The cars and coffee recipe has no doubt won the love of car enthusiasts all around the globe. I’ve given a brief history 101 as well as Adelaide’s take on the concept in this post here. However, like most things in life, it was only a matter of when and not if, other individuals and groups would surface to express their rendition on how things should be done. The cars and coffee fever has now truly hit Adelaide with multiple diverging events occurring every month. Traditionally, each city or state in the world would lay claims to only having one "official" cars and coffee event in their neighbourhood. While Blackwood will always be the spiritual home of cars and coffee in Adelaide for me, I’ve now got more excuses to get out of bed at a preposterous time on Sunday mornings. But it’s okay, as any opportunity to admire beautiful automobiles and sip on hot caffeinated beverages is welcomed.
Speed Nation hosts their take on the concept at Golden Grove, while Coffee N Chrome call Mile End home. The latest player to get in on the craze is Any Given Reason with their portrayal in Unley. Cars & Coffee Unley’s inaugural event took place in January this year and regrettably, I couldn’t attend as I decided to trade the Australian summer for a Japanese winter. In saying that, I got my taste when I attended their February event. Despite the miserable and gloomy weather (which mind you, is the best setting for a warm cuppa!), quite a few keen enthusiasts rolled into the Unley shopping centre car park at 7:30am on that Sunday morning.
The presence of 911s from various eras presented me with the opportunity to carry out some back to back aesthetic comparisons. I know many enthusiasts fly the "they all look the same" flag but I’m guilty of belonging in the "it’s an evolution not revolution design" camp.
Porsche gave birth to the Cayman in 2005 and it was introduced as a hard top alternative to its older half-brother, the Boxster. I never thought much about the Cayman until it grew up and received a GT4 badge. Announced in 2015 with most Australian customers cars delivered in 2016, the Cayman GT4 was a trump card used by Porsche to offer a 3-pedal car to this segment of the market when no other manufactures dared. The demand for this car was so hot that would-by-buyers holding deposits were selling their allocation slots at a premium and once customer cars were delivered, the Cayman GT4 became a bit of a commodity. The bubble has since burst with Porsche increasing the original allocated units to most countries as well as the introduction of additional manual drive-train models such as the 911 R and soon to be released, 991.2 GT3.
Cars with a Japanese origin were the minority in the car park. However, the few that braved the weather were also some of the cleanest examples. Having previously owned an S13 Silvia, I felt the warm-and-fuzzies when I noticed the first-generation CSP311 Silvia below.
Kudos to the owner of the rally-spec Corolla below for taking the car out in such bleak conditions. The drive to and from the event must’ve been lively, as provided by any dedicated race-car being driven on public roads.
Diversity, enthusiasm and caffinee. The three fundamental elements of any cars and coffee event.
Despite the uncontrollable climate, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Cars and Coffee Unley. I’ll leave you with some snaps of my favourite car of that morning, a vintage Ferrari Dino GT.
