By On any given Sunday in Los Angeles County, car enthusiasts and car clubs of all kinds congregate at their local car show or meet spot. 49er Driven, a car club at Cal State Long Beach, hit the streets and made an appearance at Shore Shifters’ Cars and Coffee event at Junipero Beach on Sunday, Feb. 25.
Long Beach, Calif: A Porsche 911 passes in front of CSULB's Formula SAE booth at the Shore Shifters’ Cars & Coffee event. Photo credit: Diego Renteria
49er Driven is a student-run car club that brings together car enthusiasts who attend CSULB.
“Our club was founded in 2011, but the formula has stayed the same,” 49er Driven president and business management student Spencer Kendrick said. “It is an informal social club that meets weekly to able to talk and hang out while being around cars.”
The club has 400 members, of which about 100 members are active and present. The large organization size brings a diversity of car models.
Long Beach, Calif: Parking in a sea of cars seems to be difficult for this Porsche 911 (964). Photo credit: Diego Renteria
“We allow any car to join, but we are predominantly a mixture of European and Japanese cars because they are more affordable,” Kendrick said.
Engineering student and club member Mo Dadabhoy brought a modern Toyota Supra at the car show.
“I usually drive my Mazda Miata or Mazdaspeed3 to our meets, but today I decided to bring the Supra out for a day like this,” Dadabhoy said.
Long Beach, Calif: A couple 49er Driven members set up behind CSULB Formula SAE's booth. Photo credit: Diego Renteria
All members of 49er Driven, including Dadabhoy, joined to express their adoration of cars.
“I loved cars when I was a kid, and my father was always into cars as well, so it was safe to say I was always going to love cars,” Dadabhoy said.
Long Beach, Calif: Mazda Miata lovers share a camaraderie that is not seen often in the range of car culture. Photo credit: Diego Renteria
49er Driven allows its members to find people who have a common interest and develop strong bonds. However, car shows are not the only events that the club takes part in. According to Kendrick, they have also done a few mountain cruises and autocross events.
Long Beach, Calif: Some enthusiasts like parking next to each other if they have the same car. It is another form of unspoken solidarity from same-car buyers. Photo credit: Diego Renteria
Many other universities have introduced their own student-run car clubs, including Chapman University, California State University, Dominguez Hills, California State University, Fullerton and University of California, Irvine.
Computer science major and club member Arnav Mishra said that car clubs at other universities differ from 49er Driven.
“You can notice which schools have a bit more money than others,” Mishra said. “Some schools like Chapman and UCI have a large group of members and some of their members have some pretty high-end cars.”
49er Driven tries to collaborate with some of these schools to build a bigger community in the student car enthusiast space.
“SoCal is such a massive hub for car culture. Besides universities and colleges, some community colleges have also begun to create their own car clubs as well,” Kendrick said. “We try to shoot for a collaboration with other universities about once a month or so.”
Long Beach, Calif: Someone decided to show off their hydraulics to the show-goers at Shore Shifters’ Cars & Coffee. Photo credit: Diego Renteria
The 49er Driven car club hosts weekly meetings in parking lot G8 across from the Walter Pyramid. For more information, check out their Instagram account @49erdriven.
