Around Town

Caffeine & Carburetors To Be Held in April, September Only

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The creators of a hugely popular, grassroots gathering of classic and specialty car enthusiasts in downtown New Canaan will cut back from four planned events to just one more in 2014, and thereafter will seek to host just two per year rather than six. Pending approval from a special events committee, the final Caffeine & Carburetors of 2014 will be held Sept. 7 on Pine and Elm Streets, following a decision made Tuesday by the Police Commission. Following concerns that the Caffeine & Carburetors had gotten so large that it couldn’t be held in the center of New Canaan as frequently as planned (an estimated 5,000-plus spectators came to the one in April), town officials had suggested holding two events downtown and the rest off-site, such as at Waveny or the high school. Doug Zumbach, a creator and organizer of the event that has always centered around his eponymous gourmet coffee shop on Pine and Grove Streets, said it’s not worth holding Caffeine & Carburetors anywhere else.

Around Town

SLIDESHOW: Cool and Collected ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ in New Canaan

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New Canaan resident Matt Konspore—right-hand man of Caffeine & Carburetors co-creator Doug Zumbach—waved a Ferrari forward at Elm Street and South Avenue Sunday morning. “This is the most expensive street in the world right now,” Konspore said as several hundred—likely a couple or few thousand—classic and specialty car enthusiasts gathered in downtown New Canaan for the popular gathering of hobbyists. Pause this slideshow by hovering over a photo with your mouse, article continues below:

[acx_slideshow name=”May 6 2014 Caffeine and Carburetors”]

 

A calm, cool and collected vibe settled over New Canaan for the second installment of Caffeine & Carburetors on Sunday, as smartphone- and digital camera-toting enthusiasts walked leashed dogs, chatted, sipped coffee and chatted over the high-end and vintage autos on Pine and Elm Streets. After the season debut gathering from April drew so much motor and foot traffic to downtown New Canaan that town officials felt compelled call for a review to determine the frequency and location of future events, Sunday saw smiling, relaxed crowds enjoy the 3.5-hour, grassroots show on an overcast, cool morning. Merchants including Chef Luis once again were open on Elm Street with a special sidewalk set-up to serve customers, while groups that included the Veterans of Foreign Wars and New Canaan Mounted Troop set up information booths for passersby.

Around Town

VIDEO: 5,000 in New Canaan for ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ 2014 Debut

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Caffeine & Carburetors, New Canaan, CT-April 6 2014
Officials estimate that 5,000 classic car owners and enthusiasts made their way to the heart of New Canaan Sunday for the first “Caffeine & Carburetors” of 2014—a grassroots event whose rapidly growing popularity has surprised even its architects. “What’s remarkable is the growth, since the onset of the digital medium,” 95.9 FM The Fox’s Peter Bush—himself a Mercedes man whose family got into classic cars in 1953 when his dad got a 1929 Ford Model A—said from Pine Street during a break from manning a microphone as hundreds of auto lovers, families, children and dogs milled about in the all-pedestrian zone there and on Park and Elm Streets, many of them sipping java from Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee. NewCanaanite.com stole Bush for a quick interview that you’ll see in the video above that we put together. One quick note on this: You’re listening to a song that Phil Williams and Jim O’Neil at New Canaan Music wrote specifically for Caffeine & Carburetors—lyrics can be found at the bottom of this page—and we included a clip of a band playing live music off of Elm, and also ran into some of our favorite locals for quick chats, have a look.  

This year, given the heights that Caffeine & Carburetors had reached at the end of the 2013 season, New Canaan’s own Doug Zumbach worked with police and municipal officials, as well as the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, to bring cars to Elm Street on this sunny, cool day.

Business

Expanded Caffeine & Carburetors Launches Sunday

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New Canaan residents, business owners, traffic police and volunteers are eagerly awaiting the arrival of an estimated 2,000 classic car enthusiasts downtown Sunday morning for the 2014 debut of “Caffeine & Carburetors.”

A grassroots event launched four years ago by town resident Doug Zumbach—owner of the eponymous, gourmet coffee shop on the corner of Grove and Pine Streets—Caffeine & Carburetors has become popular enough that, under its founder’s direction and with support from town officials and the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, it’s grown into an inclusive community occasion. Zumbach—owner of a 64 Plymouth Fury, ‘72 Porsche 911T and ‘77 Porsche 930 Turbo—told NewCanaanite.com that he’s parking one of his own cars in front of the iconic clock midway up the main drag of Elm Street, a spot that will bookend a line of cars that will run the length of Pine and then, for the first time, jag up Park and then down Elm. “I want a certain continuity, a flow for the show,” Zumbach said. “I want a visual continuity as well as physical cars to be down there [on Elm]. Mine is going to be there.

Business

Caffeine & Carburetors Expanding to Elm Street

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When he launched “Caffeine & Carburetors” four years ago, New Canaan resident Doug Zumbach thought of the Sunday gathering as a good way to bring people together for a hobby that lends itself to just that: in-person meetups. The owner of an eponymous, gourmet coffee shop at the corner of Pine and Grove Streets, Zumbach recalls that the first gathering drew 50 classic cars with the vehicles’ attendant enthusiasts. In an essential way—and one which Zumbach himself works hard to preserve—his original vision hasn’t changed a bit. “People come from all over just to look and talk cars—and that is the basis of the hobby,” Zumbach said. “It’s what drives the hobby: wanting to see other cars, learn about cars, meet other owners,” he added.