by Mike –
The photos and comments below were originally published in September 2012. I have just read that the very first Cars and Coffee in Irvine, California is shutting down. The last event will be on December 27. This is a case of too much success – it just grew too big. It was a great run – congragulations to the organizers, volunteers and those who brought their cool cars.
I have attended Cars and Coffee at the Blackhawk Museum and in Monterey. When it stops raining I will take the Grifo to Cars and Coffee in Monterey.
Cars and Coffee is held every Saturday morning in Irvine, California. I have never been there but my Bizzarrini GT 5300 was at Cars and Coffee before I bought it many years ago.
Maserati Ghibli Spider
Occasionally I hear from someone at a car show, “you know I saw a Bizzarrini just like this at Cars and Coffee one time…”.
I have heard this about five times even though this Bizzarrini now lives 400 miles from Irvine and I think the former owner took it to Cars and Coffee one time.
Car lovers have long memories.
I suspect all who saw this beautiful Maserati Ghibli Spider will remember that it was at Cars and Coffee once.
The eclectic mix of cars is interesting; old and new, fast and slow, big and small.
The title of this post and all photos are from my friend Bruce Caron.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
If you attend a cool car event send in the pictures – they could be on My Car Quest.
The slide show is below – there are three pages.
Subscribe to My Car Quest
Is this part of California’s new Cap and trade program?
C&C in Irvine had decided to cancel dec 27th show due to a huge turn out this past Saturday. When they issued the statement about shutting down it prompted and unprecedented number of cars and visitors to come out in its support. Much more so than they could handle.
My one and only trip to C&C Irvine was back in the summer of this year for Alfa Romeo day. I drove my 69 Berlina for over 60 miles leaving the house when it was still dark outside. Approaching Irvine, I could tell something special was happening. Several Alfas, including a prestine Giulia and air cooled 911’s including other great cars that are not seen often were powering down the road together. My early morning/late night rise was rewarded by a prime spot in the paddock.
The Berlina was probably the rattiest car there, but it ran much better than so called “clean cars”. I was blocked in by a Series 2 Spider that was very spic and spam. However, when the owner was trying to start the car to let me out, it took him quite a bit of tries to get the engine going. Finally, with a puff of blue smoke and under a curious gaze of the crowd in the paddock he was able to move the car under its own power. I just taped the key and the ratty Berlina started with a purr of its warmed over twin cam. I guess the contrast raised several eye brows, especially from the “specialists”. I made a very graceful exit, tapping the throttle ever so gently to let the others know to make way.
C&C was a very cool and famous event. It was strategically located in Orange County, which by itself has a good concentration of cool cars. Add to that La Jolla, San Diego and other affluent areas and the show was a natural success. It was too far for me to go just for a few hours. Plus there’s a Supercar Sunday event happening every Sunday and it’s only 20 minutes from my house.
Check out Cars and Coffee San Francisco that launched months back. There are others interested in keeping Irvine alive, let’s hope they find a fitting venue. More groups can be found here: http://www.carsandcoffee.info.
The Irvine event will be missed. One thing that made it cool was that , on occasion, Freeman Thomas, the wunderkind of Ford design, would roll out clay models of future car proposals to sample opinion. And you never knew if the next car that would show up would be a $5 million car or some rat rod. But one thing I could see was trouble was the gathering of a crowd at the exit, and the result would be some guys would “gun” it as they left, and I could envision a spinout into the crowd. Even when a Irvine cop was present–some guys just hafta show off. I give John Clinard of Ford a thumbs up for having the event but that was the one aspect that was worrisome.