Cars and Coffee Event Bans Mustangs, Chargers, Camaros
As a man nearing his late 50s, I remember that muscle car shows were pretty tame. You’d pull into a parking lot or a fairgrounds or some other venue. Now, even back then, events like Van Nuys boulevard were something else. There was usually a lot of revving and the occasional burnout and maybe a pull from one light to the next light.
Car Shows and cruises have now, today, devolved into free-for-alls. It’s not fair to place all of the blame on one certain group (ex. young , or a certain race of people ) because there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Every Saturday I go to South OC Cars and Coffee in San Clemente, California. There are more than 2,000 cars every Saturday and it takes 2 hours to get them all parked. This has show has been going on for a few years after all the others were shut down because of miscreants who have no respect.
How has this event survived? . Well, the Head guy is a hard-charging Aussie who used to run a bar. His whole family is involved and is backed up by about 30 volunteers who watch every access point to the property. The landlord of the property (which is an outlet mall for big brands) has allowed this event to continue because the Show Staff are diligent about discipline. No matter your age, your race, or the make and model, if you rev, speed, do burnouts, or trigger your pops and bangs map, you’re perma banned.
And there have been many perma bans. The offenders range from seventeen-year-olds to septuagenarians.
The types of cars that offend the most are definitely BMW, Infinitis G35, and any late model Dodge vehicle with a V8 and in some cases, V6s. Behind that group are the late-model Mustangs and Camaros. The owners of classic muscle cars have never seem to step out of line. We also have some owners of exotic cars who feel the urge to entertain teenagers by ripping out of the exit.
It makes sense that the biggest offenders are the cars with rear-wheel drive and high horsepower. This is why we don’t have problems with people who drive a Prius. It’s a problem all over the country.
I frequently travel to European countries for business and I always take in a car show whenever possible. For the most part, people are more respectful. In 2023 I will have attended 11 car shows in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Sweden, England and in Italy.
Then this week, I saw this article by The Drive.
It showcases the reason such a decision has been rendered.
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Self-described as the “most prominent gathering of its kind,” Coffee and Cars, a car meetup group out of Texas, has banned several models of muscle cars from its events, citing unruly behavior by drivers. In a post on social media, the group said that “all Mustang[s], Chargers & Camaros” are not allowed at its events for the time being, citing “burnouts and revving” as the actions that led to the decision.
it seems like this is a reaction to a series of incidents, not just the alleged behavior of muscle car owners at the group’s most recent event on November 4th, which featured British sports cars and supercars. In a post on Instagram, the group stated “We don’t want this gathering shut down as we have some special surprises planned. This is not the time or place to do it! Thank you for those who understand.” In this post, the group doesn’t specifically mention what drivers shouldn’t be doing, which implies it’s well known what the bad behavior is. The group also shared that all of its events may become invitation-only if the behavior continues.
Reckless driving and actions by drivers have shut down car meets before. Many car meets often have law enforcement stationed at the exits of the event area to discourage such stunts, although revving an engine is not necessarily against the law.
Of course, the denials came flooding in. Posts on Instagram and other platforms have led to backlash. Drivers of the aforementioned vehicles as well as others decried the decision as everything from a “hateful [action] against domestic car drivers” to the event organizers simply being “soft”.”Soft’? Some might say, these are the words of an entitled enthusiasts who can’t take responsibility.
The fact of the matter. is that most parking lots are owned by private owners. As such, whoever has permission to control the comings and goings has the authority to deny access to the property. Certainly, miscreants who dont play by the rules should absolutely be banned from access.
Here in Southern Californi, several Cars and Coffee events have been canceled. The famous Malibu Country Mart event died in November of 2022. Why? People couldn’t behave even with their six and seven-digit supercars. The Irvine Cars and Coffee also died in 2014. So did the Crystal Cove event, for all the same reasons.
I could go on and on. The only way to stop these events from being shut down, is to make sure event organizers enforce a zero tolerance for misbehaving. It’s s no secret that the governments around the world are itching to ban gasoline cars permanently, and of course, bad players ruin the image of those who enjoy their cars as a hobby.
