Last night I met up with some guys in a club that my bro joined. Let me just say that five or ten years ago, I would have joined a decent club in a minute, but now I just don't have all that much time for it. I thought that most of them were a joke anyway.
So without naming names, one of the guys in the club into'ed himself and went on to say that they just got a full sponsorship from a local tune shop/garage - they just need to pay for banners and attend a list of shows. As near as I could tell, most of these guys were well under 25yo, most still teenagers. A couple of the cars were tastefully modded on the exterior, but the only one I was interested in was a turbo eco sunfire (he wasnt there that night). But I digress.....
What does everyone think of car clubs these days, in the Post-F&F era? It seems like going to local shows and getting a decent sponsor would be great, but what about the stereotyping of "car clubs"? I would say that these guys are amatures, but determined, so what does that say about them being able to achieve sponsorship?
If you're in a club share your experience
my guess is...his "sponsorship" is a few bucks off parts/labor.
its hilarious to listen to people piss out of their mouths with lies to feel better about themselves...or to try and make people think they have a clue.
99% of "car clubs" in my experience are a joke, and filled with incompetent retards
AWD Benzo (Joey) wrote:
99% of "car clubs" in my experience are a joke, and filled with incompetent retards
x1000
most of the clubs have a few decent cars that are actually worth something. 99% of the cars are half ass primered pep boys put together cars and they wonder why they cant get sponsored.
car meets > car clubs
I think they keep local vinyl cutters in business. That's about it.
1989 Z24 Convertible - Dust Covered
2006 tC - Dust Covered, but driven more
My car club has morphed into a "houses and kids" club.
In the end, it's always the people involved that make a club worth being a part of, whether it has to do with cars or anything else.
I've seen countless people decide to start a "club" seemingly just for the hell of it, and almost every last one of them turned out to be a completely pointless endeavour.
If you just want to get people together to talk about cars, the above comment was best.
car meets > car clubs
i do alot of decal work for car clubs and teams and there are some very nice ones out there. Now just like anything else theres serious ones and then theres the not so serious ones.
AWD Benzo (Joey) wrote:my guess is...his "sponsorship" is a few bucks off parts/labor.
Well, I wouldn't mind some money off of parts/labor. Granted I wouldn't go around saying I was sponsored, but to save a few bucks...
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I see the general perception has not changed, which is understandable given your experiences. To be more specific, I believe the guy said they were getting at cost parts and discounted labor, plust 200 free T-shirts. Sounds like a decent deal just to sport the vinyl and go to shows...if i had time i'd go to shows anyway.
well tell that bitch to send me a t-shirt then
theres a difference between sponsorship and a supporting vendor... supporting vendors will give discounts, sponsors will uasually give free product and/or labour. there is also a difference in what they usually want in return. supporting vendors want you to maybe sport a decal or two and maybe attend a hand full of local shows, sponsors usually own your ass...
1997 Cavalier Z24 - 15.647 @ 88.02 MPH
Joey and I are in a car club. We're called Huge Harbls Car Club.
If you're not in a company's advertising budget or R&D budget, you're not sponsored; you're a friend getting a good deal.
1989 Z24 Convertible - Dust Covered
2006 tC - Dust Covered, but driven more
I offer sponserships which contain a % off all orders and free shipping.
ill never be in a car club, i do what i want with my car, show up to what i want, mod as little or as much as i want, do whatever whenever however with my car. no rules when i drive my own car or mod it. some clubs have rules and you have to attend such and such, screw that, im running solo
Vincent Morris wrote:, im running solo
amen to that.
clubs have rules that no one follows. or a few follow and the rest dont. have drama. some sort of BS. on your own is better for me anyway
Im a Xbox 360 fanboy...and damn proud of it!!
Me personally have a car club and its been around since 2003. We have 15 members and no not everyone has 10k to throw onto a car and then not drive it when they want to. Most are stock cavies some with bodykits, a few have had a string of bad luck with hit and runs. The way i see it is if you have a good additude and dont go around braggin how a stock cavalier is soooo fast and wanting to race then i dont see why you cant be apart of the group.
All this about how clubs arent worth nothing ( JBOM, JBOK ) all have some very nice looking cars are here in texas arent that modded but that dont mean we cant have a club. Alot of people including various police officers know who we are due to the fact that alot of them show there cars in the local car shows.
We have car meets, and one of the rules that i have is respect your surroundings, and others that are around you even when they show you none. Another is no street racing, aside from there arent that many. Dues yes there are dues but we havent gotten into that part just yet. Modding your car you do what you can when you can, ive known of some clubs that make you at least do three mods within a period of time or get kicked out. Not me i understand money is tight and you cant be spending it on mods for your car when you have a family and bills to pay.
