cars and coffee in oakdale
sATURDAY, MAY 16, 2026
This was Valley Classics Car Club's second Cars & Coffee event and it was a resounding success. Despite the Rods-to-Rails car show just up the hill in Jamestown, we had 29 awesome cars turn out and everyone had a great time. We even awarded a trophy for the Peoples' Choice, and everyone really got a kick out of voting and hoping they'd win. Our winner this month was Tony with his awesome screamin' yellow '52 Chevy, totally built-to-the-hilt, with the build quality of a true showcar.
Voters were instructed to pick two cars, not necessarily first and second, just pick two cars. We do this because most people who have a car in the show will always vote for their own car. So, we like to get that out of the way and get that second vote, which is unbiased. It was a real kick for people to have to choose another car besides their own. We do count both votes, however.
64 picks were cast from 32 voters and they were all over the place. Third place was taken with 5 votes by Bruce with his white '77 Corvette with LS-swap. Second place went to Laura with her gorgeous blue '67 Camaro RS convertible with 6 votes. And first place was won by Tony with that wicked yellow '52 Chevy with 9 votes. He got the one-and-only trophy. Sorry folks, nothing for 2nd or 3rd place. Hey, don't feel bad. My gray '05 Mustang GT only got one vote, and that was mine! Ouch!!
Congratulations to Tony. Turns out he's won 8 trophies out of 12 shows with the car.
Valley Classics' motto is "Cool Cars, Nice People", and this is what we're talking about. Below you can see a couple of boys, there's another behind their Mom. They were maybe 7 to 10 years old and when she drove them by they made her stop. They loved the cars and couldn't get enough. When they heard about the voting one of them approached me to ask if they could vote. It was still early and I wasn't planning on doing the voting yet, but I made an exception for them since they had to leave. It's great seeing young people coming up with a love of cars.
L-R: Mike's 1952 Kaiser Henry J with a built small block Chevy engine; Don's lovely '55 Thunderbird; Eddie's super-clean '54 Mercury; and Lynn's amazing blue '68 Mercury Marquis, which is a total sleeper with an impeccable Coyote engine-swap and more.
L-R: Andy's (that's me) sweet 2005 Mustang GT; John's very original '72 Monte Carlo; Darren's '65 Chevy S10, and our 3rd-place car, Bruce's white '77 Corvette with an LS engine-swap.
L-R: David's sharp red '71 VW Bus; Bob's '72 VW Bus in green, new member Steven's '76 Chevy Nova; new member Lorie's sharp '62 Morgan +4; one of Mike's racecars, his white '62 MGB/GT; and new member Todd's '62 Land Rover, looking ready for the Australian outback.
L-R: There's that delicious '67 Camaro RS convertible, I should have gotten more pictures of it, owned by Laura, who captured 2nd place in the voting; David's great-looking '86 Trans Am (I love 3rd-gen F-bodies); and Rob's sanitary '69 Chevelle with maybe the best paintjob of the day. It looked black until the sun hit it, then it turned sort of purple with SS ghost stripes. And the bodywork was impeccable.
L-R: Jack's primer-gray '63 Rambler American with the 401 V8, the biggest engine AMC ever made; and our 1st-Place Trophy winner, the Peoples' Choice, Tony's awesome yellow '52 Chevy; and Ryan's clean 2003 C5 Corvette.
I want to pay special homage to this little group of friends who all seem to own crazy-fast Challengers. I've dubbed them "The Mopar Mafia" (I hope they don't mind) because they show up at shows together and always park together as a group. Imagine the impact of walking past a gaggle of some of the fastest production cars on the planet. The green one is a 2023 Dodge Challenger Demon 170 with over 850 horsepower on pump gas! Over 1,000 on E-85. Yikes! To the right is Mike's 2009 Challenger
New member Lorena is in the middle of it all. That's hers and husband-Mike's super-clean maroon 2017 Challenger R/T. Thanks for joining, you guys. You bring good, positive energy with you.
The Mopar Mafia in spades. L-R: Raymond's built 2010 Challenger SRT8; Mike & Lorena's maroon 2017 Challenger R/T; Steven's otherworldly 2023 Demon 170; and Mark's '09 Challenger R/T. Thanks for coming. They were there in force at our last Cars & Coffee, and I first met them a couple of months ago at another C&C at Monster Smog in Oakdale. They all parked together there also. What a team!
ABOVE: And the Mopar Mafia is not only about modern Challengers. Several of them have classic Challengers also. Some have multiple Challengers, some old, some new. Above is Raymond's 2010 Challenger R/T. I love the blacked out roof, it almost looks like the classics with their vinyl tops. And those wheels are just right. Lots of engine detailing also.
BELOW: This beautiful 1970 Challenger R/T packed a 383 Magnum.
Valley Classics Car Club founders, L-R: Andy, Darren & David. We make a good team.