The feeling of air going through your hair, the rush of a turbo, and the force of taking a turn – ahh…the sensations that driving a car can give you. Don’t you just love ‘em?

Cars are such a big part of our lives, especially here in Orange County, that I’m really happy that we are a center for anything regarding the automobile – from being HQ to some car companies like Kia and Mazda, and to holding some great weekly events like Cars and Coffee.

Well, we have two more events to put in for the month of October:

First up is the Fifth Annual Japanese Classic Car Show this Saturday, October 3, from 9am-3pm at Hidden Valley Park in Irvine.

At the Japanese Classic Car show you can see anything from a Mazda Cosmo, to Rx-7’s, Datsun Z’s, Celicas, and so much more. If it’s an imported Japanese car from before 1985, you’ll probably find it there. There also are a ton of restored stock cars to some heavily modified cars like a rotary powered Datsun 510.

In addition to the cars and vendors, you may see a couple of car buffs arrive at the show as well. Last year, while checking out the Mazda Cosmos, I saw a big group gathering around someone. I was definitely curious and checked to see what was happening and lo and behold, it was Jay Leno coming to check out the cars!

Admission to the event is $5. For more info about the Japanese Classic Car show check out their website at http://www.japaneseclassiccarshow.com/

And a couple of weeks after is the Orange County Autoshow from October 15-18 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim.

The Orange County Autoshow is the first auto show of the season showcasing the new 2010 models of almost all of the car manufacturers.  In addition to the production cars on the show room floor, they’ll be showing some concept cars and pre-production models as well.

My favorite part of the show doesn’t take place in the showroom of the convention center at all, rather it takes place outside…you guessed it -the ride-and-drives! Last year they had a Toyota off-road course where you could try their 4 wheel drive vehicles, a Mazda ride and drive where you could try out all their models (minus their rotary powered Rx-8)  including the then newly redesigned Mazda6, and a Chrysler test drive on the top floor of a parking structure! I’ll say that I definitely had a lot of fun try pretty much every single car there was to drive at the show.

Admission for the show is $10 for adults, $6 for seniors, and free for children under 12. You could also buy adult tickets online at www.orangecountyautoshow.com for $8. A really cool perk about attending is that you get a free years subscription to Motor Trend magazine when you buy a ticket online or at the box office!

If you’re planning to attend, the show is four days long and each day has varying hours as follows:

Thursday, October 15 from 4-10pm
Friday October 16 from 12-10pm
Saturday October 17 from 9am to 10pm
Sunday October 18 from 9am to 7pm

I’m definitely going to be attending the OC Autoshow one or more of the days. Or all of them if I go with different people. As for the JCC, I’ve got a prior engagement and sadly, I can’t attend. Bummer.

Are you planning to go to any of these shows? What car are you looking forward to seeing most? Hit us up in the comments or @vitaminOC us and maybe we could meet you there!

Image from http://www.japaneseclassiccarshow.com/ and http://www.motortrendautoshows.com/Orange_County/