Cars and Coffee parks it at the fairgrounds

Cars and Coffee, the popular car enthusiast meet-up that grew too big for its Irvine location and shut down late last year, has been resurrected at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

The informal event celebrating classic and unique cars now takes place from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Saturdays alongside the Orange County Market Place, the weekend swap meet at the fairgrounds property in Costa Mesa.

On Aug. 22, organizers held their first event since the last one Dec. 20 in the former location, a parking lot shared by Ford, Mazda and Taco Bell employees on Gateway, a street near Irvine Center Drive and the 5 Freeway.

An estimated 1,000 spectators visited to look at the roughly 500 cars on display, said Cars and Coffee director John Schirmer.

Cars and Coffee was founded in 2006. After the dissolution, similar events sprouted up in Aliso Viejo and Tustin.

Doug Cavanaugh, Ruby’s Diner founder and chief executive, helped revive Cars and Coffee by bringing it to the fairgrounds.

“We’re just excited to be there,” Schirmer said. “We want to thank the fairgrounds for letting us be out there.”

One highlight was actor Steve McQueen’s Jaguar XKSS, brought to the event by the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Ruby’s is providing coffee and doughnuts. “You can hardly have Cars and Coffee without coffee,” said Schirmer, a Ruby’s general manager.