Cars and Tacos???
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Cars and Tacos???
Cars & Coffee -- a more recent southern California tradition
by Michael Anson, LA Auto Examiner
December 21, 2008
The weekly Saturday morning automobile get together called Cars & Coffee evolved from the Crystal Cove event. Donut Derelicts was first, but Crystal Cove started about five years ago. The rich people from Orange County, California didn't really feel they were a part of the traditional hot rod gathering in Huntington Beach, so they started meeting "behind the Orange curtain" during the more reasonable hours of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Crystal Cove shopping center located on Pacific Coast Highway just south of Carona del Mar.
At this semi-tony address the owners of Lamborghinis, Ferraris, real Bugatti Type 35 roadsters and other high end vehicles could gather with other high end owners and hoepfully avoid the hot rod riff raff from Donut Derelicts. In fact, some of the Cobra club members from Donute Derelicts (those with real Cobras) would first go to Donut Derelicts and then head the 8 miles south on PCH to Crystal Cove. It got to be a regular thing. Former race car driver Dan Gurney and sports car guru and golf guru Reeves Callaway lived close to the event and we often seen there. Crystal Cove was about sporty cars, high-end cars and even a high-end hot rod or two, but alas, rules and the dreaded rules enforcers managed to drive them away.
Crystal Cove shopping center (like much of Orange County) is either owned by or controlled by the Irvine Company which made the mistake of installing security to enforce their shopping center rules. One of the rules had to do with when the visitors could park there. The Irvine Company would not allow people to park on-site before 7 a.m. and this often caused traffic to back up on Pacific Coast Highway. The California Highway Patrol and the local police didn't like this. In addition, the rich people who lived nearby in their tile-roofed, look-alike homes, didn't like having all this "car trash" making noise on Saturday mornings. To be truthful, there were some squids doing burnouts onto Pacific Coast Highway.
Finally after an incident with Irvine Company security in which Dan Gurney and Reeves Callaway were denied entrance to Crystal Cove ("rules are rules," they said), John Clinard, a car collecter and head of Ford's west coast public relations operation offered to move the event to Ford's nearby hadquarters in Irvine, California. For the past three years the event, called Cars & Coffee has been held on Saturday mornings at the Ford Motor Company and Mazda west coast headquarters.
Technically the event takes place in the Mazda building parking lot (visitors without collector cars are advised to park in the Ford parking structure or in a parking lot across the street) and having the Ford cafeteria open meant that refreshments were available for sale and real bathrooms were available too.
Now, with Ford scheduled to move out of the building in Irvine, there is some question about the future of Cars & Coffee. The new tenant of the Ford building is reported to be Taco Bell, so the jokes are coming fast and furious. Will the event name be changed to Cars and Tacos? Will the event die? One theory is that since Mazda is set to stay in their building, the event can continue, but perhaps without refreshments and bathrooms.
Cars & Coffee is currently located at the Ford Motor Company offices in Irvine, California. Take the 405 Freeway (parking lot) to Irvine Center Road and proceed 1/2 mile east to Gateway. If you have a collector pull into the lot and find and parking slot (back in so you can display your vehicle). If you are just a looker and drove a more regular vehicle, plan to park in the Ford parking structure or the parking lot across the street.
See you at Cars & Coffee.
by Michael Anson, LA Auto Examiner
December 21, 2008
The weekly Saturday morning automobile get together called Cars & Coffee evolved from the Crystal Cove event. Donut Derelicts was first, but Crystal Cove started about five years ago. The rich people from Orange County, California didn't really feel they were a part of the traditional hot rod gathering in Huntington Beach, so they started meeting "behind the Orange curtain" during the more reasonable hours of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Crystal Cove shopping center located on Pacific Coast Highway just south of Carona del Mar.
At this semi-tony address the owners of Lamborghinis, Ferraris, real Bugatti Type 35 roadsters and other high end vehicles could gather with other high end owners and hoepfully avoid the hot rod riff raff from Donut Derelicts. In fact, some of the Cobra club members from Donute Derelicts (those with real Cobras) would first go to Donut Derelicts and then head the 8 miles south on PCH to Crystal Cove. It got to be a regular thing. Former race car driver Dan Gurney and sports car guru and golf guru Reeves Callaway lived close to the event and we often seen there. Crystal Cove was about sporty cars, high-end cars and even a high-end hot rod or two, but alas, rules and the dreaded rules enforcers managed to drive them away.
Crystal Cove shopping center (like much of Orange County) is either owned by or controlled by the Irvine Company which made the mistake of installing security to enforce their shopping center rules. One of the rules had to do with when the visitors could park there. The Irvine Company would not allow people to park on-site before 7 a.m. and this often caused traffic to back up on Pacific Coast Highway. The California Highway Patrol and the local police didn't like this. In addition, the rich people who lived nearby in their tile-roofed, look-alike homes, didn't like having all this "car trash" making noise on Saturday mornings. To be truthful, there were some squids doing burnouts onto Pacific Coast Highway.
Finally after an incident with Irvine Company security in which Dan Gurney and Reeves Callaway were denied entrance to Crystal Cove ("rules are rules," they said), John Clinard, a car collecter and head of Ford's west coast public relations operation offered to move the event to Ford's nearby hadquarters in Irvine, California. For the past three years the event, called Cars & Coffee has been held on Saturday mornings at the Ford Motor Company and Mazda west coast headquarters.
Technically the event takes place in the Mazda building parking lot (visitors without collector cars are advised to park in the Ford parking structure or in a parking lot across the street) and having the Ford cafeteria open meant that refreshments were available for sale and real bathrooms were available too.
Now, with Ford scheduled to move out of the building in Irvine, there is some question about the future of Cars & Coffee. The new tenant of the Ford building is reported to be Taco Bell, so the jokes are coming fast and furious. Will the event name be changed to Cars and Tacos? Will the event die? One theory is that since Mazda is set to stay in their building, the event can continue, but perhaps without refreshments and bathrooms.
Cars & Coffee is currently located at the Ford Motor Company offices in Irvine, California. Take the 405 Freeway (parking lot) to Irvine Center Road and proceed 1/2 mile east to Gateway. If you have a collector pull into the lot and find and parking slot (back in so you can display your vehicle). If you are just a looker and drove a more regular vehicle, plan to park in the Ford parking structure or the parking lot across the street.
See you at Cars & Coffee.
