Hello All,

Looks as if the weather got the best of us in January. Next Saturday look as if the sun will shine and it will creep into the 50'! I know there were a lot of disappointed individuals that did not get to show off what Santa brought them. I have heard from lots of you that received new toys and new trinkets for existing rides. Can't wait to see them! Keep your fingers crossed for good weather and push that snow towards the Northeast, they could use some more!

From a suggestion I am trying to post this on a few more site. Many have inquired about the true classic cars in the area, old American Muscle, Jags, MGBs, etc. If you venture onto other sites or know of more that I missed feel free to draw a link and post there. The more the merrier!

If you have family and friends in town this would be a great event to bring them to, to show them a staple now in the Charlotte car community. See you there!

A special thanks goes out to our gracious host, North Lake Mall and Panera Bread, without your accommodations and generosity this could not happen. I would love to see this event reach out to more individuals with the same passion,so please spread the word and feel free to post this other places and spread via word of mouth. Please continue to invite friends and come out and enjoy the coffee, the people, and especially the cars!

Check out the updated pictures on www.carsandcoffeecharlotte.com . We want to continue to have a great outlet to share our passion and knowledge about cars so keep it growing! If you have not signed on to the forum on www.carsandcoffeecharlotte.com please do so for more detailed updates (this should be fixed now)!

***IMPORTANT UPDATE:*** I have had several request for vendors over the last 12 months to participate in this growing event. Unfortunately the mall management has asked that we do not have any vendors displaying and selling their goods at our event. It is suppose to be strictly a social gathering and any 'selling of goods' is looked at by the mall management as competition from their tenets (as well as violates taxes laws, etc). It also takes up much needed space for C&C traffic as well as regular store traffic.

If you would like to bring flyers that explain your products and have your contact info on them that is fine, but displaying and selling is out of the question. We risk loosing the right to use the North Lake property if we have vendors setting up there. Thank you for complying and respecting this rule that the mall management has established.

***IMPORTANT PARKING REQUEST***Also they have asked that we leave the parking spaces directly in front of the Panera (on both sides) open for 'normal' traffic. It is apparent that some people that are not as car friendly and are part of the normal business traffic have parked there and opened car doors on other cars and not left much room. I would avoid these spaces to avoid a visit to the Dent Wizard! There is plenty of room in the adjacent lots for us to park.


As this event continues to grow and in order to keep it safe, fun and in tact we need to make sure of a few things:

The 8 AM start time is still working well so that we all can go about our normal Saturday business after a few hours gawking at great rides. It will also allow us to take advantage of the empty adjacent lots if we need them before the patrons and employees of the restaurants start rolling in around 11AM.

We are now on the radar screen of the Mecklenburg Police Dept's North Division, which is not a problem because we are on mall property which we have permission to be on, but on the access roads leading to the property and the main highway they will be patrolling 'helping' us adhere to the speed limits. So be cautious and slow down a bit. Also as a mature crowd continue not to peel out, race through the parking lots or ignore common safety.

In order to stay within the good graces of the mall management company please be kind and dispose of your trash in the trash cans around the property. We are doing a great job so far, so keep it up! I spoke with them and they are willing to add additional receptacles as needed.

Continue to support Panera and other businesses in the area, the management has gone out of their way to lobby mall management to keep this event going and prospering. A year+ into it and the mall management is still happy to host us.

I am looking forward to seeing all of you again and please pass the word to friends, neighbors and co-workers that want to bring out their rides.

See you soon,

Michael