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Cars & Coffee History

An Era is Over

Cars & Coffee, the first and by far the largest informal car gathering in Irvine is ending after over eight years. The “largest” has become its undoing. The organizers, a group of dedicated volunteers who devote many hours weekly to its operation, have announced that attendance has outgrown both the facility and their capacity to manage it. This fact, plus the construction of apartments across the street from the exhibit lot that would lead to noise issues in the coming months, have led to the decision to put the event on hiatus. What the future holds, no one knows.

The Early Days

What began as a spontaneous, informal gathering of classic car enthusiasts at the Crystal Cove Promenade parking lot in early 2003 has morphed into one of today’s largest and most celebrated car shows in the country. The event began as a split off from Donut Derelicts in Huntington Beach when several Hot Rod owners decided to meet regularly each Saturday in the Crystal Cove Promenade shopping area near the Starbucks at a “more civilized time” of 8am before the shops were under construction. With no promotion, invitations, announcements, etc. the gathering grew quickly as motorists driving down Pacific Coast Highway would notice the classic cars and the word spread. Soon, more and more cars arrived each week as the owners gathered to enjoy each other’s cars and a cup of coffee. Actually, in the early days it didn’t have a name per se, but was sometimes referred to as “Croissants & Coffee” or “Croissants & Cars”, according to Marc Greeley, a co-founder and spokesman.

The early organizers or “founders” include the following classic car fans:

John Andreeson*
John Bazakis
Bob Cheatley*
Dr. Ron Davies (Austin Healey club member)
John Fausch
Ron Geisman
Dave Gibbs*
Marc Greeley
Pico Godenez
Dr. Bruce Harkins
Ed Hoy*
Del Larson
Jerry Ruoff
Don Walton
*deceased

“Dr. Ron” has generously shared with me most of the accounts and photos of the early days of the event and introduced me to Marc Greeley. Dr. Ron joined the group when there were only 12 cars attending…and his Healey was the only foreign sports car amongst the hot rods and American classics. He said the attendance was under control until Barry Meguiar filmed a “Car Crazy” segment there and the word got out and attendance mushroomed. Soon, cars of all descriptions (Hot Rods, American Classics, Foreign Classics, exotics, etc.) were arriving and the parking lot (which could arguably handle about 100-200 cars) filled up. Evidently, a couple of Lamborghini salesmen began bringing several demo cars and guys would roar up and down PCH test driving the Lambos, attracting complaints from surrounding residents and the attention of the police. Also, the attendance became such a problem that cars began coming earlier and earlier that cars were queuing up on PCH trying to get in, creating a traffic mess. Eventually, on October 14, 2006, the Irvine Company (which owns the Crystal Cove Promenade) decided to avoid all the problems and bring the event to an end.

So, in late 2006, a group of organizers headed by Marc Greeley along with Barry Meguiar, Dan Gurney and others began looking for another site in Orange County to host the event. Even Congressman John Campbell, and Newport Beach City Councilman Ed Selich, classic car owners, got involved. After considering a number of locations like the Balboa Pier, Fashion Island, Corona del Mar’s main beach area and the Dana Point harbor, Ford Motor Company came to the rescue. Freeman Thomas (design director) and John Clinard (local PR manager) often attended Crystal Cove and they presented the idea of migrating to Ford’s Premier Automotive Group headquarters on Gateway Avenue near the Irvine Spectrum. The idea was accepted, Freeman coined the name “Cars & Coffee” and developed a logo, and the plan was set in motion.

Cars & Coffee is Born

John Clinard, announced beginning October 21, 2006 that Ford had agreed to host the weekly gathering. (Note that Mazda and more recently Taco Bell also have offices in the complex and have generously supported Cars & Coffee). John, his wife Linda and five dedicated volunteers (Arlyn Timmes, John Schirmer, Doug Schirmer, Gary Mitchem and Brent Baillie) have been there almost every Saturday morning since, greeting arrivals and assisting attendees. We are all indebted to them for their dedication and hard work making Cars & Coffee what it is today. The unorganized event or “gathering” has exploded to an enormous car show, attracting hundreds of cars each week and spawning other Cars & Coffee like events in more than 100 other cities around the world. Barry Meguiar’s Car Crazy show has done several video segments on Cars & Coffee, as has Wayne Carini’s Chasing Classic Cars show on the Velocity channel.

Over the years, the show has grown tremendously…over 410 Saturdays, 185,000 cars exhibited and 450,000 visitors attended. So many cars show up that, on some Saturdays, the 600 car capacity lots fill up and they have to turn cars away. In a sense, the show is a victim of its own success. It is so popular because almost any car owner can show up and park next to and mill among the classics, antiques, and exotics. But who wants to go there and see modern cars that you can see at a car dealer’s show room, or almost anywhere in Newport Beach? Part of the beauty, and the success, of the show is that anyone can come but that is also the largest drawback since it creates overcrowding and clutter. Due to crowded conditions, the volunteers called a meeting last March with 14 of the influential regular attendees to discuss what to do. The decision was made to no longer admit 4-door cars newer than 1999 into the exhibit lot. This was reluctantly adopted as the necessary approach to take, although the volunteers have not enjoyed turning anyone away.

Will A New Era Begin?

We have been told that December 20thwill be the last Cars & Coffee gathering in Irvine. Like a phoenix, will Cars & Coffee rise out of the ashes? If so, where will it be and how will the event be managed? If not, for all of us car enthusiasts, it will be a very sad day. Organizers are looking for alternate locations but it may be difficult to find one as suitable as the Ford complex. Our appreciation goes out to the Ford Motor Company for their gracious hospitality and especially to John and Linda Clinard for their personal commitment over the past eight years. Thanks for the memories!

Authors Note: I first attended this “gathering” at Crystal Cove about 2004 and regularly once it moved to Irvine. I would like to thank Art Quillo, Dr. Ron Davies, Mark Greeley and John Clinard for their assistance with researching this article and for providing historical details; and to members of the Austin Healey Association of Southern California for many of the photos.