Gary Peccarelli:
CLASS OF 1970
Orange High SchoolClass of 1970
Orange, NJ
Nutley High SchoolClass of 1970
Nutley, NJ
St. John SchoolClass of 1966
Orange, NJ
St. Joseph SchoolClass of 1966
East orange, NJ
Gary's Story
Life
Hello to all my clasmates and friends that check out my page. I still love motor vehicles, have my own Motorcycle Shop, been married for over 30 years, have 2 great son, Gary & Nick. I love doing things with the 3 of them. I can usually be found at a local Moto Cross track with my younger son Nick on the weekends. I enjoy going to Cruise Night on my free time and just hanging out with friends and their cars. Really, I am just an 18 year old trapped in and old body, aren't we all? Youth is really wasted on the young, if I only knew then what I know now, I probably would not have changed a thing. I have finally found some time to working on one of my many projects vehicles, I finished my restoration of my numbers matching 73 Z/28 - RS Camaro. Now I can get to go to the Cruise Night in it. Are any old friends still into cars? LIFE IS GOOD!!! KEEP IN TOUCH!!! Gary
School
Going to as many schools as I have gone to really made me a well adjusted person. I started my schooling at Saint Joe's in East Orange. I only lasted till halfway threw 4th grade when my Father finally had enough with the Nuns there, from there I went to St John's in Ornge which was quite a change to be isolated from the girls and now having Brothers instead, I really didn't like it much, but who was I to say anything. After Graduating 8th grade I went off to Seton Hall Prep for my Freshman year. After both my Parents passing I was unable to continue in Seton Hall and went to Orange High for my Sophmore year and half of Junuior year, talk about culture shock. With all the racial unrest at the time and school not being a learning institution, I move to Nutley High to complete my schooling, another culture shock.
Each school I went to was like starting all over again, making new friends, figuring out who was cool or not and deciding who to hang out with. In the end I made some very special friend from each school I attended.
Even though I went to N.H.S. for only a year and a half I made some life time friends and it is good to reconnect with them. Never forget hanging out at Brookdale Park, checking out all the girls and waxing my car. Those were two of my favorite pass times and I still like doing them now, even though you can't hang out in the park anymore. Those were the days, everybody had a cool ride, no worries, gas was 30 cents and you could get a dozen White Castles for a buck and a half! WOW! TAKE ME BACK!
Work!
Always having a passion for motor vehicles, I worked on cars as a hobby and decicde to go into a mechanical feild. WIth the help of a good friend, Frankie Morterelli he got me involved in working on his motorcycle. That was the beginning of a new career. After...Expand for more
NHS me and Frankie were going to go to National Technical Institute in Colledge Park Maryland to further or motorcycle mechanical skills. Unfortuneetly I ended up going by myself as Frakie Decided to stay in Nutley to help his Dad at the Sunoco Station in Belleville.
After completing my education, I came home and looked for a work as a mechanic at a motorcycle shop. I started to work at N.J. Cycle Specialties in Fairfield for a short while to move on to Little Car Company in Montclair. They were a Benelli Distributor and also specialized in VW repairs. It was a neat place to work at because they worked on cars and motorcycles. While there I met a very interesting co-worker named Archie that has given me some life time work ethics that I still follow today. He was one of the most meticulous mechanics I had ever come across and I am glad he took me under his wing and showed me the way. I often thing of him, he was a great mentor. From there I moved on to East Coast Cycle down in Unuion, I really liked working there because it was a high volume bicycle and motorcycle shop. I can still remember Christmas there, we would sell over 1000 bicycles from Thangsgiving till Christmas. Talk about crazy, I wish we had that business now. I felt I needed a chance and the managment at East Coast wasn't the greatest after my old boss left, so I decide to help my old boss with his new store in Montclaire, Diamond Cycle for a while, then one day I took a ride to Kawasaki Sport Center in Hawthorne and had a lengthy discussion with the parts guys. The realized that I was very noligable when it came to motorcycles and asked me if I would like to work there, so now that my old boss was all setup I decided to take this new job. I worked there for 5 years to find out that they were going to close the shop down. This I saw as the perfect oppurtunity to have my own business. After talking with the owner I decided rather than close the store that I would become a partner with him and move to a new location, that is when I moved to our current location in Pompton plains back in 1982. I have been there ever since and with the help of my two sons, Gary and Nick, we have managed to survive through thick and thin. With the economy now I am sure it is pretty thin for anybody that is in there own business. It is a time to pull in the belt and work harder and be more creative than ever. Good luck to all the small businedd owners of the world, it is going to be a ruff ride till this economy shakes out. In closing, if any of my Classmates want a great deal on a Kawasaki or Yamaha motorcycle or ATV come in and see me and my sons, Gary & Nick, at Kawasaki Yamaha Sport Center in Pompton Plains,NJ.
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