My wife and I were seriously involved in a club in Texas that took up a lot of time and our lives somewhat revolved around what the club was doing. After moving to Washington (back for me) we wnt to one meeting we were invited to and looked at eacher and said same old six and seven and decided to not join anymore clubs. I'm part a cars and coffee group that meets on saturday mornings and during rod trot season some of the attendees often travel to a rod trot in the area from there. That is planned ahead of time and there are no dues or fees but you can buy a shirt or cap or car decal when they are available.
Just make it a loose circle of friends. Meet monthly at least for a meal. Enjoy your cars. I belong to 2 Model A clubs (I live between the 2 that are 20 miles apart) They have meetings, meals and tours but we have more fun with our ABC group (A Breakfast Cruise). A loose knit group of owners who just go out and have a drive and breakfast at various times. Someone just texts where/when to meet and 6-10 cars show up. If you want to host formal shows or events you'll probably need to incorporate and insure so you can rent a venue. Don't forget every hour and dollar you put into creating and running a club is time lost from driving or working on your car.
Its all in the name. The name you have suggested could significantly limit the scope for owners of cars from that era. You have to decide who you want to attract as members and not everyone is drawn to modern day r#t rod or faux outlaw culture.
Something to consider, maybe start a chapter of an existing club. Start with arranging it a meeting with an existing club you are interested in to establish some communication.
My club the Igniters (Kingston NY) was founded in 1956 and was brought back to life by a bunch of guys my age with the blessing of the original members. Things are different today but than there were God knows how many Igniters car clubs!
I had a dream that I was in a car club once, the delta tau chi's. I remember the ceremony on pledge night, the sergeant at arms, a guy named bluto, gave me a pledge pin and gave me my delta name, "**** for brains". After the ceremony, I along with the other pledges were drenched in beer, and after drinking large quan***ies, we did this ritualistic dance while singing louie louie and drank some more. Our motto was, we can do anything we want, we're hot rodders. I know, weird, right?
Great name, but for a car club, I think Tau Delta Chi (TDC) would work better! I have held back from mentioning the other thread about this topic!
Keep it casual, informal, no dues, not much for rules and see where it goes. IF you are looking to form a social group it will be easier IMO and be prepared to do ALL the work necessary at first. Now 78 and I have been involved in many groups, clubs and organizations through the years and no matter the size, the core, a handful of people do the work. Try making friends at shows/cruises maybe you fall into their group. Good Luck !
This is important. If you go beyond something that's just casual, like a monthly meetup at a coffee shop or whatever, you'll find that any real organized activities will have to be run by one or two people while everyone else is happy to just come along for the ride.
I belong to the Dodge Brothers Club (National) and we started a NW Region of it as well. I also belong to High Desert Model A Club but almost never attend. DB Club we have gone to a few National meets and we used to go to the NW regional meets but has been awhile. We also have a "group" that's not a club that we call The Central Oregon T Bums. Most but not all have some kind of Model T and most of us have other brands, models and hot rods as well. We gather every Saturday at Eagle Bakery for coffee and pastries and I started a 1st Saturday of the month breakfast at a restuarant every month. We have no dues or officers and we get together each January and plan outings for the year. We have a Christmas party every December. I send out emails to nearly 50 addresses. Breakfast is at Black Bear Diner tomorrow in Madras at 9am. Will be 10-12 attend this month. Has been as high as 24. Most of us are older (70's). People come and go. Some have p***ed away, some have moved. We keep going. Been almost 25 years now and it still works. End of March a few of us are heading to Arizona to do the Mojave Road and part of the East Mojave Heritage Trail with Model T's. 4 nights and 5 days of desert. We use our T's hard. Many have auxillary transmissions, slightly larger tires (5.25x21) and camp kitchens etc. I have a '27 T roadster that I'm switching to a roadster pickup as I speak. It has a high compression head, Bosch distributor, 6 volt alternator, Model B manifolds and carb with a 2" pipe and gl***pack and a Rocky Mountain 3 spd auxillary trans and brakes. Now and then I go to Bonneville Speedweek and take a hot rod or old car for driving out to the races and to town for the daily shows etc. Would I start a club? Nope, not at my age. 71 Dave
Yea I’m in a club, it’s the Scotland chapter of an LA club The Rumble Cats. Yea we’ve got patches, we’ve got plaques, there’s some rules, we pay dues. We try to make it to LA for club anniversary every year. But we attend shows together, so******e together, dues mean we can have meals out together and put on a show with a music event each year for the local hot rod and music scenes. When I moved from England to Scotland I knew NOBODY, since the guys reached out to me after a bookface call out I made, my brothers in the club have become my best pals, saved my *** a few times with unreliable off topic vehicles and I’ve help them out too. I know a lot of folk have negative views on clubs or get all high and mighty about them being ‘lame’ or whatever but I couldn’t care less. In an age where Men’s social opportunities and mental health are more difficult than ever, I see it as a blessing. I say start it small, find like minded individuals, let them find you too and let it grow naturally. RXCX J
Six of us Hoodlums meet once a week in somebody's garage to help with their project. We have - no dues no officers no matching clothing no year cutoff rules Are we a car club? I don't know. It works for us. We are THE LOOSE SCREWS!
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