Collector Car Culture

Mike Kobeissi collects exotic and rare cars, and this index covers the culture that surrounds collecting in Southern California, from morning gatherings in parking lots to judged lawns, museum galleries and the hot rod garages where much of it began.

The region’s claim is long. Road & Track argues that California has been where the next thing in cars takes shape for more than a century: the aftermarket speed industry began in Los Angeles with modified Model T valves, the Walter M. Murphy Company built coachwork in Pasadena from 1920, the Southern California Timing Association formed in 1937 to run speed trials on the dry lakes, Robert E. Petersen started Hot Rod magazine in 1947, and Wally Parks founded the National Hot Rod Association in 1951.¹

Collecting has its own rules. The New York Times described how the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance added a driving tour in 1998 that breaks ties in the judging and answered critics who saw the show as a parade of trailer queens that never ran; an auction house founder said the change pushed buyers toward cars that could be driven.² The informal side grew up in a parking lot. Hagerty traces the Cars and Coffee format to a gathering at Crystal Cove that moved to a lot in Irvine, where John and Linda Clinard hosted it on 410 Saturdays over eight years until 2014, and credits that lot with launching a movement now held around the world.³

Start with Cars and Coffee, then read The Petersen Automotive Museum, The Concours d’Elegance, The San Marino Motor Classic, The Collector Car Market and Hot Rods and Kustom Kulture.