By Bruce Burdett
Some fortunate motorists pulled up to the pump Sunday and stepped back in time.
For a few hours, the price on the pump read 33.9 cents a gallon — regular or high test.
“That was same price we charged in 1967,” said Dana Cambra, the year his father Albert Cambra and childhood friend Joe Sonntag (hence ‘Joals’) built and opened the 500 Adamsville Road garage and gas station. Both were 32 years old then.
Sunday was also a bittersweet moment for those lucky gasoline customers. The “Turning Back the Clocks” party celebrated the last days of Joals — the family has decided that the time has come to sell.
But it also marked the start of a new chapter as Robert Camara Jr. will soon be moving his Rob’s Auto Care from Little Compton to Joals (see separate story).
The party was private— for family, friends and long-time customers. Mr. Cambra said he could only imagine what might have happened had word gotten out that a station was selling gasoline for that price — even in quiet Adamsville.
“I’m guessing we would have lines way down the road.”
Replacing tanks too costly
The decision to sell and get out of the gasoline pumping business was hastened by new state gasoline storage tank regulations that now require such tanks to be double-lined.
“Even though we have the latest and best gas tanks, monitoring and pumps, the state decided that the single-lined gas tanks need to be replaced or removed. The cost to replace will be over $250,000,” Mr. Cambra said. For a small family owned station in Westport, it does not make sense to replace the gas tanks, hence they will be removed in October.”
Diesel sales will continue after the transition, however.
The station that Joe and Al built had three service bays (it still does) and a big Esso sign — with gasoline selling at that 33.9 cents per gallon.
“Their excellence in auto repair was rewarded with a thriving business,” Dana Cambra said.
In 1980, Joe Sonntag decided to move to Florida so Albert and his wife Diane Cambra bought him out and Joals became a Cambra family business. The couple have four children — Dana Cambra, Dawn Cole, Nancy Cox and Judy Palmer.
Nancy (Cambra) Cox said she was destined to become a mechanic and eventually manage the garage. She went to New England Tech for mechanic training and went to work for her father.
“My first present from my father was a screwdriver and a squeegee,” she laughed.
“I have mixed emotions really,” she added. “It is the end of an era. A lot of people down here have relied on us.” This garage and those people “have been a huge part of our lives.”
After Alfred Cambra died of cancer in 1997, the family carried on — son Dana wound up buying the business.
“I followed a different path, going to MIT and then moving to California where I attended UC Berkeley and starting my software career in the Silicon Valley,” Dana Cambra said. “I bought the business from my mom to help keep it in the family. Nancy, my mom and other great people helped run and manage the business since then.”
The family has great memories of the gas station years, Dana Cambra said, but he is thrilled with the way things are turning out.
“I and the family are somewhat sad Joals will no longer be in the family (but) I am joyful it will be owned by someone who will continue the legacy of automotive excellence and providing fantastic service to the community.”
He said he has the highest regard for Rob Camara having watched him grow Rob’s Auto Care into a thriving Little Compton business.
“Rob and his wife are in their 30’s. They just had a baby boy. In many ways it reminds me of my parents when they started. The next generation.”
“My mom is happy that she can also finally retire,” he added.
“Lots to celebrate — the past and the future.”
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