NewGuy: Starting a Car Club

"Alexander LaRocca" (alexjlarocca) 12/06/2015 at 09:25 • Filed to: None

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I stumbled into this experience by accident. I didn’t have any grand plans of starting a club, but through a few new friends we’ve created a group that has quickly grown and is now officially recognized by our college. It all started with a Datsun parked next to me that had this note written on the chalkboard hood:

If you’re not familiar with NewGuy, I don’t blame you. I’ve only made one other NewGuy post. This series is meant to document my sampling of all sorts of motor-related activities and aims to prove that you don’t need to invest thousands of dollars just to try out something new with cars.

Where it all started...

I left a note with my name and number stuck to that Datsun’s window via an extra Roadkill sticker I had from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Turns out we both work for Oakland University’s housing department, so we met later that day during training. A week goes by and now I’ve met handful of his car friends. Driving home from class one night I find myself thinking of all these enthusiasts at my school that I never knew were right under my nose and I have the idea to start a Facebook page for all the car guys at my school. After pulling in my driveway, I check my phone and see I have an invite to a group called “Cars of OU”. My new friend Shane had the same idea and beat me to it.

Here’s a photo of Shane’s GTO for no good reason besides I love that blue.

The page started with about five of us. We’d post a picture of our car(s) and introduce ourselves and our vehicles and as friends of friends joined the page they’d do the same.

Growing the Group

We wanted to grow this community. How do we reach car enthusiasts on and around campus with little connections and no budget? We had to get creative.

The answer? Business cards.

We did that 500 cards for ten bucks deal online and got some cards that had our name and an invitation to join our Facebook page on them. Since it was summer at the time, we would drive around all the parking lots (OU is a commuter school) and put cards on any car we guessed was owned by an enthusiast.

The other group admins and I spent our time between classes cruising the lots and putting cards on all sorts of cool cars. The response was quick and positive. We grew from about 25 members to 100 in a week’s time. New members would excitedly join and post their car with the card, happy to be recognized by others in a hobby that usually makes little sense to most people.

The business cards had more effect than we anticipated, as people who got carded would then take that card and put it on other enthusiast cars they saw parked at school. The cards are still circulating months later. This ten dollar investment proved to have limitless potential!

Humble Beginnings

We started meeting after everyone got out of class, and around 15 to 20 people would show up for an hour or so. It usually looked something like this:

These went on for a few weeks along with conversation on the group’s page, and eventually someone introduced the idea of becoming an official Oakland University club. We all agreed this would be a great idea because clubs are funded, but we’d have to make some changes to the group to be more appealing to the school.

Becoming an Official Club

The club was growing and now that we were looking at becoming official, we needed a clear direction. We came up with a bit of a mission statement, along with a new name. We wanted to build a community of enthusiasts for the people that all share the passion regardless of make, model, number of wheels, cylinders, or liters of displacement. We aimed to reach those who lived too far north of the Woodward scene to participate and accepted people who attended Oakland or lived/worked in the surrounding area. A name change to Oakland Motors Club helped insure motorcycle and truck owners felt just as welcome.

Scale was something that is important for becoming official at Oakland University. They want their clubs to be able pull respectable attendance numbers at their events. We wanted to prove that we could do this and so as the newly named Events Coordinator of the club, I planned our first car meet.

1st Oakland Motors Club Event

I foolishly set the meet for 8am on a Sunday because I didn’t want it to conflict with anyone’s plans. I regretted that the moment my alarm went off. Fall was in full swing and it was chilly, but that didn’t stop me from driving the buggy. I rolled in a little after 8 with a box of 120 doughnuts on the roof rack and was surprised to see a number of people had gotten there early. Car guys are a special kind of devoted.

Everyone there voted for fan favorite awards and winners received one of many prestigious trophies:

$11 eBay “supercharger”

used fart can wrapped in carbon fiber vinyl for extra lightness

bottle of suspiciously cheap octane booster from Autozone

turbo whistle

With a bunch of modified and loud cars showing up to a parking structure on a Sunday morning, we were worried the campus police may think a Fast & Furious Race Wars was going on and shut us down. We emailed them and asked permission to have the event; they definitely didn’t say yes, but they didn’t explicitly say no. So we took that as a yes.

