What Is Cars and Coffee? How It Started and How to Find One

Cars and Coffee is an informal, usually free car meet held early on a weekend morning in a parking lot. People park their cars, walk around, look at everyone else's and talk over coffee for a couple of hours, then go home before lunch. There's no judging, no trophies and no entry list. You can bring a supercar, a project car, a daily driver or no car at all.

How did Cars and Coffee start?

The name comes from Southern California. From 2003 to 2006, car enthusiasts gathered on weekend mornings at the Crystal Cove Promenade in Newport Beach. By 2006 it was drawing more than a hundred cars, neighbors complained about the noise and crowds, and it shut down that October. Enthusiast John Clinard found a new home for the group at Ford's western headquarters in Irvine, where it took the name Cars and Coffee.

Cars and Coffee Irvine ran almost every Saturday from 7 to 9 a.m. from 2006 until 2014, when it simply got too big for its location. By then the format had been copied all over the world. Its successors, such as South OC Cars and Coffee in San Clemente, still draw big crowds.

What happens at a Cars and Coffee?

• Early start, short run. Most run about 7 to 10 a.m. on a Saturday or Sunday. The rarest cars often arrive first and leave first.
• Every kind of car. Classics, muscle cars, imports, exotics, trucks, EVs and half-finished projects all park side by side.
• Walking and talking. Owners stand by their cars and are usually happy to talk about them. That's the whole point.
• Free, mostly. Spectators rarely pay. Some larger events charge a small fee for show parking, often for charity.

Cars and Coffee etiquette

Most meets that get shut down end because of a few drivers, not the crowd. The unwritten rules:

1. Arrive and leave quietly. No burnouts, no revving, no "launching" out of the lot. This is the number one reason hosts lose their location.
2. Ask before touching a car, opening a door or leaning on it.
3. Buy something from the host. A coffee or a donut keeps the business happy to have you back.
4. Watch kids and dogs in a parking lot full of moving cars.
5. Take your trash with you.

How to find Cars and Coffee near you

• Search "cars and coffee" plus your town, and check Facebook events, which is where most meets are posted.
• Ask car dealerships, breweries and coffee shops. They're the most common hosts because the crowd is good for business.
• Follow local car clubs (Porsche, Corvette, Mustang, Jeep, BMW and more). Many host their own monthly meet.
• Check the season. In colder places many meets pause from November to March.

Cars and Coffee in the Tri-Cities (Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol)

The Tri-Cities has hosted Cars and Coffee mornings: Yee-Haw Brewing on Buffalo Street in Johnson City ran a seasonal series in 2024, and Friendship Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram on Bristol Highway held its first Cars and Coffee in March 2025. Dates change from season to season, so check the hosts' pages and Visit Johnson City's events calendar before you go.

Cars and Coffee vs. car show vs. car meet

A car show is a planned event with registration, classes and often judging and trophies. A car meet is any informal gathering of car people, at any time of day. Cars and Coffee is a kind of car meet: morning, casual, coffee in hand. For the full breakdown, including how car meets differ from illegal street takeovers, see what is a car meet?

Why it works

Cars and Coffee is one of the easiest ways for an adult to meet new people. It recurs, it's built around a shared interest that's easy to talk about, and you can show up alone. That's the same recipe we cover in how to actually meet people IRL: show up to the same thing a few times and the faces start to recognize you.