Exotics at Redmond Town Center: Bringing Cars and Families Together On Sunny Saturdays

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

I can count the number of Lamborghinis I saw driving on the road in Washington State in the 1970s and 1980s on one hand. Hell, I can count this on one finger–which represents the time in 1988 when I followed a red Countach up Clyde Hill in my 1977 Chrysler LeBaron.

But now, with Exotics At Redmond Town Center, at 8:30 AM on any given non-raining Saturday any of us can see more Lamborghinis in one day than I did in twenty years. The same goes for Ferraris, Maseratis, Lotuses, and other high end vehicles. Read on…

I’ve been attending EARTC sporadically ever since it started a couple years ago in Old Bellevue. Like the Cars and Coffee gathering in Los Angeles on which its based, the event quickly outgrew its original venue. Now the large parking lot can accommodate over 100 cars.

This last Saturday’s gathering was a special EARTC for me. I came up the previous night with my daughters in the Infamous Craigslist 1976 Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 so that I could not only bring the car out for its first EARTC, but also do it with my father on his 74th birthday.

My father has been a regular at Redmond Town Center. Usually taking his 1929 Franklin 130 Convertible Coupe or the 1964 Lotus Elan my brother and I gave him for his 70th birthday, as half-owner of the 308 GT4 (although I’ve yet to tell him that he owns the half without the engine, steering wheel or transmission) he has been waiting for the GT4 to be in good enough condition to make the 75-mile trip up to the show. So early Saturday morning we hopped in the Avorio Safari-colored Ferrari and headed out highway 520 to the gathering.

By the time we arrived, there were already three Lamborghini Murcielagos parked in a row with a LM002 wearing color-change paint more suited to a Honda Civic. I parked the GT4 in the line of Ferraris, which soon had us sandwiched between two 430 Scuderias. By the time we had walked back from the Starbucks, the parking lot was full of BMWs, Audis, Lotuses, Porsches (including the most gorgeous black 930 Turbo and a couple new GT3s), and Maseratis. A later arrival is the 25th E-Type ever produced–now one of–if not the oldest existing in America.

Cars are just half of the equation, as it’s equally about hanging out with other car people. People range from young children to AARP-aged adults. You can spend time talking to owners, spouses, non-exotic owning friends…or even a true internationally-known music personality, as Anthony Ray (you know him as Sir Mix-a-Lot) is a regular attendee driving his orange Lamborghini (like today) or Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. It had been over 20 years since I had last chatted with Anthony outside a Seattle music store with my 1986 Dodge 600ES convertible parked next to the maroon and gold Mercedes S500 that appeared in some of his videos. Anthony admitted that he “wrecked” the Mercedes by installing all the gold emblems. He told me he sold the car many years ago and last he heard it was in Tacoma.

It would be easy to think that a gathering of this nature is filled with ego and measuring whose wallet is fatter than everyone else’s, but nothing could be further from the truth. In my many years associated with the automotive scene, I’ve never seen a more inviting, outgoing, level-headed group of car owners. Sure, some have paid six (and sometimes even seven) figures for their cars, but the enthusiasm for even a four-figure cars like the 308 GT4 is undeniable. Whether it’s Anthony “Sir Mix-a-Lot Ray,” exotic car dealer Roy Cats, or any of the other people there, you’re valued for your friendliness, humor and passion for cars.

Some say that the high-tech and real estate booms changed the Northwest for the worse. Standing next to the Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 with my father on his birthday surrounded by so many beautiful exotics and wonderful car people, I couldn’t agree more that it has changed…but couldn’t disagree more that it’s for the worse.