NJ Cars and Coffee Startup

[rdefabri]

Hey all - I am interested in starting up a "Cars and Coffee" type event in Monmouth or Ocean County. I know of a place that would work well for this.

The idea is to get a strong gathering of different cars / marques out on an early weekend morning - share stories, admire the cars, etc.

Anyone interested? Nothing needs to be formalized other than date, time and place!

[mlc240z]

Hi Rich,

when i finally get the Z on the road, i'm in.

[Carl Beck]

Nothing needs to be formalized other than date, time and place!

Ah.. date, time, place and COFFEE... Someone has to be there with lots of coffee ready. Here in Clearwater there is a Starbucks Van there for every meet... Ours runs from 7:00AM to 9:00AM and the turn out is always amazing..

FWIW,

Carl B.

[rdefabri]

Bart - great! I may have some Ferrari guys interested from the other board I go to.

Carl - I have seen these events held and I am envious (especially since you're in Florida!)...

My plan was to do one at a local Dunkin' Donuts - huge parking lot available, and I know the owner, he's a great guy.

Since I've finally got my Jaguar E-Type road worthy, she needs to stretch her legs more (it's been sitting dormant for a looooong time!), so what better way than a regualr Cars and Coffee?

How often do they hold the event you go to?

Edited December 5, 2009 by rdefabri

[TomoHawk]

Are you sure it's a good idea to get all those sportscar people together with their sportscars, and get all wired-up on caffeine??

[Carl Beck]

How often do they hold the event you go to?

It's held the Third Saturday of every month. Mostly built by word of mouth. One "car guy" tells another and encourages him to bring his car out...

Cars range from million dollar Ferraris to restored VW Beatles. Muscle Cars, Street Rods, Sports Cars. Sometimes a local club of some marque will get ten or more of their members to all meet there..

Here, you almost have to get there a bit early to have a parking space. Most people that I've talked to have said they "remember" that they wanted to go - about 1 out of 3 months.

Everyone is so busy these days - it is very helpful if you have a few guys that will volunteer to run a a Phone Tree - calling people Thursday or Friday night - just to remind them before that Saturday morning.

You definitely want to have a "Sign-In Sheet" at a Welcome Table... so that you get people's Name, Type of Vehicle, E-Mail and Phone numbers. A phone call and/or an E-mail reminding people that the Cars & Coffee is this Saturday... really increases the turn out. A reminder E-Mail at the beginning of the week before the Saturday - lets people get their cars ready for Saturday.

It takes three or four guys to really make it happen and keep it going. They have to assure that when new people show up - they are made to feel welcome, paid attention too, taken around and introduced to others etc etc. They also have to attend all manor of Car Shows and Races, to meet people and encourage them to turn out on Saturday morning. {that's how I got invited, encouraged etc}

We are very lucky - We hold ours here in Clearwater/St. Petersburg at the offices of the duPont Registry. Mr. duPont has his collection open during that time - so everyone is welcome to see his cars as well.

Good luck...

Carl

[Carl Beck]

Bart - great!

My plan was to do one at a local Dunkin' Donuts - huge parking lot available, and I know the owner, he's a great guy.

Ok - so have business size cards made up - on one side it will say "Cars & Coffee" with your phone number, a mini-map of the location and the Day and Time.... On the other side it will say, Present this and enjoy a Free Cup of Dunkin-Donuts Coffee with your choice of Donut.

The business card should be something that gets their attention

WE WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOUR CAR

At Our Cars & Coffee Gathering

Third Saturday Of Every Month

Printed over some Show Car as a background or whatever....

These then are given out by the team at Car Shows / Races as you meet the owners of these special cars and talk to them. Meeting them personally and talking to them is very important - just leaving the cards on cars is not very effective... Cars & Coffee is really all about getting a bunch of car guys together..

At the sign up table - you can give everyone that brings a car and signs up - a couple of business cards to pass out themselves to others that they know or meet...

Plan on sticking to it for a year or more....

FWIW,

Carl B.

[rdefabri]

Carl,

Great ideas, I love it. I will definitely do this - it would be interesting to see if it grows. I will go to the owner of the Dunkin' Donuts to get his buy in of course - the free cup of coffee is quite an incentive

[mlc240z]

hell, if he allows us to use his parking lot i'll pay for my own coffee.

and buy some donutsLOL