A new car and coffee club in Eugene is open to all, even if you don’t own a vehicle.
Eugene Car Club held its first event on Jan. 10. Although modestly attended by about 20 people, founder Peter Kincaid is hopeful it will take off in the coming months, attracting car lovers of all types from across the Willamette Valley.
“I wanted something that’s not overthought, just — come up and show your cars,” Kincaid said. “There are a lot of car clubs that are about specific cars, which definitely have their place, but I wanted something that was more focused on the people, rather than the cars.”
Kincaid said some car clubs can seem exclusionary or like a battle over “who can collect the most compliments.” He wants something more inclusive for Eugene Car Club.
The whole thing was planned in under two weeks, from idea to the actual kickoff.
Kincaid, who drives a striking blue 2015 Volvo V60, had the idea for a “cars and coffee” event in late December and drafted a post to Reddit. Another Reddit user made a similar post around the same time. Kincaid said this felt like a sign, people in Eugene want a place to unite over a shared love of motor vehicles.
Shortly after making his post, Kincaid received a message from Tanner Little, owner of Dark Pine Coffee. Little expressed interest in the group and offered to sponsor by providing all the coffee free to attendees.
On Jan. 1, they set the date and posted about the event. Little was the one who suggested the meetup location, the top floor of Overpark Parking Garage at Oak Street and 10th Avenue, which has free parking on Saturdays and Sundays. They lucked out with a sunny day that offered great views of the city to serve as backdrop for the cars themselves.
“Peter’s the guy who gets stuff done; it was really quick,” Little said.
Little, a self-proclaimed car guy, drove his 1998 Toyota 4Runner to the meet-up on Saturday. He said Dark Pine Coffee tries to be an active part of the community and would like to continue sponsoring the club. He hopes to eventually see the entire top floor of the garage filled and maybe a collaboration with the City of Eugene in the future.
“This is a cool thing to happen, because it’s very respectful and quiet,” Little said. “No one’s trying to one-up each other. We’re all just passionate and we can share that passion.”
For Chris and Katie Nunes, the Eugene Car Club is an exciting new addition to the local car scene.
Chris has spent the last nine years fixing up a red 1991 Nissan 240SX, switching it from manual to automatic with his own two hands, with some assistance from his two daughters. The sports car was one of the more popular rides at Saturday’s event.
“Since I was a kid I was interested in cars,” Chris said. “But my dad really taught me to do stuff yourself, and so I remember he was doing engine swaps on a van, and I was his parts cleaner, so it’s connected to some good memories there. Now, we’re trying to teach the little girls how to work on cars.”
The Nunes family are already involved in the Emerald Empire Sports Car Club, participating in autocross racing at Valley River Center, but Katie, who found out about Eugene Car Club on Reddit, said they’re always looking for more car community locally.
The couple said cars are a hobby meant to be shared, a sentiment realized during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Community building takes effort and so it took effort to set it up,” Katie said. “But it’s worth it when people can have an opportunity to come together in an environment that’s like, ‘Bring whatever car you have,’ and we all can share this common interest.”
Kincaid and his wife moved to Eugene four-and-a-half years ago from Kansas. Moving to a new city, he was left wanting for social connections.
In October 2022, Kincaid started what is now the Eugene Men’s Social Club that boasts 1,100 members on its Discord server, an online chatting platform, and at least 60 regular attenders to its events. He guessed they’ve held over 200 meet-ups since the club’s initiation.
Kincaid worked remotely as a software engineer for a decade. The move to Eugene pushed him to seek out community and he discovered there were many out there looking for the same thing.
He said as a men’s group, there can be a negative connotation, but the Eugene Men’s Social Club welcomes all.
“We’re really just dudes that like to hang out,” Kincaid said. “There’s no mantra. The only philosophy is to be cool … We’ve had maybe three detractors show up to meet-ups, and they never show up again. It attracts good people.”
Kincaid recently handed the reins of the club over to Mike Weimholt, hoping to focus his efforts on Eugene Car Club and other endeavors. Weimholt joined the Eugene Men’s Social Club over two years ago.
Weimholt said he was born and raised in Eugene, but moved away. When he returned to town four years ago, he looked to expand his social circle. At first he was apprehensive, not looking to join a group of jocks drinking alcohol and talking about sports, but when he went to his first event at Alton Baker Park, he was pleasantly surprised.
Now after two years, Weimholt said he’s only missed one Sunday event.
“After we moved up here, I was standing behind a group of seven or eight men, they must have been in their 70s. They must have been golfing, all dressed very similar, but they were all chatty,” Weimholt recalled. “When I’m older, I want that. I thought, you can’t just be at home and not do anything. You’ve got to get out. If you want that, you’ve got to make it happen.”
Kincaid is hoping to capture some of the community interest found with Eugene Men’s Social Club in his new car enthusiast group.
Shift Auto Society in Wichita served as Kincaid’s inspiration. He envisions a warehouse or clubhouse that can store cars and host gatherings to make for a true third space that welcomes all. But for now, Kincaid is focused on just fostering a community.
“I think a lot of people get stuck in the overthinking of the ‘big, big, big’ instead of starting iteratively,” Kincaid said. “There’s not enough third spaces nowadays, so it’d be cool to have a car third space one day.”
The next Eugene Car Club meetup is set for 10 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 25, on the fourth and fifth floors of Overpark Parking Garage. To find out more about the group, visit www.eugenecarclub.com.
Miranda Cyr reports on education for The Register-Guard. You can contact her at mcyr@registerguard.com or find her on X @mirandabcyr.

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