Great Autos Car Club started in the Palm Springs area in 1983 to give the LGBTQ community’s car enthusiasts a club of their own. Since then the club has become the largest of its kind on the west coast, according to officials with the club.
The club now includes members of the straight community, but remains predominantly LGBTQ members. The club has also outgrown its presence in the desert and has a large Orange County membership. They have also started getting members from Long Beach that prompted their first car show in the area last year, when they gathered in the parking lot at Marina Pacifica Mall.
“Great Autos is a big group, we’re all over Southern California,” Club Member Dave Weisbart said.
Since the 24-Hour Fitness opened in the Marina Pacifica Mall, space has become an issue. So this year, the show has moved to Peter’s Landing in Huntington Beach. The Great Autos car club, in conjunction with Peter’s Landing, will be holding the second annual “Rainbow Car Show” on Sunday, September 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Parking and general admission are free.
Organizers expect around 60 vintage cars to be on display, and they’ll be arranged according to the cars’ colors! There will be live jazz from the Sam Graham Trio, and visitors will be able to vote for their favorite car to win the People’s Choice trophy.
Great Autos attends, or organizes, events at least once a month. They host Drive-In Movie events, car collection tours, road rallies and one of their favorite events, the annual Heaps O’ Fun event, where members and guests bring their works in progress cars, which “less than perfect” or might even be classic cars that are used a daily drivers.
For the Rainbow Car Show at Peter’s Landing, the cars all belong to the members of Great Autos. Great Autos holds both local and statewide events, and donates thousands of dollars each year to worthy charities. Their biggest fundraiser of the year is the Casual Concours, which is scheduled for Oct. 14-16 this year, at the Desert Princess Country Club and Golf Course in Cathedral City. This year’s event will be raising money for Oak Grove Sanctuary Palm Springs. Oak Grove Sanctuary is a transitional housing program specifically designed to meet the needs of the LGBTQ+ community of foster youth transitioning to adulthood.
The Peter’s Landing event is geared toward keeping the club’s Orange County and Long Beach membership and community up to date on the club. With the cars, music and community involvement, Weisbart expects it will build on the success of last year’s event.
“We’re going to have some fun,” Weisbart said.
For more information about the club, visit www.greatautos.org. Peter’s Landing Marina is at 16400 Pacific Coast Highway. For more visit, peterslandinghb.com. The car show will be in the south end of the parking lot, adjacent to Starbucks. For more information on Oak Grove Sanctuary, visit sanctuarypalmsprings.org.
