WE ALL GET IT. THE FEAR OF MISSING OUT. Especially in a world where images of sunshine, cool cars and happy people are delivered to our phones in a constant stream. Even though I have a pretty low tolerance for car shows – a parked car is a wasted car, isn’t it? – that fear of missing out creeps in from time to time when I see pictures from another Cars and Coffee event packed with unbelievable exotica, wickedly potent-sounding muscle cars and curios that seem to exist only in the surreal world of California. I want to go to a car show. For fleeting moments, I really want to be a part of that scene.
Today it’s happening. And I’m excited. It’s early on a Sunday morning and I’m floating up the Pacific Coast Highway towards Malibu. There’s a Porsche 356 some way ahead, tiny amongst the local traffic, sun glinting from its chrome brightwork; I pass a twin-turbocharged Supra, its hooped rear wing reaching into a pure blue sky. And then, heading in the opposite direction… wait, it can’t be. Just breezing in and out of pickups and Teslas? It is. A Lancia Delta S4 Stradale in light grey flashes past. The McLaren 765LT Spider I’m driving suddenly seems so ordinary. It really is another world here.
Thirty minutes later I’m two coffees deep, a few people have asked all about the LT, a young guy wants to know the name of the blue to see if it matches the spec of the Spider he’s awaiting (it’s Ludus Blue, by the way), I’ve perused the incredible array of machinery bursting out of this quiet shopping village car park and, um, I’m
