The alarm rang at exactly 6:30 AM, 30 minutes after I had already woken up. Camera bag in hand, I dragged myself into my car. Coffee is a must, as it is every day, but today it was particularly necessary. The Lafayette Cars and Coffee was where I drank my first cup and kickstarted my caffeine addiction. This cup of coffee, from the Brewing Market, is celebratory of a long awaited return to the best car event in Colorado.

On my way there, I drove behind a brand new Corvette, temp tags and all. The Red Hot Chili Peppers was playing too loudly for me to hear the sound of Chevy’s flagship V8. My out-of-tune singing probably didn’t help either. When I got close to Flatirons Church, the hosting place of the show, I suddenly became conscious of how crappy my car was compared to the others, so I made an effort to park off to the side. I hadn’t expected such a massive turnout, as cars soon filled up the main lot and began parking next to my car. Suddenly, I was dead center of the show. Whoops.

None of my friends were at the show yet, so I sat in my car drinking my cappuccino and eating my sausage-and-egg croissant for a while. I watched as a steady stream of cars rolled in, as variety that you would rarely see. As expected, the distinct sound of turbocharged flat-fours began to echo through the still somewhat silent air. A group of at least 15 Subarus, each sporting a variety of wheels, wraps, and other modifications filed in.

This was my signal. There were enough cars now to do a quick walk around. Camera in hand, I made a beeline for the main area, where the vendor tents were set up. The first car that caught my attention was a black (or dark grey) Lancia Delta HF Stradale, in perfect original condition. It even had the bus-seat patterned upholstery. This car looked like it was plucked right out of an Italian teenager’s garage at their parent’s house. The paint wasn’t perfect, it was clear the car was being used.

This show has a better variety than any other show I’ve ever been to.

Seriously, where else do you see juxtaposition like this? The age difference between of two car above is older than me. Of course, there were specific sections where the same kind of cars would congregate. Most of the exotic cars and supercars were parked in the O’Reily Auto Parts lot, but overall there was a good mix of cars.

As I continued perusing through the spectacular variety of cars, one caught my eye immediately. There was a particularly large crowd gathered around it. Through a break in the crowd, I saw an unmistakable headlight, one that could only mean a McLaren 720s was lurking within the circle that had formed around it. One look, and you can understand why I think this is the prettiest car on the market today. Forget the fact that it outperforms almost anything in its class, Mclaren truly outdid themselves with this one. Look at those headlights and all that glass around the cockpit!

What’s better than one 720S? Two! The blazing orange one showed up towards the end of the show, right when the sunlight was its most intense, which made for some spectacular pictures.

With Boulder just a few miles away, there was undoubtedly going to be some expensive cars at this show. Just look at these two, an MP4-12C and a Huracan. It’s like father and son. The MP4’s production ended right when the Huracan’s began.

While I was leaving the show, this pristine Cobra caught my attention. The sun glistened off its paint so intensely that it was difficult to look at it. Sure, it’s probably a replica, but it’s a damn good one.

Unfortunately, there were too many cool cars to describe all of them in this article, so I’ll just let the pictures do the talking. Until next time, Cars and Coffee.