Main thing is meeting new people that have the same interests as you. We are currently expanding into other cities here in texas. Also for the young guns in the club that are still in HS my only rule for them is that they keep up with there school work. I dont want them to loose focus on whats important and thats finishing school, if they fail they can not participate in club events. The majority of the members are out of HS but we got one graduating this year so were all proud of that.
We are a big family that helps each other out plain and simple. So say what you want about clubs but ive met alot of good people and am glad i have this club and i hope it continues to grow. Thats my out look on car clubs.
JBNW.org is and will continue to be the best "club" or group experiences of my life.
Great people, great times, and we do have rules, if you dont follow them you can "go solo", we dont care. I think the best part about JBNW is that we are located all over the NW, we have our small local groups and they function very well in public, and are respectful of others and thier property (even parking lots, lol), in our entire existence we've maybe had one time when we told someone "just go solo", its all about watching who you let into the club.
We do tend to get sort of loud when in full participation/ full group mode on meet days but what group doesn't, thats where our local directors come into play, its our job to mke sure our local group is behaving while in the full group setting, it works very well for us.
Being the regional director for MT its one of my jobs to make sure we pass over the azzclowns, tools, and ricer azz street racers, and focus in on real enthusiasts. Its important to have a good strong moral and sensible local community for your club before it ever htis the net or open land.
We do have a come as you are, take whoever website similar to the JBO and other cavi/ car enthusiast sites but that sthe forum not neccessarily the club, its an entity by itself yet very integral to our club experience.... but the members of the forum are not neccessarily participating members of the "club", and vice versa.
Btu the main point is this, if done well, organized well, and the respectful and law abiding mood or tone is set right away you can be successful and drama free. ANd that means fun for all comers.
Vincent Morris wrote:ill never be in a car club, i do what i want with my car, show up to what i want, mod as little or as much as i want, do whatever whenever however with my car. no rules when i drive my own car or mod it. some clubs have rules and you have to attend such and such, screw that, im running solo
that, my friend, was very well said
I wouldn't mind being part of a "club" but it couldn't be anything more than a group of friends that get together and do things on a regular basis... most of wich is car related.... or I wouldn't want to do it.
When you start getting rules and crap involved.... and your not just a group of buddies that just hang out and help each other with things anymore.... it looses it's fun.
I don't let people tell me what to do.... so either no one is in charge.... or I'm not gunna be a part of it.
You see thats were things went sour a few years back, we had upwards of 30+ members through out DFW. A group that size hell even a group of 10-20 that goes to car shows, regular meet spots, and hangs around others mostly the old skoolers need some sort of system in place that weeds out the ones who are serious and the ones that bull chit about it.
You put of a governing system that is basically like a back up system incase one or more members gets out of hand. You can be part of the club but if you act up and start doing childish crap you dont just mak yourself look like a complete retard but the entire club and all of its members. They break the rules they can no longer be apart of the club.
We had one who wasnt the brightest of people he seemed cool at first but we found out how he was within a few weeks. The last thing that we could stand was him putting mustard in a sugar jar, after that we de-stickered him and sent him on his way. With out rules it will fall apart regardless if you are friends or you just met him driving down the road.
Some of the guys i was talking to about the club in a different city i told him what we were about, the things that are a big no no ( street racing ) and right after i said that. Well um yeah i dont like the whole no street racing thing so i dont think the club is right for me. I member/friend can @!#$ it up for the entire crew/club.
this pic was just a small portion of members we had back in the day, you say if there are rules and not just friends helping out with cars then its not worth it.
Wrong we are not only friends that help each other with the cars, but we are club and most importantly we are family
I've been a member of a couple great car clubs in my time. Like Kevin says, it's about the people, not the cars. But it all depends on where your personal focus is. If you really don't have the time or desire to dedicate towards club meetings/events, car shows, etc. then you are probably best going solo. One of the clubs I was in was the largest in the Midwest. I'll never forget rolling over 40 deep into Darknights in Canada. That was crazy. And these were quality cars, not half assed ricers. That year we won the Best Team award which was based on the quality of the cars, not the number. Though I believe we won that award as well... The team was comprised of older, mature members. Great group of people. Of course, as we all started getting older, we all started getting married or having kids and had less time to dedicate. They started letting in some younger, less mature members and that's when I left.
The other club is still running strong and really seem to have a good thing going. J-BOM. Another group of people that really seem to be about helping each other out. These guys are some of the best characters I have ever met. Their focus isn't all out show like the afore mentioned club, but more a tight knit group of friends that share a common interest.
So in the end, it really comes down to you. Take inventory of the club; the people, the cars, the attitude and direction, then decide, is this something you would want your name to be associated with?
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Performance cars do not win car shows and show cars do not win races.
It's up to you to decide which you'd rather win.
