I finally went to a ‘Cars & Coffee’… my first one ever, actually. The Cars & Coffee Aliso Viejo event is apparently every Saturday morning… I thought it was just once a month. Boy howdy! There were A LOT of cars there!
The location in Aliso Viejo is about 25 minutes away with no traffic – and being that it started at 7 AM, I was sure there wouldn’t be any traffic. But, after one of the first car shows I went to after getting the DeLorean, I learned that you don’t want to show up 10 minutes before the ‘start’ time, or you won’t have anywhere to park. So, I wanted to get there by 6:30am. Ugh. I’m a night owl. So it mean being on the road by 6am. Which meant getting up by 5:30 to get ready and get out the door.
Since I’ve never been to one of these – with a car, or as a spectator – I had no idea what the etiquette was. So, as I drove up at 6:31am and saw many rows of cars already lined up, I stopped at a couple of random guys and asked what to do. They said, just find any open spot and park there – just don’t park at the curbs, or you’ll get a ticket. So, I drove down a fairly full isle at first, but decided to loop around and go to the next isle where there were plenty of open spaces, thinking I’d be out of the way. Nope! Within a couple of minutes of parking, a beautiful Ferrari parked on one side of me, and a monster-Jeep parked on the other. Row and row of cars filled in a huge parking lot. In looking at the aerial view of the lot, I’m guessing there were 200+ cars there. At 7am! lol
The owners of both the Ferrari and the Jeep were very friendly and talked a bit. A fair number of people came up to look at #10515 and talk and ask questions. It was fun. I wandered a bit, but stayed close to the car, as I like leaving the doors up – which can sometimes invite people to get in.
As I was heading back to the car, I saw a young couple studying the louvers and I headed over to talk to them. In a few moments, I learned that Ryan and Daisy had brought their DeLorean too! They were fun and easy going. When the Ferrari decided it was time to leave around 8am, Ryan decided to move his car into the spot. It wasn’t too long after that, that a Bricklin came driving up!! So, I think we had the full contingent of gull-wing doors there that morning. Rodger, the owner of the Bricklin, was just as friendly and we all enjoyed talking and looking at each other’s cars. Rodger even gave me a great tip on a great addition to my car (which he had installed in the Bricklin) of a low-power Bluetooth receiver to get audio in the car, without changing the radio. I’m VERY excited about this!
By 8:45a, a majority of the cars had left, and there weren’t as many visitors, so it was time to leave. But… Rodger offered to give me a ride in the Bricklin! I couldn’t pass that up. I had never seen a Bricklin in person before, and now got to ride in one. GREAT MORNING!
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