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The cars of people who attended one of the nightly car meets hosted by @carsoffc on December 4, 2022.
Photo taken by Evan Sanchez
Evan Sanchez’s love for cars started when he purchased his first car in August 2020 for $1,700 off Facebook Marketplace. It was a 1996 Toyota Celica. He had spent nine months looking for his perfect car.
Although the Celica’s windows did not roll up or down, and the interior reeked of cigarette smoke, it was his.
In December 2021, Sanchez purchased his second car: a 1992 Toyota Supra. Sanchez, 19, worked on both cars on and off during the first half of 2022.
But then, on June 15, 2022, Sanchez crashed his Celica. It was beyond repair. He sold it to a junkyard.
However, his other car helped guide him through the loss.
“The Supra guided me through the initial stages of grief,” said Sanchez, who attends Fullerton College. “[Losing the Celica] felt like losing a person. I put so much work into that car, but then I carried that over into the Supra.”
Although he had support from family and friends, they didn’t understand cars like he did. He felt alone.
Sanchez continued to work on the Supra throughout the summer of 2022. Sanchez would go to junkyards to get parts to fix the engine and the interior. He spent hours every day in the garage perfecting his craft.
During that time, Sanchez saw an advertisement for a car meet on Instagram. He needed to get out of the garage. He needed to meet people like him. Sanchez attended his first car meet in July 2022.
“I went out and saw some cool things and met some really cool people,” Sanchez said. “It was my first outing, it felt like a first step. It was kind of monumental for me.”
A first step of leaving the grief behind. A first step of finding a community that shares the same love of cars.
Summer ended and the school year began. Sanchez was busy as a full-time student and running for Fullerton College track. However, he felt that something was missing. He needed something more. He needed fulfillment. Then, it clicked.
“I was thinking about what made the past summer good and I remembered the meet,” Sanchez said. “And I was like ‘you know what? I can do that. I can get people together.’”
Sanchez decided to approach some of his old high school friends with his idea. One of these friends was 19-year-old Daniel “Danny” Tinoco.
Tinoco’s interest in cars started when he was a child–his dad was always around cars. When Sanchez approached Tinoco and their other friends with his idea, Tinoco was intrigued.
“I was excited for the opportunity,” Tinoco said. “At Fullerton College, this was the first of its kind.”
Tinoco wasn’t wrong–other universities such as Cal State Fullerton and Chapman University have car clubs. However, Fullerton College is a commuter college.
“You just get your lower divisions done and then transfer,” Tinoco said. “There’s not really that much of a community.”
With the support of his friends, Sanchez hosted the first ever CARS OF FC meet on Oct. 9, 2022.
“We had five people,” Sanchez said. “It was me and my friends. It was just the five of us, but it was a first step.”
Sanchez kept holding meets every two weeks and advertised through the @carsoffc Instagram account. Word spread and friends began to tell other friends about the meets. Sanchez promoted the meets to students on campus.
Five people turned into 10. Then 15. Then 20. Eventually, 25 to 30 people began coming to weekly meets. Sanchez began to collaborate with local car clubs. It got so popular that campus security told them they couldn’t host at Fullerton College anymore. They moved their meets to Brea.
Sanchez then met 23-year-old Brandon Mercado at one of the meets.
Mercado got involved with cars at a young age. His brother introduced him to Japanese cars and that’s where the fixation started. Mercado began buying cars, fixing them, and taking photos of them to post on social media.
Mercado found out about Sanchez’s meets from a friend who posted it on his Instagram and was surprised by what he saw.
“I thought there’d be like two or three cars, just a couple of dudes, but it was a bunch of cars,” Mercado said.
“They all swarmed my brother and I when we got there and greeted us,” Mercado added. “Most of the car groups I go to, people are in their own cliques and kind of judgy, but these guys were really nice and outgoing.”
Mercado mentioned to Sanchez that he owned a taco truck. Sanchez asked Mercado to cater a meet.
Mercado was trying to figure out his path in life at the time. He hadn’t had any business since COVID. He knew this was his chance to do something he loved again. He told Sanchez yes.
“That was the first time I started back up again,” Mercado said. “I wasn’t happy with a lot of things I was doing in life and I realized that [making tacos] made me happy.”
Mercado broke even and has since continued to sell his tacos at other events because of the car meets.
And while tacos are a great incentive, that’s not the only reason why people keep coming back to the meets. Sanchez has created a community: those who understand cars like he does.
“It’s grown so much,” Mercado said. “With the way Evan coordinates things and how the meets go, it’s a really good crowd of people.”
Tinoco still attends as many meets as he can.
“Obviously there’s an aspect of admiring the cars, but I feel like with the car group, we’re trying to build a community,” Tinoco said. “We all try to help each other and we’re all just there for each other."
And for Sanchez, that means the world.
“I feel like I’m doing something bigger than me,” Sanchez said. “Helping the community out.”
@kei_tacos catering one of the car meets.
Photo taken by Evan Sanchez
Sanchez has since hosted car meets once every two weeks. It’s a one-man show for now, as Sanchez is the main advertiser and poster on the @carsoffc account. He works on making flyers and talking to other car clubs in his free time. Each meet sees around 30 car lovers and still continues to grow.
Sanchez still works on fine-tuning his Supra. He hopes to buy another car in the future.
Sanchez has earned his title of the “car man” as he has hosted fundraisers, helped his friends buy cars, brought people together, and created connections. He created his own community—a community he wished he had back in June 2022. To Sanchez, this is more than just a culture: it’s a family.
“I’m the head of the family,” Sanchez said. “Yeah, that’s me.”
Evan Sanchez posing with his Toyota Supra.
Photo taken by Daniel “Danny” Tinoco
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