentown to save a few bucks!
6:49 this shot of the Turnpike near exit 11 in Woodbridge is amazing. Only two lanes each direction with all that grass in between. If you look at it now on Google Earth, you'll see it's now 12 lanes across and completely paved over. The GSP overpass that is pictured is also now twice as wide.
Back in the late sixties and seventies I remember there was a Howard Johnson’s restaurant at practically every reststop. But apparently there weren’t any of those yet in the fifties...
I love the images of America books. In fact I'm a Burlington County NJ resident thank you lots for this upload I travel the Turnpike a lot. I have a book on the Garden State Parkway too and that is also operated by The Turnpike Authority.
I drove and rode the turnpike for years. I've traveled this whole country and no roads compare to it. Even in the worst weather it was always passable if only one lane. I rode from Exit 16 to exit 2 six days a week (later exit 5). The cost seems to be out of proportion today but it was very reasonable in the 1970s.
Robert Cuminale It was reasonable until about 2009, thats right around when tolls tripled and train fares tripled up here. Before that commuting was cheap in NJ
If only New Jersey were this pleasant to drive through today... though at least we don't have to worry about sitting on the side of the road hoping that Cities Service will come since you didn't have no mobile phones.
Great seeing the cars I love in daily service ! Many of those older cars built before the mid 50s were not designed to handle high speed hour after hour turnpike or interstate driving. Burned out bearings were often the result. Mercury came out with a model called the Turnpike Cruiser in 1957. Cars like it could run at 70+mph all day long and be as quiet inside as a funeral parlor on an off day😊
You know you're old when you remember manned tollbooths with the attendant handing you the toll ticket when you entered the turnpike, although I'm not old enough to remember the NJ turnpike with only four lanes.
I rode on the New Jersey Turnpike when I lived in Elwood,New Jersey. The first time I rode it was when my late father drove to New York City to visit his aunt & uncle. The second time was when I first visited Washington!DC. Today on the New Jersey Turnpike Sunoco is the one selling the gasoline. Howard zjohnson’s is gone.
Butch Jones If you were on it on May 10, 2020, it was Mother’s Day-it was much more crowded than its been with the lockdown, but not as crowded as it would’ve been on a non-pandemic Mother’s Day. I was on it, too.
I remember the late 1960's when they expanded to 12 lanes after exit 8A. Homes in Fords were moved to widen the turnpike where exchange 10 to 11 was. Exit 10 was for Rt 287 and exit 11 was for the GSP.
So much talent here is uncredited... such as who the narrator is, and who wrote the music, and what group performed the music. Perhaps, just maybe, that's stored in some old file cabinet somewhere... 🙂
Oilsmoke Jones But NJ is still the safest state for motor deaths and the cheapest on gasoline even though the attendants always pump it for you by law.
@@fairfaxcat1312 I'm afraid the days of New Jersey being cheapest on gas are long since over. There was a real cutie who worked over at the Walt Whitman Service Area for a while. She was way better looking than those "Pikettes."
I've actually given this some thought, just for the hell of it. Flying cars never made sense. A Piper Cub aircraft or even a small helicopter is essentially a flying car. There's nothing remotely convenient about it compared to an actual car if millions of people were commuting in such a device. Millions of people trying to commute in a "flying car" would never be practical. On the other hand, a smartphone is far more impressive than anything that was ever dreamed of back in the middle of the 20th century when the concept of flying cars captivated people. Imagine trying to explain the capabilities of a smartphone to someone in the middle of the 20th century. While conceptually they'd have no problem imagining a flying car, they almost certainly would be mind-blown by the description of a smartphone. So my point is, "the future" turned out even better than imagined, back in the day.
I had the pleasure to work for Howard Johnson's back in 1972-73, at the Molly Pitcher service plaza in Cranbury NJ. Back when folks had the time to sit down and enjoy a full meal. Marriott won the contract in Oct 1973 with the promise of better food - and that didn't happen. Nothing could beat the smell of fresh dinner rolls right out of the oven, along with fresh baked pies, and the famous HJ Ice Cream.
I am the co-author of IMAGES OF AMERICA: THE PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE, with Neal A. Schorr. The New Jersey Turnpike book was authored by NJ Turnpike staff although I loaned them several pictures for use in their book.
PeriscopeFilm Where ever you go in the northeast, there are tolls for the various parkways, turnpikes and bridges. Tolls never go away. They keep raising the prices. Its just another tax to deal with.
+Mitch Dakelman They got rid of the ones on the Parkways of New York (as well as the Connecticut Turnpike), except at the beaches and parks, but yeah, you're right about them raising the prices. I have a copy of that book, as well as the one on the New Jersey Turnpike. I only wish my Kindle Fire would let you zoom in on a lot of these images.
+DTD110865 I live in Wyoming. I often travel the I-80 out east for business. There are tolls on almost every stretch east of Chicago. It is a bit annoying but with the EZ Pass it's a breeze. Plus, toll highways are usually in better shape than toll-free ones. Just wish they would not raise both tolls and gas taxes at the same time.
