Cars and Coffee is the ultimate car show. Every Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. the cars that fill your dreams start cruising in to the employee parking lot at Mazda’s U.S. HQ located at 7905 Gateway Blvd. in Irvine, California. Side-by-side you’ll find more than 300 striking examples of the most exciting cars ever built. From 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., Ford/Mazda PAG opens its lot so car fans can wander through what amounts to an auto wonderland. You can look, touch, talk to the owners and builders, rub shoulders with auto legends or just drool. There’s plenty of spectator parking and coffee and food for everyone. The event is free except for the coffee and donuts.

On a recent Saturday, the lineup included a 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS454, a ‘69 Pontiac GTO, a 1950 Jaguar XK, a gorgeously restored Ford Model A complete with rumble seat, a crazy customized 1960 Volvo PV544, and a massive 1934 Packard Phaeton 8-cylinder touring car still dressed in its original paint. You want customized? A retired Toyota mechanic brought a 1926 T-bucket hotrod with a 1.6-liter Toyota inline-4, a complete Toyota running gear and parts from a wrecked hang glider and a Toyota-powered Bonneville streamliner! If man can build it, you’ll see it at Coffee and Cars.

And chances are good you’ll bump into some notable car aficionados while you’re strolling along the rows of cars. Hot rod designer Chip Foose, legendary racer Dan Gurney, Mustang builder Steve Saleen, racing champ Steve Millen, exotic car impresario Reeves Callaway and everyone’s favorite car guy, Jay Leno, are regulars. “You never know who — or what — will show up,” said Reeves Callaway, standing beside his Callaway C16 Speedster. “It’s the most comprehensive free-form car show anywhere in the world. What goes on here goes on in a lot of places, but what makes this unique is that here today you have a 1927 Bentley 4 1/2 racecar that was actually driven here from up in L.A., a 1980 Ducati 900 SS Mike Hailwood Replica complete down to the period-correct leathers worn by its rider, a Porsche 911 racecar driven by 1980s IMSA sports car champion Dennis Aase, and then Steve Millen in the Fort GT that he just drove in the Targa New Zealand Road Rally. These are the genuine articles — totally singular machines. And that’s what gets me up at 6 a.m.”

So shine up your favorite ride and cruise on over to Cars and Coffee next Saturday — or any Saturday. You can be part of the action (just show up before 7 a.m.) or part of the crowd. Don’t forget your camera!

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