Everyone Takes a Break From Their Commuter Vehicles

Cars and Coffee (Irvine) is a very successful weekly car enthusiast gathering that features cars you won’t see the other six days of the week.

It all started eight years ago when a group of car lovers moved from the Crystal Cove Promenade to Ford Motor Co.’s Irvine office parking lot, and began hostin Cars and Coffee.  The event takes place every Saturday and is sponsored by Ford with Mazda and Taco Bell volunteering their parking facilities for a total capacity of 900 display cars. Official event hours are 7-9 a.m., which showcases the beautiful West Coast sunrise. Cars start arriving when it’s still pretty dark, around 5:30 a.m., to get a good spot. They’re directed into the event by the all-volunteer staff. The unofficial organizer is retired Ford public relations executive John Clinart. According to John, the show “has simply grown too big to manage anymore and will cease for an indefinite period.” The last gathering was on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014. Given the popularity of the event, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it revived soon.

Saturday morning, by about 6:30, participants where being directed to the 600-car overflow lot. An estimated 4,000 spectators filled the space between cars. Some of the classic and luxury brands on hand were: Sunbeam Tigers, Honda NSXs, Cobras, Mopars, VWs, hot rods, BMWs, Alpha Romeos, Aston Martin DB9s, Lotus, Mustangs, Jaguars, Porsches, Spyders, Ferraris, Lamborghini, Maserati, Corvettes, Nissan GT-Rs, a Bugatti, Healys, Morgans, Triumphs, Camaros and more. As the cars began to leave, spectators lined the street to watch them head home for the last time. By 9:00 this area of Irvine was quiet and peaceful until the workweek began on Monday morning, when the commuter cars would dominate the roads and parking lots. Our thanks to John for the show, and kudos for making this happen for so many years!

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