Local Church Holds Inaugural Cars & Coffee Event

June 16, 2024 RichardReina Car shows, Events Cars & Coffee, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Three Bridges NJ

My wife and I belong to our local Catholic Church, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, just 2 miles up the road, and I’ve recently befriended the husband of one of my wife’s friends from church. Andy is a ‘car guy’ in the sense that he likes cars and rather recently treated himself to a pre-owned BMW Z4 as a weekend driver. At my urging, he also joined the NJ Region of the AACA and has attended some meetings.

Andy is involved in various church activities and got the idea for something different. He approached the pastor about having a Cars & Coffee type event on a Sunday afternoon. He quickly got approval, and the word went out among the parishioners. The show was scheduled for Sunday June 2, 2024, and while he was initially hoping for around 15 cars, he got 11 owners to sign up; but then, 3 dropped out the day prior. He still had 8 vehicles, and a varied assortment at that.

To help him fill out the field, I promised Andy that I’d bring both my ’67 Alfa Romeo and my ’93 Mazda Miata. My wife was willing to drive the Miata there, and she got to hang out with some of her girlfriends, while the guys clustered together to talk about their machines.

Besides my two cars and Andy’s Z4, we had a BMW Z3, a C4 Corvette, a mid-90’s Camaro, and 2 late ’70s MGBs. I had not met any of the owners before, and this was a great opportunity to get to know some local car enthusiasts. Everyone was courteous and complimentary of each other’s cars, and at the end of the gathering, we promised each other that we would do this at least one more time this year, and perhaps even work in a little road tour. I would especially appreciate the tour, as the 4-mile round trip barely got my engines warm!

Cars & Coffee, Mahwah NJ, Oct. 1, 2023

October 1, 2023 RichardReina Car shows, Events Cars & Coffee, Dunkin' Donuts, Mahwah NJ

The last time my driving club buddy Larry and I organized any kind of get-together for our misfit group of car enthusiasts was October 23, 2022, just under a year ago. In the interim, we had announced to our compadres that the days of arranging drives to breakfast destinations were over. However, during a recent conversation with Larry, he suggested that we could again “host” a Cars & Coffee which would involve no more work than sending an email. So we did, and we did, and the result was good!

We scheduled the shindig for Sunday October 1, and after a week of significant rainfall, we lucked out with a day that was sunny, warm, and clear. I counted 14 individuals who showed up, the vast majority of whom know each other from sharing office space at Volvo corporate. In my case, I’ve known some of these gentlemen for over 30 years. Ten cars which qualified as “special interest” were driven there, while a few souls drove modern iron, which was fine with us, because we were really there for each other’s company.

Thanks to Mike for taking the snap (after driving here from PA in his Volvo C40 EV!)

Cars started arriving at 8:30 am and we successfully occupied most of one row in the lot. The Dunkin’ in Mahwah had bagels, donuts, and coffee, and what more could a bunch of old guys want on a Sunday morning? We stood in the parking lot with our food and drink and gabbed the morning away. Cars started to depart around 10:30 and I made my own getaway a little after 11 am to get home for some personal business. After driving the Alfa as my classic car of choice for most of the year, I brought the Miata to this event so that I could put fresh fuel into it! Aside from a few local trips, I had hardly moved it. The ride to and from added another 120 miles to the odometer, which was good for it.

Larry and I decided that while we will adhere to the “no more drives” decision, hosting a Cars & Coffee once or twice a year might be worth it, so we’ll calendar this for a repeat performance in the spring of 2024. Sounds far away, but it isn’t!

Larry’s newest acquisition, a 1980 Olds Cutlass

Bridgewater NJ Cars & Coffee, August 27, 2023

August 27, 2023 RichardReina Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Jr., Cruise nights, Events Bridgewater NJ, Cars & Coffee

Word went out last week via the NJ Chapter of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club (AROC) about an event which was new to me: a Sunday morning Cars & Coffee in the parking lot of a Dunkin’ Donuts on Route 22 in Bridgewater NJ. This was all of 6 miles from my house, and was scheduled to run from 9am to 11am, so it was an attractive choice, especially if a few other members of the Alfa club were to show up.

