The shopping center's tenants claim that these classic cars that come to the center on Tuesdays and Thursdays leave insufficient parking for their customers.

"We get complaints all the time," said Longs Drugs supervisor Ken Jobe. By 6 p.m. on July 26, Jobe said the store had already received three complaints.

"We have no control over it," he said. So the store's management complained to shopping center landlord, Biagio Passaro. Passaro believed Big Dog's Grill, another shopping center tenant, was perpetuating the problem, said Davy Chea, who runs the restaurant.

Chea said she received calls and letters from Passaro and his attorney during May and June stating the surplus of classic cars was violating her lease. Chea's attorney, Mark Cohen, verified the correspondence between Chea and Passaro had occurred and that the landlord had threatened her with eviction because of the classic car gathering. However he said there is nothing that the grill is doing to encourage the classic cars from congregating in the shopping center. And he doesn't see how Big Dog is violating its lease agreement, which has no stipulations to that effect.

Chea said she was unaware of the parking problem until the landlord approached the restaurant in May.

"No one complained to me," she said.

Chea said she is not responsible for the event but has asked the car enthusiasts to be respectful of other patrons by parking closer together.

Chea does acknowledge that these gathering have been profitable for the grill, with more than $500 in sales from the crowd on Tuesdays and Thursdays nights.

The car owners said they learned of the gathering through word of mouth.

"She didn't organize it at all. A bunch of us like to get together," said car owner Jim Townsend, who has been attending car gatherings in San Jose for 20 years. "It's not like we're doing any damage; we're just customers."

Tuesday and Thursday nights find nearly 50 classic hot rods and muscle cars in the parking lot. Owners socialize and exhibit their cars in the parking lot and often eat at Big Dog's Grill, Mexico Lindo, Giorgio's Italian Food & Pizzeria and Starbucks Coffee. Many car owners stay for up to three hours.

"It almost seems absurd that there's a problem when there's too much business," Cohen said.

In mid-July, Chea and the car crowd noticed new one-hour parking signs posted throughout the complex. On July 21, security guards began enforcing the restrictions by taking down license plate numbers and times as soon as the classic cars pulled in, Chea said.

When the tow trucks arrived, owners refused to move from their cars and eventually they were forced to leave, Chea said.

Car owners who came to the parking lot on July 26 talked to the security guards about the new regulations. Security guards Herb Hudec and Robert Seum warned the car owners that enforcement would begin on July 28.

"They're picking on the old cars," car enthusiast Ed Ercolini said.

Hudec said security would enforce regulations in the entire lot, but they lacked the manpower with only two guards.

The guards said their company, Atlas Security, has been told to focus on the classic cars parked near Big Dog's Grill due to the complaints coming from other businesses.

Ercolini said this is the first time the cars have been restricted in their long history at the center. He and other car enthusiasts have assembled in the shopping center's parking lot at the corner of Foxworthy and Cherry avenues since the 1970s.

The group fizzled out for a while but returned to the center five years ago. This year traffic has increased and cars arrive Tuesday and Thursday nights.

Many car owners signed a petition at Big Dog's Grill stating they felt unfairly targeted.

"I'm afraid now to bring my car," Delbert Barcellos said.

The car owners said they would like to continue patronizing the Foxworthy Shopping Center and share their love of cars. They also said they regularly police themselves to ensure all car owners are behaving respectfully with the center's patrons.

"It's like a family," Ercolini said.