Sorry I did not see this earlier, sort of lost interest in my Elan, so have not been coming here as much
Unless you are doing a track day, it is not worth driving up to Willow Springs
Angeles Crest is a great drive, but beware the conditions may not be great, I was up the other side of the mountain last week and there was two feet of snow with lots of rocks and debris in the road.
If you are here for New Years Day, there will be lots of car clubs driving around in the Malibu mountains, be sure to drive by the Rock Store and stop at the lookout point a few miles west of it on Mulholland
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=rock+store,+cornell,+CA&sll=34.115784,-118.743668&sspn=0.175091,0.363922&ie=UTF8&ll=34.116921,-118.795166&spn=0.175089,0.363922&z=12&iwloc=A
You'll want to start pretty early as most of the drives are in the morning.
I will be out there on a Lotus group drive, but it is newer cars.
There is also a lot of great roads to drive around this area
If you are here on Saturday, you should drive down to the world famous "Cars and Coffee" meet in Irvine CA, it starts at 7am and is over by 9am, so you have to leave very early (it's about an hour drive from Santa Monica)
It is an impromptu car meet that happens every Saturday morning, hundreds of cars usually show up, some extremely rare and unusual
http://irvine.carsandcoffee.info/
Since it is getting into winter now and it is cold in the morning, the turnout may be a bit on the low side, but it still may be worth going.
http://irvine.carsandcoffee.info/
I may be able to take you down there if you like (can't commit to it just yet)
Also, I live pretty close to Santa Monica, you're welcome to come by to see the Elan if you're interested
Here is a quick reference map to the fun Malibu Mountain roads