Joe Hensler

President
 

Joe has been a car enthusiast since his older brother had him going to races and working on cars before age 10. Went to high school in Miami Florida and graduated with an accounting degree. Spent 35 years in the forklift and equipment business selling the last dealership in May of 2019.

 

Competitively raced an E mod Autocross car, sprint and enduro Karts, ran SCCA road races ending in a Spec Miata in 2009. Currently owns 24 classic cars and enjoys touring in them most but also shows car, having been invited to two Pebble Beach concours.

 

Joe has been involved in the museum since 1987 but has been very active since 2006, spending 9 years as Board President and currently serving as Treasurer. Married now 43 years with 4 kids and 5 grandkids.

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Ed Silva

Vice President
 

Ed has had an appreciation for antique cars from an early age and could often be caught doodling various automobiles.  He has fond memories of spending time “under the hood” with his father since first grade.  Through his high school years, he enjoyed making precision models of cars from the 20s, 30s, and 40s.  A lot of his time went to keeping his Chevy Nova in pristine condition, a Chevy that lasted over 250,000 miles.

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Ed received his Bachelor of Science from U.C. Davis with a focus on chemistry, math, and computer science.  He received his Master of Science from CSU, Sacramento in electrical and electronic engineering.  After several years of designing circuits and writing code for the medical and computer industries, he moved to the management track and held various senior management positions.

After his “second retirement”, he joined our docent team and fully engaged in museum activities including docent training, school tours, and road crew.  During a gap in management, Ed stepped in as interim Executive Director to clean and re-energize the museum after the COVID slowdown.  Because of his contributions, he was invited to the Board in 2022.

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David Felderstein

Secretary

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David Felderstein, born in Rochester, NY, and graduated from Cornell University Labor Relations School in 1973.  David moved to Sacramento in 1976 and he worked at California Legislature as the state Senate’s analyst on public employee retirement and state employee benefit issues from 1976 to retirement in 2009. 

Met Dan Hoody (a Nurse Practitioner) in 1990 and married him in 2008 when it became legal. David sings Tenor in the Sacramento Choral Society His interest in cars goes back to childhood.   The first car was a new 1969 Fiat 124 convertible and first “old car” was a 1981 Fiat 124 convertible, purchased in 1995. Other cars in collection: 1935 Chrysler Airflow Imperial sedan, two 1936 Chrysler Airflow coupes (one an Imperial), 1941 Chrysler Saratoga coupe, 1952 Dodge Coronet coupe, and 1963 Dodge Polara 2-door hardtop coupe.

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Kellie Smith
Treasurer

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Steve Koonce

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Steve reckons that he must have always had a subconscious interest in cars from the many hours spent in the back of one, traveling cross country with his family. His father’s aerospace career took him to a number of cities across the United States, as well as to England and Australia. But it was in Road & Track magazine that his fascination with cars came into sharper focus. In the 1970s and 80s, Steve and his wife owned a series of clapped-out old sports cars that they drove, worked on, and sold to buy the next project car. Currently,  they maintain a small collection of mostly late-model high-performance cars, their kinetic art.

 

Steve graduated from UC Riverside and McGeorge School of Law and worked as Counsel for a local firm before starting his own practice. In addition to the Museum’s board, Steve is also a board member for Capital Stage in Sacramento and is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Carmichael.

 

Besides buying and selling cars, Steve’s main interests are local philanthropy, music (he play electric bass guitar), and traveling with his dogs. Steve has been a docent at the Museum since 2014.

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Tom Tyer

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Tom has been with Colliers International, an international full-service commercial real estate company for over 30 years. Specializing in industrial facilities, Tom’s crowning achievement was receiving the Association of Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) Broker’s Choice Award in 2015. 

 

Tom graduated from California State University, Sacramento with a major in business administration with emphasis in marketing and a minor in economics. In addition, he also graduated from a 4-year program at the Sheet Metal Workers School with his journeyman’s card. Tom first served in the Air Force Reserve as an Aircraft Structural Repair Specialist. Tom was also the owner and operator of a sailboat dealership in Rancho Cordova before deciding to get into commercial real estate instead.

