New to the car community? Always enjoyed watching Top Gear and Motor Trend, but never really gotten involved with cars as a hobby? You’ve finally taken the plunge and want to go to your first car show that isn’t the annual new car show in the big cities.

The most common opportunity you’ll find is cars and coffee. These are community-run events that invite anyone who wants to come display their car or look at other cool cars to come together, usually in a parking lot, and share in their enjoyment of cars.

If you’re new to the car world, these events can be a little intimidating. With all sorts of really cool vehicles on display and all sorts of technical jargon getting thrown around, it can be hard to join the conversation if you’ve shown up with your daily driver and very little knowledge.

This was me not too long ago…

Up front, let me tell you this: you don’t need to know anything and you don’t need a heavily modified or classic car to enjoy yourself at cars and coffee.

One of my favorite parts about my car hobby is the constant, unending learning. There are millions of cars and hundreds of millions of enthusiasts who make every car unique. There is always a cool new modifying trick, top speed record, or wheel design for us to appreciate, share, and enjoy. When you first come in to the car world, the amount of things there are for you to learn is massive!

So, here is how you can approach your first cars and coffee.

Find the cars you like

Walk around the whole event. Find cars you like – typically similar cars will be grouped together, especially at more formal, well-organized events.

Learn about those cars

Strike up a conversation with people nearby. They may be the owner of the car you like. Ask if anyone knows about the car you’re standing near, and use your genuine curiosity to ask tons of questions about the car and learn whatever it is you want to know about it.

Build a vision of yourself and your involvement with cars

Do you like what you’re seeing and what you’re learning? There are so many ways you can take your hobby, it can be extremely overwhelming just to get started. This is where just following your gut and taking a relentless approach to learning is so important. The car enthusiast community loves having fun with our hobby. The automotive world and industry is its own little ecosystem, and happens to be something that the majority of the population can empathize with, given the prevalence of cars in the country.

So, how do you see yourself growing as a car enthusiast? Do you like going fast? Do you like looking cool? Do you like the science and engineering of it all? Figure out what aspects of the car world excite you and envision what your hobby would look like for you if nothing stood in your way.

Make friends, build your community

Car communities are welcoming of fun and enthusiasm. Love cars? Tell people and they’ll relate, and you’re off on a 45-minute conversation about whatever topics of interest you share.

Something I wish I did more in my early days as a participating enthusiast was exchange numbers. It’s very easy to exchange phone numbers, but can be a difficult request to make. Just remember – you’re helping people further engage with a hobby they enjoy. Ask all your questions of, and share all your excitement with everyone you connect with.

In conclusion

Get out there! If you’ve ever found yourself interested in cars, go see for yourself. The community and experience it provides is unparalleled in enjoyment, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.