Forming Car Club

[Vampyrate]

Mods, please move if you feel it needs to be. But this is kind of a site suggestion. How about since we all pretty much know one another from one meet or another, we for a car club out of this site?

Here is the reason why: We already have regular meets in certain areas (DFW, Orlando, Long Island/NYC area) Why not expand on that? Find in the role call section the highest concentration of people for an area (or two or three if needed) and hold a monthly or bi-monthly meet to get together and hang out and work on our cars?

And once a year we just have a huge meet where all the members can get together for a few days and catch up with each other (*cough*HITH*cough*).

We have all the necessary things for it: People, Cars, Equal Interests, and Locality to one another. All we need is something to signify that we are a car club, other than badges; something that says: Elantra XD Car Club (or something along those lines). I personally like Club XD or something like that. Right now, in my view, we already are an international car club, we just need something to show others to get our names out there, so we can get better sponsorships and deals for aftermarket (this will also push the aftermarket development for our cars).

Sorry for the long post and my ramblings, but that is just one thing that has been on my mind as of late.

[FinalBreath]

this sounds like a great idea, we have lots of car clubs around here in milwaukee. and i think he has a great idea.... another name could be Team XD

[robs02elantra]

The idea is pretty good...I'm not sure that I can agree with Team XD though, sorry.

[Vampyrate]

well, any name that can be reached upon would be great. right now, we have everything laid out before us except a name.

[importdriver05]

sounds good aaron, a car club would be nice since im the only modded elantra in north carolina that i know of

[Vampyrate]

well, youre close enough to the VA/TN guys to be thrown in with them, since thats closer than FLA

[ArunSenior04]

Are we talking about making a car club by location, because if so, that would be hot.

Small website I made last year:

http://elantracorner.95mb.com/

[soullesselantra]

i think that would be a great idea...especially to put our name out there to all the XD ricers to see if we can get them to develop some sense in mods...lol j/k

[Vampyrate]

Are we talking about making a car club by location, because if so, that would be hot.

Small website I made last year:

http://elantracorner.95mb.com/
reece, we are talking about just that thing...

[Doohickie]

As a "member" of one of the local clubs you mentioned (DFW), I see it this way: ElantraXD is a platform-specific site. Paki spearheaded a meet in December and after all the cajoling he could manage, four of us showed up... not too great (nothing against Paki; we works his @ss off for the club).

Paki starts thinking and realizes there are more than just Elantras in the world and creates a forum called DFWHyundais.com and invites his Tibby friends to the meet. Tibbies tend to be more active in car clubs anyway. Between chatting it up (post whoring is such an ugly term) on the forum and inviting other Hyundais and we get to know each other a little better on the local forum. Result: We had over a dozen cars at the January meet. He got even more inclusive and now we have a token Kia member- an even wider audience.

I think EXD is great for Elantra-specific stuff, but I think especially in areas where you're just starting up, the best way to go is local is multi-platform local clubs. Each of us has our platform-specific boards (which are kind of like clubs already anyway), but if you try to have all the platforms at a single forum it gets kind of.... unfocused.

Vamp: I think you ought to get with Paki and find out how he started DFWHyundais.com. Learn from his mistakes and do what he did right. Start a club forum in your local area and let it take off from there. I think if you can get 3-6 local people active on the board it will quickly start attracting new members. Cross boarders over on the Tibby and Sonata boards, and other Hyundai forums you find, and establishing a base of that many won't be too hard.

I think there is value in having your own little cross-platform board to take care of local business (dealer ratings, setting up meets, helping each other out, etc.) and using the big platform-specific for what they are intended. If a local forum was formed here on EXD and you ran it, I bet you wouldn't be as dedicated and energetic about it as you would be if was *your* enterprise and you were the top dog. The enthusiasm spreads to others and the growth follows.

That's just my view.

Oh... and one more thing: "Team XD" kinda sounds too... um.... anime for me.