The first commandant of the NJ State Troopers was Norman Schwartzkopf Sr. the generals father. He based the troopers uniforms on the Nazi SS uniforms. You can look it up...lol
In college some of us used faulty logic proving a theorem. Our professor compared our logic with "I want to go to New York but the New Jersey Turnpike is closed. Therefore I can't get to New York."
+Adam Guzman idk about removing tolls either... Isn't the whole interstate-style fund all highways & bridges by tax $$$ (with the budget, to a significant degree, made up by politicians who either have more than enough on their plate, don't care, or literally have to make EVERYTHING personal & about them on EVERY issue, etc.) If our nation's leaders of that era, including Eisenhower himself, realized how big a problem it'd be to CONTINUOUSLY fund the roads, we'd all probably have a whole lot more Parkways, Tollways & Turnpikes in the Pacific, Midwest (away from the Great Lakes) & the Deep South today!!!
+Robin Sattahip Well, if the Turnpike is de-tolled, then that'll probably increase NJ taxes. The NJ Transportation Trust Fund needs more money, and it needs to get weaned off its pernicious (and expensive) habit of excessively relying on loans. Right now, all of its money is on the verge of going to debt service, and sooner or later the fund might have to default if a solution is not found.
Robin Sattahip if there's one thing I've ever learned, it's that no toll road ever became a freeway. We still keep believing that's the way it will work though. Look at the Mass. Pike. They were supposed to get rid of tolls once the road was paid for. lol. They finally did get rid the toll booths last year and everything's electronic now. so now they can make even more money because they do not have to pay ungodly salaries to toll takers any longer. I guess the road is never really "paid for" is it.
Kentucky had COUNTLESS toll roads around 35-40 years ago. All the rural ones had tolls removed within the past 10-20 years due to Kentucky having a law stating that tolls have to be removed the very instant the construction costs are paid off. Hopefully the same applies, for Louisville commuters' sake, for the two brand new Ohio River Bridges (and a tunnel)...
For John -- There is a new Pennsylvania Turnpike book that you can buy direct from the Pennsylvania Turnpike's website, and thank you for you kind comments about the book Neal and I did. Stay tuned for more...
+Mitch Dakelman Our new Pennsylvania Turnpike, "THE GLORY YEARS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE" should be out before Xmas 2016. Neal submitted the manuscript and the photos to Arcadia on March 23, 2016.
@@gregorypeterman6216 Never owned a Honda car, but do own a Honda lawn tractor that was imported from Japan and it was built like a Cadillac, literally Its the Cadillac of lawn tractors, no other tractor foreign or Domestic comes close to that thing, of course you paid for that luxury, anout 6 grand in 1998 vs 1500 for a typical lawn tractor and if theirs one thing I know, nothing drives as smooth as Cadillac or Lincoln, especially down the Turnpike goin 75, especially the big boats that were on the road during that time period, the most spacious, comfortable cars ever built, with more than enough displacement too get them moving and with gas as low as it was back than, it didn't matter, ironically at the time those were the most expensive cars on the road in comparison to my Cadillac quality built Honda lawn tractor. However I've been the passenger in other people's imports goin down that highway and the comfort level is still nothing near what the big Domestic vehicle's offer, but back than, forget it, American cars were the king of the road and were luxury. We were at our strongest point after ww2. We built and used everything we owned, this crazy virus is a result of letting go of those times. We were far better off, much stronger and unified as a nation, than ever before. Were hopefully learning a big lesson from this mess, that we need to become self reliant again. We don't have any business relying on an a foreign country like China, who really doesn't care what happens to us. We need to wake up and start caring for ourselves again.
I've driven that turnpike many many many many times... 4 days a week driving from the Jersey shore to Manhattan... And if someone told me during those drives that it was a 'Triumph' in any way other than driving my blood pressure up, I'd side eye them.
NJ is a great place to live if you have: 1. Money 2. Patient 3. Love of Cops 4. Can deal with Corruption 5. Can deal with Toxic people 6. Can deal with Rudeness 7. Don't mind paying Tolls on roads 8. Like great food 9. Like Dunget Donuts 10. Tolerant Asian Indians on daily. 11. Pay very high Property Taxes. 12. Love Salami 13. Love the Medical correspondence 14. Love paying High car insurance 15. Love the Shore. 16. Love buy Spirits & Beer at same place. 17. Affordable internet. 18. Love Jazz & Classical 19. Love going to Big Apple 20. Impossible to get a Gun unless you're a criminal. Then this is the State for you.
Mitch, you and your PA Tpk. coauthor did a wonderful, splendid job with that book. And kudos to Arcadia's NJ Tpk. author(s) and their book too. I grew up in SE PA and grew up with those roads (not to mention the DuPont Parkway [another Images of America subject] and the JFK Memorial Hwy. :) ). The Arcadia books, whatever their subjects, are well worth reading if the subject resonates with someone or other.P.S. Periscope, I bookmarked this vid for future viewing when time permits.
