LD...didn't mean to ruffle your feathers. The Vagabonds and several other clubs are top notch. I've seen some real crap go down in local clubs and am tired of the hassels. I apologize....
Our Club " PISTONS HOT ROD ASSOCIATION " is a drag racing club. Other clubs in our area SLICK DEVILS, CHOPPERS, MOTOCYCOS , DECIPLES of SPEED will meet at 42 or thomson during race season. Traditional Hotrods, Gassers, Some pre 70 Muscle cars. This type of activity you can take family and cook out, drink some beer, bust some balls. I dont really dig the car show [ fat old men in white t-shirt shit ]
The reason we "work" is because we are not really a club in the true sense. Like zman said, the only time we get together unofficially is at the HAMB drags and other events. We really don't have rules but we do have friends! You don't "join" us, we are not looking for new blood. But, if you end up hanging out enough we just assimilate you. We got jackets and shirts made so we knew who we were when we got too drunk.............is therre such a thing?
hell, im almost 30, and i love sittin around the huddle house chatting with all the old fellas, listenin to the storys ect. you prolly have more in common than you think......
I ve been in both Sport Car clubs and Streetrod/ Hotrod clubs over the last 40 years and have had only two bad experiences, one because members stoped being active and suppling input, and the other club a member started a speed shop and the club began to revolve around him and not on activities. Left both of them, and have been a member of Pair A Dice cruisers for 5 years now and having a blast, we get out and drive them as a group, our last event was a tour through western Wisconsin with the GTO club 30 some cars on small Wisconsin roads was a blast. Our key is we have 40 Active members who are active.
I recently quit a club I co-founded in 1982. Too much bullshit, period. A lot of undesirable elements were being let in the club, and the club has lost nearly all of its charter members as a result. Most of us that quit were just tired of the overall BS. The club went another direction that will ultimately spell its demise, but they decided they did not need to listen to the older (and dues-paying) members. To hell with that bunch. Another club I was in was run by an old SOB that refused to enter the 1970s, much less the 21st Century. I had come up with a web page, computerized the club info, and was the newsletter editor, to boot. He basically shit on the whole thing, so I said "Fuck you and everyone that looks like you!" to him and walked away. The club remains in 1970, tech-wise. Shit happens, I guess. So, I am club-free and will remain so. Don't need one. I build what I want to drive and I do not need someone else's "validation" of my cars by being a member of some shit car club. Yes, there are good ones out there, so don't take the statement personally, already.
Car clubs are a great thing! However you have to make sure that you know who you are getting involved with in the club. These people should always be people you can trust and count on and not a bunch of shit heads with bad reputations(usually what you hear about people always turns out to be true) I am in the Descendants and I consider them my family.
There are many good points about clubs and a lot of negative stuff in clubs as stated in all the posts on this subject. I have not been in a club since the early 90's and won't join another, just too many rules for me. I'm a doer and can't stand club members who lay back and never help out on anything, they just stay around for the benefits clubs have to offer. I also like to move around and hang with different people without being tied to a club routine. I just can't buy into the family thing that some clubs profess to have, guess I'm just to independent for clubs. Free and easy. CRUISER
I dont belong to a club for many reasons .first is i like cars bikes and race cars ,this means no place for me .you first need to see life through a toilet paper roll . be so narrow minded to other interests, and find others with the same narrow interest . now you have the base for a club . drag guys .pre 60. rat rods .pre 40. ford . chevy .mopar .old school .tuner .driver .trailer queens. once you label your self you have become that ass hole that many here have pointed out .clubs are problematic from the inception asshole meet asshole .c
We're friends first, a club second. Just a bunch of drunk idiots that are into cars. Can't take ourselves too serious with a name like ours
I don't run in those circles but a group of guys that help each other out sounds like a great idea..without the help of my pals, and the HAMB for that matter, I'd be really outta luck with my heap! I know at least in LA there are car clubs and there are bar-clubs, but they both wear jackets hehe Not that there's anything wrong with partying! I think it'd be a lot of fun to hang out with the fellas and wrench now and then. when I do with my buddies it's usually a lot of fun, and certainly two heads are better than one. basically I don't know what the hell I'm talking about
Boy, oh Boy! I could go on and on about this one. Been in many clubs over the years and still haven't found the one that fits me just right. Here's the Question you MUST ask yourself: Do I want to be in a "CAR CLUB", or, Do I want to be in a "SOCIAL CLUB"? Now, this is my opinion and I could get huge shit for this, but... A "CAR CLUB" is a bunch of guys that like to talk Cars,work on Cars, drive Cars and have fun with the least headaches possible. A "SOCIAL CLUB" is a group of,usually Couples, that get together for Freindship and food and raffles with cookies and quilts and everything else not "CAR" related, and once in a great while getting together for a few hour drive. Sometimes all the Dues,Rules(don't be a Hotrodder,no burnouts!),Officers,politics,meetings,"Her",raffles,fundraising,POSERS,and most importantly,NONPARTICIPANTS, gets a little hard to take. Choose your "CLUB" carefully! Sometimes they are not what they appear to be. B
[ Choose your "CLUB" carefully! Sometimes they are not what they appear to be. That is what I am afraid of!
