Last weekend, I attended Cars and Coffee San Francisco to mingle with the eclectic people and machines of the Bay Area’s car scene. The Saturday morning meet, hosted by GMP Cars, was a huge hit with cars of every stripe and flavor turning up to show out. At Cars and Coffee events, enthusiasts of all ages and backgrounds come together to celebrate their love of the automobile, and this mid-winter meet was no exception.
I brought this 2009 R35 Nissan GT-R, an absolute rocket of a supercar that I rented from Linh T. in San Jose. But the GT-R was just another fast car in the sea of beautiful exotics and highly tuned monsters at Cars and Coffee.
To help showcase the care and attention that the people of Cars and Coffee San Francisco put into their cars, I spoke to handful of owners about their builds. Large car meets like this are where these enthusiasts can discover and appreciate each other’s work, and the excellent diversity of machines in attendance made this event a special one.
I’ve compiled a small collection of the vehicles at the show with abridged descriptions from their proud owners. Then continue on for more photos from the show, starting with the legendary Ferrari F40 and F50 brought by GMP Cars.
2006 BMW M6
MAX — ATHERTON, CA
This M6 is from the E63 generation and has the S85 V10. The car has a full carbon aero kit from DinMann, which is based in Los Angeles. They also did a one-off carbon trunk for me. It’s sitting on Apex wheels and the car has been bagged. It’s an Airlift V2 management system with Bilstein struts. As far as exhaust, it has a Supersprint X-pipe, Eisenmann race rear, and a Dinan tune. I’ve had it maybe nine months, and the previous owner runs a shop down in Newport Beach. And it’s got a bumper-to-bumper warranty until 2020, which is great considering all the problems I’m going to have with the V10.
Porsche 914 Outlaw
MIKE — HAYWARD, CA
This is a 914 Outlaw, it has a small-block Chevy with cast iron block. 901 transmission. I did the build so I could pull out of the driveway and drive straight down to LA to visit my daughter without any equipment. Since I got it three years ago, the motor’s been out, the transmission’s been out, the cooling’s been out. Engineering out the heat was a huge task, and I ended up with a Renegade kit. Now it rolls down the freeway at 180 degrees, and when it goes to 210, the fans will kick on and bring it right back down to 180. So it’s great to not have to worry about the temperature.
1991 BMW 318is
EDUARDO — SAN MATEO, CA
This is my ’91 E30. It’s fairly stock, except for BBS steering wheel and shifter. And BC Racing coilovers all around. The wheels are 16×9, so it’s definitely a stretch. It was two inches lower when I bought it back in 2015. So yeah I had a broken oil pan. I had it recently resprayed because the original paint was faded, as the red tends to do.
1988 BMW 325is
SERGIO — SAN MATEO, CA
I bought this car from a buddy of mine just two months ago. It’s sitting on fifteens, and besides the wheels, shifter, and steering wheel, everything is pretty much stock. I used to have an ’85 318, so this is my second go at an E30. I missed it. There’s something about driving these old cars that you just don’t get from the new ones. After I sold my first E30 I had a 2002 Laguna Seca M3. It was fun, and fast, but it just wasn’t the same. Now I drive a ’91 M5 and this.
1981 DeLorean DMC-12
COLIN — SCOTLAND
This is my dream car. I bought it from its previous owner in Atlanta over a year ago. It’s one of the cleanest DeLoreans out there — near concours condition, except that it’s had nearly every electrical and mechanical upgrade done to make it safe and reliable to drive. It’s mostly a show car, but I do drive it at the weekends. It’s never been driven in rain. The previous owner had it for 20 years and detailed the underside on a lift after ever drive.
People love the car. I call it the smile machine. It’s a lot of fun to drive. There’s maybe 20 DeLoreans in the Bay Area and a lot of them are in great shape. I’m very proud of mine. I’ve been perfecting every last detail since I bought it. As always, there’s a list of things to do, but it’s mostly done. She’s in the best shape of her life.
1995 Volvo 960, with LS swap
WILL — SAN MATEO, CA
Okay this was my grandfather’s Volvo station wagon, and it’s all stock with the six speed. Except it has a Chevy motor in it from a 2010 Corvette. It’s an LS3 V8 and makes 450 horsepower. I like it because it’s a wagon and it’s very subtle.
1941 Chevrolet
SCOTT — RICHMOND, CA
This is a former drag racing car that held the track record at the old Fremont Raceway in the sixties. I got it from a fellow that worked for me who had the car for about 30 years. Since I’ve had it, I’ve been trying to bring it back to how it was back in the day. It’s certainly not a trailer queen, it’s just a hot rod. In the last three years, I’ve repainted it, reupholstered it, rewired it, re-braked it, and updated everything to make it safe to drive.
It’s got a 428 Pontiac and two four-barrel carburetors, which is a motor Pontiac introduced in the sixties that was one of their muscle motors. I take it up to the Wednesday night drags up in Petaluma to run it through the strip every November. Last year I turned a 13.90 at around 100 mph, but we’ve rebuilt the motor and transmission since then. So I think It’ll do twelve seconds now. It’s got a real nice history — I’m just trying to keep it alive.
2005 C6 Chevrolet Corvette
DAVE — LATHROP, CA
This is a tribute to the Blue Angels done for their 60th anniversary back in 2006. I’m former Navy myself. It was on the cover of Corvette magazine and did a few calendars there. We come to a lot of the air shows and welcome-homes to show support for the military. All the graphics are done in vinyl — this is before full wraps really became a thing. It took a while to get done but the Blues really love it so that makes me happy.
2008 Dodge Viper ACR
ALFRED
This is a fourth generation Viper ACR that’s one of three. I didn’t like it because it was stock, so I put a gen-five intake manifold on it, I have Belanger long tube headers on there with high-flow cats, I built my own exhaust, it’s tuned, I have an underdrive pulley… I’ve done close to everything I can reasonably do. My secondary tune has me at 618 wheel horsepower now.