Acting Citizen: At a Cars and Coffee Meet

By James Knudsen

I ended last month’s column with mention of a very rare, very beautiful, and very expensive automobile, the Ferrari GT 250 Lusso. Rare (only 351 were built) beautiful (subjective, yes, but trust me it’s beautiful), and expensive (it cost $13,375 in 1964; the same amount would buy you two Cadillacs off the showroom floor). This was a car for the few.

The sexy beast is the 250 Lusso
from the styling house of Pininfarina

    And given Enzo Ferrari’s reputation for being extremely particular about who was worthy of owning an automobile with the prancing horse on the hood, you needed to be very well connected to get your hands on one when they were new. No longer new now, one can be bought by anyone who can put their hands on three million in cash. This may leave one thinking that my automotive tastes run toward the marquees owned only by movie stars, rock stars, and landed gentry. Recent events have assured me this is not true.

Cars and Coffee, perhaps you’ve heard of it. Automotive enthusiasts bring their cars and enjoy coffee with other like-minded people. The meetups vary in size, from small affairs at small establishments, to the very large one I attended on December 17^th at the San Clemente Outlets mall, in the south of Orange County, California.
    An outlet mall has the most important element necessary, a huge parking lot. For months now, I’ve been getting texts from an old friend who attends the event on a regular basis with his two college-age sons. With urging from Andra, I made the trek to see first hand what all the fuss is about.
    The range of cars at these events is quite broad. From show quality classics like the 1957 Pontiac Safari Wagon, a two-door model that was a General Motors stablemate to the Chevrolet Nomad, to works-in-progress like the International Harvester pickup, featuring a side hinged hood (and numerous rust holes). And being that it is Orange County, high-end sports cars from Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, and others dominate the event. There was even a row of half a dozen H1 Hummers, one of which I’m pretty sure has been modified to “prepper” specs, whatever that is.
    So, from this bevy of automobiles, what would you guess was my favorite, the one car I had my picture taken with? Something turbo-charged, V-12, fastback, two-seater, convertible, retractable machine-guns? Alas, none of the above.

    My favorite was a Fiat Multipla from the 1950’s. Based on the Fiat 600, the Multipla was the “people mover” of its day. The model on display in San Clemente featured the six-seat configuration, a front bench seat that accommodated two, although I suspect three could squeeze together in a pinch. In the back four individual seats, all of which could fold flat as needed. Six passengers may not sound impressive, but it’s important to note that this is a vehicle with a wheelbase under 80 inches and an overall length the same as the current Fiat 500.

Fiat 500

     “Why,” you may ask, “why this prosaic little thing with a pushrod four-cylinder engine displacing 633 cubic centimeters, when there are more exotic, more complex, vehicles to behold?” It’s simple: cars for everyone are more challenging to create. Lamborghini, Bentley, Ferrari may charge as much as they need to charge. They don’t have to worry about meeting a price point or a variety of everyday needs. They are free to build what they want, how they want, for whom they want, and everyone else may drive what everyone else drives.
    Beginning with the Model T, manufacturers around the world have been faced with the challenge of putting societies on wheels for the first time, meeting the needs of the many with their creations. André Lefèbvre, Dante Giacosa, Alec Issigonis are three who did so brilliantly.

1959 Morris Mini-Minor,
Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon

Paris-Bonhams, 2013 Citroën 2CV

Copyright © 2022 by James Knudsen