 

As a kid, Tom remembers his dad getting up at the crack of dawn to listen to the Indy 500 on the radio and helping with the Pinewood Derby and Space Derby. With his dad’s help, Tom competed in the 1964 and 1965 Soap Box Derby held at Aerojet General, winning the “Most Creative Engineering Features” trophy in 1964. Tom and his dad attended the 1971 running of the Indianapolis 500. In 2015, Tom and his son Cameron attended the 99th running of the Indy 500.  Tom is a 28-year member of the Porsche Club of America and a long-time member of the Sacramento Area Miata Owners Association (SAMOA).

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Mary Davis

 

After attending the University of Michigan, Mary worked for 7 years as a nurse for an Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon. She then added a degree in Marketing and joined Clark Equipment Company for 18 years working with dealers in the field and relocated to Sacramento. In 1991, Mary joined NGK which included opportunities to work various events for Motorsports events. 

 

Mary is involved in multiple organizations, including President of the Croatian American Woman’s Club and Board of Trustee at the Croatian American Cultural Center. In 2008 she was the first woman elected to California Automotive Wholesalers Association’s Board of Directors and also served on their Manufacturers Advisory Council.

 

Mary has had a passion for racing since the 1970s.  She was a member of the Porsche Club of America (PCA) in Michigan and raced her 912/911 at Mosport in Canada, Mid-Ohio, Michigan International Speedway, Watkins Glen and more. When she moved to California, Mary joined the CSRG Vintage Racing Club out of Sonoma Raceway where she raced vintage cars.

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Mike Whelply

 

Mike has deep roots in San Diego. He was born in La Jolla and raised in Pacific Beach and El Cajon (Jimmy Johnsons’s and Taylor Guitars’ hometown). He also had a deep early interest in cars. As a 10 yr. old kid, he got books through the mail from the GM Tech Center, brochures and “stuff” from Ford like factory models, books of the Ford models and options et al. Every year he went to all the auto dealerships when the new models came out. He also has a history with guitar and 5 string Pete Seeger banjo with a HS yearbook photo to prove it .

He has had manual shift cars for the majority of his driving years, from a 1953 Mercury to his 2014 (no turbo!) Honda Si which he uses to keep up with his wife Joyclin on her Vespa.  There’s no car collection but he did buy an all original one owner 1963 Plymouth Belvedere “2-dr. Post”. Mike had the car from 1999 to 2015—longer than he has owned any other car. He sold it at CAM to another docent even before it had a “for sale” sign on it. It’s a rare bird.

He attended San Diego State College and had part-time jobs in popular San Diego restaurants—Mexican Village in Coronado and Anthony’s Fish Grotto. He changed schools and majors transferring  to a smaller college in Nebraska to focus on academics with fewer distractions.

Graduating with a Bachelor’s degree, Mike was off to the Detroit area to teach 7th and 8th grade kids for a couple years, then it was time to get back to California. He was a teacher in Torrance and going to school again at California State College, Long Beach. He earned his CA teaching credential and a MA degree in Instructional Technology. Then it was off to Northern California to be the teacher librarian at a middle school in Lincoln Unified, Stockton. He earned Teacher Librarian and School Administrators credentials while at the middle School (10 years). Then he moved to the high school and was the Teacher Librarian for 28 years and also the LUSD K-8 District Librarian.

When he retired, he had all the libraries on the web with online catalogs and resources and interlibrary loans. He also enjoyed working with architects turning multipurpose rooms into Libraries and assisted with designs for new schools’ libraries. He can still be found in classrooms as a substitute teacher.

He became a CAM docent in 1996 and has seen the museum grow and get better each year, but he says the best part of the job is meeting visitors from around the world.

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Alan Galbraith

 

Alan Galbraith was raised in a motorsports family. Alan’s father, Arthur Galbraith, sought hot rodded thrills on the streets and dirt tracks of Southern California as many other returning WWII vets did in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Alan’s addition to the Galbraith Family didn’t slow things down one bit and some of his earliest memories are from the pits as Arthur raced flatbottom drag boats. Throughout Alan’s life the family kept a revolving stable of hot rods, classics, race cars/boats and restoration projects.