+John Laszek We are finishing a new Pennsylvania Turnpike book for Arcadia, different format, and we will be publishing many newly discovered archival photos including the 1937 South Penn survey, original construction and the new construction happening in recent years on the Turnpike. Look for it by Christmas! Mitch
Are you out of your mind 1950s narrator? 95, the turnpike, 78, and 1-9, culminate in the 2 lane Newark Bay bridge. Yesterday someone crashed. I can’t describe to you how long it took me to get to Jersey city
I remember being on the N.J. Turnpike as a kid though the refinery areas outside N.Y.C. in the 1960s. The air quality was so acrid that we had to hold our noses for as long as we could. It was truly intolerable.
Clark Griswold I hear the taxes in Jersey are terrible. Real estate taxes are through the roof. I guess you have to look at the politicians who run New Jersey for God only knows how many years. It’s not much better here in Maryland.
It's a whole different world today. Everyone that watched this knows that people today wouldn't help other people in these situations and if they did it would take a lot longer with zero apologies.
Marshall Field's Evanston, Illinois store is shown at the 4:08 mark, in a shot looking east toward Lake Michigan. Of course, the store isn't accessible via the New Jersey Turnpike, but the filmmakers must have needed some stock footage to pad their "traffic congestion" sequence.
Wow, good catch. I went to Northwestern and would never have recognized that building as being the one at Church and Sherman, even though I walked by it many times. It wasn’t a Marshall Field by the time I started there in 1991.
No, the part about the flat tires was the dispatcher giving him another assignment after he got through with the fan belt. Meanwhile, notice that the car with the broken fan belt was a '53 Plymouth -- only a year old when this was filmed> Did fan belts really wear out that often back then?
@@MrHmg55 Yep. Even though people like to think that cars were "built to last" back then, there was a reason that they only had 5 digit odometers on them.
That 'heavy' traffic of the 1950's looks pretty tame today, eh?
Narrator: "Solving the problem of traffic congestion once and for all!"
"But, what about--"
Narrator: "ONCE AND FOR ALL!"
Has the turnpike got a super by-pass now, also tolled ?
So glad to hear that.
The golden age of automobiles. The future is bright! Classic promo film.
I used to ride on this road with my dad when I was a kid living in Irvington. It was always fun to get out on the open road and travel at "turnpike" speeds in our 1955 Ford. I remember there used to be signs posted along the way that read "Speeders Lose Licenses". Not so much today. Thanks for the memories!
Yeah before the 1973 oil shock..I hitch hiked over it in the 1970s to Newport news Va and my Aunt's house from Massachusetts..some sections were 6 lanes each side?..
When the film talks about the service trucks requiring nearly everything an automobile needs, with the spare parts that are shown, it got me thinking of the quality improvements there's been with fan belts and radiator hoses over the years.
Back when I first started motoring in the US a half-century ago, radiator hoses were good for around five years before failure. Broken fan belts used to litter the freeways I drove on.
Nowadays, a radiator hose can last 15 years or more; and I can't recall the last time I saw a broken fan belt on the roadway.
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come to look for America
Yes, great band
What song is that
Simon & Garfunkel. Yes covered it also
@@SFbank721 what song is that
Simon and Garfunkel - America
Man, the New Jersey state troopers seems so nice back in the 50s.
Good luck finding New Jersey state troopers who are that nice in 2019.
Challenge Excepted! I’ll be back in a couple of months.
a year later and @@stevenn9072 is still not back
@@godoftheinterwebz seems like it’s harder than he thought
There okay. Nicer than town cops in this state. I met a few off duty.
ah yes it was great getting arrested back then...good old days.
11:52 -- Dispatch: "Gas call, 86 South, '53 Pontiac..."
Driver: "Ok, flat tire, 91 North...."
Clearly government services haven't changed much since the '50s. 😂🤣
You need to listen again. It wasn't quite how you are presenting.
Welcome to the wonderful world of "script changes during production"
I love watching these old films. My family (before and after I was born, in 1960) used to travel the NJ Turnpike going from Norfolk to New York and Connecticut to visit relatives. My parents would let me get on the drivers side back window and throw coins in the basket, or hand tolls to the collectors. Great memories!
"You were warned about your fan belt buddy and you chose to ignore that good advice, now you'll get what's coming to ya..."
Ya,I chged one once what a pain adjusting it w the alternator bkt,
Did anyone else wonder...why did a '53 Plymouth need a new fan belt in 1953?
I own a 1953 Plymouth myself. The fan belt is really easy to change. And adjusting the generator isn't that hard. Now lower rad hose is a different story. To change that the entire radiator needs to come out.
@@jeffreybarna6543 - certainly NOT because it was made in China 🤪😂👊🏻🇺🇸🎯
I call that guy "The Asshole". The Asshole who wouldn't listen.
Brillant clear film footage of these great looking classic cars.
Back when cars had personalities! 👍
@@jpsned Exactly
@@marklittler784 🙂
wow such service back then how we have fallen in the pride and respect we had for each other back then.
samedeepwater3 Service is still exactly like that on the NJTP. One of only two full service gas states left. I worked on the pike, you are required to wash the windshields, ask to check the oil, look for bad tires. The vans still go out for break downs. Only difference now is its Sunoco and they all have roofs over the gas pumps. You also get a lot of tips out their for providing full service.
Kkk was going GREAT GUNS in the fifties also the c.i.a was propping up countless inhumane dictatorships !!!
