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Before dawn on Saturday October 21, 2006, Ford opened the Premier Automotive Group and Mazda North American Operations campus to “Croissant Derelicts”. It was a stunning success with over 350 cars on display.
As you might remember from last week’s story, the Irvine Company kicked the “informal” Saturday morning car show out of the Crystal Cove Promenade on Pacific Coast Highway in Orange County, California. Too much congestion, too much noise, blah, blah, blah. Ford steps in offering up its nearby campus adjacent to the upscale Irvine Spectrum, but not nearly as muy elegante as Crystal Cove.
John Clinard, Ford’s Regional Manager of Public Relations was the principal driver of the event. Hats off to John. He really knows how to pull the folks together.

Would they come? ABSOLUTELY! In an in-your-face showing to the Irvine Company, car enthusiasts in Southern California flocked to the new venue in Irvine which is about five exits south of AutoPacific’s headquarters in Tustin.

An eclectic array of cars is on display every Saturday at Cars & Coffee

Ford’s Freeman Thomas… Head of Ford’s Design Efforts in California Surveys the Porsche Paddock

Line for Starbucks at PAG. Crystal Cove Starbucks reportedly did $5,000 in revenue every Saturday morning when the car show was there.

Ferraris at Dawn. One Ferrari owner’s wife was heard to say, “There should be a place just for Ferraris and then everybody else.” Of course!

BMW CycleCar. Driver admitted it was a chick magnet. Apparently the camera mounted on the roll bar helps.

VehicleVoice video team David and Cameron Barrett interview Bill Baker of ForbesLife.

Wow is it LONG! Early ’60s Lincoln Continental convertible maneuvers into the dock. Looks like it needs a tug.

Even bikers rolled in to gawk at the multi-million dollar exoticars.

Favorite 9AM Pasttime – watching the cars leave. Some go sedately. Some… hmmmmmmmmmm.