Before he knew it, the event had grown larger and larger, prompting a move to Ford’s Irvine design studio. Officially known as Cars and Coffee, it proved to be a massive hit, with copycats springing up all over the place.
This particular one was started in 2017 with the aim of bringing together LA-based enthusiasts and it took place in a few different locations around the city before settling on Griffith Park.
It stays true to the laid-back ethos, with the online page for the event calling it “very chill”.
There’s possibly no better way to sum it up than that. Everyone wants to talk about their cars, but they’re preoccupied with looking at what else has turned up.
The cars rolling through the entrance are varied in a way that we would just never see in the UK – a Ferrari Testarossa is followed in by a V8-swapped Datsun 240Z, while a Peugeot 405 Mi16 parks up opposite a Ford Explorer decked out in full Jurassic Park livery, complete with a speaker playing dinosaur roars.
Everything gets attention, whether it’s a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (few cars have aged better) or a Ford Ranchero pick-up truck.
“This couldn’t happen anywhere else,” the 405’s owner tells me. “Everyone is so laid-back, the weather helps keep cars pristine and people are so happy to bring their cars out.”
Three hours have passed in the blink of an eye and I have a flight to catch. As I await my Uber, watching cars leave the car park sensibly (crucial to keeping the event running), a Renault Dauphine that makes a GT3 car look tame rolls by, followed by a Nissan 350Z that looks like something out of a cyberpunk megacity.
Forget Hollywood: these are the real stars of LA.
Dodge Power Wagon
Just shy of 440bhp and four-wheel drive sounds like an exciting recipe, doesn’t it? This highly sought-after Sweptline-era truck (named for that swoosh down the side of the load bay) was what passed as a utility pick-up back in the late 1960s, and this one has been freshly rebuilt.
