Not to be confused with Tony Martinez the early Bay Area Roaders member. Although they lived the same area and knew each other but were not related. Johnny pictured below standing next to my roadster was a neighbor in the '50s while I was growing up. He and his wife Bernice were like second parents to me. My family lived at 1070 84th ave in Oakland Ca. Their house was directly across the street. Map quest it. I did a while back and our little house was being well taken care of. Johnny was always busy with something. Carving sail boats from blocks of wood etc. In about 1960 I got my first car, a 47 Ford two door sedan. My parents had moved to the Oakland hills by then but I was still in touch with Johnny's son that we called John Lewis to tell them apart. He was about the same age as I. About the same time I wanted to put 15" rims on the front of my '47. John Lewis told me his dad had a pair that he had just taken off of the front of the '32 roadster he had just bought. That day I first saw the blue roadster below. An old drag roadster Johnny was making a street rod out of. I was told he paid $150 for it. I remember thinking wow that is a lot of money to pay for that old car. Yeah I was that stupid. I did buy the rims 15X3 1/2 or 4 " wide. Thirty some odd years later my wife and I had moved to San Leandro as did Johnny and Bernice. We still lived maybe a mile apart. Johnny (my second father) was the first person I wanted to show the roadster to that I had just got on the street. So my friend Al Fontes seated in my red roadster drove the mile to his house . That is the day I took the pictures below. Sadly Jonny and Bernice are gone now and I have lost touch with John Lewis. I heard John Lewis had moved to Arizona and was rebuilding auto transmissions there. Phoenix I think. I am sure John Lewis would have gotten the roadsters after his parents died. I don't think Johnny had ever finished the T. I would really like to find John Lewis Martinez/s again. He would be about 73 now as he was about a year older than I. I would think he would have finish the T and kept up or restored the 32. Gary Side note on Jonny Martinez/s He was a WWII Vet. He parachuted into France on D day. He was so small and light Maybe 5'7" and not much over 100 lbs. That the wind blew him up and down for the longest time. He said that he thought he would never get down. Wish now I had talked to him more. He did spend some time in the Manor Bar in his later years. I did drop in there once and had a beer with him. He thought I was my older brother Bill and seemed kinda disappointed when I told him I was Gary. The curse of the invisible second / middle child. I'm sure Bernice would want me to bring my baby sister Camille over. Get over it Gary your brother is gone, you are in your seventies and your baby sister is in her sixties. Sorry Sis. Me on the left and my late older brother Bill (who gave me the 47 after be bought the 55) about the same time. '60, '61 Johnny's race car rims probably on the front of the the '47.
Gary........ you're one of only a few people, on this board, that I'd really just like to shake hands and have a beer with. Great story and I hope you find him. A few months ago, I tracked down and called a childhood friend of mine. We talked for about 3 hours. As kids, we built car models together. After my family moved from upstate New York, in 1974, we lost contact. Until 3 months ago. I found him. I don't know why he popped in my head or why I was compelled to seek him out, but it was worth it. Find your friend. It's worth it.
You know George it's probably a little forward of vertical. Didn't say Johnny's T was perfect but it was pretty kool. Johnny did pretty nice work. I remember thinking he made the P.U. bed fit really nice.
Fred We'll get together sometime. Maybe close to Chips place. Get your T together and maybe all of us can meet at a T Bucket show someplace. Gary
I just got a PM from Old Rod asking if Tony Martinez is still around. I told him I hadn't seen Tony for a while but I drive by his house on the way to my rental down there every few weeks and his yard is still Immaculately groomed as he has always kept it.
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