It all started with a little idea of getting my car club together for a scenic drive down the coast to a friends performance shop. Well, that was many moons ago and the biggest event yet of Seaside Goats came to be on Sunday.

Me fueling up the Goat with 100 octane at 76 in Agoura Hills.

A little bit of history: I started up a car club for local late-model Pontiac GTO owners in 2006. I had just purchased the car and had already known of a cultlike following of gearheads around this limited-production car. I never thought in a million years I would own a Pontiac, but as I saw these on my clients lots I started really falling in love with them. I ended up organizing what would become the Tri-County Seaside Goats, consisting of 12 to 15 local GTO owners.

There are many old-school guys that complain this car is far from a recreation of the original American muscle car known as the GTO. I have to disagree with the elders on this topic. The original concept created by Russell Gee was a simple one; take a decent mid-sized car, the Tempest, and drop a full-sized vehicles engine in it from the likes of a Catalina and Bonneville. So how does this differ from the late model version of today? It’s a mid size car, an Australian made Holden Monaro, with a big motor from the Chevy Corvette (an LS2 400-horsepower V8).

The idea of a “fun run� started while attending the Motor 4 Toys event in December in Westlake Village. I met Mike Haddad, an owner of a performance shop in Inglewood. Mike specializes in building Corvettes and late-model GTOs. I mentioned to him that I would love to bring the crew down for a day of tuning. He was open for the event and the planning started shortly thereafter.

It started out as a group of 10-plus cars and soon gained momentum, a snowball effect if you will. First, other Southern Californian clubs got on board in support of a event in the name of fun during what we consider the off-season for car shows. Then came our friend Kevin of the Las Vegas Goat crew. Once his group caught wind that he was barbecuing, it was on after that. The Inland Empire, San Diego and Arizona crews followed suit and we ended up at a final pre-event count of 78 Goats.

Some of the 50+ Goats in the Canyons

The crews all started at different locations but most met up for a canyon run in Woodland Hills on Sunday morning. After a meet ‘n greet, 50 of us were off for the canyons in what would be an amazing sight of different colors, styles and sounds of this reborn classic. We took an easy cruise through the canyons taking some nice shots of the caravan along the way. Speed TV also stumbled upon us for some video footage as well.

Looking back at the caravan in the canyon

Our final stop was at Mike Haddad’s shop in Inglewood. We met up with another 40-plus cars there to what quickly turned into the biggest Goat event so far this year. Everyone got to enjoy talking shop and tuning. Kevin had the barbecue going with his wife while families were enjoying a nice afternoon of muscle cars, great company and excellent grub.

This was my first coordination of such an event and it was a great challenge. From creating custom invites to designing the event T-shirts, it was a handful to make it all happen. America is by far the king when it comes to the love of the automobile. A day like this reminds me that any hobby can bring all kinds together. Special thanks as well to Mike and his team for hosting the event at his shop.

Our county’s residents are very much car fans at heart. From the Vette clubs to the rat rod owners, we all have the same respect and admiration for the car.

This experience has prompted me to do something similar for our local loyal gearheads. I will be planning a car show for all of our local clubs to attend here at our new location in Camarillo. I find this as an excellent location being we have the outlets next store for our better halfs to enjoy.

Stay tuned and find out more about our Star Car Show. Also feel free to contact me if you would like to have your car club or crew attend this event.

Happy Motoring,

Lance