Clubs

So, just thinking about car clubs. Which ones do you guys prefer: online, brick and mortar, marque specific, national, regional or something else?

In my mind, it's not really a club unless there are flesh-and-blood meetings with real people. The internet clubs have a ton of good information, but there's nothing like a nice Saturday morning cruise with friends.

Good clubs are getting harder and harder to find, however.

I'm a member of an on-line club and one based in my community.
The on-line club is Marque specific and a great source of member support. The local club has everything. Newer/old, American/Foreign, cars/trucks, and various condition and stages of restoration.

The local club has social events. The on-line club has some regional activities and there's a big event annually.

If I have a question about my specific car I go on-line and in a few hours I'll get plenty of help. The local club may not know much about my car specifically, but there's always someone who'll come over and get his hands dirty.

I guess it depends what you need/enjoy.

I only belong to car clubs that hold actual races.

I'm a member of several different ones/kinds. No doubt, there has to be actual human get togethers for it to be a real sense of community. Even if it's informal meets in someone's back yard, that still makes a club 'real'.

Traditional marque clubs that still want to charge $30+ for a quarterly paper newsletter and ignore the internet are going to struggle, and there are still some out there. It's too easy to get good information for free or nearly free. We no longer need the membership card, windshield decal and wall certificate to make us a member of a club.

The best clubs seem to be the ones that are mostly free. No dues, no elected officers, just guys running an internet board and getting together at selected 'other' events or just planning simple meets locally. I find these to be the most enjoyable. There is still something appealing about going to a huge event with people who all like the same vehicle, but it's too easy to feel like a number.

Lastly, I vastly prefer clubs that do something involving cars in motion. Sitting on a lawn in the sun all day...I can do that at home. These are cars. Let's drive 'em.

I've been in various clubs over the years, including some car clubs!

My favorite type of car club is a driving club. Usually these are pretty broadly based. From SCCA to NASA to my own semi-local Triumph club to the Pennsylvania Hillclimb Association and a fair number of others. The interest is in driving which is something I very much enjoy doing. Be it racing or just going for a ride to admire fall leaves.

I've been in various marque clubs over the years. Most of the time they are a sit and park club, which bores me. Hanging out at a parking lot and drinking beer is just not fun. At least not to me. Lets go do something! And by do something, I don't mean waxing and polishing. I tend not to stay with marque clubs because of this.

The worse thing about many clubs is the clique and distain for other marques and venues. Autocrossers that want to sneer at dirt trackers, MG owners who eschew Triumphs and Triumph owners, worshiping of some club idol, etc. I truely despise that stuff.

Web "clubs" are ok. No, they are more than ok. They are like the greatest library I've ever found. True, I'm still all by myself trying to tune my SU carburetors. But being able to talk with folks from all over the world, with global experience... that's pretty durn priceless. Just wish they didn't tend to de-evolve to worshiping some loud mouthed ego. But, most people are sheep.

As someone that has never been a part of a "pay for membership" club, and only been in Web based clubs, I am not sure I can properly comment on the differences.

However, I agree with the human aspect and that a club or community is only as good as the social interaction. That's the glue that keeps people coming back.

David: All of the above. My car drew a few local friends to me and that then developed into a regional club that joined a national organization as a chapter and ended with hanging out with a non-denominational local car group. I just added a wider circle and truly enjoy meeting the people in person. Their passion for the car hobby is infectious. Cheers Ron

As Groucho Marx said "I'd never join a club that would have me as a member"

mike

There's always an ugly side to car clubs. You know ... someone to keep the stink stirred. This time it is me. We have a local multi marque British Car club. It was incorporated as a non-profit in 1993, but was started in the early 80's. Problem is... we have not followed our by-laws and have a silent board. As newly elected President I decided to elect a board and then have an independent audit to get our ducks in a row. Several in the general membership see it as a power struggle. Honestly, I just want to keep us legal to cover our asses. We run a large car show every year, have a healthy bank account and give a fair amount to charity, but I'm not 100% sure everything we do is OK from an IRS standpoint, and there is little in the way of checks and balances. I'd really like to see the club expand its membership and do more, but there are several vocal members that just want things to remain as they are. Our new member retention is appalling.

So, now that I'm done venting. I think I might just stick to online forums and just hang out with my friends that are gear heads.

Trevor: That's interesting. I went through a similar deal 3 years ago. Me and several Board member wanted an audit of the race club were were active with. We were signing off IRS documents that we were not sure were truly accurate. The club was ~supposed~ to be a 501-3C but there was some funny accounting. Several old-timers tried to shut us up. In the end, eight of us resigned the Board or key volunteer postions. The club is now floundering badly. Too bad......it still has any good racers but a small group of "leaders" that have caused great damage to its reputation.

I switched over the vintage racing, which has been a ball!

