Im Curious Here, How Many Of You Gentlemen...are Members Of A Car Club?

Grumpy

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
Im curious here, how many of you gentlemen...are members of a car club?
and if you are , has the membership process and time spent been helpful?
most Of the clubs I joined fell in two categories, most corvette clubs seem to be more concerned with car waxing
and meeting at various restaurants for dinner and drinks or making road trips as a group.
there were other clubs that actually had members with skills that had members that did work on the cars,
but most were just into prep for car shows, almost no one actually went to the local tracks,
or even gave a crap how well the car ran, as long as it LOOKED and SOUNDED "COOL"
I had a couple of the local guys over for coffee, and we were talking about who had the skills,
tools and shop space to perform various types of auto-related repairs,
and as frequently is the case theres a wide gap in the knowledge base,
among a great many of the guys,
I have zero doubt this is almost universally the case in any smaller random group,
some members were comfortable doing paint & bodywork,
others were more comfortable with electrical, gauges, trouble shooting and tuning EFI,
older guys might have a rather pronounced advantage with tuning carburetors,
a few guys were into upholstery, replacing interiors, and head liners,
and then theres the old geezers like myself that were more into building engine,s and drive train components and the related parts.
joining a local muscle car or corvette car club, can be ,
a good way too make contacts in the hobby and gain skills,
but a great deal depends on the club and its members,
and how knowledgable and willing to share the skills the members are.
now when I was much younger,
most of the guys I hung out with were more than willing too swap time, effort and knowledge, or trade work on each others cars,
but that seems too have become a long lost attitude,
and from my experience ,I can, easily see why thats so!
back in the day, some member would suggest he needed to swap a differential,
do a valve job, or repair body damage,
and there would be no question that several guys would drop by,
at the announced time and place to help,
thats no longer done it seems...
yes its true many of us were younger, a few un-married,
but it was looked at as a group hobby and it was rather enjoyable,
and we all gained skills and access too tools we might not have owned personally,
and in the process, we all made contacts in that car hobby,
that made getting parts faster , far easier,and cheaper!
and in the process most of us gained a good deal of skills,
and experience, we learned what worked and what was a waste of time and cash,
we learned which machine shops did do good quality work,
and which were run by scam artists crooks and incompetent morrons
the reason, is simple, and most of us know, or have learned, that you may spend hours or days helping some guy on his car,
and when the time comes around to do work on your car,
hes suddenly got a zillion other pressing engagements,
or he promises to show up and he never does, nor does he answer the phone,
theres always some excuse... or family emergency, or work conflict,
it only takes a few repetitions of that and you basically learn
,that you either work for an agreed-upon price or hourly wage ,
or you suggest the guy find someone else to work on his car

so what have your experiences been??

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I was a member of the local car club, but now I work on Thursday when they have their events. I'm also a member of the NTBA, just got back from their regional event at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri where we had 31 cars.
 
I am a member of our local Nova Club. Most of the guys don’t really have skills, most just buy their performance, but token few build their own. It’s amazing to me most that do their own are kinda young. And, are very nieve to real performance. Some ask good queries but are reluctant to believe the truth. Young people want Big cams, Big carbs and headers!
 
most of us were young and had too learn through trial and error that miss-matched radical parts slapped together,
might make the engine lope and rumble but rarely allow it to perform well.
 
I'm a car club member, last weekend we went to another clubs event. It was a blue oval/mustang club. One lady from our club took and entered her mustang.
All the awards went to the local guys and when she asked about her cars score, they couldn't find it. She asked and one member told her No out of town cars can win and no females EVER have!
Think we will go back?
 
I think they have their heads firmly up their, Ass, if they treat someone that way.
Id surely judge the car on its merits and flaws alone, regardless of the owner or club affiliation
but thats certainly not a unique situation..UNFORTUNATELY
 
johnnmo said:
I'm a car club member, last weekend we went to another clubs event. It was a blue oval/mustang club. One lady from our club took and entered her mustang.
All the awards went to the local guys and when she asked about her cars score, they couldn't find it. She asked and one member told her No out of town cars can win and no females EVER have!
Think we will go back?
Click to expand...
That is pure bullshit, girls are gearheads too! The car has no affiliation to the sex of the owner! Sounds like the guy that said that needs a slap to the face!
 
The club is now back peddling on the story.
For some reason a high percent of ford guys I know all think thier car is the fastest thing ever made. ( Then ask me to help them get it running right)
I'm not trying to start something here just talking. Any car and every car can be beat.
We all try to find a way to calm this 'stuff' down.
 
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