What few people know is that Eisenhower patterned the U.S. Interstate system after the highway system Hitler had created in Germany. The latter helped move his troops, weapons and prisoners. When Eisenhower was in Germany during WWII, he was very impressed.
Germany's Autobahn enabled them to mobilize rapidly. Ours was to help evacuate the cities in a nuclear war. True.
@@sdlcman1 The Autobahn pre-dated Hitler's rise to power.
D. Garbato.
Sorry this is wrong!
The first modern Highway (Autobahn) build at 1926 in west Germany, between Köln and Bonn.
The have all details at a modern Autobahn.
The Demokratic Republic have a plan to build 2000km modern Autobahn in Germany.
But the big depression 1929 stop this plan.
Hitler hate the Autobahn and stop the idea ~1930.
But 1933 as Hitler was "Reichskanzler" he rebout the program.
Wow never know that
I own a 1953 Plymouth and it's interesting to see the world she comes from.
@Butch Jones my 53 Plymouth is the top trim Cranbrook. Short rear window club coupe.
@Butch Jones other than Facebook I'm not sure.
At around @16:30 into this film: What a marvelous time-capsule this is of what motoring life was like in the US back in the 1950s; when motorists were lavished with service.
And notice that the traveling public back then always dressed up. Traveling back then meant you had to make yourself presentable with dressing to impress. Casual dress for traveling motorists was for campers, fishing, or hunters.
Ah! For that guy waiting for roadside service with smoking a cigarette . . . typical smoking of a cigarette could take up to 10 minutes.
Oh how things have changed. Today you'd never hear a planning agency or department bragging about how MUCH something cost. Today people will often avoid the highways if they can because they're congested in many major cities. And not really related to the highway itself, but I chuckled when they mentioned that smoke might be a visibility issue in industrial areas, classic.
Industry in India and China highways now, not ours.
Was waiting for a kid to say, "Gee, that would be swell!"
Jon Stefanik Gee, that would be swell!
Gee, Thanks Mr. Wilson!
The southern 34 miles of the Turnpike is still in the original 2 lanes each way while the rest has been widened, the most recent, was between exits 6 and 9, and completed in late 2014. Wow, what a wonderful film, where did you ever find this?
Mitch Dakelman We look everywhere for things of quality Mitch! BTW are you the author of the book "Images of America: The New Jersey Turnpike"? It's marvelous. www.amazon.com/Images-America-The-Pennsylvania-Turnpike/dp/073853532X
+PeriscopeFilm That link is a actually to the Pennsylvania Turnpike book, which is apparently the one he wrote...neat little film here, and a reminder of what things looked like back in the day...
If i may ask how many cars ever got Clobbered In the Rear back in those days on the Turmpike?
The turnpike is a major cash cow today. The authorities are being sued to the tune of $9 billion by trucking associations. They over charge tolls and redirect money for expenses not in their charter of purpose. Motorists are getting ripped off.
This is really a gem, very well narrated film
They should have cited that guy for littering when he just threw his fan belt on the ground, not to mention the cigarette he threw on the ground.
I like the way the gentleman tipped their hats. It's a great gesture. I gots to get me a fedora!
As a lamb I found this to be mesmerizing.
+Upeedina Lamb I just wonder what ever happened to "pikettes"..
+Upeedina Lamb So cute.
Yeah, it wasn't so baaaaaad!
Back when when everybody dressed up to go for a drive.
And that there was actual courtesy too. Now one has to hope that some a hole does`nt slam into you while they pass on the right and just miss your bumper.
@@77Keith they used to have highway signs that said KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS. Nowadays many folks do not know its illegal to pass on the right.
People actually had respect for theirselves and others back in those days!
Kyle Fanning so you’re saying because I don’t want to put on a suit every time I drive, that I don’t have respect for myself?
My mom said you just did not go out, unless you were dressed up, hat, gloves, nice shoes, ironed clothes.....a totally different era.
i remember living in new jersey as a kid. i remember the big inspection stickers
NJ inspection stickers are a lot bigger than when I was a kid, and they moved from the passenger side to the driver's side. They now only test for emissions.
I remember when we were poor and our car wouldn’t pass inspection my mom would hand craft amazing looking inspection stickers that looked good at a glance from passerby police.
Don't forget the two most interesting aspects of the Jersey Turnpike: the bizarre smells and the huge volume of speeding tickets (which generated more than enough to pay for the special contingent of highway patrol). The speed limit was very low, and they'd nail you for going 1mph faster.
@Butch Jones I don't want to think about the cost of that ticket! The contrast with the Garden State Parkway was extreme - they apparently didn't care how fast you drove there. My personal top speed was on the Garden State, when was a teenager (in the early 70's). I was going 123, I think. The tires on the car were underinflated and they started to disintegrate, so I had to stop. This took quite a while in a 1971 Sedan De Ville, which was slightly larger than the Queen Mary. The car belonged to the father of my best friend, and my friend was annoyed because he had wanted to drive fast after me, and now couldn't. However, the next summer he found a deserted road on Grand Bahama Island, and got their 'island car' up to over 140, an event I wasn't present to see.
