Ed And BS Meet For Cars And Coffee

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: April 28th, 2012

Each Saturday morning, at a somewhat ungodly hour, drivers of always beautiful and often rare cars congregate on Mazda’s parking lot in Irvine, CA.

The gathering is called “Cars and Coffee.” The cars are free to look at, the (strong) coffee does not cost much.

Ed Niedermeyer & I went there today, the early hour (and Ed’s hangover) be damned

Whether classics, exotics, concepts, hotrods, or race cars, Cars and Coffee is the place to be admired, to swap stories and to subtly make your car available for sale.

The area is an historic battleground of the car business. The building was the headquarters of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group, the umbrella organization of Volvo, Aston Martin and Jaguar. Now, it is the home of Taco Bell.

Not all cars at Cars and Coffee are antique. We spotted a brand-new “hachi-roku” Scion FR-S with press fleet tags. Ed considered trading in his BMW for a new BRZ.

“Look,” shouts Ed, “jack has one just like that.”

This E-Type reminds us of a bygone era.

Got wood?

Detomaso Pantera.

And some engine porn.

You don’t need to have a hot rod to be a star at Cars and Coffee.

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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The_Imperialist on Apr 29, 2012

This is indeed the event formerly held at Crystal Cove. I've lived in Irvine since 1996 and am truly ashamed for having attended C&C only twice. Had I known that the TTAC powers that be would be in attendance yesterday, I'd have set the alarm!

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Swilliams41 on Apr 30, 2012

C&C Dallas is great!!!! My son made me take him and it is a great event. Nice folk and slammin cars. Good times.

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