Are car clubs dying?

I think there will always be groups of people interested in the same thing. As long as theres people that like cars, there'll be clubs.

One of my most rewarding club experience was the Blue Ridge Mountain Sports Car Club in Pittsburgh. It was an independent club just for road rallies. I don't know if it was the great people, the great novice friendly scenic rallies, the camaraderie over ice cream afterwards, but it was just a ton of fun and genuinely looked forward to every one of our get-togethers.

I was one of a handful of people who started the club currently known as Fiat Club America. We started ours because the guy who ran the only other Fiat marque club was...well, he thought he was the Pope is the nicest way I can put it.

When the internet came to be popular with all it's forums, I lobbied to make the club more internet-ish and spend less on mailing out the very expensive and always starved for content magazine every other month. Didn't happen. Worse yet, I got people elected to run it that have decided they don't need the BoD to make decisions; one has appointed himself King and just does what he wants. Sold my last Fiat and I'm out...

In contrast, my sixties Ford pickup club exists only on the internet. No officers. No dues. One of the nicest groups of people I've encountered. They do one national meet every 2 years in the center of the country with virtually no cash outlay. No trophies. No pre-paid meals. They'll sell you a t-shirt only if you pre-order it. It's wonderful in it's simplicity, and we all like it that way.

I've owned a BMW for several years but just haven't felt the need to belong to the BMWCCA, and in particular the local chapter which apparently doesn't do anything other than go out to eat and take covered bridge tours. I've put in my time doing that, and it no longer holds any interest. I enjoy just BSing with other afflicted people but if the discussions are about Zymol and which stocks are up, I'm looking for the door.

Motorsport activity clubs like NASA and SCCA are still relevant. Marque clubs? Not so much, I dare say.

I think the biggest problem is that the younger generation is not staying with the physical car clubs. I think social media and the internet clubs are easier to deal with and there are no dues or monthly meetings to attend.

I have been a member of the Chicagoland Corvair Enthusiasts (CCE) since college. We are the second largest local Corvair club in the United States (or at least used to be). We have members that don't even have Corvairs anymore that stay members of the club because of the friendships that they made. We still have a lot of members regardless.

http://www.ccecorvair.com/

However, the problem I still see is the kids that grew up with me (in the car club) have no interest in being a member of a car club. Plus it seems new members that join are a part of the "Not Under 40" club and I think that is a turnoff for the younger folks. Car shows and conventions are just not interesting.

The one thing I do see younger people at is the Orphan Auto Picnic that we hold every year, mainly because we invite all orphaned makes and models. We will see a lot of younger folks driving newer stuff like Fieros, Supras, Starquests, and DeLoreans.

If physical car clubs want to survive, then they need to start appealing to the younger folks somehow.

I used to belong to a local British car club. Good group of people but mostly over 60. They slowly turned it into a social club who happened to drive old British cars. The meetings started hosting guest speakers that had nothing to do with cars so I decided to drop my membership.

Just like anything, for a car club to survive it must serve its members. A while back I was talking to the president of the Orlando PCA group about events. We try to do it all, he noted, pointing out how their schedule included wine tastings and chili cook-offs to track events and races at Daytona and Sebring.

On a related note, this message just appeared on our local Facebook page:

This Saturday.... Ron Zitza and Zotz Autowerks, will host members of the Florida Citrus Region PCA for an introduction to Driver’s Education. If you are a new DE driver or you have ever thought about registering for a track event to learn to drive on one of the major speedways like Sebring, Road Atlanta or Homestead, this is an opportunity to learn what High Performance Drivers Education is all about.

For advanced drivers, there will be a separate presentation on advanced driving techniques and an introduction to using data systems to improve driving performance.

The same day there's also a driving tour--so, basically, on just one weekend they're doing stuff for two different camps.

JoeyM wrote:

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]

Im 5'10, 235 lbs, so technically by the body mass index, Im a fat middle age white guy too.

However I don't have a tv show done in the ilk of who can spend the most money billet/chrome everything crowd, and Im thinking you don't either

As for the car clubs, as said social media has changed a lot of the car related world. From what I've seen, the under 30s crowd is more likely to go out as a pack or group late at night and street race, frum roll, etc. Its more that than parking a car in a parking lot, sitting in a lawn chair listening to Buddy Holly and the Beach Boys over and over and over.

The marque-based stuff always seems to suffer the same fate: Everyone enthused about their shared collective marque, then one by one, they get sold off for other marques and the enthusiasm is extinguished.

I'm still with BMWCCA and NASA and formerly PCA, SCCA and WKA... all because if you want to keep your racing license you have to pay the dues. I have never been to a club event that didn't involve driving on a race track so I can't actually say if they are good clubs to wash your car with or to stand near at a mall or donut shop.

I have met and become long time friends with some great people in the paddock though. They are forced to be members too so I think the clubs themselves are doing just fine.

personally, i don't see the need to join a group of other people that are into the same things i'm into... that just sounds boring to me..

for me, cars are something i just do and not a reason to hang out with other people.

Im with nova. The better I get at turning wrenches, the less I want to hang out with a bunch of idiots who think they know what they are talking about. I used to be in a real tight group, but sadly most have moved away or sold there cars and dont care anymore.

I was in a Fiero club for several years, and was easily 15-20 years under the average age of most of the members. I liked to autocross my car, they wanted to wax and be home by dark. Good people, but different goals. A few had seriously built cars, but again no interest in 'using' them.

Later when I had my C4 Vette, no one at the Local Vette club would let me see their autocross rule book without becoming a member first. I walked and ran only SCCA events after that.

kazoospec wrote: 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.

That sounds just like my car club.

As has been said, in order to survive, a car club has to evolve. The Adirondack Motor Enthusiast Club, Inc. is a good example. When it was first formed some 57 years ago by a group Of GE engineers who owned mostly British sports cars. In order to join you had to own a sports car, be sponsored by a member, attend two meeting and two events. This later changed as some didn't have a "sports" car. Ice racing has become the big thing, bur in summer a variety of things happen. Rallycross, high speed autocross on a stock car track, with simple rules, joint events with other clubs etc. It is social for those who want but not required. Today, to join, fill out a form, pay your dues, you are in. If you don't want to participate, that is OK too. You are always welcome, even if you want to be a spectator.

novaderrik wrote: personally, i don't see the need to join a group of other people that are into the same things i'm into... that just sounds boring to me.. for me, cars are something i just do and not a reason to hang out with other people.

I've met some great people through the car "scene". I consider that a positive life experience.

t25torx wrote: They are seriously lacking in the under 50 crowd there.

This is what kills me about almost every miata club, ever. Fortunately Cobb moved to town, and most of those folk are pretty cool

Gearheadotaku wrote: I was in a Fiero club for several years, and was easily 15-20 years under the average age of most of the members. I liked to autocross my car, they wanted to wax and be home by dark. Good people, but different goals. A few had seriously built cars, but again no interest in 'using' them.

Sounds like every watercooled VW club I've ever encountered, except that I was 15-20yrs older. Everybody expected someone my age to be camping in an aircooled 21-window bus or something. "Hey, old man..why don't you sell me that car?" Perhaps because I know you won't actually use it? Yeah, it got old really quick. Even with SCCA's epic saga of a rulebook, at least they still autoX & race.