When my alarm went off at 5:45 AM this morning my instinct was to hit snooze and skip my regular pre-work shower.  Thankfully I realized my alarm was not set for work but for the weekly Cars & Coffee meet held in Irvine, so I jumped out of bed with my new found motivation, downed a bowl of cereal, grabbed the stale remainder of yesterday’s thermos of french roast, and hopped on the freeway for my overdue dose of the early morning automotive mosaic that is Cars & Coffee.

I’ve been regularly attending the meet for three years now and every time I drag myself out of bed to go I’m always glad I did.  There will literally be something for everyone every time you go, from bagged classic American rat-rods to right hand drive track-spec R34’s to Aventadors this gathering will satisfy any car cravings you may be suffering from.

The sticker pretty much says it all.

One of the great things about this meet is how excited and willing most owners are to chat about their cars. This 510 owner constantly had a crowd of three to five people around him the whole time listening intently to him describing his experiences on the track.

The RWB Porsche 993 doing what it does best, grabbing EVERYONE’S attention!

A Reliant Robin in an unfamiliar, upright position.

At one point, all of a sudden, the meet was overrun by a horde of brightly colored micro cars!

The jokes about whether or not there would be enough  room to accommodate them all were plentiful and repetitive!

More and more kept showing up!

Eventually the tide of people comically squeezed into teeny cars ceased, I wiped a joyful tear from my eye, and moved on to the secondary lot to check out this immaculate R33 GT-R Skyline on Nismo LM-GT1 wheels.

This Dan Gurney Alligator is the first I’ve ever seen or heard of a seating position designed like this that wasn’t from a late-80’s anime.  This one was based on a Honda motor and had full carbon-fiber bodywork, it must be hard not to smile cruising this thing down the freeway in the middle of the night like some cyber-punk drug dealer.

I always make sure I take a stroll through the parking lot to check out the cars that didn’t show up early enough to make it into the meet or who just chose not to park in the main lot and there are always a few hidden gems like the ‘No Rush’ 300ZX with impeccable low-down street style.

Right after I shot this well-slammed BMW sedan the sky started spitting and I retreated to the Fit fearing actual rain.  Once again, the Irvine Cars & Coffee did not disappoint when it came to atmosphere and variety.  If you live in the area and don’t mind seeing the what the world looks like before it’s illuminated by the sun, I highly suggest a visit to this truly epic weekly meet.

Cars & Coffee 5.24.14 by Max Montague