Problems within Your Car Club? Don’t Walk Away—Get Involved
I belong to several car clubs, all of them marque-specific. In many cases I am both a dues-paying member and a follower of the club’s online activity, be it on Facebook, Instagram, or X. I follow these mostly to get a feel for events, new purchases, things offered for sale by other members, or general levels of interest.
Many, if not most, groups bring a lot of joy to their members and fulfill their intended purpose: To bring people together over the shared love of their rides. The best clubs foster enjoyable, instructive interactions through educational, fun events and publications, and provide access to great sources of information or hard-to-find parts. And that’s the whole point of a car club, right? They should all be like this.
Frankly, though, they aren’t. Some groups can best be described as a total mess. There are issues in this part of the hobby that are widespread enough that they need to be addressed.
As an appraiser, I hear horror stories of all kinds. They range from the mundane-but-annoying stratification of models for no reason—”the cool people all have the Utopian Turtletop, only a loser would bring their Mongoose Gatorhead—” to the outright inappropriate: Misuse of funds, or “friends and family” rules for club resources. If you can think of a face-palming example, it’s happened: Club literature gets borrowed for research, only for it to find its way to eBay after someone “forgets” to return it. A club refuses to help with authentication/certification of a car because one of the club bigwigs is still sour that he wasn’t able to buy the car first. I could go on.
And then there are the personalities. Many of us have attended in-person club meets and felt like strangers in a strange land. Once you’ve ventured into Clublandia, these are a few of the people you might meet:
- The “Gatekeepers,” loosely identified by three attitudes: 1) “My car is better than yours,” and its corollary, “your enthusiasm for a different segment of car culture isn’t legitimate because it’s different from mine.” 2) “You (and your car) shouldn’t be in this club at all.” 3) “I don’t need to hear any of your thoughts or ideas; I’ve been a member of this club for 30 years.”
- The “Experts.” They know exactly how Ferdinand, Henry, Enzo or whomever built each and every car, and that there were never, ever any deviations from the options, colors, hose clamps or chrome on anything they made. “Experts” are unwavering in their expertise (such as it is) and in their knowledge of the rules.
- The “Downers.” They get pleasure in squashing your hopes, dreams or aspirations without ever giving any positive advice.
- The marque and model “Chauvinists.” They’ll say “the [insert make] was the best marque in history and the [specific model this guy owns] was the only truly exceptional one.”
None of this behavior is acceptable, and none of these folks is making his or her club better by acting that way, so how do we fight back?
The answer is to get involved.
Sure, you could ignore things you don’t like. A car club isn’t a homeowners association. It’s optional. Don’t like the events but enjoy the magazine? Skip the former, read the latter. Don’t like anything about the club? You could quit. After all, open events like local cars and coffees got popular precisely because of their lack of gatekeepers, experts, and rules.
If you’re in a problematic car club, though, the better choice is to become an active member. Very active.
Talk to other members and see if your concerns are their concerns, too. Fight to fix what’s wrong, even if it’s one small piece at a time. We’ve all heard “be the change you wish to see in the world.” This could be your “be the change” moment.
It might be impossible to fix everything, and backlash is possible—online and in real life. When that happens, remember the traits of a healthy club, and let that guide your behavior. Give out helpful advice when you can, give a thumbs up to a new car or member even if it’s not a car you love, and generally have a positive attitude. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
At the end of the day, a car club is supposed to be about a shared passion, education, making friends, and most importantly, having fun. It’s up to us—the members—to do our part to keep clubs at their best.
I contend that the Model A Ford Club of America and most of the local chapters are an exception. Although I have only been a member for seven years, the only personalities I have encountered in various chapters of the club are the ‘helpful expert,’ the ‘caring friend,’ and the ‘enthusiastic restoration competitor.’
I have been a member of most of the recognized national clubs for thirty or more years. Many of them have started to lapse since they no longer cater to anything I am interested in. Yet, MAFCA and my local chapter (as well as the neighboring ones) are so fun, helpful, and enjoyable that I remain a member despite selling my Model A last December. I just want to be around these people. Someday I might have another Model A. Yet, for now, I will do what I can to be a good member and hang out with fantastic people.
Interesting article. As a past president of the largest Porsche Club Of America region, I’m happy to report not seeing these negative attributes in our club. Quite the opposite, very welcoming and inclusive, mostly positive and very memorable experiences, and so many great friendships forged that will probably last my lifetime. There will always be some egos, personality conflicts and politics, but these can be found in any organization, especially when passions burn bright. Just have to try to manage them, try to deescalate, and not let them get in the way of the fun that brought us all together in the first place.