They typically allow you to average 75 without issue. Most cars average that speed out there anyway. I got pulled over doing 90, 8 years ago on there. He said if I had been doing 75 he would have left me alone.
I'm pretty sure the big Chrysler New Yorker that cruises by in the passing lane at 19:15 was an unmarked troop car. The NJSP began using Chryslers as unmarked patrol around 1951 or '52. By the mid to late 50s all the turnpike patrol cars were New Yorkers. I remember them being painted grey and we called them Grey Ghosts because of their speed. Also, the New Brunswick Administration building pictured in this film has been torn down. I drove past there today and it's just cement rubble now.
In 1962, a friend of mine who knew a trooper on the pike said they had one unmarked cordovan colored New Yorker that was fuel injected (mechanical of course).
I grew up just off exit 9; I hate to hear the old admin building has been torn down.
14:01- The Turnpike initially made a deal with Cities Service [which became "Citgo" in 1965] to provide gasoline at all of their rest stops.
I did not know that!! Thanks!!!
You're welcome. :)
Now they are all Sunoco (Sun Oil). The prices are changed once per week to some sort of calculated average of local gas prices. They can be a really good deal when the price of gas jumps significantly during the week, as the prices cannot change except for that one time per week.
@@jasonfullerton7763 Noy anymore. I used to work out there. It used to be every Thursday night. They raised it on a Tuesday mid day to stay above. That one isn't set in stone, I've seen them break that several times. Power of the oil companies.
Cities Service changed colors and names in the late 60's to Citgo, and was later sold to Venezuelan interests in the 1980's. This 1954 film predates the Interstate Highway Act by two years.
Yes they later became the symbol of Hugo Chavez. There was a huge neon Citgo sign just outside Boston's Fenway park for years. Guessing it went away when the company went to Venezuela
Cities Service became "Citgo" in 1965.
@@davestewart2067 It's still there, preserved as a landmark. Citgo no longer pays for it as an advertising vehicle.
1965
"We've changed into something with zoom. Watch our zoom we'll show you how...Cities Service is Citgo now."
Service Plazas monopolized by Sunoco and HMS Host Foodservice, yet always a fun drive. Walt Whitman Roy Rogers overcooked their Roast Beef last week. Z-1000, No Turns. Take I-295 from Delaware Bridge to exit 7 Trenton/Bordentown to save a few bucks!
They’ve made it a 12 lane highway on the northern portion and it still manages to get jammed during rush hr.
Clint Patac
Unbelievable.
People had respect for others back then. Now it's what I can do for me and no one else.
As they family says it's too dangerous to pull over for a broken down car on the road so why would anybody stop for them? Lol
@@flightforensics4523 That's good...😀
6:49 this shot of the Turnpike near exit 11 in Woodbridge is amazing. Only two lanes each direction with all that grass in between. If you look at it now on Google Earth, you'll see it's now 12 lanes across and completely paved over. The GSP overpass that is pictured is also now twice as wide.
Back in the late sixties and seventies I remember there was a Howard Johnson’s restaurant at practically every reststop. But apparently there weren’t any of those yet in the fifties...
It looked like a HOJO sign in the film.. yummy 🍨
14:17 apparently you are wrong about Ho Jo’s not being around in the 50’s!
I love these roadway videos.
Those bridges passing over the Turnpike at 5:05 are the Garden State Parkway and Woodbridge Ave.
johnorlitta Now their is a third bridge above those two.
That's Main St. (Woodbridge) on top, with the Garden State Parkway in the middle. And there is not a fourth layer to this stack.
There's a good selection of classic cars in this film ranging from Cadillacs to Fords.
More traffic than planned from day one. Why am I not surprised. The Massachusetts Turnpike video is a hoot too.
I love the images of America books. In fact I'm a Burlington County NJ resident thank you lots for this upload I travel the Turnpike a lot. I have a book on the Garden State Parkway too and that is also operated by The Turnpike Authority.
Timbucktoo Rock Now it is. The parkway used to be its own entity.
I want to look into a book on the Garden State Parkway now. I have a paperback copy of the one on the Turnpike.
Splendid video! Thank you very much for sharing.
I drove and rode the turnpike for years. I've traveled this whole country and no roads compare to it. Even in the worst weather it was always passable if only one lane. I rode from Exit 16 to exit 2 six days a week (later exit 5). The cost seems to be out of proportion today but it was very reasonable in the 1970s.
Robert Cuminale It was reasonable until about 2009, thats right around when tolls tripled and train fares tripled up here. Before that commuting was cheap in NJ
If only New Jersey were this pleasant to drive through today... though at least we don't have to worry about sitting on the side of the road hoping that Cities Service will come since you didn't have no mobile phones.
Those orange neon signs that said drive slow were used for such a long time, they were just recently removed and upgraded
Great seeing the cars I love in daily service ! Many of those older cars built before the mid 50s were not designed to handle high speed hour after hour turnpike or interstate driving. Burned out bearings were often the result. Mercury came out with a model called the Turnpike Cruiser in 1957. Cars like it could run at 70+mph all day long and be as quiet inside as a funeral parlor on an off day😊
10:50 Look at the shine on those boots. Pride.
