7/10/10
Southern California Cars and Coffee and DGR Party

I arrived in Southern California to meet Tom Wilson and Zac Dugger to prepare for a weekend of Ferrari activities.

Even though we had a big party to host at DGR Performance in Oceanside, California, we stopped by the “Cars and Coffee” event held in a parking lot an hour north off the freeway. Its concept is a gathering of car enthusiasts that starts at 6 am every Saturday and usually breaks up by 8:30am! Even with it’s short duration, the amount and variety of cars that attend is impressive.

It’s a big “cruise in” with no real structure except for car guys to come out early before the demands of the weekend take hold. Neat cars like this V-8 powered Austin Healey join in the gathering. 

Some guys try to come down enmass to park together like this collection of Alfas. A large collection of Porsches parked in an adjacent area.

The only Vintage Ferrari I found at the event was this 365GT 2+2, but the owner was not with the car.

I loved seeing all the personal touches these owners had done to these cars. 

I found neat things like this rumble seat in the back of this Mustang coupe.

There’s not a lot of leg room back there, nor would it be easy for ingess or egress, but the idea was interesting.

Another car that really caught my eye was this nicely done Buick Riviera that was for sale. At $15,500 dollars, it seemed like a good deal considering the level of detail and modification!

The level of enthusiasm shows in what guys bring to this event. A VW transport owner brought this Volkswagon powered agriculture pump to share with the spectators. It’s a perfectly working unit that starts with a hand crank. I’m sure thousands of these pumps were used all over the world, but to have one today in such original condition is becoming a rariety.

After about 90 minutes at the Cars and Coffee event, we headed back south to prepare for the DGR event that started at noon.

By lunch we had a nice colleciton of cars in the parking lot, spanning 40 years in Ferrari history. Lunch was served, and all sat down to a delicious meal of Mexican food including tasty Fish Tacos!

The event was a very casual affair, and the owners had a great time swapping stories and showing their cars. I was honored when Randy Ema of the Duesenburg world drove up in a nice grey GTE! I’ve seen Randy on many appearances with Jay Leno on various pre-war restoration projects, but who knew Randy was a Ferrari fan! I was invited to see his shop after the weekend, so look forward to reading more about the visit later!

Ron Karp from Karp’s Brake Service came down with other craftsmen to share their knowledge and expertise. I recorded some of his presentation, so look forward to hearing what Ron had to say about resleeving.

Zac of DGR Performance discussed his job at restoring a Vintage Ferrari, and used a near perfect example of a GTE that recently won at Cavallino to compare with Tom Wilson’s GTE that needs the same treatment.

Painters, Body guys, and Detailers were all available to help owners understand the process and what they can do to help. Where else would you find three GTEs spanning the spectrum of condition at the same time?

As always I always love more looking at cars apart than all together and done, and Zac did not disappoint. A 206 Dino was brought over from the metal shop to show the progress on this restoration.

As I always say it’s sometimes a shame to have to cover up all this craftmanship with paint!

Previous Restoration Day
Next Restoration Day
Home page