The Cars and Coffee style of car show is fast becoming a favourite way to catch up with fellow car lovers around Australia, with most events being very relaxed, almost impromptu, happening early in the morning on a weekend and finishing with plenty of time to enjoy your day off.
One of the fastest growing Cars and Coffee events for many Victorian-based car enthusiasts has been the Highball Motor Clubs Cars and Coffee at the Bosch Australia, Clayton Headquarters where recent gatherings have attracted more than 1,000 cars.
Founded in 2015, the Highball Motor Club put the success down to the fact that they are a “vehicle agnostic automotive enthusiast group” – meaning that regardless of what make, model, year, body type or vehicle value, any car is welcome and will be treated with equal enthusiasm to all other cars at any of their events.
“After the Wilson Cars and Coffee finished up in February 2019, there was a bit of a gap for our style of cars and coffee event in Melbourne which has one of the best car cultures in the world in my opinion” says Jonathan Peart – Highball Motor Club member. “Our first event, Cars and Coffee 01, was right in Melbourne’s winter with temperatures below freezing and the whole event was covered in fog. We saw 250 cars that day which really was a dream come true for us. Since then, we saw 350 cars at Cars and Coffee 02 in August and 430 cars at Cars and Coffee 03 in early October. We believe that everyone that attends appreciates the inclusive nature and ‘Grandstand’ atmosphere as cars arrive and park up. We are also grateful for Bosch Australia donating $2 for every coffee sold at the event, which gives Highball Cars and Coffee the opportunity to give back.”
To put this into perspective, the Highball Cars and Coffee events have included the likes of multiple variations of Honda NSXs; De Tomasto Panteras including multiple standard and GTS models; classic and modern BMWs from E9s through to M2 Competitions; numerous Mazda MX-5s from original examples to wide-body builds; arguably every type of Porsche 911 from classic air cooled through to the latest track oriented GT3RSs; Mercedes-Benz varieties from Pagoda SLs through to S-Classes and modern AMG’s; exotic supercars of all shapes and sizes from Testarossas through to current McLaren generation and Lamborghini stables. The list is endless.
While the numbers in the club have grown, the original vision for the club has remained; providing a relaxed environment of camaraderie for like-minded people of any age, background, and gender, to mix and be able to spend time sharing in a common passion of cars and all things motoring related. Highball events happen every 6-8 weeks and if you’re interested in attending the event, details can be found on the Highball Cars and Coffee Facebook and Instagram pages.
As an example of the Highball MC attitude to their events, over the last three years they have held “Highball Goes Country for the CFA’ where the most recent one in April attracted over 500 cars of all makes and models to the ‘Erindale Hayshed’ at Taggerty, an hour and a half out of Melbourne. This event is unique as it not only includes a great meeting place in the country, but the trip up involves driving the magnificent Black Spur Road out of Healesville, which is regarded as one of Australia’s most spectacular driving roads.
This Instagram post gives a brief an overview of that event:
Highball Goes Country for the CFA – Instagram
Opinion: How Hightail became Australia’s motoring Mecca – whichcar.com.au
