Who is John Clinard??? Crystal Cove/Cars and Coffee

John Clinard (pronounced "Cly-nard") is the Wester Regional Director for Ford and their up-market brands. He is a true automotive enthusiast and one of a handful of key enthusiasts that developed and brought the Mustang SVO to market. He was the driving force that got Ford to accept a heel-and-toe driving position for the SVO, and created the pre-cursor for the formation of the Special Vehicle Team. I met John when I was a director for the Mustang SVO Owner's Association. He's a bright, enthusiastic, unassuming, warm individual. Make sure you thank him for bringing the defunct Crystal Cove meet to Irvine (as Cars and Coffee) when you meet him.

John is usually at all the Cars and Coffee events. I believe he formerly had a 308 GT4 that he restored and is passively looking for a Mondial T coupe.

Bob

 

Now if we can just get those SVO people to stop the exhibition of speed in the parking lot and comming and going from the C&C and Euro Sunday.

 

Clinard and Freeman Thomas were regulars at Crystal Cove and when The Irvine Company kicked us out, they mentioned that their lot at PAG was empty on weekends. They got the ok from the top Ford people and offered the lot for the show. A bunch of us met with them at PAG and decided it felt like the right fit. John, his wife and sons are there every week, setting out the signs and pointing people in the right direction. Great guy, who also happens to own a nice Pininfarina Series I Cabriolet.

 

Thanks to the coordination and support of John Clinard , Freeman Thomas and Tom Shaugnessey we were given the opportunity to hold our Ferrari Day at C&C. These guys are there at 5:00 am every Saturday to make it happen. We all owe a great deal of thanks for the ongoing dedication and support they have given the Southern California car enthusiasts community.

 

John Clinard , Freeman Thomas and Tom Shaugnessey are the three people you must go out of your way to thank.

Without them (and of course with the blessing of PAG), our cars & coffee events would not happen and/or not run so smoothly. People show up, have a good time and leave with a smile on their face and without incident - which is exactly what these three men want. Most do not know the amount of hard work (on their own time mind you) that goes into running this every week.

Thanks for asking about John. These guys tend to hide in the background, quietly going about their business. But deserve to get much appreciation for their efforts.

 

I stand corrected - there are indeed other people (Freeman Thomas, Tom Shaugnessey) to thank for pulling together C&C for everyone. I focused on John since the topic of the thread was about John.

As for the SVO guys - almost no SVOs show up at C&C. I think Racer98 may have been thinking the SVT guys? Under no circumstances should anyone perfom an "exhibition of speed" maneuver, especially out of C&C. That could/would ruin it for everyone. If everyone did this, it wouldn't be long before the City of Irvine and Irvine PD shut down this gathering. (Sorry, I didn't mean to pontificate..."

I'm just happy to have a venue where we can all gather and talk cars and admire all the beautiful machinery.

Bob

 

Well thanks to those guys for getting this parking lot in the interim. Now are there plans for finding a nice venue?

 

Your foot seems to have found one all on its own, why don't you hit the beat and we'll have four people to thank.

 

Crystal Cove had class, PAG has the charm of the LAX parking lot. Glad to have a space, but everyone would have found another space had this place not come through. There are quite a few people that tried out C&C to give it a go only to lose all interest.

Simply put the CC show would not have been what it is and made PAG if it were originally held behind the IHOP on Macarthur. CC allowed other people to drop in as they drove past. A good portion of CC were people that stumbled on it on the beautiful PCH morning drive.

 

yes I wait until I'm on the freeway on ramp to spool up the turbos.....

 

Any idea what the Starbucks is taking in on a normal Saturday now?

 

If you want to see the ocean, drive Highway 1 or load up a favorite Windows background.

It doesn't appear that the scenery has affected the turnouts and repeated visitors. Speaking for myself, I come to hang out with car people and less concerned about who comes in off the street.

I would think in your line of work, appearance isn't everything. There's no ocean view in a parking lot at VCR and your logic is flawed.

If you can do better, don't let us stop you.

 

You did not actually read my posts, in no place do I mention VCR. Or is your logic flawed? Wow seems like you are out to flame me over my take on the venue.