You know you're old when you remember manned tollbooths with the attendant handing you the toll ticket when you entered the turnpike, although I'm not old enough to remember the NJ turnpike with only four lanes.
I remember manned booths up until not too long ago.
Wish you could still drive the turnpike on a holiday without delay, even some non holidays there are delays because of heavy traffic.
The New York state archives has a series on the NYS Thruway. Worth watching. Almost the same narrative.
The numbers he told... simply amazing.
I rode on the New Jersey Turnpike when I lived in Elwood,New Jersey. The first time I rode it was when my late father drove to New York City to visit his aunt & uncle. The second time was when I first visited Washington!DC. Today on the New Jersey Turnpike Sunoco is the one selling the gasoline. Howard zjohnson’s is gone.
Butch Jones If you were on it on May 10, 2020, it was Mother’s Day-it was much more crowded than its been with the lockdown, but not as crowded as it would’ve been on a non-pandemic Mother’s Day. I was on it, too.
I remember the late 1960's when they expanded to 12 lanes after exit 8A. Homes in Fords were moved to widen the turnpike where exchange 10 to 11 was. Exit 10 was for Rt 287 and exit 11 was for the GSP.
So much talent here is uncredited... such as who the narrator is, and who wrote the music, and what group performed the music. Perhaps, just maybe, that's stored in some old file cabinet somewhere... 🙂
Enjoyed this. Thanks!
Oldest trick in the book..the City Service guy cut the fan belt 1/2 way and followed in the truck..slick...but whatever happened to "pikettes"..???
YES! Same guys who would wipe the dipstick short and suggest a quart of oil, back when an attendant checked under your hood during a routine fill up!
That was called "short sticking" and if you were lucky they DIDN'T put in the quart of oil you paid for.
The 'Piketts' are now known as 'Lot Lizzards'
Oilsmoke Jones But NJ is still the safest state for motor deaths and the cheapest on gasoline even though the attendants always pump it for you by law.
@@fairfaxcat1312 I'm afraid the days of New Jersey being cheapest on gas are long since over.
There was a real cutie who worked over at the Walt Whitman Service Area for a while. She was way better looking than those "Pikettes."
I loved the Ford F-8 tractor trailer in the beginning. And the Trooper changing the speed limit from 60 to 35 due to weather conditions.
It's 2019 I thought we'd Live Like The Jetsons and would be all running around in flying cars I guess that didn't happen
I've actually given this some thought, just for the hell of it. Flying cars never made sense. A Piper Cub aircraft or even a small helicopter is essentially a flying car. There's nothing remotely convenient about it compared to an actual car if millions of people were commuting in such a device. Millions of people trying to commute in a "flying car" would never be practical. On the other hand, a smartphone is far more impressive than anything that was ever dreamed of back in the middle of the 20th century when the concept of flying cars captivated people. Imagine trying to explain the capabilities of a smartphone to someone in the middle of the 20th century. While conceptually they'd have no problem imagining a flying car, they almost certainly would be mind-blown by the description of a smartphone. So my point is, "the future" turned out even better than imagined, back in the day.
Lyle Barnard
Me too Brother. 🛸
Can you imagine your mom driving a flying car
@@tolfan4438 no my mother is in her grave that would be quite a trick if she could drive at all
I used to think the same thing but the way traffic is on the Turmpike there would probably be dogfights midair.
Howard Johnson's and Sunoco gas were major vendors on the NJ Turnpike.
I had the pleasure to work for Howard Johnson's back in 1972-73, at the Molly Pitcher service plaza in Cranbury NJ. Back when folks had the time to sit down and enjoy a full meal. Marriott won the contract in Oct 1973 with the promise of better food - and that didn't happen. Nothing could beat the smell of fresh dinner rolls right out of the oven, along with fresh baked pies, and the famous HJ Ice Cream.
I am the co-author of IMAGES OF AMERICA: THE PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE, with Neal A. Schorr. The New Jersey Turnpike book was authored by NJ Turnpike staff although I loaned them several pictures for use in their book.
Mitch Dakelman Writing books about the turnpikes sure must take its toll. Keep it up!
PeriscopeFilm Where ever you go in the northeast, there are tolls for the various parkways, turnpikes and bridges. Tolls never go away. They keep raising the prices. Its just another tax to deal with.
+Mitch Dakelman They got rid of the ones on the Parkways of New York (as well as the Connecticut Turnpike), except at the beaches and parks, but yeah, you're right about them raising the prices. I have a copy of that book, as well as the one on the New Jersey Turnpike. I only wish my Kindle Fire would let you zoom in on a lot of these images.
+DTD110865 I live in Wyoming. I often travel the I-80 out east for business. There are tolls on almost every stretch east of Chicago. It is a bit annoying but with the EZ Pass it's a breeze. Plus, toll highways are usually in better shape than toll-free ones. Just wish they would not raise both tolls and gas taxes at the same time.
S R Larson
Well, sure. You have the Indiana Tollway, the Ohio Turnpike until you reach Cleveland and the bridge over the Delaware Water Gap.