All these guys on here claim they are "lone wolfs", don't need a club but I'll bet they all take advantage of clubs activities such as car shows, swap meets, cruises, rally's, etc. Let me tell you about the club I belong to in southern Illinois called the "Okaw Valley Classics Chevy Club. Our members range in age from the '20's to the '80's. We have a variety of car related interests such as cruising, racing, showing, restoring. It is family oriented, there are as many women at the meeting as there are men. It is like 25 years old and we have probably donated $25000 plus to 25 or more different charities. We bust ass the first weekend in April to host a swap meet & car corral, the largest in southern Illinois. There was a car show associated with it but the swap got so big there was no room for the show. We have a couple workshops a year and usually one cruise a month besides the meeting. We usually have a spring cruise and a fall cruise and several long distance cruises a year. We love driving our cars and a 600 mile weekend is not uncommon. One cruise turned out to be 3000 plus miles. Call us a social club, in a sense yes, but aren't they all? Classic Chevys is the common bond, but every one of us is a car nut in general, we enjoy all cars.
I got burned out on clubs back in my mini truckin and lowered VWs days and swore I would never join another club again. Then I started hanging out with a bunch of greaser who call themselves The Bombers Car Club in Peoria,Illinois. These guys corrupted me and pulled me from the depths of my billet ridden street rod garage and introduced me to rockabilly and the Afterdarks and it has been the best damn thing I have ever done. We all get together and work on each others cars and party like a bunch of rockstars. Oh we are also involved with our community charity car shows-you know just to keep the man in blue away from our loud piped exhaust that ends at the tip of our headers. Thanks Bombers for everything.
I am one of the founders of our car club, and I am also the designated drunk too. We have no politics and we are up to about ten members now and we are still having a good time. For the most part, we are a bunch of laid back country boys that really like building cars, and we don't talk the talk and can't walk the walk, we do what we say we are going to do, and we don't have to rely on a whole bunch of other folks to get the job done neither. We as a club look out for each other and help each other out by building, engineering, engine asemble, doing mechanical, wiring, plumbing, fabricating, painting, bodywork or whatever it takes! There is nothing that can't be done among our members! (The way it is supposed to be, and NO DRAMA!) We do it as a club and or as a team! That's the way it will be with our deal. Anytime ya'll see us somewhere, ya'll be sure to stop by and say hello, we are always glad to make new friends and especially HAMBer's that we have'nt met yet, just look for our homemade car club placques held up by usually a log chain! We are into cars and trucks, not the culture, the freaks, the DRAMA, the attitudes and the wanna be's of the world, and we are not too good to speak to others like so many other attitude filled people and clubs out there! To answer the question, we think we are a good car club, and not an attitude filled culture club and we are having a blast doing it and that is what counts!
I guess i am one of the arses that give clubs a bad name, i was in a club, lots of us use to drink lots of beer and smoke lots of smokes, campout in tents with bonfires and our cars, that crowd died out, now its wine, cheese, picnic blankets at parks so i dont really bother much any more. back in the nineties me and a mate called ourselves the ratbags, we only had two members but the fee's were free and we had no time for politics, we spent about 80 hrs per week cruising or working on our cars together or parked at the beach with a bunch of old magazines and ours cars, some beer and lots of cigarettes, man that was fun.
a club can be a stuck up, up tight sort of thing, or more of just a laid back circle of buds, a car support system. i'd say if everyone is just having fun and not taking it all too seriously, its all good.
I'm glad I'm in one. I hung out with the guys for almost two years before my car was finished and they let me in the club. Like everybody said, it is what you make it. I just swapped stalled projects with a club member and he even helped out going and getting parts for me because he lived closer to the seller. We're not in it for the "scene" so there's no drama. Just a bunch of knuckleheads who happen to like old cars. Plus I kind of like walking around whatever show I'm at in my club tee shirt, it sort of separates you from the civilians milling about who drove their Honda Acords to the show.
One of the most important thing about car clubs is the Council of Car Clubs. Connecticut has one. There may be other state that has one too. They are the one's who go to the state capital and help stop the gov from making our hobby go extinct. Over thirty five years ago the Connecticut Council of Car Clubs (4Cs) was established. Since 1973, the 4Cs has effectively monitored legislative proposals, informed member clubs, and acted in the best interest of antique, classic and special interest car hobbyists. This year brings new challenges and opportunities. ... www.ctccc.net
I used to belong to several clubs, no more. They expect me to give them free pinstriping. Mikey www.MikeysPinstriping.com
And I almost forgot. If someones wife whips out the "Roberts Rules of Order" at one of the meetings, Its time to bail out!
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