Originating in California, Cars and Coffee events have existed for the better part of two decades, offering a platform for car enthusiasts to showcase vehicles of all types and values, whether it be a million-dollar European exotic or a twin-cam Corolla.
They come in a blaze of headlights, with rasping or rumbling exhausts down anonymous streets between silent factories and darkened transport depots.
The trickle of cars emerging from winter’s gloom or greeting the first rays of summer sun soon becomes a cavalcade of exotic shapes and penetrating sound.
Small groups of owners and onlookers gather, armed with phone cameras and selfie sticks, clicking and panning images of cars most cannot name and likely can never afford.
It is here you might find a genuine GTHO Falcon parked beside a tiny Goggomobil microcar, and a Ferrari F40 the owner in animated discussion with a bloke in an old Mazda rotary. Welcome to Cars and Coffee.
While car nerds have been gathering to chew the fat and show off their mechanical pride and joy practically since the automobile was invented, the earliest events to be officially designated ‘Cars and Coffee’ were held at Crystal Cove in California, near the famed Newport Beach, in 2003.
These early events manifested every few weeks in empty carparks and in defiance of local bylaws, and were organised by a group that included a member of the Meguiar’s car care family.
News of the Cars and Coffee gatherings spread quickly, and similar events began appearing throughout the USA and before long they began infiltrating other countries where car culture runs deep.
Similar gatherings have been held in Britain for many years, albeit with tea substituting for coffee, where cars were integral to the Teddy Boy subculture. Meets like these featured clothes and hairstyles from the 1950s and cars with styling from the same era including big Farina-bodied Austins, finned Ford Zephyrs and PA Series Vauxhalls with their outrageous wrap-around windows.
Australia during the 1960s and ’70s hosted its own events; mostly late at night and without the ‘gang’ mentality prevalent in the UK. Here, the venues would be burger shops or all-night fuel stations, often adjacent to strips of deserted bitumen where disputes over whose car was fastest could be settled via a ‘standing quarter mile’ challenge.
Cars and Coffee events began emerging here around 10 years ago, with most occurring on industrial estates where cars would gather and mobile coffee vans appeared like magic in the middle of vacant carparks.
In some areas, an enterprising lunch shop owner would open early on the day of an event, selling warm beverages accompanied by raisin toast or that staple of automotive events, the egg and bacon burger.
Although rolling into a chilly carpark at 5am can be daunting for some, it is a welcome alternative to conventional car club events which rip the heart out of a typical Aussie Sunday, often involving a 150km drive to the ‘lunch stop’ followed by the torture of driving your older, overheating car back home on roads gridlocked by weekend travellers.
Morning Cars and Coffee events with their pre-dawn starts will occupy three hours at the max, ensuring participants can be home before some in the family even notice they’ve been gone.
Recently, on the shortest day or the year and with a single digit registering on the back porch thermometer, Retro Rides visited a Cars and Coffee event hosted by specialist vehicle insurer Shannons at its Queensland HQ in riverside Eagle Farm.
Apart from having a large concrete carpark, the Shannons building includes a well-lit internal showroom where invited exotic models including several Porsches, a Honda NSX, and a De Tomaso Pantera were displayed for visitors’ close inspection.
Outside, Rafferty’s Rules prevailed, with a tiny Fiat 500 bookending one row of cars and a near-new Mustang at the other.
‘First come, first parked’ saw regulars with their lowered and turbo-boosted Skylines, Hondas and Mazdas getting on the road early enough to score several of the rapidly filling slots in Shannons’ front carpark.
Those with similar cars who arrived 15 minutes later were directed around the back of the building and when area that was full, to parking spots in surrounding streets.
By sunrise, the ranks of walk-in car pervs had significantly outnumbered car owners, but respect for the machinery from all concerned was admirable.
For most, the only disappointment was the arrival of just one coffee vendor and queueing of 30 minutes to enjoy a warming cup of froth.
Shannons promotes similar events monthly at its premises in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. These at times take the form of themed displays, as will be the case in Sydney on July 12 with an event exclusively for motorcycles at Shannons’ Artarmon showroom.
Other commercial organisations in various parts of the country lend their premises and sometimes financial support to gatherings of enthusiast vehicles. In Melbourne, the Marque Collective – a group of automotive businesses based on South Road at Moorabbin – runs a monthly Cars and Coffee event.
These occur on the first Sunday of each month, running from 8-11am and are said to attract more than 200 diverse and interesting vehicles.
If you are the organiser of an informal automotive gathering or a major motoring event with decades of history behind it, Retro Rides would love to hear from you so we can help make other enthusiasts aware of your activity.
To secure a slot in our listings, head to the Events page on the Retro Rides website, click on ‘Submit your event’, and fill in the details. With luck, one of the folks behind our cameras or keyboards might even attend and file a report on your event.
