Paul and June Ferreira have lived in the Bay Area for almost all their lives. That is really true for Paul who grew up in east Oakland and attended Fremont High School. His love was then and still is cars and circle track racing. When he was just a young

kid he would hang around his neighbor, who owned and raced what was called a track roadster, usually a Ford Model A. Paul would clean and polish the car and that would get him into the races.

Cars have been the central interest for Paul most of his life. At age 13 he bought his first car, a 1922 Dodge Touring for $7.50, it ran and was in pretty good shape and since he couldn’t drive it he and his friends used to play in it parked in the back yard. He had to get rid of it after 8 months and sold it for $1.50. By 15 he had bought a ’34 Ford, which he and his buddy worked on all the time. Eventually they gave up trying to get it to run and junked it out, selling the motor for $7.50. As time went on he acquired better and better cars.

By the time he was in High School and had a drivers license he would hang around Gordon’s Drive In with the rest of the kids, showing off their cars. He laughs about welding 2 more carburetors on his ’36 Chev so it looked like it had triple carbs, but only the center one really worked.

His main car in High School was a ’41 Hudson that he customized with taillights and body modifications.

Paul went to work for the Royal Crown Bottling Company to support his cars, and after 6 years he was drafted into the Army during the Berlin crisis. In 1962 he was discharged from the Army and he then went to work at the Canada Dry Bottling Company in Berkeley. He was there for 18 years, and is now almost totally deaf from hearing all the bottles clanging.

It was at the Canada Dry plant that he met his first wife. They were married for 26 years and raised a daughter in addition to her 2 boys. The plant shut down and Paul went to work for the Chabot College Maintenance Department for 15 years before retiring.

Paul met his second wife June, while working at Chabot, he met her at a dance and found out she had a Model A. Their first date was to a swap meet at the Pleasanton Fair Grounds and that was the beginning of a long romance. He had a ’31 Ford Roadster with a Chevy engine that he had built, and they drove it to the 2000 Reno Hot August Nights. It was then that they took the opportunity to get married. He laughs about being strongly pushed by a bunch of hot rodders who were shouting encouragement.

Paul had always wanted to be a race car driver, but his age got ahead of the opportunity, and so when the vintage car races came along he got involved. He has completely restored a 1936 Midget with a Ford 60 V8. About 6 months ago he bought an off scale vintage midget that is his latest restoration project. This car has a fuel injected Chevy II engine.

The drivers are not really supposed to race, because the intent is to show off the nostalgia of old cars. He admits that there is a little racing that goes on anyway, because you can’t let another car pass you.

Since retiring in 2000 Paul spends most of his time out in the garage working on the cars. He sold the ’37 Buick 4dr Fastback, after owning it for 30 years, because he needed the space for the latest race car. His ’51 Ford PU is his tow vehicle and he has had it for 50 years now. He has chopped the top 4 inches, installed 4 engines and painted it 3 times over the years.

After her parents moved from Oklahoma in 1942, so her father could work in the shipyards, June grew up in San Pablo. She went to school at Richmond High. Her first husband was a policeman in San Pablo, and unfortunately he was ambushed and killed in the line of duty in 1977. They had 2 boys she then raised. She worked as a Real Estate Agent until 1990, when she decided that she needed a steady paycheck. She then got into marketing.

June became involved with the International Order of Odd Fellows through Rebecca, the woman’s branch. Her father had been a 40 year member and she wanted to do something with him and understand how he felt.

She completely restored a ’30 Ford Model A Coupe that her husband had started before he was killed. She finished the job as a tribute to him and still has the car.

Together she and Paul spend a lot of time with the Vintage Car Racing. June is Paul’s pit crew and support team. They belong to the Acorn A’s Club, that being the only club other than CHVA for them.

It was about 20 years ago that Don Howell introduced Paul to CHVA and the Redwood Region. They both agree that the Redwood Region is a wonderful group of friendly people, they wish they could join in on more of the activities.

Published in AAN May-June, 2007