The event was a total success! Turnout was great, over 60 cars and even more people showed up (also a puppy). Someone even brought coffee, so I guess it was a cars & coffee? I put my GoPro on my RC truck and drove around recklessly documented the day:

...and here’s a few photos from that day, too:

Bump in the Road

After putting in all the proper paperwork and being trained by the school, we got a strongly worded email telling us that our application was rejected. Apparently some sad, angry person took time out of their day to email the school that our club promotes street racing, reckless driving, and stealing school property. (we take a firm stance against street racing)

The email cited this photo of a member as evidence for the stealing part:

Everyone knows young car enthusiasts get a bad rap, but this was just silly. After a brief meeting with the lady in charge we got everything cleared up. We’re now an official Oakland University club and have access to a budget to throw events and raise money for charity! We decided to take a special focus on veteran’s charities. Oh yeah and they made us change our name from Oakland Motors Club to Motors Club of Oakland University. Whatever. A small price to pay, if you ask me.

Looking to the Future

Looking ahead I have so many plans for this club that will tie in neatly with NewGuy. From karting days, to attending stage rallies, to cruises and charity fundraisers...there’s a lot in store. We currently have 285 members on the online page along with quality activity and conversation every day, despite it being winter.

Starting a car club has proved to be a great way to meet dozens of quality friends and make connections that introduced me to parts of car culture I didn’t think I had access to. That was how I did it, you should do it too.

Kailand09 > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 09:43

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I’ve always thought of starting a club but never really did it. Good on you man looks like fun!

I need to hear more about this buggy, have you posted about it before?

Raymundo > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 09:58

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Bravo, mate. Bra-vo. While not nearly as epic as your tale, I managed to kick off cars and coffee in my area last year.

It started with myself (Datsun) and two other friends who just wanted to start Saturday morning with coffee and and stand around in a parking lot, looking at our turds. Each time we would do this we would invite a couple more friends. Repeat this process time and time again, having the friends of your friends invite more friends and it kind of just propagates itself into a recognized event.

This was one of the C&C meets we had over this past summer. I think what I find the most interesting about this starting a car group/event thing is that everybody wants groups or events like this to exist, but strangely enough the community has a hard time starting it on it’s own. It just needs one individual that’s willing to put forth the effort to kick start it and away it goes. There were so many people in my area that were into cars that I was surprised C&C wasn’t already a thing. Sure there were various niche car groups but a monthly collective gathering wasn’t a thing, at least until three friends decided to get coffee and stand around in a parking lot.

We’re the three best friends that anybody could have...

As for the person that tried to get your club shut down — screw them. Screw them hard.

Alexander LaRocca > Raymundo 12/06/2015 at 10:31

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We had a very similar experience! So many people said they tried to start a club before but it fizzled out because they couldn’t find more people, but everyone wanted one. The business cards was what made us successful, I think. Love that video of your C&C.

Alexander LaRocca > Kailand09 12/06/2015 at 10:35

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It’s never too late!

And no, the buggy’s appeared in a few posts but I haven’t written about it specifically. It was a street queen when I got it, but I don’t treat it like one!

Kailand09 > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 11:34

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Lol well I’d love to see a write up of it!

And yes, not too late. There are plenty of cars and coffee type things around, and I'm on the state's group for my car but not a whole lot of events for it.

Evan s30 > Raymundo 12/06/2015 at 15:29

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Hello! I’m the s30 owner mentioned above, love the zx and I guys Datsun guys are the key to starting something big haha

Peptide > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 15:37

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Good job Alex! I’m not an OU alumni, but I am semi-local and would love to help or at least check out your events. Link?

daender > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 15:41

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I tried to help keep USC’s SCCA club going for my junior year, but fuck the campus’s PITA administration. They apparently have a grudge against us. Fine, let all the students with fast cars crash while street-racing and kill themselves and others.

Anyway, nice job getting your club going!

DukesOfYavin > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 15:42

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Congratulations from The 2904!

Alexander LaRocca > DukesOfYavin 12/06/2015 at 15:45

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Many thanks! What’s the 2904?

