Every Saturday, car enthusiasts gather to discuss their common interests. From 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., attendees have the opportunity to display their own vehicles and build a community with those who share their passion. The event takes place in the parking lot of Western Bagel where attendees can grab a coffee or a bagel to snack on.
Cars and Coffee is a nationwide event with weekly meetups in all 50 states and more than 200 cities–including Santa Clarita. America on Wheels, a car museum located in Pennsylvania, started the event with the goal of bringing like-minded car lovers together. Since then, the event has spread throughout California to Santa Clarita. Al Aird, a Valencia resident and regular at Cars and Coffee, explained, “This event has been going on for a long time. It started in Huntington Beach, and it has branched out to different parts of California.” Aird stated that as the community grew, so did the need for space. “[The Valencia Cars and Coffee event started] a few years back in a different parking lot at the time, but the parking lot got too small so we moved over here.”
Darryl Jennings from Saugus, who frequents local events, first found out about the gatherings through his wife, who spotted the meetup while on a shopping trip. Now, he attends these gatherings every other week to take part in the local car community. In total, Jennings owns three cars: two Cobras and one Mustang. His 1965 427 Cobra is his favorite and the one he likes to bring to these events. “I’m sure I’m more hardcore than a lot of people that want to go fast and be comfortable, I just want to go fast,” Jennings shared. “So I have a lot of pure race cars [that make] your teeth rattle in your mouth.”
Car collectors look for more than just the aesthetic appeal of a car. For Aird, he strives for the car’s ability to run smoothly, accelerate efficiently and be reliable. “Driveability … it’s like driving a go-kart. You can drive, go around corners, go [as] fast as you want, it’ll stop, it’ll go. It does everything, it’s just [the] all-around experience of the car.”
Jennings, who prefers driving older cars, is most interested in a car’s side pipes, which adds to the sound and rumbling of a car. “ You can like the Teslas, very good performance for a short period of time … but there’s no shaking in the ground [or] rumbling … you hear me before you ever see me. There’s just that bit of nostalgia that comes back from your youth.”
Besides the shared interest in cars, a key factor that keeps people coming back is that there is something for everyone. “Everybody’s different, everybody has what they like in a car. There’s the older guys with the low risers, the 50s guys, the 60s guys, the Corvette guys, the truck guys, everything,” Aird described. “It’s not just one opinion or one car kind of place, it’s for everybody. There’s a lot of cool cars out here in Santa Clarita, a lot of nice cars, so anyway, we have fun.”
Wildcats, check out Santa Clarita’s Cars and Coffee at your next available Saturday to not only learn more about cars, but also join an amazing supportive community.
