A dad who loves attending car shows but had to stop after his cancer diagnosis was left stunned when his friends and family brought a car show to him.
John “Wowie” Perreira, 59, from Watsonville, California, loves car shows so much that days out had become a tradition in the family.
Wowie has always been the glue that holds the family together, and over the years he’d take his six kids to attend lowrider car shows across the west coast.
In his younger years, Wowie had an iconic Chevrolet Impala he worked on, before giving up his hobby buying cars after having kids.
But now his children were older – and attending car shows with him – Wowie purchased a Cadillac that he was hoping to start working on, only to receive devastating news in 2023.
Having been diagnosed with lung cancer, Wowie was advised to put the build on hold as he underwent a year and a half of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, his daughter Melissa said.
The family thought Wowie was making progress, but in 2025 they were informed that his cancer had spread and there was nothing more treatment could do and he is now on hospice care.
Knowing how much car shows used to brighten Wowie’s days, Melissa and her siblings were hoping to take their father to a show once more, but accepted that his condition was so bad that he couldn’t go.
They instead reached out to Wowie’s best friend, Maurice, who is in a car club, and asked if there was any way he could help bring a show to their father.
Maurice loved the idea, so on January 31, outside Wowie’s home, a stream of lowriders drove by and parked up as the 59-year-old watched on.
The surprise came together in just a couple of days, Melissa said, and though she had only expected three or four cars to show, her family were touched by just how many people turned up.
As a thank you to everyone who participated, Wowie and his family offered to feed the car enthusiasts.
Melissa, 32, said: “This had been our family tradition for years: we’d go to all the lowrider car shows around here, as we have a few in San Jose and Salinas.
“As we got older, he purchased a Cadillac but couldn’t get it all fixed because, within the next year, he got his cancer diagnosis.
“We saw him doing worse, and we had planned to go to a car show, but we saw how quickly he was getting tired and knew it was impossible.
“So we reached out to his friend, Maurice, who put in a call to a friend who is in another car club, and they really came together.
“We only expected three to four cars and they surpassed that and really went out for my dad – it was amazing to see.
“We felt so much happiness and tears quickly filled our faces as soon as it started.
“Just seeing how it put a smile on my dad’s face, and tears – it was such a bittersweet, surreal feeling.”