 

The whole family started racing together in the early 2000s when Art, Alan and his wife Melissa went to the Bonneville Salt Flats and set over a dozen World Land Speed Records on vintage and modern motorcycles. After retiring from a career in Film/Television and Music business, Alan purchased and expanded the Billetproof Hot Rod and Custom Shows and founded the Concours d’Lemons. The latter being a worldwide series of car shows that highlight the worst of the automotive world in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

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Don Tollefson

 

Don grew up in Southern California in the 60s, so it was always about cars, surfing and music.  Cruising Whittier Blvd. on a Friday night was either in a jacked up loud car or a slow VW Bus with surfboards on the top.

 

After college and 15 years of restaurants, it was time for Minnesota where Don turned an egg farm into a state-of-the-art hog farm, producing over 95,000 pigs a year.  Northfield, Minnesota, cared about how big your John Deer tractor was, not your car.

 

So back to California where 25 years ago Don opened up Batteries Plus Bulbs.

 

Don is married with six kids and has been on the Sunrise MarketPlace Board for over 20 years.

 

Besides volunteering at church, Don is a member of the Porsche Club of America (PCA) and 356 Club.  Don is currently restoring a VW Bug.

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Steve Meyer

 

Steve has been an automotive enthusiast since his mid-teens when he was a member of a stockcar pit crew at the Placerville Speedway in the mid-1970s.

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Steve graduated from Cordova High School and American River Collage with a degree in Welding Technology.  He worked at Palm Iron and Bridge Works for 8 years before a 30-year career at Los Rios Community College District in the Facilities Management Department.  During his tenure at Los Rios, he was active in his union (SEIU), serving as a Shop Steward and trustee of the local. He also served on many Los Rios committees (Budget Committee and Chancellor’s Cabinet).

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Steve is an Eagle Scout (1973), volunteers on the Sacramento Southern Railroad (at the California State Railroad Museum), and is a member of the Sacramento Modular Railroaders.

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Steve has been a Docent at the California Automobile Museum since 2018.

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Glenn Rondeau

 

Glenn has been a car enthusiast almost since birth, and definitely addicted since he began reading about them by age 5. Building soap-box cars and go-karts at age ten and working on his first car, an Isetta, in high school.

Moving to Silicon Valley in 1967, he began working in the electronics industry while attending San Jose State University, graduating with a degree in Industrial Design with minors in electronics and business administration. His ID thesis project was a D sports-racer which he raced in SCCA regionals. He also autocrossed a Sunbeam Tiger and was a founding member of STOA – Sunbeam Tiger Owners Association.
 

After retiring from Silicon Valley to the Sacramento area, Glenn discovered the California
Automobile Museum. He became a docent, graduating with the class of 2011. He also serves on the Exhibits Committee and edits the Docent Newsletter. His garage currently hosts a 1960 Jaguar MK IX and a 1956 Chris-Craft “woody”.

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John Smith

 

John grew up in Sacramento, graduating from Foothill High School and University of the Pacific in Stockton with a BA degree in Business Administration, as well as a member of Phi Kappa Tau, serving as treasurer. While there, Governor Reagan appointed John to the first Youth Commission of the State of California.
 

For 41 years, John was an independent contractor insurance agent for State Farm Insurance in the Sacramento area and earned the Chartered Life Underwriter designation in 1982. John sold his insurance agency in 2015 and started a real estate business as an agent working with American River Properties Inc.
 

John has been active with various Sacramento nonprofits, including board member for Christmas in April of Sacramento and Tierra de Oro Girl Scout Council of Northern California, the redevelopment committees for Camps Menzies & Fleming, and the steering committee for the Empty Bowls fundraiser for River City Food Bank, and the St. Francis HS Booster Club, School Expansion and Academic
Evaluation Committees.
 

John is a graduate of the 2017 Docent Training Class of the California Auto Museum and has been active in Education Tours, Events, and Docent Training. John has also been on the Docent Council serving as Secretary/Treasurer and as Chair. John is a Corvette guy, having owned 15 Corvettes.

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