I live half-way between them both (in drive time), and it is easy for me to go to either of them. I go to VCR and do the canyons. CC had a nice view by way of the ocean across the street, but give me twisties anyday, and if they lead to the ocean, all the better.

VCR does not need the view since people drive afterwords through the canyons for a spirited drive to the ocean for lunch and so on. You at least have an option to do so.

Then again to be honest, the Fuddruckers and Donut Derelicts meets are far worse.

Thanks again to the four guys that make C&C possible it is nice to have a place to go no matter what your tastes are.

 

Wow..I hadn't realized what a heated discussion C & C causes. Sure am glad VCR has Dusty! Doesn't he organize the VCR all by himself?

and BTW, I think the view at VCR is outstanding-all the fantastic cars!

 

Its good that you're considerate. However people gotta do this

 

Now, now gentlemen. Let's keep this civil.

The topic is John Clinard. He's an outstanding dude. Met him at the 5/5 Ferrari event, at 5:30 AM. He'd not allow me to assist. The man is incredible. He's there every Saturday AM!

Allow me to 2nd Dennis' and Lou's comments. Clinard, Thomas, and Shaughnesy are auto nuts (he said affectionately) that do what they do 'cause they enjoy it. So, kudos to John and much thanks to Freeman and Tom.

We need to enjoy and appreciate this PAG-sponsored event while we can. Regrets to rain on this parade, but we may be looking for another venue in the not too distant future:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ford12jun12,1,1472800.story?ctrack=2&cset=true.

Thank you John.

 

Aww Im not an LA Times member, what does the article say?

~Matthew

 

See your quote here:

Sounds flippant and in stark contrast to the rest of the thread, to me at least. Now that you're elaborating, what makes the current venue not a nice venue?

It seems nice enough for 75+ Ferrari owners to bring their cars out plus the other attendees. I would be interested to see pictures from the original CC venue where an F50, triple Muira's, and a Ferrari F1 car are found less than a hundred feet from each other.

I can't think of a better more stable venue than the N.A. headquarters of several automobile manufacturers. If you can, we're all ears and I'll happily go back to skimming the shallows near the beach looking for human snacks.

 

Ferrari Day at C&C was 105 Ferrari's alone plus the other always amazing vehicles that showed that day.

 

No... what makes it a good venue? Standing behind a non-descript building sucking up freeway fumes for a two hours on a Saturday filled with Lambo (amongst others) of OC wh0ring themselves out with cars for sale, Cobra kitcars, and lots of stoplights. It is a good venue for those that don't know what a good one looks like.

There is a line from the American President that works here, one character says something about the lack of leadership that people will follow a mirage and when they get there they are so starved they'll drink the sand: "People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference." More on that quote in a moment.

I refuse to answer your question because you have already taken a stance to shoot down anything I state just to be contradictory. So just ask some other fchat regulars why they don't go.

Many of us believed that C&C was intended to be a stop-gap, and that the ball was dropped because nobody took a leadership role in moving the venue in the first place. Now that goes back to the quote I made earlier. I am bummed I missed the 5/5 event. In general, I just don't like to settle for mediocrity. Contrary to the green words in my signature.

The Carlsbad meet was nice, there are things to do because many of us are multi-dimensional and though cars are a passion we'd rather drive them than stand next to them, so after saying hello to the familiar faces and meeting some new people, I get in a little shopping. Maybe it the little bit of Italian heritage, I like to go to breakfast and break bread with friends. CC had Trader Joe's, a good breakfast down the block at Las Brisas, maybe some minutae for the house from Pottery Barn lol

C&C has the Spectrum which opens late only to be over-run with teens.

OMG! OMG! OMG! You saw 3 Muiras and an F1 car at the same time?!?!?! Can I shake your hand????? You need to get out more to other events dude. I remember more than one time seeing a Radical fly up the 55fwy after a CC meet, or a non-federalized DTM go down PCH, concept cars, movie cars, and more infront of Starbucks. Was it Gurney or Yates that visited CC? Have they gone to C&C yet?

Skimming the shallows for human snacks?

Like I said, I am not totally writing C&C off, I'll visit it maybe 3 times a year or if my dad really wants to go, but I can pretty much count on seeing the same stuff each damned time.

 

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