Are car clubs dying?

I was talking to a friend the other day and we pretty much agreed that online forums have started to replace traditional car clubs. I was a member of the Dixie Olds Club a long time ago but I dropped out because I didn't want to join the national Olds club (which was a requirement). I pretty much get my car community fix on forums now. I know there will always be a place for clubs like PCA and BMWCCA, but what about the smaller regional clubs? I don't think Facebook will replace car clubs either, even if the clubs start Facebook pages. I could be wrong though.

I seem to meet way more people that identify with a website forum than with a proper car club. GRM being one of them and the HAMB being another.

I havent joined an official marque club since i have been in the US. So much info on forums these days.

That said Ohio GRMers are almost a club unto themselves

I don't care for one-marque clubs . . .

I'm still a member of SCCA and BMWCCA, but sometimes I'm not sure why. It's still worth it if you are doing a lot of events, because of the discount you usually get as a club member. Then there are the magazines. Roundel is OK, but I don't have much use for Sports Car.

But I'm not nearly as active as I once was. I was the newsletter editor for FME/FMC for years, and was later the treasurer and registrar for Detroit Council of Sports Car Clubs for 5 years, but now I don't do any of that. Some of that is because of my life priorities changing, but some of it is because of boards like this, which at least somewhat replace the social interaction part of clubs.

I think it depends on the club and the people. I am way involved with the PCA, both on a national and local level. This past Saturday we had an informal event--our local Porsche shop opened their doors and put out some bagels, donuts and coffee.

They had a nice crowd, and we spent 9:00 until noon looking at cars, talking shop, and playing with the shop's dogs. We also discussed cable TV vs. AppleTV vs. other solutions. Basically, it was car guys talking about stuff. It wasn't all Porsches, either. I brought the wagon, while another regular rode his Harley. We also had a Lotus Elise, Aston Martin DB9, BMW motorcycle and a few others.

I have been involved on the planning end, and basically we try to think of things that would be fun. We did a group dinner last month. Next month one of the regulars is racing at Daytona, so everyone else has been invited to hang out. Later this month, in fact, we're doing a hang-out here at the office--have some breakfast, check out the cars, and spend some time in our library.

Then there's all the big PCA events: club races, DEs, etc. Those are done by the regions. We're just the "north Volusia" group that's doing more informal stuff for the locals.

I'm all for digital clubs, too, but do like some face-to-face interaction. I think you pretty much find a club that fits your personality and go from there.

In Chicago the Windy City Z Club was well known. I attended a car show two years ago and told the top guy they needed to attract younger blood into the club and I got a odd stare. Here is a picture from their website of one of their meetings.

http://www.windycityzclub.com/

I am involved with local British car club. I enjoy it. It is nice to hang out with other car guys that you don't get on a forum.

But I also see the two intermixing. It seems a lot of forums have events anymore and a lot of clubs have forums of one form or another.

I'm going to a meeting tonight with my local club, Brandywine Motorsport Club. At our meeting last month, local minor legend Brett Lunger came and talked to us about F1 in the '70s. Last Saturday, I ran my first ever TSD rally with them, and this Saturday, we're putting on our third autocross of the season.

BMC has been around since the early '50s, growing out of an MG Club chapter and waxing and waning in activity over the decades. The charter members are all aging a bit. One of the founders, George Alderman, is still active at 81 and can kick my ass in karts.

There is a (relatively) younger crowd coming up to take over the reins (me included) and we are having some success in attracting new members in the 20-something crowd, mostly for autocross. The rally program is struggling a bit, but we are trying to keep the tradition alive and active. Our membership typically hovers between 60 and 70.

The club does have a website - www.brandywinemotorsportclub.org - and a Facebook page, but those are mostly informational and not a major source of interaction. In addition to the 12 monthly meetings, we usually have a summer and winter picnic/holiday party, and we'll make a few museum trips or car shows throughout the year.

The independent sports car club I belong to seems to be doing pretty well. Its not brand or era specific and they put on killer autocross events, TSD rallies, a few rallycross events, carting events, ice racing, etc. Their dues and entry fees are reasonable. They also have a broad demographic appeal, a mixture of all ages and backgrounds. Involvement is allowed to vary from "I show up for a few events per year" to "I'm at every event no matter what" depending on each member's level of interest and schedule. They are pretty strict about safety, but relatively lax about classing. Their membership is as high as its ever been in their 50+ year history.

David S. Wallens wrote: I'm all for digital clubs, too, but do like some face-to-face interaction. I think you pretty much find a club that fits your personality and go from there.

I agree with all of this.....just wanted to add that the the leadership of a local face to face club has a lot to do with how fun it is to hang out with. Clubs are, first and foremost, a SOCIAL group. If you get too wrapped up in rules discussions and minutes and robert's rules or order for conducting the meeting, it sucks the fun out of attending.

Personally, I think that most of the reason for going to autocrosses is hanging out, benchracing and talking smack. The people who obsess and file protests because they must have the $5 plastic trophy tend to annoy the heck out of me.....so do the guys who are worried about running the event in the most hyper-efficient manner...maximizing runs is a nice goal, but it's not worth yelling at anyone.

Most of the guys in a club are there to have fun. If you're trying to run the junior-woodchuck version of the solo nationals, I'm probably not going to have much fun, and hence, may not hang out that much anymore....

FWIW, just yesterday I was just commenting to one via email about how GRM felt like a club.