I have to give a shoutout to S2KI, the S2000 owners club. This is primarily an on-line organization but there are plenty of opportunities to meet other members at one of the frequent in person events that members organize. Tech help abounds and the atmosphere in the forums is generally very positive and supportive. I sold my S2000 years ago but I remain active in the club forums because of the virtual and in-person friendships I have within the group.
One issue that hasn’t been mentioned is the propensity for former club officers to think they should be able to continue to run the show from behind the scenes. When I became VP of my club eight years ago, the new president and I decided that the board of trustees should not be a “retirement home” for former officers. We declined to renominate a couple of them who apparently felt that had a lifetime lock on their positions and kept only those who served other useful purposes in the organization. In place of those we let go, we nominated individuals who we thought had the potential to step into officer positions in the future. When I succeeded to the presidency for years ago, I continued this practice, and my newly elected successor did indeed come from the ranks of the trustees at large. The trustees we let go eight years ago and their small group of allies actually tried to stage a coup of sorts by proposing an increase in the number of trustees so they could pack the board with their supporters, but this went nowhere, and they have since calmed down. I have made it clear to my successor that I have no wish to be a trustee now that I’m “retired,” but I’ll be happy to provide advice (if asked) and will continue to support the club by organizing events and writing the occasional newsletter article.
Our local Austin Healey club might as well just call themselves “The Big Healey Only Club”. They have zero interest in Sprites and actively discourage Sprite owners from joining.
Good article and interesting comments. Two reasons I bought my 1960s ride ten years ago was: First, I loved the auto style and had memories from my youth: Second, it was my push to get out and meet other auto loving people. However, as time went on, some national clubs I joined only had events too far to travel even though I lived in major cities. Before I retired and moved to my current city, I researched local auto clubs and it looked like an active car culture with a very large Cars & Coffee event every two weeks not far from where I was going to live. For two years that was great, 100s and cars and massive crowds. That ended last year when two A-holes drove reckless and closed down the location. The location has changed (still close enough to home), but you now have to pay an annual expensive fee to participate. Contacted the event organizer, asking if I could pay a gate fee each time I participated, no reply.
Last year I did join a local car club, reasonable membership price, all cars welcome. Some of their events to far that I am comfortable driving. But there were a number of events I participated in, mostly to raise money for charity. My favorite one was a daytime cruise driving in and out of about eight local old-age retirement communities. The the thrill of people in wheelchairs and walkers, clapping as each car drove by. That is what I love, showing your ride to people who have never seen one (younger), or bringing back memories to others (older).
My 1966 is in for its annual diaper change, an old model that tends to leak over the winter. Looking foreword to this season and showing / sharing my ride with others in an all inclusive car club.
We are a car club in The Villages, Florida. Here there are over 20 car clubs ranging from antiques, classics, Corvettes, Mustangs, Camaros, Minis, Porsches, Mercedes Benz and several more.
As you can imagine, the level of sophistication varies among each club with some just having monthly meetings and others with a full range of activities.
Our club is run like a business with an Executive Board, officers and committees. Our monthly meetings always have a business meeting portion and then a presentation by a speaker or the Pre”Z”ident. We do at least one drive a month to a venue followed by lunch. On our drives, we only take local roads…never highways.
We supplement our drives with events, like our BMW Z Club Z Fun Fest, a gathering of our Z’s at a resort where we judge our cars and have a BBQ and entertainment. Each December we have our Holiday Party which is a sit-down dinner with a band and prizes. Our overnight trips included trips to The Tail of the Dragon, to Europe where we when to the BMW factories and a Canadian cruise.
We get better participation for our drives and events than the typical club. Not bad for a car club that started seven years ago with just 13 cars and is now up to 160 cars and 263 members.
You can check us out at VillagesBMWZClub.com.
So, if a club is well run it can develop loyal and active members.
So many commentators have unfortunately given up and missed the point of the article — to stay involved despite the fact that human beings in any organization can be a PITA. We’ll all end up bowling alone if we can’t deal with difficult people, and it is a skill set that takes practice. Don’t think the club offers enough tech sessions? Offer to host one (I bet you have a lot of experience and expertise you could share). The club drives are too spirited? Offer to host a B or C group with a different pace. Just about anyone who reads these articles and who has commented here would likely be a valuable asset to a car club, so I hope you’ll reconsider how you can be part of a solution and stay/get involved.
