Trucks of all types flood into the biggest monthly cruise in the country.
Static car shows are great, but the events where our hot rods and classic trucks get to roll around a track, down a dragstrip, or just cruise local roads are the best. After all, our rides may seem like art projects at times, but their real purpose is to be driven. The SoCal PCH cruise has been going on for over three years now, and each month rides from all over show up for this super-cool event. As you can imagine, given their growing popularity, classic trucks and wagons of all sorts flood the event. We know some of you are obsessed with these utilitarian-rides-turned-hot-rods, so we’ve put together a gallery of some of the hottest custom, classic, lifted, and lowered trucks and wagons that showed up at the gas-fueled party.
In the early spring of 2020, heading out of the house to get behind the wheel of a hot rod and cruise up and down the Pacific Coast for a few hours was a much bigger deal than anyone could have imagined. With car shows and events on hold due to the nationwide lockdowns, family time, home cooking, and bonus time in the garage became the norm. For the Huntington Beach, California, based QruisinPCH team of Jason Scudellari (@week2wickedjason), Hek Valdez (@hektattoo), Patrick Wagenbrenner (from @keystoneautomotiveoperations, a large aftermarket distributor), and Ken Johnson (@ken), the lure of the famed Pacific Coast Highway was too much to resist, and while others were finding new ways to keep entertained, they devised a plan to bring together fellow enthusiasts for some much needed quality car time in a safe and appropriately socially distant environment.
Thus, the Quarantine Cruise was born. The pandemic is in the past, but the cruise continues to draw over a thousand rides each month.
“The most fun part about the cruise is that it is in fact a cruise,” said co-founder Patrick Wagenbrenner. Everyone meets at one location for a few hours, and then, just when it seems we’ve all tucked into the morning, we fire them all up and head down PCH. We all grew up going to warehouse concerts, events, and parties where the locations were sometimes shrouded in mystery. There was a certain level of excitement leading up to finding out where we were headed. We’ve had some great partnerships and some incredible destinations along the coast, and while everyone has their favorite, there’s some fun in that little Easter egg when it’s revealed where we’re all going to end up.”
“We really don’t know what to expect from month to month. People just show up and hang out just like it should be,” said Valdez. “Once again, it was an enormous turnout of awesome people and every vehicle imaginable. From VWs and K5’s to Ford Broncos, alongside the hot rods and muscle cars of every color and configuration, it’s amazing seeing everyone having such an amazing time. The folks at Lazy Dog rolled out the red carpet, and from the cars outside to the energy inside it made for a fantastic day cruising the coast in Huntington Beach. We’re already looking forward to doing it again.”
QruisinPCH now has its own unique line of Qruisin PCH merch and swag for sale. So, if you’re in the area and want a good excuse to get out and cruise your hot rod, or just check the best cars in the area and start planning out your next project, text “CRUISE” to 21000 for route info and details, or check out their Instagram page @qruisinpch or their website at www.qruisinpch.com/.
Photos Contribution also by Masahiro Kanai
