Car Stringh

My steed for the past week has been this 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 press car. Not a bad thing to wake up to, eh?

If you like cars and live in Southern California - there is ALWAYS something to do. This morning I pulled myself out of bed at 7am, showered and headed out for a very short drive up to the Starbucks on Hawthorne and Artesia in Torrance. The purpose? To check out the weekly "Caffeine Cruisers" meet.

The new 5.0 is amazing, but I'll save my thoughts on this car for a proper Driving Impressions story.

One quick complaint though. The shift knob on the GT's six-speed transmission is damn cold to touch in the morning. Oh the sacrifices we make...

Hawthorne Boulevard is a street usually packed with cars, but early on a Saturday morning there isn't much traffic to be found. I was able to zip up there.

I even caught a few lights next to a C6 Corvette Z06. Temptation was resisted though, and we both kept at an adult pace. Not to mention, is that even with 412hp under my hood, the Vette should still eat the 5.0 for breakfast...

A few minutes later I arrived at the Starbucks to find decent number of cars had assembled - most of the classic variety. I've driven by this meet on a few occasions on my way out of town, but this was my first time to actually stop and check it out.

Compared to something like Cars & Coffee, this gathering is much smaller. Still, there was plenty to see.

The first order of business was to supply myself with some much-needed caffeine.

Then I wandered around a bit and had a look at the cars. This flamed out Shoebox was positively cool.

This '69 Chevelle SS looked pretty mean too, even with its big, modern wheels.

The majority of the cars here were of domestic decent, but there was a decent turnout of classic European cars in the lot as well.

This cool pair of bikes also caught my eye.

This airbagged Buick Riviera was one of my favorites of the morning.

You can't really go wrong with Supremes, whitewalls, and plenty of low.

Speaking of the slammed, this Bug was also sporting a pretty serious lowering job.

With all of the super customized '49-'54 Chevys out there, you sometimes forget how they looked from factory. Here's a solid untouched example.

Even with it's flat-four power, the Porsche 912 still has all of its pricier sibling's looks. I'd rock one in a second.

'69 Z/28 in a full factory condition with its original 302/4-speed combo. Awesome!

Another Porsche looking pretty minty.

After looking around for a little while longer, I hopped back in the GT and made the short drive home. After some breakfast and a quick workout, I fired up the laptop and put this post together.

As far as the realm of Speedhunting goes, it wasn't the most exotic of days but there are far worse ways to spend a Saturday in the middle of January...

-Mike Garrett