The sound of engines revving and the scent of gasoline dominated the parking lots at the face of campus.
Hundreds of attendees pulled up for Cars and Chai, a unique new event organized by the Muslim Student Association (MSA) on Feb. 14. Vehicles of various shapes, sizes, colors and brands captured ogling eyes and fueled an unusually high level of energy on campus. The school closed for President’s Day weekend but it never gets this rambunctious on its busiest days.
McLarens, Lamborghinis, Mustangs, Souped-up Hondas, Classics. Brand new, refurbished, and butterfly doors. Las Positas is no stranger to having expensive cars in its parking lot, but never like this.
VROOM! VROOM! The Cars and Chai event hosted by the Muslim Student Association on Feb. 15 lasted from 10am until 1pm with attendees and cars filtering in and out. At peak times the crowds reached over 150 people. (Photo By Ian Kapsalis/The Express)
Yasin Azim — owner of a Lamborghini Huracán STO, the price for which starts at over $300,000 — learned of the event on TikTok.
“I had some other friends send it around,” Azim said, “and then we were like, ‘You know what, let’s show up.’ ”
Cars and Chai invited car lovers and gearheads to campus. Attendees from all over the state — San Jose, Fairfield, Fremont, even Riverside — to enjoy the collaboration of the automotive industry and the Las Positas campus. The MSA collaborated with Whips and Coffee and Caffeinated Cats to provide doughnuts, sweet treats, coffee and, of course, chai.
MSA President Azaan Asad said planning took three months. Preparations included meeting with the school, including talks with Sean Brooks, vice president of administrative services. They procured the free Qurans from MyFundAction, a youth-focused non-profit organization focused on volunteerism and entrepreneurship. People were able to bring their vehicles to the event and if they could find a spot, show them off.
According to Asad, cars and was the start of an inclusive and philanthropic future for the MSA.
The MSA has worked with MyFundAction who hosted car meets, in the past such as at The Shish Grill, in San Ramon on Oct. 25, 2025 where members of the MSA volunteered. The only difference is that this time, Asad said, was the first time the MSA and MyFundAction had hosted at Las Positas.
“We also had to get in touch with the organization giving us the free Qurans,” Asad said.
CAR AND CHAI took place on Valentine’s Day and couples showed up to walk the event together. Pictured is a blue 1967 Shelby Cobra. (Photo By Ian Kapsalis/The Express)
One of the highlights of the event was a long line of exotic supercars going all along the top row of Lot D where people could enter them with the supervision of their owners to snap photos and look at the horsepower on display.
Asad said over 1,000 people showed up for the three–hour event held in Lot D near the bus stop and Lot E in front of the 2400 building. It featured attendees walking up and down rows of cars — including one featuring 13 Lamborghinis, and another half-filled with McLarens — checking out the rides. He estimated the number of cars in attendance over 100 and almost entirely filling Lot D, but it may have been as high as 200 with the rotation of cars into and out of the lot and Lot E being used for overflow.
One attendee, Akem, who declined to provide his full name, drove from Fairfield in his 2024 C8 Corvette — a hybrid of the electric E-Ray and the gas-powered Stingray — the first electrified model in Corvette history. The near-hour drive didn’t bother him. He’s a regular at these types of events.
Another attendee — Mike from Dublin is all he’d reveal — pulled up in a Camaro ZL1 1LE with a 650-horsepower V8 engine.
“I like cars,” he said. “I love seeing them. I love checking them out. I love seeing what people buy, especially like what people build, too. it’s cool to see what you can do with a car.”
A SELECTION of classic Japanese sports cars showcased at the Cars and Chai event at LPC on Feb. 14. Car enthusiasts brought their automobiles out to showcase their passion. (Photo by Eric Liang/The Express)
The MSA found success in spreading awareness of its Cars and Chai event on social media. It also used a recent campus event for promotion. During the Winter Wonderland Club and Resource Fair, they parked a Lambo in the quad.
“A guy let us borrow his car,” Asad said. “We drove it up right here from the bus stop inside.”
Funding the event proved more difficult. Asad said the high costs have prevented others from putting on a cars-and-coffee type of event at Las Positas’s spacious parking lots. According to LPC’s fee rental schedule, it would cost Cars and Chai, as a non-profit event, $110 an hour totalling approximately $330 for the duration of the event. The MSA found luck, though, in its status as a club. Thanks to the liberties and specifically free opportunities granted to school clubs, the MSA succeeded in bringing the event to life.
“One of the largest issues with organizing the event was how costly it was,” Asad said. “There have been attempts to host Cars and Coffee and car meets here before, but it just hasn’t happened because of the price. It’s an expensive school.”
Costs aside, Asad said MSA is interested in hosting Cars and Chai again. He said the club has already met with Brooks, his executive assistant Andrea Anderson and Campus Safety supervisor Sean Prather to discuss the possibility of holding future events that would necessitate the closing of parking lots and campus security to monitor the event.
Cars and Chai could become an annual event on campus, as suggested by Brooks, Anderson, and Prather.
“It was recommended by them, and I want to do that,” Asad said. “I wanna do this every semester.”
THE MUSLIN STUDENT ASSOCIATION held its Cars and Chai event in parking lots D and E. Those attending were encouraged to bring their cars to show off, or just to show up and receive free chai and donuts. (Photo By Ian Kapsalis/The Express)
The purpose of the event, per MSA’s mission, is to distribute the Quran, as it does at all club events. Attendees who wanted one received a free copy of Islam’s sacred scriptures. While the event is centered on Muslims, the club emphasizes that its events are open to all comers, including non-Muslims.
“We’re trying to take more of a charity route,” Asad said. “Later this semester, we’re working with (MyFundAction) to start a homeless initiative where we build kits. And we do events to make food. And then we distribute it to the homeless in the local community in Livermore, San Francisco, in the Bay in general.”
Encapsulating the event, the MSA gathered attendees around one of the Lamborghinis for a group photo to show their love for cars and desire to build a community.
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TOP PHOTO: The Cars and Chai event — held at LPC parking lot D on Feb. 14. The event created a curated space for enthusiasts to socialize and appreciate automobiles. (Photo by Eric Liang/The Express)
Musa Ashraf is the News Editor for The Express. Follow him on X, @MusaZash.