New Jersey troopers still put on the same uniforms 😆
The first commandant of the NJ State Troopers was Norman Schwartzkopf Sr. the generals father. He based the troopers uniforms on the Nazi SS uniforms. You can look it up...lol
@@georgesetzer5283 Wow
16:47 10 gallons of gas for $2.97! 🙂
In college some of us used faulty logic proving a theorem. Our professor compared our logic with "I want to go to New York but the New Jersey Turnpike is closed. Therefore I can't get to New York."
reminds me of when Linda Ronstadt called and they changed her Tire while her son played Spanish guitar in the backseat
Do you know if a similar video was made for the Garden State Parkway?
yes, th-cam.com/video/JosR-zLLXmE/w-d-xo.html
Jesus, I forgot the GW used to be single deck
NJ is already the highest tax state. and the turnpike is paid for. Isn't it about time to make it a freeway?
+Adam Guzman idk about removing tolls either... Isn't the whole interstate-style fund all highways & bridges by tax $$$ (with the budget, to a significant degree, made up by politicians who either have more than enough on their plate, don't care, or literally have to make EVERYTHING personal & about them on EVERY issue, etc.) If our nation's leaders of that era, including Eisenhower himself, realized how big a problem it'd be to CONTINUOUSLY fund the roads, we'd all probably have a whole lot more Parkways, Tollways & Turnpikes in the Pacific, Midwest (away from the Great Lakes) & the Deep South today!!!
+Robin Sattahip Well, if the Turnpike is de-tolled, then that'll probably increase NJ taxes. The NJ Transportation Trust Fund needs more money, and it needs to get weaned off its pernicious (and expensive) habit of excessively relying on loans. Right now, all of its money is on the verge of going to debt service, and sooner or later the fund might have to default if a solution is not found.
if the tolls are removed imagine how much can be saved by downsizing these toll agency
Robin Sattahip if there's one thing I've ever learned, it's that no toll road ever became a freeway. We still keep believing that's the way it will work though. Look at the Mass. Pike. They were supposed to get rid of tolls once the road was paid for. lol. They finally did get rid the toll booths last year and everything's electronic now. so now they can make even more money because they do not have to pay ungodly salaries to toll takers any longer. I guess the road is never really "paid for" is it.
Kentucky had COUNTLESS toll roads around 35-40 years ago. All the rural ones had tolls removed within the past 10-20 years due to Kentucky having a law stating that tolls have to be removed the very instant the construction costs are paid off.
Hopefully the same applies, for Louisville commuters' sake, for the two brand new Ohio River Bridges (and a tunnel)...
New Jersey: The highway state so you don't have to stay long. This is probably the greatest gift to the American people.
For John -- There is a new Pennsylvania Turnpike book that you can buy direct from the Pennsylvania Turnpike's website, and thank you for you kind comments about the book Neal and I did. Stay tuned for more...
+Mitch Dakelman Our new Pennsylvania Turnpike, "THE GLORY YEARS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE" should be out before Xmas 2016. Neal submitted the manuscript and the photos to Arcadia on March 23, 2016.
Its funny to see all those American built cars
You mean well built stylish American cars we took pride in without competing foreign cars, yea it was nice.
@@Mr_Tecumseh not as nice as a Honda, I remember.
@@gregorypeterman6216 Never owned a Honda car, but do own a Honda lawn tractor that was imported from Japan and it was built like a Cadillac, literally
Its the Cadillac of lawn tractors, no other tractor foreign or Domestic comes close to that thing, of course you paid for that luxury, anout 6 grand in 1998 vs 1500 for a typical lawn tractor and if theirs one thing I know, nothing drives as smooth as Cadillac or Lincoln, especially down the Turnpike goin 75, especially the big boats that were on the road during that time period, the most spacious, comfortable cars ever built, with more than enough displacement too get them moving and with gas as low as it was back than, it didn't matter, ironically at the time those were the most expensive cars on the road in comparison to my Cadillac quality built Honda lawn tractor.
However I've been the passenger in other people's imports goin down that highway and the comfort level is still nothing near what the big Domestic vehicle's offer, but back than, forget it, American cars were the king of the road and were luxury. We were at our strongest point after ww2. We built and used everything we owned, this crazy virus is a result of letting go of those times. We were far better off, much stronger and unified as a nation, than ever before. Were hopefully learning a big lesson from this mess, that we need to become self reliant again. We don't have any business relying on an a foreign country like China, who really doesn't care what happens to us. We need to wake up and start caring for ourselves again.
Miss your exit on the Jersey Turnpike, it can easily set you back an hour or more.
I've driven that turnpike many many many many times... 4 days a week driving from the Jersey shore to Manhattan... And if someone told me during those drives that it was a 'Triumph' in any way other than driving my blood pressure up, I'd side eye them.
NJ is a great place to live if you have:
1. Money
2. Patient
3. Love of Cops
4. Can deal with Corruption
5. Can deal with Toxic people
6. Can deal with Rudeness
7. Don't mind paying Tolls on roads
8. Like great food
9. Like Dunget Donuts
10. Tolerant Asian Indians on daily.
11. Pay very high Property Taxes.
12. Love Salami
13. Love the Medical correspondence
14. Love paying High car insurance
15. Love the Shore.
16. Love buy Spirits & Beer at same place.
17. Affordable internet.
18. Love Jazz & Classical
19. Love going to Big Apple
20. Impossible to get a Gun unless you're a criminal.
Then this is the State for you.
