O’Gara’s Westlake GT
Cars and Coffee Reinvented … & Introducing the Rolls-Royce Cullinan Article and photos by Steve Geldman, Image Photo Motorsports
Have you noticed lately more and more local automotive dealerships are getting into the action hosting their own ‘cars and coffee’ type meet and greets? Earlier this year in Driven World, both Dustin Troyan and this author wrote about Porsche Westlake’s ‘No Substitute Saturdays’ event held every other month. Not to be outdone, ultra-high-end car and motorcycle dealer, O’Gara Coach Westlake, has stepped in and now hosts their increasingly popular ‘Westlake GT’. O’Gara Westlake, sitting on 8 acres along Thousand Oaks Blvd. has an array of classy commercial real estate which is home to British and Italian manufacturers including Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Alfa Romero and Maserati. In the 2-wheel version, they also manage the Ducati Westlake dealership. In addition, you will find Previously-Owned exotics on their lot such as McLaren, Aston Martin, Bugatti and perhaps some Porsche’s and AMG’s sprinkled in. Let me put it this way, every window sticker has enough printable space for the total price amount to allow for extra zero’s. Walking through the O’Gara dealership on any given day is like being at a special auto event in itself ! The Westlake GT car meet is held monthly and attracts a good size crowd. To be allowed to drive onto their lot for this event, you better be driving a classic or late model exotic or otherwise find a place to park on the street. Bill Herold and his son Austin arrived with their beautiful Lime Rock Green 2014 Premiere Edition Chevrolet Corvette. Herold was turned away and settled for parking on Thousand Oaks Blvd. It’s not that O’Gara is being a Westlake snob. One must realize they have limited parking spaces available for the Lamborghini’s, McLaren’s, Aston Martin’s, Ferrari’s, Maserati’s and Porsche’s (the list goes on) who also arrive for this event. For those arriving in these exotics, parking attendants are hired to direct you to park in a ‘designated manufacture’ location, all parked side-by-side. Let me tell you, it’s a beautiful sight to see an entire row of colorful McLaren’s, Lamborghini’s or Aston Martin’s in New York’s Radio City ‘Rockette’ style. We’re very spoiled to be living in an area of the country with such an abundance of classic and late model exotics along with owners willing to take them out on the road to drive over and share them with fellow car enthusiasts. On this August event day, it was even more special as O’Gara unveiled the 2019 Rolls-Royce Cullinan. This is Rolls-Royce’s first entry into the crowded SUV marketplace. As O’Gara Westlake’s General Manager, David Irving, explained to me with his appropriate British accent, this SUV was named after the Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever discovered weighting 3100 carats! Irving shared some other statistics on this new massive SUV. It’s the first production Rolls-Royce to offer All-Wheel Drive, it’s 6.75L Twin Turbocharged V-12 creates 563 HP @ 627 lb.-ft. of torque and has a top speed of 155 mph. This beast also weights nearly 3 tons. Take all that and build it to Rolls-Royce quality standards (including the finest leathers) and technology, well, it’s one heck of a driving machine. Rolls-Royce is joining in with other exotic SUV manufacturers, such as Bentley, Maserati and more recently the Lamborghini Urus. Westlake GT happens the first Saturday of each month from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM. O’Gara Coach Westlake is located at 3610 E Thousand Oaks Blvd., Westlake Village, 91362. Please use their website calendar to confirm a future event: https://www.westlakegranturismo.com/
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