Rod Authority

Waking up at 4am on a Saturday morning might not be on everyone’s to-do list, but if you love cars as much as the Donut Derelicts do then you will probably find a reason to peel yourself out of bed and hit the road in your custom or cruiser to hang out and talk shop.

We recently caught up with the guys who make it all happen to check out one of the coolest weekly car cruises in Southern California. Just to hear the history of what these guys had to say is pretty cool, not to mention all of the donuts and cars on hand!

It all started back in 1986 when four buddies that went to high school together, met at a small donut shop on the corner of Adams and Magnolia Ave. in Huntington Beach, California. This was the humble beginnings of what was to become “Donut Derelict” – one of the largest and most well-known casual hot rod cruise-ins the world over. In fact, many hot rod and custom fans come from other countries just to see what it is all about.

But, we stray, back to our story. These four friends gathered to take their sons out dirt bike riding but as time went on, the guys would show up in their hot rods and classic cars. Other guys in the area began to notice a couple of cars gathering, and as one thing led to another, the small group began to grow.

Eventually, one of the neighborhood hot rodders that had been drawing some cartoons for Street Rodder invited one of the editors to the donut shop gathering. The editor photographed one of the custom cars and wrote a small article that he called the Hot Rodders Coffee Break and when the magazine hit the stands it began to buzz and 75 cars showed up to the small donut shop.

The name Donut Derelicts came about as two of the original guys, Jim McCain and Rick Finn were putting together a phone list for the group and the name just stuck. It spread, and over 75 cars were showing up every Saturday. Their group began to include such names as Art Chrisman, Little John Butera, Chip Foose, and others as the word spread over the years.

Each and every Saturday you can expect to see everything from home-built rat rods to AMBR award winning Roadsters and everything in between. Some Chrysler concept cars and new factory releases are but a few of the surprises that just might happen to be there at any given weekend.

To this day 20 articles (make that 21 counting this little feature here) have featured this now infamous Huntington Beach, California gathering with many more to come we’re sure. For a small taste of what you can expect check out this video interview on the weekly shindig. Or just cruise on by next Saturday and we will see you there!