Mitch, you and your PA Tpk. coauthor did a wonderful, splendid job with that book. And kudos to Arcadia's NJ Tpk. author(s) and their book too. I grew up in SE PA and grew up with those roads (not to mention the DuPont Parkway [another Images of America subject] and the JFK Memorial Hwy. :) ). The Arcadia books, whatever their subjects, are well worth reading if the subject resonates with someone or other.P.S. Periscope, I bookmarked this vid for future viewing when time permits.
+John Laszek My coauthor on the Pa Turnpike is Neal Schorr, a wonderful guy and a good friend.
+John Laszek We are finishing a new Pennsylvania Turnpike book for Arcadia, different format, and we will be publishing many newly discovered archival photos including the 1937 South Penn survey, original construction and the new construction happening in recent years on the Turnpike. Look for it by Christmas! Mitch
Wow must have been a crazy experience breaking down before cell phones lol.
The view along much of the turnpike is pretty much all warehouses now.
Nice. I remember when we used to wear suits and ties and hats to drive our own families in our own car while on vacation. Just kidding. I don't.
my father always wore a suit and tie. ww2 generation
In the 60s and 70s grown men did not wear short pants in public, unless at beach or pool.
Are you out of your mind 1950s narrator?
95, the turnpike, 78, and 1-9, culminate in the 2 lane Newark Bay bridge. Yesterday someone crashed. I can’t describe to you how long it took me to get to Jersey city
Amazing
that was wild to see the Delaware Memorial with only one span.
I remember being on the N.J. Turnpike as a kid though the refinery areas outside N.Y.C. in the 1960s. The air quality was so acrid that we had to hold our noses for as long as we could. It was truly intolerable.
DCFunBud Still like that over their near exit 13, elizabeth. We say damn Elizabeth close your legs.
I couldn't smell it, but for years I was actually able to FEEL New Jersey because of those refineries.
I always say that’s the smell of money
I remember that, too.
New Jersey is the safest state and NJT is one of America’s safest roads.
@17:04----Has his head over radiator cap as he removes it....Then sticks his finger in to test....LMFAO!
It could of been worse, he could of put his dipstick in 🤪🤪🤪
@@pqrstzxerty1296 When men were men
Lamentably, one of our TH-cam commentators, indeed one “Pqrst Zxerty,” let loose with an unfortunate scatological reference.
Interesting 👍 love my state. So many bitter people with negative comments. Go move to Delaware if ya don't like it!
NJ's the best! 🙂
If only Sonny Corleone had an EZ-Pass.
I wish Wisconsin had a New Jersey Turnpike !
Tennessee has trucks like the ones in this film except they're yellow and bigger. It's great to have them cruising the freeways.
That was really interesting.
It's still a mess in 2019!
Clark Griswold
I hear the taxes in Jersey are terrible. Real estate taxes are through the roof. I guess you have to look at the politicians who run New Jersey for God only knows how many years.
It’s not much better here in Maryland.
It's a whole different world today. Everyone that watched this knows that people today wouldn't help other people in these situations and if they did it would take a lot longer with zero apologies.
New Jersey: The road sign and ominous train car state.
Roadside repair? You’ll never see that in NJ anymore!
Yup!
They have started it in Florida now. Called Road Rangers
They still do it in a limited way. I have AAA and they gave me fast service when my auto battery died,
and gas station attendants are mainly foreigners who barely speak english
Check out Fred Mertz with the cig at 14:41.
Originally released in 1954.
Marshall Field's Evanston, Illinois store is shown at the 4:08 mark, in a shot looking east toward Lake Michigan. Of course, the store isn't accessible via the New Jersey Turnpike, but the filmmakers must have needed some stock footage to pad their "traffic congestion" sequence.
Wow, good catch. I went to Northwestern and would never have recognized that building as being the one at Church and Sherman, even though I walked by it many times. It wasn’t a Marshall Field by the time I started there in 1991.
Great New Jersey history
.Exit. 14A.. Bayonne!
2:45 Prime location for a mafia body dumping. Don't forget the cannoli
Did he say that someone had a broke fan belt to the repair truck and they replied "flat tire ... OK". Man they have been messed up for a long time.
No, the part about the flat tires was the dispatcher giving him another assignment after he got through with the fan belt. Meanwhile, notice that the car with the broken fan belt was a '53 Plymouth -- only a year old when this was filmed> Did fan belts really wear out that often back then?
@@MrHmg55 Yep. Even though people like to think that cars were "built to last" back then, there was a reason that they only had 5 digit odometers on them.
We would always cross this road when we would go to New York...
He and his car are safe from the wear and tear of fighting traffic. Lol.
In the early days of the interstate highways, there were no gas stations at the exits.
Great video man. Do you have anything on the Lincoln Highway or Route 66?
I wish I had that narrators voice
try a glass of vodka on the rocks and a pack of cigs every day lol
carbonunit Right? Think it’s called a transatlantic accent. I wish I had it too 😂