One of the great things about attending Cars and Coffee at the Ford headquarters in Irvine every Saturday morning I’m home is the incredible diversity of cars that make up the 300+ cars in attendance each week. Just this past Saturday a one-of-one Ferrari 340 Mexico roadster made an appearance, parked right next to a 250 Tour de France Coupe. Other than at a Ferrari national meet, such a confluence of classic Maranello classics would be a real rarity.

But for me, the fun is finding the unusual cars that I can turn into features for magazines I contribute to, like Cars and Parts, Musclecar Enthusiast, or Pontiac Enthusiast, among others. And this past Saturday was no exception. Here's what I zeroed-in on, from oldest to newest.

I have a thing for the new-generation postwar Fords that debuted in 1949. Tasteful and modern, they are credited with saving the Ford Motor Company. And one of the coolest examples I've ever seen is Kent Wilken's two-tone 1950 Ford Crestliner two-door sedan. Two-door Ford sedans were one of the first favorites in the Southern California hot rod culture and looking at Kent's Crestliner shows you why. And when you look under the hood you'll see that Kent has equipped his yellow-and-black beauty with multiple carbs and Offy heads.

The next car I took notice of was Jack and Lani Barry's original-owner, 700,000-mile 1964 Buick Skylark convertible. Jack bought the car at the same time that he got married and it's been in the family every since. It's time for this beauty to find a new owner: Jack and Lani are now retired, and have decided to devote their time and energy to the Saddleback Church's ministry and Peace 2.0 initiative to a mission to Africa to help alleviate the suffering brought on by the scourge of HIV/AIDS, so they are selling the Buick. Here's a link to a recent appraisal of the car  and if you're interested in purchasing "Babe" drop Jack Barry an E-Mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

When attending Cars and Coffee I tend to concentrate on off-beat cars but made an exception when I saw Dave Lindsley's 396 375-horsepower 1966 Chevelle SS396. A frame-off restoration, this highly optioned car bristles with 1966-only touches such as the knee-knocker under-dash tach (what were they thinking?) and a dipstick and deep-grooved pulleys that identify this car as a big-block terror.

And finally my left-field choice, Dave Robertson's yellow exterior, avocado interior 1974 Chrysler Imperial two-door hardtop, a car that seemed as long as the aircraft carrier Intrepid. This car brought back great memories to me, as when I was growing up, my Dad had a very similarly styled 1969 Dodge hardtop and I've always had a soft spot for these big bodied MOPARs, Chryslers, Dodges, and Plymouths. Besides the popularity of the Dodges and Plymouths with the law enforcement community, these cars represented the apex of the full-sized American car. In the aftermath of the first OPEC Oil Embargo, they became a nearly extinct part of American history.

These four cars represent the reason why Cars and Coffee has become a destination event every Saturday morning for Southern California car enthusiasts. For more information click through to our full feature story .