Brahms Chevrolet, Palisades Park NJ

[dtook]

Hello Jan , I started at Brahms Chevrolet as a parts delivery person and worked my way up to assistant manager & parts manager after the sudden death of the manager . We had a massive inventory of collision parts and an even more impressive high performance parts department . We were known as a high performance dealer in the tri state region. Guys would blow up cars at the track on the weekend and buy out our inventory on Monday morning . We always had bare blocks, partial blocks, ring & pinions, cams, cranks, etc. I could go on and on . We supplied parts to powerboat builders using Chevy big block engines and famous area engine builders. I do not recall our dealership ever sponsoring a race car of any kind .However , i do recall the area factory rep getting involved in our service department doing some engine swaps including on my cousin's 1967 Impala big block.

[Carleen]

Is your name Leon?

[dtook]

My name is David . I started working at Brahms Chevrolet in 1971 and left as parts manager in 1995 . Ownership issues and the changing landscape led to it being shuttered . Samual Brahms would not have been pleased with the end result. To this day I care for relationships with former customers who are successful builders in the hot rod / Corvette restoration world. Thank you to the person who put up the Brahms closeout ad. Memory lane indeed .

[Carleen]

Its my Camaro and its Brooklyn Hevys Brooklyn Wild Pumpkin.
My understand is that Heavy bought a 430 Can Am engine at Brahms Chevy.
It was never Sponsored by Brahms.

[Carleen]

a

[Carleen]

Its a COPO 9561 (possibly also a COPO 9511) RS Baldwin Motion SS427 Phase III
VIN 124379N580532
X22 M22

[Carleen]

David. I talked to a guy named Tom Lyon that worked at Brahms Chevrolet.

Robert Parnicky who was the manager for the parts department. He was instrumental in the dealership getting into hot rod parts. When I started there he was getting rid of all the high performance parts. After 1970, auto emission requirements and auto insurance pretty much killed the era. He use to carry L88 motors, L88 short blocks and aluminum heads.All big stuff. I remember one customer who raced speed boats, he own a steel fabrication company that manufactured storage vessels for oil, ect. He would get two 454 LS7's at a time. I recall the cost for both was about $5400 US.

The building is long gone, it was torn down in the 80's and now a strip of Korean stores. Robert Parnicky died around 1979 from a heart attack.
There was a mechanic who worked there who was big into racing in the 50's and 60's by the name of John Kelch. I just remembered another guy who worked there for a while. He had a 68 Z28 and a 58 Apache panel truck. It had flames painted on it and a 425 HP 409 along with a Muncie 4 speed. I forgot his name but I know where he use to live and I think he still lives there. He started at the dealership in the late 70's.

James Wallick, the CEO of the auto group that bought Brahms was a long time after. I would say late 70's. The owner of Brahms was Mr Brahms. I forget his first name. He had a partner named Ray Moriarty. They also ran an export division in NY called Brahmo. They exported a lot of cars and parts to the middle east. Mr Brahms was pretty old when I started working there. He sold the dealership, I forget the name and I think the group bought it from them. Mr Brahms died around that time.

The COPO office in Englewood was close by and was basically a stocking warehouse for all of GM. I was there many times picking up parts. GM also had a warehouse in Bloomfield, NJ that stocked more drive train parts. That's where L88's would have been stocked along with LS7's.I was there many times as well. Any machine work or modifications would probably been done in Patterson, NJ. Patterson was a big silk manufacturing town as well as a big industrial town that supplied a lot of material for the war effort. It was and I think still is has a lot of engine shops. I use to go to these shops supplying them with parts. J&J engine balancers, Dick Simonac and Papa Huff come to mind.

The Englewood warehouse is now a shopping and housing complex. Funny, I work in Englewood for the board of education

[fsc66]

Looks like they closed the doors end of Aug 81’. Bunch of ads from early 60’s through 80’

Paul