Alexander LaRocca > daender 12/06/2015 at 15:46

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A big goal of ours is to turn people from street racing to legal. We hope to partner with the local Alfa Romeo club who holds autocrosses on campus.

Alexander LaRocca > Peptide 12/06/2015 at 15:49

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It’s a closed group so I’m not sure I can link you, but ask to join Motors Club of Oakland on Facebook. We’d love to have you! Let me know if you get denied, we have multiple people who screen.

DukesOfYavin > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 15:51

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http://the2904.org

daender > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 15:54

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We tried to see if we could autocross but the City of Columbia has horribly-small and inadequate parking lots and all the paved lots have a surface equal to a cheese-grader. It’s not helped that the fairgrounds/football stadium owner won’t allow us to autocross on their site (due to us “tearing up the pavement” but they’ll allow student-driver programs...fucking hypocrites). Even the South Carolina Region of SCCA is struggling to find local sites around here.

But yeah, hopefully that Alfa club will show you all that you need to do to help host an autocross!

computiNATEor > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 15:57

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Ooh, nice! RC cars are a drug, just like the real things...

Turd Ferguson > daender 12/06/2015 at 16:00

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USC as in SC? I’m a senior at USC. What kind’ve car clubs are here?

Alexander LaRocca > DukesOfYavin 12/06/2015 at 16:01

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After a quick preview I already love this! Can’t wait to read more into this.

daender > Turd Ferguson 12/06/2015 at 16:02

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SCCA is the only one I know of since I’m part of the remnants of the college chapter.

DukesOfYavin > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 16:25

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Our entry from this year’s run, last month: http://the2904.kinja.com/the-2904-17359…

E92M3 > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 16:35

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Glad to hear you were able to change her mind. Some people are so judgemental of groups they know nothing about.

AudiB5Hawaii > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 17:11

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Can we get a shot of what the business card looked like on the front and back? This is a great idea!

tommyh4 > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 17:12

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get these guys involved! https://www.facebook.com/GrizzliesRacin…

Alexander LaRocca > tommyh4 12/06/2015 at 17:17

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I have no doubt we’ll cross paths! We have a few past and current SAE members.

Hubbard > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 17:43

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Hmmm, this is very interesting. I believe my old, old friend Grant and I started the OU parking garage meets back in 2007 or 2008. We had that taking up 2 levels sometimes. I believe after that it transformed into the Applebee’s meets when we were kicked out of OU.

Seems like a different life time ago.

Unitedmoviemaker > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 17:43

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Great story! This was really inspiring!

Starting a local c&c has crossed my mind ever since going to the “main” one in my state. It would be really cool to have one local (and smaller). I guess some reasons I haven’t really gone through with attempting to start something is a busy college schedule and since I probably wouldn’t be part of the event with my car. (Not saying that it couldn’t happen in the future).

MachineReplica > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 17:54

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Oh my, this is awesome.

Van Man, rocks the Man Van > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 18:39

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Awesome story! Really enjoyed reading this. I’ve thought about starting a car club at my school too, but I don’t really have enough time to do so. I think your business card idea was brilliant.

Also, I like your Traxxas Slash Raptor! If I ever replace my Redcat it'll probably be one of those.

Alexander LaRocca > Van Man, rocks the Man Van 12/06/2015 at 18:43

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Thank you! That means a lot.

The Slash is great, really takes a beating without breaking (usually).

Alexander LaRocca > Unitedmoviemaker 12/06/2015 at 18:48

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Those things holding you back may be regrets later in life. If it’s something that’s important to you, I say go for it!

Alexander LaRocca > Hubbard 12/06/2015 at 18:50

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I’ve heard about these meets! Two levels? Dang!

Van Man, rocks the Man Van > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 19:10

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I've got a Redcat Volcano that's been pretty good, but I barely get to drive it because little things keep breaking. In about a year (got it last Christmas) the on-off switch, front right steering knuckle, and front left half shaft all broke. My biggest reason for wanting an upgrade is just because Traxxas is a better known company whose cars are more reliable and has better parts support.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > computiNATEor 12/06/2015 at 19:15

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You start off with a brushed car. Then you crash into a pole and break suspension bits. Then you replace those with aluminum ones. But it doesn’t match the rest. So you get 3 sets for the entire car. And then while you’ve been fixing it, you realize it’s too slow. Then you decide to get bigger batteries. You max out, and get brushless. Then so on.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 19:17

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nice! I started a similar thing: Top Gear Club at my school. It’s watching Top Gear and going on adventure drives. I’m planning to do some sort of charity car meet/adventure drive sometime to expose more people into this club. Forza!