I'm in the SCCA and a Scion club. Both still do plenty of fun stuff to keep it going.

The only car clubs I've been privy to are the (for lack of a better word) "traditional" car clubs that sprung up roughly a decade ago as part of the whole "hipster-Betty Page-Jesse James/Jimmy Shine wanna be" movement. You know, the "pompadour, rock-a-silly, greaser, flat black rattle canned craptastic '50s shoebox with mexican blanket seat covers" kinda thing. There are and have been many clubs throughout Central and South Florida, and many of them have famously been swirling cesspools of soap-operatic douchebaggery. Much of the drama goes on to this day, including fist fights, cat fights, internet tough-guy'ology, etc, etc.. But then again, most of the people in it are not real gearheads, they're just in it to fit in to the "kustom kulture", as the cool kids say. I'm not saying everyone in the scene is a douche, I've made and retain some very dear friends that have been in it, but as a whole I will say that the greaser-wannabe club scene is just a breeding ground for the douchiest of douchebags. Oh, the stories I could tell.......

just gonna leave this right here---

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Gno_JOxbI

My experience has been that, around here, the web forums are great for social interaction and discussion, but not so good at actually putting on events. They do OK for BBQs and other low-overhead events, but high-capital events like track days or autocrosses are typically put on by clubs with a traditional organization of officers, members, dues, etc. Clubs have bank accounts, they have capital reserves (at least, if they're run well they do), and they can take out event insurance in their own name. The books are open to members, so you run into fewer accusations of profiteering when costs at well-attended events aren't as magically low as eveyone thinks they should be. You also don't wind up with individuals suffering multi-thousand dollars losses when event attendance fails to live up to expectations but the track still wants their daily rental fee.

So what I'm saying is that there's a place for both.

I'm president of the Delaware Valley Mopar Association. This year is our 20th anniversary. We currently have close to 70 members. We're a local club with about 20 core members that are fairly active. We do a couple events a year and support other clubs cruise nights, etc., the rest of the time. We're pretty laid back, and I think that's one of the reasons we've lasted this long. You could say we're a social club with Mopars as our common theme.

At my shop, we sponsor some other local car clubs. Most are all-makes clubs. Some are more active than others. There are different characters and personalities in each club. It's exactly like David said, you find a club that fits your personality.

The GRM board is a lot like a club. A club with two really bitchin' newsletters.

Our local british car club is still pretty strong. Very few people talk about visiting web boards, but several get subscriptions and T-shirts from here.

We had a nice little club here in SC. Once a month we would meet for photo shoot in Somewhere, SC and eat at some local establishment.

If we didn't have anything planned, we gather at someone's house and start the grill.

Unfortunately, between people wanting to street race/top speed interstate runs, not chipping in for food on the grill and overall douchebaggery ... I got out.

The other one I wad invited to wad nothing more than a rolling car show of people that talked about how much they spent at a high-end shop. "My Mustang has 10000 man hours of work with 3 miles on the drivetrain"

Our club has grown from 140 members 3 years ago to more than 200 members and counting this year. Most of the new members are young people too.

They key? Make it accessible and get on social media.

Also, we don't do car shows. We race. Autocross, Wintercross, Hillclimbs, TSD rallies.

The Adirondack Motor Enthusiasts Club , Inc. doesn't care what kind of car you have. Just participate.

All I know is that I can't stand the Fast Furious fart-can NOS import white sunglasses hip hop crowd and if I hear a That L Be the Day (insert grammar police) played at a back to the 50s car show again or see those little crying dolls leaning against a bumper, I'll pretty much puke.

Anymore fat bearded Hawaiian shirt wearing middle age white guys with a hot rod tv show like American Hot Rod or whatever it was called can stick it to lol. More billet, more billet more billet, more billet, more billet aaaaaaaggggghhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

drainoil wrote: Anymore fat bearded Hawaiian shirt wearing middle age white guys with a hot rod tv show like American Hot Rod or whatever it was called can stick it to lol. More billet, more billet more billet, more billet, more billet aaaaaaaggggghhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

As a fat middle aged guy, I'm tempted to grow a beard and dig through the closet. I'm sure that i have a few Hawaiian shirts in the back.

[I can't use billet parts, though.....they clash with the sexy made-from-a-washing-machine grill on my car]

In reply to JoeyM:

Toss used swapmeet billet aluminum parts in a blasting cabinet and they will look like old cast aluminum.

I'll leave it up to you if you wear a Hawaiian shirt while blasting the parts.

Interesting option. BTW, I'd never looked at your URL until now. I like these customer cars

Thanks! Both are good guys and built their cars themselves in their home garages.

The copper coupe is running a 283 built to '57 Corvette specs. Correct carbs, intake, cam, etc.

The black coupe is running a 354 Hemi. He took it to Maple Grove Raceway a couple weeks ago. I know he passed tech inspection and made a couple passes, but I haven't caught up with him since then. I'll probably see him next week.

OK, I'm off to a car club meeting now. Seriously.

Are car clubs dying?

Evolving.

Datsun310Guy wrote: In Chicago the Windy City Z Club was well known. I attended a car show two years ago and told the top guy they needed to attract younger blood into the club and I got a odd stare. Here is a picture from their website of one of their meetings. http://www.windycityzclub.com/

That guy at the end looks like he's contemplating how he ended up where he is at this point in life.

They are seriously lacking in the under 50 crowd there.