Good points, just what I was thinking. If I don’t like how something is going, I try to suggest alternatives to get more people involved. We are all different, we have different tastes and likes. I’ve been an officer of many org’s, you just have to figure out what works best for each. My experience with Corvette Clubs (and both NCCC and NCRS) has been really good. Thinking about getting back in another club!
I have been a member of a marque specific national club for 20 years. The experience as just a rank and file member has been mostly good. I was once a regional director for this club, and while I learned a lot, the experience was stressful and draining. In other words, I valued what I learned, but I will never again be part of the leadership team. I have often said that if something that is supposed to be fun stops being fun, then it’s time to stop. After 4 years as one of the clubs leaders, I decided to take my own advice and stepped down, handing off the torch to several very talented and capable members. I am still a member of the club, though not very involved currently. And as life progresses, priorities change. I now put much more value in just taking a relaxing drive in the country with my family than going to shows and meets. That may change again in another chapter of life, but for now, that’s where I’m at.
I tried to get involved with the local SCCA group in my area. It was a total failure. I could not break into the clique, and the meetings involved the “experts” sitting around talking about their latest acquisition, but only talking to the old members. It was exhausting after a while. I have a lot going on in my life and chose to not deal with this type of unnecessary drama.
Ultimately – ” I don’t want to belong to any club that would have someone like me as a member.”
I read the article and all the comments so far, and funny enough, the reasons I quit the car club I was in were not really mentioned.
I joined the local club for British autos when I first moved where we are now. It seemed fine, and they held one BIG BIG event every summer. It was fun, but as a new member I (my car) was put “in the back 40” and nowhere near the prime front spots reserved for “the chosen few”. After a year or so I realized no-one would ever be allowed to join the chosen few because as noted “they’d been here from the beginning” and had no desire to allow anyone else. Most held the prime positions in the club as well and seemed to just swap them from chosen to chosen each year.
Now the funny thing is I quit over a decade ago, and I still go to the BIG BIG summer event as it’s open to anyone with a British (or not so british as it turns out) auto. I still get put in the back 40, but have found great conversations with EVERYONE… EXCEPT the chosen few who never talk to anyone else! It turns out 90% of the participants aren’t members or even local, and I have a great time talking with all of them. It’s gotten to the point we recognize each other (or our cars, we ARE getting older) each year and have great reunions. All without the chosen few.
Second reason I quit: early on I asked if anyone knew a good mechanic or two, and the universal response from the members was “we don’t have a mechanic. When our car has problems we just buy another”. Seriously?? (sad but true). No technical exchange, no publications, no experts – except in how to pay too much for a restored model X.
EVERY club…….be it tennis, golf, cycling or cars will eventually have that leadership that thinks the club IS THIERS and their ideas are all that counts and usually keeps his one good friend in the loop………….that was the leadership I (we) experienced. You would think that when the president asks for ideas from the members and someone brings a good one up that that member should take the reins on setting it up or at the minimum be involved……….NOT here………..president and his “toadie” set it up to suit themselves. The list of screw ups at this particular club over several years were endless.
The club that states “It’s not just the cars, it’s the people”………..that should be corrected to say “It’s not just the trucks (SUV), it’s the idiots that think its a sports car”.
Some of the get togethers (dinners/lunches) were good but I never joined the club to play “follow the leader”, their so-called “spirited” drives. Met some good people but there were always those that have the low qualities of everything mentioned in previous posts…………
I decided to not renew with the clubs a few years ago for the reasons you have all listed. I took the money and joined two clubs! Nether are based in my local area or even the country I live in.
1st off I became a Fellow! I am a member of the Goodwood Road Racing Club Fellowship! I get access to there videos and back catalogue, newsletters, and if I get to England one day , there are some perks I am told. It makes me happy!
2nd club I joined was the Hagerty Drivers club! I get all the goodness that comes with it! I view video content daily before I head off to sleep!
Since joining I have never had to be bullied by Experts, told something is not correct on my car, or felt less than.
Will DS: I wish you all the best! The MINI is one car that pulls people from all ages ( and pocket book levels too) and believe the you are on the right course! I will try to time my next trip to Vancouver with one of your meets.
Bugeye1: I feel you brother! Been there done that, I love my 58 Bugeye and we both know they are way more fun to drive than a “BIG Healey” !
That’s all part of the fun and what makes the world go around. Sit back, observe, learn and enjoy.