[Gallery] Diverse Vehicular Celebrations in Long Beach

The first weekend of June was a perfect time to celebrate all things vehicular in downtown Long Beach, California, home to the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, an IMSA/INDYCAR doubleheader each spring (with the exception of 2020/2021). Two gatherings, on opposite sides of the Shoreline Drive straightaway where competition is started and finished during race meetings, paid homage to a single marque and upcoming technologies.

The 26th annual Toyotafest reconvened without any substantial bows to the pandemic that gripped it during the quarter-century gathering last spring. Both cars and people returned to Long Beach’s Marina Green park to celebrate the cars, trucks and SUVs produced by the Japanese manufacturer. The event drew a huge contingent of HiLux, Tacoma and Tundra trucks, a sprinkling of Land Cruisers (some used as campers - as were some of the dedicated trucks) and a Previa or Sienna here and there. From late 1960s editions to current vehicles, the truck area occupied almost as much space as the sedans, coupes and ersatz wagons produced by Toyota.

Close to the central stage, there was a large contingent of current Supra coupes, most of them modified extensively, even though the new model itself is only a couple of years old. Some people just can’t help themselves. There was also an area dedicated to upmarket Lexus vehicles, but it was much smaller than the Toyota entries.

And then there was the 1967 Toyota Sport 800 that arrived early and was parked near the stage as a special display. Trailered less engine from northern California’s Castro Valley by owner Matt Spielberg, the 800 is a very unusual car. Never imported to the USA, it’s one of only 3,300 manufactured, of which only 300 were left-hand drive, most likely for the Okinawa area where many US service personnel were stationed two decades after WWII.

The engine in Spielberg’s car was under restoration prior to its southward travel and the rebuilt engine was installed on Wednesday of the Saturday Toyotafest gathering. By the time it got from Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles to Long Beach on Saturday morning,  it had accumulated about 50 miles. The 2-cylinder, 4-stroke 800cc engine was rated by Toyota to get to 99mph; Spielberg says it cruises nicely at 75mph and now, with its new engine installed, will likely do so regularly as it traverses various auto shows. It uses a four-speed manual transmission; there’s no synchro in first gear, standard for that era.

Once all the Toyotas gathered on the mounds of Marina Green were examined, along with a variety of aftermarket displays, it was time to cross the street and enter a totally different domain of vehicular mobility.

The fourth-ever Electrify Expo was a two-day weekend gathering of all-electric personal transportation. It included cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles and, of course the ubiquitous scooters that have taken over many city streets (including Long Beach). There were three Electrify Expo gatherings held in 2021: in Irvine, California, Miami, Florida and Austin, Texas. This was the first of four in 2022 and offered static displays to learn about the cars and trucks available for test drives around downtown Long Beach. Major manufacturers included BMW, Volvo/Polestar, Toyota, Lexus, Hyundai, Kia, Chrysler, Lucid among others.

There were two racing displays: one for Travis Pastrana’s new electric rallycross program, with cars produced by Subaru specialists VermontSportsCar. There’s currently a two-car effort for Pastrana and Conner Martell to compete in Nitro Rallycross (Nitro RX) Championship’s new all-electric Group E division. These new, fully electric FC1-X rallycross cars feature 1010 peak horsepower - or 800kW - along with 811 lb-ft of torque (1,100Nm) and all-wheel-drive. These cars can accelerate from 0-60 in just 1.4 seconds. Of course they’re engineered to handle banked turns and mixed surfaces inherent in Nitro RX.

Across from Pastrana’s display was a Tesla with racer Randy Pobst’s name above the door. Pobst took this Model S Plaid to the top of Pikes Peak in 2021’s all-electric exhibition class for the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hillclimb to grab the class record. Last year the race was shortened, as the top section that leads to the summit at 14,115 feet was covered in snow and ice. This modified production car took the top spot in Exhibition and was the 10th-quickest vehicle overall to reach the summit with a time of 6:57.220. As a comparison, the all-time record for the full length of 12.42 miles is 7:57.148, set by the electric Volkswagen I.D.R in 2018. That’s the best time overall, not only for an EV.

The Electrify Expo, held in what’s commonly known as the Elephant Lot, a large parking lot area that, during race time is the paddock for both IMSA and INDYCAR, allowed visitors to see static displays, to try out any number of scooters, bikes, single-occupant vehicles (mostly trikes), cars and trucks. There were special displays, as well as ride-and-drives for children, too. And the lines to drive cars stretched throughout the area both days, exciting organizers and manufacturers who feel they are on the cusp of becoming mainstream.