The recent 27th annual Pacific Coast Dream Machines Show occurred exactly as billed. Trailer queens to muscle cars, dragsters to junkers, rarities to one-of-kind machines that looked like they were made for Mad Max movies, were all displayed at the Half Moon Bay Airport, 20 miles south of San Francisco.
The all-inclusive event, a charity for an area adult daycare center, works well under the premise of 84-year-old founder Bob Senz, who says: “If it’s a mean matchine, you bring it.”
A stunning vintage Cadillac from the Pacific Coast Dream Machines show in Half Moon Bay.
Muscle cars were aplenty at the Pacific Coast Dream Machines show in Half Moon Bay.
A one-of-a-kind machine ideally suited for a Mad Max movie at the Pacific Coast Dream Machines show in Half Moon Bay.
A keen example of iconic automotive craftsmanshp from the Pacfiic Coast Dream Machines show in Half Moon Bay.
Unique vehicles abound at Pacific Coast Dream Machines.
A classically preserved Ford Falcon displayed at the Pacific Coast Dream Machines show at Half Moon Bay.
Senz’s description works, albeit with a loose description of the word “mean.” Perhaps better described, about 2,000 vehicles on display were the possessions of passionate owners, whether the “mean machine” was a valuable vintage car or a vehicle of sentimental value.
The show has worked well for years for several other reasons. It’s well organized. The entrance is a narrow road into a parking in an open field. But the event’s parking crew was efficient and the flow worked well.
How the vehicles were presented was another highlight. Unlike some auto shows, where vehicles are positioned too close together, there was ample space at the Pacific Coast Dream Machines Show to walk around and explore entire vehicles.
Equally cool is the all-inclusive format. In addition to numerous fascinating vehicles — sports cars, custom cars, street rods, muscle cars, vintage and modern high-performance race cars, art and pedal cars, modified street machines, low riders, compacts, modified imports and hip-hop machines — aviation enthusiasts got to view their share of history.
The airport provided an ideal setting for fly-overs by A B-25 Bomber, C-47 Skytrain, several P-51 Mustangs, YAK Russian fighters, U.S. military fighters, helicopters, stunt planes and bi-planes.
The six-hour show also defined sensory overload in other areas: high-flying freestyle motorcycle stunt shows, skydiving performances, monster truck rides, drag races, dynojet dynamometer performance testing as well as a zip-line and a bungee jump.
Visit: www.miramarevents.com/dreammachines for additional information.
Article Last Updated: May 12, 2017.
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A sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004.
In addition to this site, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and a monthly auto review column for Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida.
An author and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and online publications, James has co-hosted The Weekly Driver Podcast since 2017.