Donut Derelicts: The Original Cars And Coffee

The weekend before SEMA 2022 Webby and I found ourselves in Newport California checking out some of the local LA car culture before we headed off to Vegas. One of the must-do things on our itinerary was visit the ‘original cars and coffee’ event in Huntington Beach; Donut Derelicts. It was about 4:30am when we hit the 405 freeway and headed to the show, not knowing exactly what to expect. When we arrived the carpark was already packed with a stack of mad custom cars. We grabbed a coffee and a donut and off we went to see what we could find.

Hot-rodders and car nuts have been meeting on the famous corner of Magnolia & Adams in Surf City, Huntington Beach, for over 40 years. There’s plenty of tales and stories on how it all started, but the short and sweet of it is that a bunch of mates would meet early each Saturday morning. They'd grab a warm coffee and a donut and exchange pleasantries and opposing political views. In February 1985, they decided to meet at the donut shop with their cars. They added ‘bench racing’ and ‘sports' to their morning discussions, replacing some of the less important and more controversial topics.

After many Saturday morning gatherings, one by one, local street rod owners started to join. Before long, the entire parking area began to fill each week. The whole thing started to gain momentum and a phone list was started by hot rodder Jim McCain that had 90-plus names and a heading dubbed ‘Donut Derelicts’.

Fast forward some 40 years and that tradition remains unchanged. Cars roll in from the very early hours of the morning and it all wraps up pretty much just as the sun comes up. I was just blown away by the quality (and volume) of cars that showed up. The meet-up is world famous, and it’s branched out from just hot-rodders and muscle cars (sure, they’re still a hot favourite), with plenty of new-school, euro and even a few 90s Japanese cars showing up.

After about an hour of cruising around and checking out the cars, I regrouped with Webby. “Did you see that green thing over in the far corner?” He said. I hadn’t made it down that far yet, and he was pretty adamant I’d like what he’d found. What I didn’t expect was, to spot an Aussie classic; A Holden Torana with ‘BROCK05’ plates. I’ve seen hundreds, if not thousands of Toranas, but I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to see one than at this moment. I actually couldn’t believe it. It drew a fair crowd, and the American group standing around it were scratching their heads and couldn’t quite work out what it was.

As a proud-as-punch Aussie, I jumped at the chance to tell them all about it and why its so special to us Aussies, sharing the stories of Brocky racing at Bathurst and more. The car is owned by an Aussie fella who started up his own speed shop stateside, J&S; Speed Works in Huntington Beach, years ago.

I was really impressed with the variety of cars on display. Admittedly I’m not much of a hot-rod guy, but I was really drawn in by lots of the rods on display. Most weren’t super over the top, and you could tell they're driven fairly regularly. It was a pretty cool feeling to be right amongst the culture of rodding, near where it all began back in the early 50’s. Everyone was super welcoming and eager to show me around their rides.

It was also the weekend before Halloween, and there were plenty of weird and wacky characters walking around. As an Aussie who’s never really experienced a proper Halloween, it just added to the whole experience.

As the sun came up, a large chunk of the cars headed out and on their way - as is the tradition of the show. Before long the place was emptied out, and the only trace of this awesome show is the sign hanging up above the donut shop. I couldn’t recommend this enough to anyone who gets the chance to check it out. 

It’s a true representation of car culture in the States and was an absolute highlight of our trip. It’s got to be one of the longest standing traditions in the car world, and there’s no reason why it can’t run for another 40 years. If you ever find yourself Stateside, do yourself a favour and get down to Donut Derelicts. It’s worth the early rise - trust me.

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