If you’re familiar with the various duPont REGISTRY luxury publications, you know that high-end cars make frequent appearances in their pages.  So when I found out from Michael Cronk, general manager of Audi Wesley Chapel (a Dimmitt dealership), that they’d started a Cars & Coffee event a few months ago, I had to check it out.

The C&C event is held on the second Saturday of each month from 8:30-10:30 a.m., so I figured if I got there at around 9:30 I would land in the middle of the action. But even though there were lots of people milling around the dealership checking out sports cars, I’d missed the crowd.

I was told that the auto aficionados had started arriving at 8 a.m., with about 150 cars on hand a whole half an hour before anything was scheduled to start. Many attendees had already left by the time I arrived, probably to enjoy the beautiful day while driving around in their beautiful cars.

I guess Cars & Coffees are for early birds, the folks who can get up at 7 a.m. and out the door by 7:30.

But while I missed many of the C&C beauties, I did get to see several different makes of Porsches and Ferraris, varieties of Audi and Mercedes sports editions, various muscle cars, and a McLaren that arrived as I was leaving.

[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”47″ display=”basic_thumbnail”]My son also enjoyed watching a Ferrari and Mercedes AMG sports car pull out of Audi’s oversized dealership lot on highway 56 and take off like a screaming rocket down that empty strip of highway before hitting the Wiregrass Mall. The advantage to showcasing your hot rod at Audi Wesley Chapel is its location on the border of busy Bruce B. Downs and Highway 56 and the undeveloped area of Wiregrass.

Mike shared with me that when he started doing Cars & Coffee, about 50 cars showed up the first Saturday. In a few short months, the event has grown to approximately 150. There’s obviously an interest in the Wesley Chapel area among car owners who want to show off their unique vehicles and connect with other exotic car enthusiasts and among fans who want to check out the cars up close and personal.

If you fall into any of these categories, Audi Wesley Chapel is the place to be extra-early on the second Saturday of the month for amazing cars and free coffee.

But if you want Einstein’s bagels with your coffee, you’d better get there before the rush — which is before Cars & Coffee even opens.

Author: Tracey Serebin