Cars n Coffee Irvine going bye-bye.

the best run...a great event. nothing in the united states like it to my knowledge.

 

The "D" Bags at Irvine Company got rid of Crystal Cove and now C&C. At least their is a Cars & Coffee in Carlsbad, but I am hearing that El Toro might be a new venue as well.

 

You would think that the Irvine Company might view this as an opportunity to put some life into one of their Irvine centers that are not doing as well as they would like. I used to know people in their retail center unit. No longer, I'm afraid.

 

I deal with their retail people on occasion. Unless there is something in it for Donald Bren don't expect them to jump at it. If someone has a compelling argument for a particular center, I can give you the contact names.

 

I would say the spirit of C&C and the nature of The Irvine Co. are diametrically opposed. I own property in Irvine, and yet I still don't like TIC. The organization seems to be cut from quite a fascist cloth...

 

There is a reason most Irvine Company properties are first class prime property....Donald Bren. Very shrewd businessman who rules with an iron fist. He didn't become worth $17 billion by being nice.

I believe Lennar controls the Great Park area these days but the voters shut El Toro. They had many car events there in the past....autocross, slalom, PCA, and numerous historic events. With the many new homes and condos in the area today and many more soon, I just don't see the Great Park location happening.

I believe an ideal location would be the South Coast Plaza parking lot in front of Saks.....just off the freeway, not residential and everyone would be gone by the time Saks opens. Liability is always the issue...do they want to take it on and why should they want to? Like TrojanFan stated, what's in it for the owners?

BTW--a prime example why these events get shut down....Anyone know a guy about 35-45 who wears glasses, drives a newer grey metallic Gallardo and probably lives in the Laguna Altamura area off the 133/Laguna Canyon Rd?

Last Friday afternoon, this guy lost control of the Gallardo while making a simple right turn onto the 133. Trying to gun it and show off like a *****, he did a 360, almost went into the opposing traffic, and came to a complete stop in the middle of the road facing the wrong way! He should get a Prius if he can't handle the G-car safely. He could have seriously injured someone.

 

^ This type of idiocy seems to be the downfall of all of the informal car gatherings. IIRC, Crystal Cove was the pinnacle until people decided to do burnouts on the way out.

Maybe the answer is to arrange police presence for a couple of hours?

 

I gotta make it to one before it's gone.

 

And there all always a group of clowns standing at the exit with cameras encouraging folks to do burn outs when they leave. Last week they were yelling "no cops, burnout" as I was leaving. Of course, the reason there wasn't a cop at the exit was that he was just a block or two away citing a new GT4.

 

Carlsbad (at the outlet mall off of Palomar Airport Rd & Hwy 5) Saturday mornings can be quite interesting. I like the fact that it's not nearly the size of Irvine, yet pulls in quite a variety. Lately there have been several Ferraris showing up. There are a couple of Enzos and F40 that are somewhat local that make an appearance every now and then. Saw my first Huracan a couple of weeks ago here. Every so often a local car club decides to make a mass appearance -- saw about 30 Evos drive in and all park next to each other -- neat sight and it's not like I'm a huge Evo fan but was cool to see. Car Country Carlsbad is around the corner and BMW Encinitas is down the street, and it's nice that the dealership bring out their latest and greatest high end cars. CHP local PD show up and chat with us every so often, and I like that their presence keeps us honest. Still the occasional stupid burnout.

It's close to me so I really have no excuse. I know it's a hike for the OC crowd though.

In the summer months there is a monthly Sunday San Marcos show at Old Restaurant Row. Mostly hot rods, but they do set aside an area for exotics. Again the occasional Enzo sighting.

 

Wow... what year did the Irvine venue start? I feel bad for all of us. It was always a little bit of a drive, but there was always at least one car to drop dead for. I have to get my old behind out of bed this Saturday and each one until December 27 to savor this iconic Los Angeles venue. Supercar Sunday is always around and might handle some of the overflow, but it doesn't quite capture the designer one of a kinds and rarities like Cars and Coffee does.

Morons who burned tires and revved it up to show off have one less place to share their stupidity. We have one less place to share our passion and stories over coffee.

 

Damn. Here we go again.

 

Huntington Barbour car club does a nice Sunday morning event at the sunset beach Starbucks parking lot.

 

I was told when I went last week and wasn't surprised. It was just a matter of time with the the new hotel being built across the street. Hopefully the organizers can find a suitable location and make it even better. I can't imagine crowded it is going to be on the 27th.

 

Bummer, keep us updated with the new location please.

 

Going to try and go to final two events at the current location. Pretty good turnout today. Not to many Ferraris though.
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Wouldn't mind having both....
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The course has had its run, but too many common cars are taking teh foothold.
Time to let it go...

 

This is disappointing news, but I'm optimistic that a new venue will be created for the event. It's too much of a legend now not to be redirected to another lot, hopefully within the same vicinity and not too much further north.

Luckily I'm back in town and will be at the show with my little Fiat one last time

 

That was one of my favourite things about the brief time I lived in SoCal!