I arrived 15 minutes early to find several dozen cars already lined up, most of them late-model Corvettes and Mustangs. I’ve been to, and have heard about, other Cars & Coffee events in NJ like this, and perusing row after row of newer high-horsepower machines driven by millennial hipsters looking for bragging rights isn’t my thing. It was with great relief that I spotted a current generation Alfa Giulia sedan and parked next to it. The owner, Neil, was a younger chap who, with his traveling buddy Caleb, took an immediate interest in my ’67, and we spent a few minutes chatting about the Alfa Romeo brand in general. They both were friendly and delightful, and showed themselves to be interested in all kinds of automotive machinery.

Soon after I arrived, 3 members of AROC’s NJ Chapter showed up, all driving Spiders. Tony had his blue Series 1, Mike arrived in his red Series 3, and Bob parked his immaculate red Series 4, with all of us adjacent to each other. It was a great opportunity to show Neil and Caleb the distinctions among the different generation Spiders.

I broke away from the camaraderie several times to take in the other vehicles. Frankly, a long row of C6, C7, and C8 Corvettes more closely resembles a used-car lot than a car show to me, but I get it. Scattered among the 21^st century iron were a few gems. Standouts included a 1970 AMX, a 1970 240Z, a 928, and an early ‘70s Firebird.

The day was warm and sunny with low humidity, but as the temp started to climb, I decided on a slightly early departure of 10:30, which had me home by 11am. Would I attend again? There was no denying that the shortish drive was a convenience. If I knew I could count on seeing friendly faces, I would certainly pay another visit to this particular Cars & Coffee.

ALFAS:

AMERICAN:

GERMAN:

ASIAN:

Sunday Morning Cars & Coffee, Oct. 23, 2022

November 6, 2022 RichardReina Car shows, Cruise nights, Events Cars & Coffee, Dunkin' Donuts

On Sunday, October 23, 2022, we once again took advantage of a spacious parking lot adjacent to a Dunkin’ Donuts facility to host our own Cars & Coffee event. No driving was included in the plans, and we had a small but enthusiastic group of eight people (plus two VCNA retirees who were surprise guests) willing to mill about on what turned out to be a beautiful autumn morning.

The Dunkin’ Donuts on MacArthur Blvd. in Mahwah did its usual fine job in serving us bagels and coffee, and plenty of Sunday morning visitors were distracted enough by our vehicular lineup to break their routines and come over for a chat.

Cars in attendance included two Corvettes, a Chevy Nova, two Porsche 911s, a Mercedes-Benz turbodiesel, a well-preserved and rarely-seen Volvo S70, and your author’s Alfa Romeo. Interestingly, the imports outnumbered the domestic entries (3 Chevys versus 3 Germans, 1 Swedish, and 1 Italian), something we normally don’t see at our gatherings.

We may try to squeeze in one more driving event before the weather turns inhospitable for the winter. If not, we shall see what 2023 will bring!

Nothing but nothing looks like the back end of a C2 coupe

Saturday Morning Cars & Coffee, June 18, 2022

June 20, 2022 RichardReina Car shows, Events Cars & Coffee

If you thought that the only thing worth celebrating this past Saturday, June 18, was Paul McCartney’s 80^th birthday, you would be wrong! An equally joyous event was held that day at the Mahwah NJ Dunkin’ Donuts on MacArthur Blvd., and that was our first Saturday (as opposed to Sunday) Cars & Coffee event.

Early arrivals had their cars parked before 8:30 a.m., and most of the ten drivers who showed up were in place by 9. The local Dunkin’ did its usual fine job of serving up bagels, muffins, and hot coffee, while we men eschewed chairs and spread ourselves out standing around the parking lot.