Corruption, ego, and/or a general lackluster following of the by-laws are pretty common. I've become a bit of an outcast in one marque club I helped found because I have the nerve to question some of the things that the leadership just decides to do with the club's money without having a discussion or vote of the acting board. It's very difficult, because these are all people I like as individuals and car guys, but sometimes they run things like our federal government.

This 'creep' of dictatorship and my opposing view against it labels me as a 'stick in the mud' who is against changing the status quo, which is far from the truth. And it's all a big reason why I no longer care to be involved with running clubs. Unfortunately, being a founder of the organization leaves me with a paternalistic concern for it's well-being, so I keep sticking my nose in. I think I need to wean myself from further involvement and just go out into the garage more.

We have a local club that works well, but we have no dues, no officers, and only one rule and that is to have fun. We have a monthly meeting with a speaker and dinner, and we do weekend drives. We do not do any rallies/autocross/racing on our own for the simple reason that we have no insurance. We do attach ourselves to other groups putting on these type of events and we have evolved into a cross breeding grounds of many different clubs. I am involved with outer more organized clubs, but none of them have involvement that we do. For example the local alfa club will have 10 to 12 people go to the monthly meeting. Our club will have a minimum of 25 and frequently have close to 50. The internet clubs are good, particularly if you live in BFE, but I prefer pressing the flesh.

I'm not a member of a local car club - I don't even know if there is one, actually - only of several "online forums with meetings attached" type clubs.

I think the "with meetings attached" part is quite important, at the end of the day there is a social aspect to our car hobby and to me it makes a big difference if it's a collection of internet lone riders or a bunch of people who are well enough socialised to meet up for the odd car show/barbecue/beer.

Unfortunately the offline-only club is likely to disappear over time. The main advantage I see with clubs that run a forum open to non-members is that you can check out the club, see if you can fit in before actually joining.

I just got off a 6 month campaign of asking the http://www.britishcarclub.net/ to come and support a charity event , and not one member came in support . WE still raised $635 dollars !!! MGEEZERS are getting older and their clubs are a dying , the good thing their widows will be selling their cars and you can dust them off and drive them . The cars also !

In reply to David S. Wallens:

I like the car clubs that meet and have fun. On-line clubs are great and I am involved in those as well. The part that bugs me is when people feel like they must have their way no mater what. I recently backed down from an idea because one of the opponents threatened to create a back-lash against me and the idea. The idea had plenty of support but when they threatened to be underhanded about it, I got a really bad taste in my mouth over it. I refuse to be part of any leadership that allows something like this to take place. the problem is that means only people like this guy will remain. Good luck to a club that is run this way. I predict that clubs such as this will cease to exist when the old stand-by decides they have had enough and leaves the fold.

I have had enough and left the fold. I will still enjoy the events and socialize with the people who share my enthusiasm. I will not, however be involved in the leadership like I once was. Not worth it.

BrettM wrote: I have had enough and left the fold. I will still enjoy the events and socialize with the people who share my enthusiasm. I will not, however be involved in the leadership like I once was. Not worth it.

You too, huh? If I was "that guy" you should send me a note. If I wasn't, I'm sure curious as to whom it was.

Nope, it was not you. You made your opinion known, I am cool with that. The back-stabbing was what I was turned off by. Don't think you did any of that. I am simply done with committee car clubs for a while. I plan to drive my car (and other's cars) more.

We are becoming so similar. I'm only a Mustang away from being the Yankee Brett.

On a related note, I started my own local club: daytonasportscarclub.com. Yes, it's all based on Facebook to make it easy.

I spend enough time in meetings at work. I have never joined a club that had dues, officers, and scheduled meetings. Just not interested even if they might be the nicest bunch of fellow gear heads. I have been part of two different "clubs" that had no rules, dues, officers, or anything - those were both loose and informal groups of people who enjoyed cars and liked to have fun.

Presently, I am on the outskirts of an organized club. It is a multi-marque club - I am not a member, but was given access to their online mailing list, and even organized a group drive last weekend. Just not interested in dues or meetings. I think my deal is that I like cars more than people.

klharper wrote: We have a local club that works well, but we have no dues, no officers, and only one rule and that is to have fun.

Now this is the kind of club I would enjoy. It seems like the folks in my local Triumph club are more interested in practicing parliamentary procedures that driving TR's. I would love nothing more than to find a group of gearheads to hang with, but so far...

The problem is caused by our contentious and litigious society. In order to have liability insurance and protect individual members from liability the group needs to be incorporated. With incorporation comes responsibility to manage the club, then people start disagreeing on how things should be run. It is a vicious cycle IMO.

If a club has no president, no nothing but maybe stickers and t shirts who would somebody sue?

I ask this because a couple of us are starting a club in the Morgantown WV area. No dues just a facebook page. We got 10ish people so far. At what point does it mature into a steamy pile of BS?

Leo

Just don't organize an event and certianly do not invite the public.