CARS & COWBOYS 2025 - Car Guy Chronicles

Car Guy Chronicles’ Jim Palam wrangles highlights from CARS & COWBOYS 2025, this year’s outstanding car show and fundraiser.

The similarities are striking: Their lives are driven by an ethos of character, tradition, purpose, and independence. We’re talking about Car Guys and Cowboys, of course, who, along with Car Gals and Cowgirls, trekked up the twisty San Marcus Pass in Santa Barbara County to participate in the 4th Annual Cars & Cowboys 2025 car show and fundraiser.

This year’s exceptional event was relocated from the Santa Ynez Valley to the scenic Rancho San Marcus Golf Course, situated in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains, adjacent to beautiful Lake Cachuma. In just four years, this exclusive show has doubled in size, attracting enthusiasts from not only the Central Coast but also from California cities and towns North and South.

The main attraction of CARS & COWBOYS 2025 is the exceptional collection of vehicles, wrangled once again by Pete Thomsen and his hard-working team of C&C volunteers. While each and every car was a standout, I’ve selected 14 to showcase here. The other big draw for attendees is the mouth-watering cowboy food and libations, live music, and above all, the live auction that raises money for the Santa Ynez Valley Community Outreach programs, which include Meals on Wheels and seniors and veterans programs. Linda Linton, Assistant Director of SYV Foundation, and Pam Gnekow of the Buellton Senior Center were excited to let me know that over $100,000 was raised at the show for these critical programs!

So, what do you say, Buckaroos, is it time to check out some fabulous cars? You bet it is…

Back in 1960, this custom ’29 Ford Model A roadster, The Emperor, won the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) award at the Grand National Roadster Show. Built by Chuck Krikorian, Blackie Gejeian, and George Barris, it’s powered by a built 406 cubic-inch ’57 Caddy engine. This icon was prominently featured at the entryway to CARS & COWBOYS 2025 thanks to George’s daughter, Joji Barris, who trailered it up from Tustin, CA.

Mike Murphy drives his Flathead-powered ’27 Ford roadster onto the manicured Rancho San Marcus Golf Course show field. This car is a two-time winner at the RPM Nationals, a Central Coast eighth-mile racing event that pays homage to the early developmental days of drag racing. The roadster’s bored and stroked 278 cubic-inch ’48 Mercury engine guzzles its juice down from 4 Stromberg 81 carburetors.

One of the early arrivals at the event was this Summer Lemon ’67 Lamborghini Miura. That’s owner Gregg Dahlen’s wife beaming me a big, beautiful smile from the passenger seat as they were being directed to their show field parking spot by the course’s lake. There were approximately 137 Miuras produced in 1967, with 275 units overall produced during the 1966 – 1969 production run.

Before AI started challenging our perception of reality, craftsmen and wizards were recreating rare and valuable automotive classics. Case in point: This fabulous, right-hand drive ’57 Jaguar XKSS Roadster – driven by owner Douglas Campbell 180 miles up from San Bernardino to the show – is not one of the original 16 built by Jaguar, but rather a stunning one-off, hand-crafted replica begging to be driven to heavenly destinations.

Another young carguy’s passion has taken flight! This is 16-year-old Jack Hyatt of Santa Barbara sitting on the wide door sill of Pieter Meijer’s fully-restored ‘64 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing. Jack, a friend of the Meijer family, is already a prolific automotive blogger. You can check out some of his photos at https://www.instagram.com/driven.by.jack/

The original Allard roadsters were high-performance British sports cars built from 1951 to 1954 primarily for the American market. They featured powerful V8s like modified Flatheads, OHV Caddys, and Chrysler Hemis. When this drop-dead-gorgeous look-alike rolled in, I knew right away it wasn’t an original, but it does merit a spot in any carguy’s garage. This Allard Motor Works J2X MkIII has four integrated roll bars, two external roll bars, and a 430-horsepower, 6.2-liter GM LS3 E-Rod V8 mated to a Tremec TKO 600 5-speed manual transmission.

Brian Bolton is easy to spot in the Santa Ynez Valley. He’s the guy with the big smile and an impressive collection of classic and fast vintage cars. The latest addition to his fantastic fleet is this provenance-rich Aston Martin DB 4 Series 5 Vantage, chassis 1127L, 1962 Turin Motor Show car. Finished in Aegean Blue with a Connolly Fawn interior, it is one of only two shipped to Italy, and one of twenty in left-hand drive.

Lee and Julie Carr brought two special cars to CARS & COWBOYS 2025: a ’69 De Tomaso Mangusta and this sublime ’57 Lincoln Continental Mark II. Julie’s Mark II is finished in non-gangsta Beige. Some may recall that in the mid-1950s, members of the mob, celebrities, politicians, and CEOs were the only ones who could afford the $10,000+ price, nearly twice that of a standard Lincoln or Cadillac. Owners back then included Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, Nelson Rockefeller, Cecil B. DeMille, and the Chairman of the Board himself, Frank Sinatra.

Alexandra Geramia also brought two classics to CARS & COWBOYS 2025 – a stately ‘26 Rolls Royce Shooting Brake, and this prewar ‘35 Adler Trumpf Junior Sport Roadster. Frankfort-based Adler started as a bicycle and then motorcycle manufacturer. In 1932, H.G. Röhr designed the 1.5-litre, 29-horsepower Trumpf, which had advanced technical features like front-wheel-drive, all-around independent suspension, and rack-and-pinion steering. A 2.0-litre motor was available before the Trumpf production run ended in 1941.

I must confess that I walked by this ‘91 BMW ZI Roadster two or three times before I noticed it was the rare, short-lived, drop-door model. Also described as featuring downward retracting or vertically sliding doors, this rear-wheel-drive two-seater was never officially sold in the US. It was powered by a 2.5-liter inline-six engine mated to a five-speed manual transmission, sending torque to a “Z axle” multi-link rear suspension. Expect to pay between $45,000 to $65,000 for a well-maintained Z1.

About five years ago, vintage car collector and restorer Dana Newquist discovered the fuselage of a ‘48 Republic RC-3 Seabee amphibious seaplane in a junk yard. He knew immediately that he wanted to transform this treasure into his next custom automobile. These days, the Platypus Custom Coupe travels the California car show circuit, but the only original part of the Seabee is the door. All the body panels have been hand-formed in aluminum. Power comes from a period-correct ’48 Merc Flathead engine that sits behind the driver and is mated to a Ford C4 automatic transmission.

Business wiz Scott Kidd splits his time between wheeling and dealing in the Orange County real estate market and time behind the wheel of his all-original ’68 Porsche 911S up here in the Santa Ynez Valley, where he and his family live the good life. To Scott’s left is his friend Pete Thomsen, who is one of the Cars & Cowboys make it happen guys. Scott was up with the sun on show day, wrangling all the logistics for the show and the show cars. I asked if wearing flip-flops was the key to his indefatigable energy. He just smiled, handed me a show cap, and moved quickly back to making it happen.

If one needs proof that the cure for the blues is to Drive a Classic, they need only spend a few minutes with Peter and Kathy Halper. I grabbed this shot of the happy couple standing next to their timeless classic – the Friedrich Geiger-designed ‘71 Mercedes-Benz 280SL. Now you might be thinking they look extra happy – and that could be because they also brought their ‘65 Porsche 356 and ‘15 Porsche 991 GTS to CARS & COWBOYS 2025.

We are all looking forward to C&C 2026!

For more information about CARS & COWBOYS 2025, please visit https://carsandcowboys.com/