Alexander LaRocca > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 12/06/2015 at 19:49

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That’s neat, I like it! I might steal that a bit and have a viewing party for Top Gear.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 20:02

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And a great ice breaker is the Top Gear Ground Force episode.

Qwagmire > computiNATEor 12/06/2015 at 20:31

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Started in 1988 with an RC-10, 3 years later I was spending most of my paycheck driving around LA, MS, and AL racing every weekend. Kinda fell by the wayside when I went back to finish college but I wouldn’t trade those 3 years for anything.

Raymundo > Evan s30 12/06/2015 at 20:57

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Apparently Datsuns are key to a successful car group. :P

Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead. > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 21:16

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“A special focus on Veteran’s charities...”

Sincerely, thank you.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 21:22

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Well done!

Alexander LaRocca > Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead. 12/06/2015 at 22:00

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You’re welcome. There’s no group of people more deserving and at the same time more under-served as our veterans, if you ask me.

Alexander LaRocca > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 12/06/2015 at 22:00

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Hey, thanks!

Alexander LaRocca > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 12/06/2015 at 22:01

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I’ll keep that in mind! Thanks!!

Alexander LaRocca > AudiB5Hawaii 12/06/2015 at 22:43

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Ian Wilson > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 23:04

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Wow, I am doing the exact same thing at my University right now. There are no automotive enthusiast groups for the University, but I see classic cars all over campus and the surrounding cities.

Right on, mate! You’re an inspiration for us.

Alexander LaRocca > Ian Wilson 12/06/2015 at 23:14

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I wish you luck, man! My advice would be to make sure all your members know the importance of keeping a good reputation for the group. It only takes one hothead street race kid to enforce the stereotype for all of you.

Chris > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 23:27

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“and you should too”

i would love to!

i had a similar experience when i left a note on my (now) buddy’s iroc, (i have a trans am) no we hang out every one in a while, but idk what to do next (i go to community college, no dorms)

Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead. > Alexander LaRocca 12/06/2015 at 23:44

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I really appreciate it, truly. I’m doing OK, but so many of my friends need help all over the world.

Excellent story. Hopefully it inspires some more legitimate clubs across the country.

GurbachenDynamite > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 08:23

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Do want

Skinnayyyy > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 08:56

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The Alfa club is pretty cool. I did an autocross with them on campus with the formula SAE team.

Also, to get people more into the legal racing, they should definitely check out the FSAE team. You get to take tubes of metal and turn it into a full blown race car and then race it across the country. Doesn’t get much better than that!

asdf12345 > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 09:28

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ew

Alexander LaRocca > asdf12345 12/07/2015 at 09:30

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Hey now, be nice.

Alexander LaRocca > GurbachenDynamite 12/07/2015 at 09:31

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See the tops of those two seats? Yeah, that’s the only bit of interior in the car. Complete gutted in there.

Alexander LaRocca > Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead. 12/07/2015 at 09:36

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Thank you for your service! I’ve been meaning to stop by the Veteran’s Office on campus and ask about some worthwhile charities to give to.

Alexander LaRocca > Chris 12/07/2015 at 09:37

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I’d say if you want to get a group going, make a page and start leaving notes on cool cars!

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 09:40

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small world. the blue GLI? I know the guy from another facebook car group!

Alexander LaRocca > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power 12/07/2015 at 09:43

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Ha he’s an officer for our club! Very small world, it gets even smaller when you only hang out with car guys.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 09:45

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hahah yep! ask him about a page called BurnAllTheMk6's, I guarantee he knows it!

CALUSA > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 09:46

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Just DO it!!!

