By

Cameron Lloyd

I like to sit at coffee shops on Fair Oaks Blvd and watch cool cars drive by. There’s something about the stretch between Howe and Watt that, if you hang out for a while on a nice day, you’re bound to see some nice exotic cars, usually a Ferrari or two. The fourth Sunday of any month though, is a good opportunity to see more. Much much more.

From 8:00 to 10:30am on the fourth Sunday of every month is EuroSunday, a free and informal car meet aimed at owners and enthusiasts of high end, rare, and vintage cars, primarily European. I drive down, park my BMW M, and wander through the parking lot of the Pavilions shopping center, It’s a Grind in Elk Grove, or wherever the set location is for the month (visit their website www.eurosunday.net for specific times and locations), to be surrounded by some of the most beautiful, rare, and exotic cars ever. Arranged in corral parking, there will be row upon row of marquees like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Lotus, BMW, Porsche, Austin Healy, Pantera, Opel, Fiat, Jaguar, DeLorean, and many others. It is an opportunity to see a wide array of cars that there may never be another chance to see, even at a museum. “It is the most eclectic mix of Euro cars I’ve ever seen,” Larry, one of the co-founders, tells me. One day, they had a 1953 Rolls Royce limousine, looking like it was just off the show room floor, a few spaces down from a new Porsche Carrera GT. What makes this event really special is that it is not so much about the cars themselves as it is the community of people who love those cars.

That community focus will be most clearly seen in their special plans for the upcoming September meet. On September 23rd, they will be finishing up the day with their first annual “Rally 4 Kids”. The rally will supplant the traditional after-event drive that Adam plans. Vehicles will launch at 10am from It’s a Grind in Elk Grove and run through seven check-points on their way to a finish at Bella Piazza Winery. All proceeds generated will be donated to Sacramento Child Advocates. This will be a combination road rally, where drivers must decipher riddles and clues to navigate to specific locations in Sacramento within a specific time frame, and a scavenger hunt, where they will be challenged to find objects such as: an empty bottle of Channel #5, a picture of you with the governor in front of your car, or King’s playoff tickets.

This wonderful sense of community is felt every month in the diverse range of participants, from the guys with their classic vehicle they’ve just shined up and want to show off, to the M3 owners who are just itching to go for the traditional spirited drive that caps off every meeting. These people show up every month and meet as more than just people who love cars. “It’s not just about getting together about cars,” Adam, another co-founder, says, “It’s like an extended family. You show up and people ask, ‘How are the kids?’”

At one event, Jo, a remarkable woman who regularly attends with her husband, fell and broke her femur. Immediately, Jose, another regular attendee who happens to be an emergency room doctor, rushed over and put her in traction until an ambulance finally arrived. All the while, Jo was apologizing to her husband, to Jose, and to all of the other concerned people trying to help her out, saying she had ruined their plans for the day. All these people she was apologizing to protested at how silly she was being since she is far more important than any plans or event. The next month, she returned to the event, parked in a folding chair, where everyone from the past month came up to enquire about how she was healing, wish her luck in getting better, and gush about how happy they were to have her back again.

The most common question founders Larry and Adam get regarding the event is, “Is my car acceptable?” They reply that the event was meant for European cars, but that it is really open, and they would rather have a nice person there than a nice car. They’d sooner turn away a guy with an exotic supercar who is just looking down his nose at everyone, causing people trouble, and expecting special treatment than a young guy in his first Volkswagen who is really enthusiastic about the cars and the event.

The EuroSunday coordinators have big plans for the future of the event. They want to expand nationwide. They are planning to split off into other cities, first in California and then on out. They are even working on gaining a national sponsor, with a presence in the coffee market, who wants to release a signature EuroSunday espresso blend with the events. They also have plans for a marketing brand, EuSu, which they are going to sell through their website. “Not just t-shirts or the like,” Adam says, “but real, high quality lifestyle apparel and products.”

What is not going to change is the free and informal format. “We never want to charge anyone anything to show up,” Adam and Larry both state very emphatically. “There are no RSVP’s, so you never know what’s going to show up.”

“The only thing that’s missing,” Larry says, “is hot girls going like this…” and he gestures with both hands at his own car.