Although this wasn’t advertised in advance, you can imagine that a DD can get busy on a Saturday morning, and more than a few locals wandered over to gaze at the morning’s collection of American (4), German (4), and Italian (2) machinery. All four domestic vehicles were GM products, while the four German cars were evenly split between BMW and Porsche. The Alfa Romeo brand represented 100% of the Italian cars. It’s nice to see the variety of vehicles that our informal gang brings out.

We had our fill of each other by 10:30, and the departure from the parking lot almost resembled a Le Mans start. The Saturday choice was an experiment; the turnout was about average, far from the largest number we have had show up. We’ll decide down the road whether to switch back to Sunday, or leave Saturday as an alternate selection during the driving season.

Fred tries to interest the group in yoga stretches; no one takes him up on it

AROC NJ Chapter Cars & Coffee, June 5 2021

June 6, 2021 RichardReina Car shows, Events Alfa Romeo Owners Club, AROC, AROC NJ Chapter, Cars & Coffee

The New Jersey Chapter of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club (AROC) held its first official event of 2021, a Saturday morning Cars & Coffee on June 5. Our generous host for the day, club member Martin M., invited members to his home, where bagels, Danishes, and coffee were available on the rear deck. We served ourselves while enjoying the perfect morning weather: sunny and warm with low humidity.

Above: A Spider is cornered by 3 modern Giulias, while a newer Spider looks on

And do car people hang out on the deck near the breakfast spread? Of course not. Food and drink in hand, we wandered among the dozen or so Alfas driven to and parked in the yard, comprising a nice mix of older sedans and Spiders along with an assortment of new Giulias. We also got to enjoy eyeballing Martin’s eclectic collection, only some of which are of Italian origin.

Above: cars like this Renault 4CV are easily tucked away; you never know when you might need a spare engine for one!

Best of all, with COVID restrictions finally relaxing, this was the first chance in a long while for we Alfisti to get reacquainted with old friends while making new ones. I belong to a number of different clubs, and I was reminded again that Alfa owners really are the friendliest. I’m already looking forward to other events this year with AROC’s NJ Chapter.

Sunday Morning Cars & Coffee, Oct. 21, 2018

October 28, 2018 RichardReina Car shows, Events Cars & Coffee, The Fireplace Paramus

Our “Sunday Morning Breakfast Run” has been a semi-regular feature for so long that my partner-in-crime Larry and I decided to mix it up a little bit: we decided to piggyback onto the popular “Cars & Coffee” trend by holding our own such event. We did so for the first time on Sunday October 21, 2018.

BTW, the name “Cars & Coffee” has become so ubiquitous that organizers around the country are creating variations such as “Cars, Coffee & Donuts”, “Cars & Croissants”, “Caffeine & Carburetors”, and “Caffeine & Octane”. I think we’ll stick to “Cars & Coffee” for now.

Our choice of rendezvous was The Fireplace, a Paramus NJ fixture for over 60 years. In its favor, it’s easy to reach (on Route 17), it has an extensive breakfast menu, it’s spacious inside and out, counter service means that everyone orders and pays on their own, and the staff will let you sit and hang out as long as you want (with help-yourself coffee refills always available).

There’s no point in talking about the (poor) weather except to point out that at our inaugural event, the participants and their coffee stayed inside! So much for admiring each other’s machinery. The planned loitering was postponed for a more inviting day.

In all, 12 colleagues showed up for breakfast. Toward the end of our stay, our friend Burton arrived with his newly painted 1961 Corvette. On our way out, we lingered long enough to admire the top-notch paint job. Burton was a real trooper showing up in an open car on a cold and windy morning.

**The crowd gathers near Burton’s freshly-painted ’61 Corvette**

We had considered, and ultimately decided against, a short drive to be conducted after breakfast. Perhaps next spring or summer, with more inviting weather on hand, we can make that part of the event. We certainly did find The Fireplace to be an almost ideal location, so expect to see us return in 2019.