Evan s30 > GurbachenDynamite 12/07/2015 at 09:50

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Haha you sure you want my z? It does 80mph at 3600 rpm, I sit 1.5” off the ground, only interior is seats and a dash, my suspension is extremely stiff. Also it’s the 2.8 with dual carbs, and a straight pipe, so it’s loud.

Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead. > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 09:55

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Look into #22Kill, it’s a program with a purpose near and dear to me.

Honor Courage Commitment is a good general organization; they help veterans transition from military to civilian.

AudiB5Hawaii > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 11:26

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Thank You Alexander! Mind if we copy the content? Changing to our name of course.

Alexander LaRocca > AudiB5Hawaii 12/07/2015 at 11:30

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Go ahead! I don’t mind. Hopefully it works for you too!

Hubbard > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 11:38

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This brings me back...

I found some old threads about the meet too. Funny to read my posts from nearly 10 years ago.

Alexander LaRocca > Hubbard 12/07/2015 at 11:41

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No way! This is too cool. You guys are always welcome back.

Autojunkie > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 11:43

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I thought that was OU, but I wasn’t sure until I read further.

I’d love to find out when/if you guys every have any public events. We’ve been trying do open pop-up car shows where we spread the word through social media. Check it out and follow me on IG ( https://www.instagram.com/detroitsuspect… ). Send me a PM to let me know who you are and I’ll add you too. Even though we’re mostly into older shit, we don’t usualy discriminate.

Cheers!

Alexander LaRocca > Autojunkie 12/07/2015 at 12:11

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Yeah, our clubs should keep in touch! I don’t have IG, but you can friend me on FB and I’ll keep you posted on any public events.

Autojunkie > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 12:17

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I’ll also send you an invite to our club page on FB. I coulnd’t find your page under “Cars of OU” on FB. Send me an invite to it when you can.

Hubbard > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 12:23

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I’ve moved on a bit, now live in California.

I assume you know about xceedspeed.com? it was THE forum for mostly import car guys in SE Michigan back in the day. Not sure how it stacks up now though.

Alexander LaRocca > Hubbard 12/07/2015 at 12:25

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Yeah that sounds familiar. I think a lot of our club went to their last meet, so it’s still around.

Autojunkie > Peptide 12/07/2015 at 12:26

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I just added him to my club page on FB. Since you don’t FB, I’ll let you know when they have events. I also plan to include them into my club’s pop-up shows. I’ll definitely make sure to invite them to the next Brothers Customs open house too.

Arrivederci > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 13:05

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LOL

MiataHawaii > AudiB5Hawaii 12/07/2015 at 15:39

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Nice to see a fellow Hawaiian on Jalop :P

SolusLupum > Alexander LaRocca 12/07/2015 at 17:30

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Brave decisions there. I drive on the roads around OU

AudiB5Hawaii > MiataHawaii 12/07/2015 at 17:37

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Hey MiataHawaii. I used to own a NA miata too a few years ago. A red one with the RE Amemiya body kit. Maybe we know each other?

Ian Wilson > Alexander LaRocca 12/09/2015 at 17:21

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Oh, I very much intend on making sure we don’t have a couple obnoxious individuals screw up the fun for everyone. You wanna crank up your big block Corvette or STi and rev it a bit? Cool, everyone likes a bit of automotive orchestra.

But if you want to do burnouts, start rollin’ coal, attempt street racing, harassing people, or any other goofy bullshit, you’ve got another thing coming. We’re here to get together and enjoy each others cars, not compete for who’s the cool kid on the block.

Ian Wilson > Alexander LaRocca 12/09/2015 at 17:24

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I love humble project cars like this. They just seem happy to still be rolling (or sliding, in some cases) around on the road.

MiataHawaii > AudiB5Hawaii 12/09/2015 at 18:29

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I got my 95 M edition about a year and a half ago. It’s my daily driver.

Hmm, don’t think so. but it’s an island so we’ve probably seen eachother around.

GurbachenDynamite > Alexander LaRocca 12/13/2015 at 08:21

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Doesn’t bother me, though I did just buy a 260Z today that is luckily very nice inside.

GurbachenDynamite > Evan s30 12/13/2015 at 08:21

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Yes, yes I do. Though I just bought my own 260Z this weekend.