The only guy in our gang that didn't grmace in fear when inspection time came around was Dick "Mousey" Wilson who drove his dad's beautiful red 1946 Dodge convertible. The rest of us were holding our jalopies together with spit and baling wire. I remember my 1938 Ford business coupe had a bad muffler. Who had $12.00 for a new one? Solution? push a handful or more of steel wool into that gaping hole, flatten a tin can and strap it around the hole. When we went on that wheel alignment checker, we held our breath, because many of our relics were way out of line. How many of the visitors to this site remember that N.J. Inspection station on Prospect street near Pennington? I sure do. I dreaded the passing of 12 months when once again I and my buddys would have to go to another "physical" for our cars. 
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Thursday, November 12, 2009
1938: GETTING THAT INSPECTION STICKER
The only guy in our gang that didn't grmace in fear when inspection time came around was Dick "Mousey" Wilson who drove his dad's beautiful red 1946 Dodge convertible. The rest of us were holding our jalopies together with spit and baling wire. I remember my 1938 Ford business coupe had a bad muffler. Who had $12.00 for a new one? Solution? push a handful or more of steel wool into that gaping hole, flatten a tin can and strap it around the hole. When we went on that wheel alignment checker, we held our breath, because many of our relics were way out of line. How many of the visitors to this site remember that N.J. Inspection station on Prospect street near Pennington? I sure do. I dreaded the passing of 12 months when once again I and my buddys would have to go to another "physical" for our cars. 
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3 comments:
Tom:
I remember going thru that line with my Dad in the late 1930's. He had a 1930 Chev and the mechanical brakes failed. We took it to a lot with dirt, so when the brakes were applied you could see which wheels were not working correctly, to make the adjustments. Did not have the money to take it to a garage.
Hi Tom: Those inspections were a nightmare. I can't remember ever passing the first time around. The big problems with my cars were the headlights and brakes. On some of my older cars I had to keep trying it seems forever. It was a God Send when they stopped them. Regards, Ralph.
Hi Tom, I remember going there with my father in his 1937 Hudson
Terraplane. It was probably in the mid 40's when cars were getting pretty run down and parts wern't readily available. The clutch was slipping so badly that when we pulled into the depressions that aligned the car so the front end could be jacked up to check the front wheels, we couldn't get the car out again. Had to get a couple of the workers to help push the car out. However, since that wasn't one of the items on their list to check, we passed inspection.
Also, inspection in those days was every 6 months, not yearly. I have a replica of one of those stickers on the windshield (right hand side) of my 1949 Ford.
73
Bob WB2F
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