Sal and Carol Riele
Sal bought his very first car at 16; he was working after school and bought a ’41 Chevy Club Coupe from his sister. It was 1950 and the first day of his senior year that he was driving his car up High Street when he spotted this cute blond walking with his old girl friend. He had to stop and give both of them a ride home. He and Carol have been together from that day on.
They got married in 1952, and Sal got drafted in 1953. He was sent to Germany after basic training as a mechanic in an armored medical company. He lucked out and became the CO’s jeep driver. Carol joined him in April 1954 and they left for home on Christmas Day of that same year, arriving in New York on New Year’s Day. It was a rough crossing made much worse for Carol because she was 3 months pregnant with their first child.
While in Germany they made good use of their free time touring by Volkswagen into Austria and France as well as Germany. It gave them the opportunity to see many parts of Europe.
After discharge from the Army they moved back to the Bay Area and with the GI Bill bought a brand new house in San Lorenzo. Here they raised their 3 children, 2 boys and a girl. Sal went back to work driving a truck for his cousin as a Teamster until he was able to go to work for a larger trucking company. He worked for PMT as a local driver until they closed up in 1987. Sal decided then that he could retire and he did. He still works a little driving a charter bus, but only when he feels like it and if it doesn’t interfere with their cruise plans or other activities.
Sal has a long history of owning interesting cars. While he still owned the ’41 Chevy he undertook the construction of a bucket T that then became his driver because he didn’t want to put the miles on the cherry ’41. After the Army he bought a ‘32 Ford Roadster all in parts and proceeded to create a drag racer. In the late 50’s he raced at the Lodi and Vacaville drag strips. It was in 1959 and with the arrival of their 3rd child that Carol decided that it was time to stop drag racing and Sal did.
His interest in cars didn’t stop with the end of drag racing. He bought a ’52 Ford and customized it by removing all the chrome and frenching the headlights and installing micro switches on the doors so that by pressing in the right spot with your knee the door would unlatch. Carol laughs about the fun they had trying to find the right spot to open the doors.
Carol also tells about having to share the bathtub with car engine parts. After all what could be a better place to wash engine components. Sal swears that it wasn’t the whole motor, but Carol insists that it sure looked like it. She laughs now at the memory of the 3 kids sharing the bathtub with car parts.
Over the years they had a lot of cars. Carol says that they always had nice cars. They had a ’48 Mercury Convertible that was stock and very clean and a ’34 Ford Pick-up with the exhaust pipes running up the back of the cab. They traded it for a ’48 Buick Convertible that proved to be a gas hog, even at 32 cents a gallon. He then picked up an Austin-Healy, in need of an engine re-build. It became his driver for about 7 years and led to buying a ’65 Mustang Convertible. Somewhere along the line they also owned a Triumph TR-3. Sal says that they have been partial to Ford products, but they both still long for the old ’41 Chev.
Working on their cars was just natural, Carol says that it never occurred to them to have somebody else do the work. Sal would put a couple of supports under the garage rafters and with a chain block pull the engines for repair. They both agree that it doesn’t seem right even now to have somebody else service their cars. Carol notes that the young people today seem to pay for everything to be done. It doesn’t seem to be part of the culture to-do-it-yourself now.
In 1987, just before the job went away and Sal retired they bought a new house out in Danville, they still have a 2 car garage and 5 cars. Sal has the use of friend’s 2-car garage, in exchange for a little handyman work. So the collector cars now are the ’36 Ford, ’56 Olds and the’69 Ford Galaxy. The ’36 Ford was bought in 1985 and was original, but in 1995, Sal decided it needed an update and installed all Mustang components including A/C, thus making it a very nice driver.
Sal is a member of the Danville Dukes, and it was Larry Bogel who introduced him to CHVA, Sal and Carol have been Redwood Region members since 2001. They both enjoy the fun and friendships made with CHVA, and do as many tours as possible when they are not on cruises and doing other retirement activities. When it comes to other activities Carol volunteers at the Kaiser hospital, and then it is the 6 grandchildren, plus taking care of Sal and what time is left over she uses for gardening.
Published in AAN September-October, 2007
