recalls Vauxhall Firenza frenzy at Caffeine & Machine
If you haven’t been already, a drive to Caffeine & Machine in Warwickshire should be on your list for 2021. In the leafy outskirts of Stratford-upon-avon nestles a quiet phenomenon. C&M is a 12-acre hangout for anyone who has a fondness for machines. There’s a coffee house, art gallery, restaurant, jumbosized car park, merchandise emporium plus a massive social media following that attracts thousands of car lovers of every church, every week.
I’m sure you’ve probably been to lots of cars and coffee places before, but this one is spectacularly different. I can’t think of many other venues outside Goodwood or Salon Privé with the magnetism to attract a motoring mosaic of XJ220S, F40s, 458s, F12s, Lincoln Continentals, XK150S, Skylines, RS6S, Evos, Lotus Cortinas, Mclarens, Mustangs and Pontiac GTOS – and all on the same weekday lunchtime. Pop along for a burger and chips and you’ll find yourself wandering around a car park so amazingly eclectic that when a lime green Lamborghini Miura majestically oozes in, you’ll only be mildly surprised.
The etiquette is to back your car into the horseshoe-shaped front parking area and become part of a constantly shifting display of motoring sculpture that C&M fans call The Yard Vibe. No hierarchy, no pecking order, no class system. First come, first parked. The rat-rod VW Beetle parks next to the ’59 Impala that parks next to the Mclaren 720S that parks next to the Austin 1100 that parks next to the DB4, and so on. A crescent of cars so wildly diverse you’d never naturally put them all together.
And here’s the magic, C&M’S rule of no superiority and no tribes brings together a bunch of passionate people so unified by the love of cars and bikes that every day becomes a happy automotive garden party. The guys in the lowered moderns talk to the blokes with the classics who chat with the supercar owners who talk to the three lads who have just arrived in the most immaculate Firenza everybody has ever seen. The boys beam with pride as an appreciative knot of people cluster round the shiny Vauxhall. Every day has moments like that. The mutual respect, warmth, welcome and camaraderie are palpable.
Weekends are hardcore and you’ll need a ticket (free) to guarantee a parking place. On summer Saturdays – pre-covid – 1000 cars and maybe 150 bikes would gather. Rows of polished metal glinting in the sun surrounded by swarms of enthusiasts who come with no other purpose than to just hang out and admire each other’s machines. And, I’ll admit I’m biased because I only live 20 minutes away so I’m there most weeks, but C&M has distilled something very unique – a safe space for the cult of the machine that doesn’t have any pomposity, snobbery or the self-importance that sadly afflicts so many car clubs and events.
In a world where cars and car ownership are increasingly cast as reprehensible pleasures, C&M is perhaps a glimpse of the future. Eminently franchisable, I reckon we’ll see more special spaces like this pop up. A while ago I drove up in a Tesla Model 3 Performance, parked it next to a Fifties Pontiac lowrider and tweeted a picture of the colourful C&M line up. Minutes later my pic was retweeted by none other than Elon Musk. Praise indeed. Caffeine & Machine is definitely worth the drive.