[05xd]

y0 Vampy,is there goin to be a central location or just where ever.Im up for it

[korai9989]

I'm up for anything, but I'm already in one in NC. It's very small though, only a handful, cause it's a new deal. It was me and a couple friends that started it, and we wanted it to go big, but we haven't had time to put any effort into making it grow.

[05TidalWave]

I like the Hyundai Club idea... MUCH bigger audience that way. And we'll get a better look at Tib parts to see what'll work, even though most have already been tested and are known...

[Vampyrate]

doohickie, thanks for the input, ill take that into consideration. if that is the case, then i think that there should be a club section on the forum where people can report on how their local club is going.

zach, what is the name of your club and would a VA boy be allowed in?

and as far as you are concerned 05, i guess depending on location, depends on the centralized aspect. since i spend most of my time in Wise, VA (for the time being) but frequent northern VA/ southern MD, i guess the best place would be near my house (leeesburg, va) or maybe somewhere in fairfax/woodbridge since that is where a lot of elantra/tib owners are located as per my observations.

and super, if you wouldnt mind joining a club, i guess im hinting towards starting one up in NOVA. and if not, zach, i want to be the first "outsider" in your club hehe

[Doohickie]

How's about this: As local clubs come online, we all reference each other's websites and form an association of associations: ALHKCC (Association of Local Hyundai-Kia Car Clubs). If someone comes up with a better acronymn, that would be cool too.

[Vampyrate]

i happen to like ALHKCC it sounds like a drunken version of trying to say Alchoholic hehe

[korai9989]

^ LMAO.

Yeah, it was welcome to anybody... maybe with some minor requirements, like a decal or something. But you aren't afraid of those, haha. I am putting the name as a decal in my little side windows: Sliderz CC. Since we are so small, and a personal group, we still have time to change the name in the event we think of something better, but for now, my window decal will say: SLIDERZ or SLIDERZ CC or something along those lines. VA boys are welcome, I was one at one point in time.

[05xd]

So another option is to make this club and have localized chapters so to speak?Maybe?

[korai9989]

localized chapters would be best for the fact that the possibility of a meet is greater. and car clubs gotta meet!

It would be awesome if I could make an emblem for my cc.

[Vampyrate]

all you need are some cool fonts, if you have AIM, get online (im always on) and i can whip up something quick for you

[korai9989]

i meant an actual emblem, like the 'Avante XD' one.

i will put sliderz in my lil windows, and i'd pring them myself, except i want them to be white (NO WHITE INK, AHHHHHH)

[SuperGLS]

I'm all for people starting up local car clubs if that's something you want to do.

Now I'll be honest... there is no way I could make it to a meet monthly. You'll notice I go to about two meets a year. I would love to go to more, but it's hard for me to find the time. I'm thinking many of the other members here are in a similar situation.

BUT, if there was a local NOVA/MD/DC car club I'd try to make it out a couple times a year, no doubt.

[korai9989]

Yeah... keeping it localized is good, cause everybody can get to know one another well...

[ArunSenior04]

How about a club named:

Mid - Eastern Hyundai Owners (MEHO)
Containing DC, MD, VA, PA, WV, NJ,OH, and DW

South Eastern Hyundai Owners (SEHO)
Containing NC,SC,GA,AL,FL,TN,KT,Mississippi

North Eastern Hyundai Owners (NEHO)
NY,CT,NH,VT,Mass., RI

Mid- Western Hyundai Club
Mich, KS, Missouri, Nebraska, CO, IL, IN, WI

Southern Hyundai Club
TX, NM, Lou, OK, Arkansas

Western hyundai Club
CA, AR, OR, NV, WA

[robs02elantra]

and the coolest of them all...Canadian Hyundai Club.

[Vampyrate]

what about Canucks United? jfwy... but yeah, reece that is a good idea... want to try to get one started with me and you the first two members of MEHO?

[ArunSenior04]

sure thing

It would be awesome if each association could have their own website with members and info.

[Vampyrate]

well, im no web guru, and you said that you had already made a site? so lets get started!

[ArunSenior04]

Ok ill try to work on it some more. