Donut Derelicts -- a 20-year southern California auto tradition

Yes, I know doughnut is spelled incorrectly, but that's what it is called --  Donut Derelicts. for the past 20 years car enthusists from the greater Los Angeles area and southern California have been gathering at a semi-secret location in Huntington Beach early on Saturday mornings for what has become an automotive tradition.

Write this down. The semi-secret location is the intersection of Adams and Magnolia in Huntington Beach. Why am I giving away the location? Because you have to be serious and you have to get up early to participate. If you own a hot rod or other interesting automobile, then you can park in the Donut Derelicts parking lot on Saturday morning.

This little drama plays out every Saturday morning from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. in a strip mall between the 405 freeway and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. If you don't have a hot rod or interesting vehicle and are just going to "Donut" to car watch or to people watch, then please part across the street. If you can wipe the sleep from your eyes and get to the location before the strip mall opens at 8 a.m. you will see some great cars and some great people.

During my visits to Donut Derelicts I have seen auto rallye great and Pike's Peak Champion Rod Millen, drag racing legend John Force hisownself, "Car Crazy" host Barry Maguire and even noted drag racer Art Chrisman. I am told that even Jay Leno has made an appearance at "Donut" but since I didn't see him I cannot confirm that. I once did an East Coast radio show appearance direct from Donut Derelicts. I had to hard wire my cell phone to the hot rod's battery to make it through the entire two hours "Live from Donut Derelicts" in southern California.

The really cool guys get to park near the Mobil Gas station on the corner. One of the founders of Donut Derelicts is Bobby Spear who used to work for Ford legend Bill Stroppe and who has a beautiful yellow 1929 Ford roadster. Another Donut founder -- artist Rick Finn -- recently passed away, but his artwork lives in the form of T-shirts and decals.

The people are interesting, but the cars are really the stars at Donut Derelicts. There are some regulars like the members of the Cobra club (some with real Cobras) who park in the front row by the hardware store and the Pontiac GTO owners who usually park together in the 4th row. Mostly the entire scene is simply car lovers; most everyone seems friendly and wants to talk cars. For some it's a social scene; for others it's strictly the cars. I have seen cars that I had only seen in magazine before and I''ve seen rat rods, rods under construction and even one hot rod fitted with a helicopter engine.

If you are going to "Donut," plan on getting up early on a Saturday morning. You need to be in place by 7 a.m. (earlier is better) which can be tough on those of us with open cars, especially during the cold winter months. Hey -- 55 degrees at 55 miles per hour can be cold. But compared to the rest of the country, we are lucky; we are still out there driving our hot rods. Try that in Detroit during the winter.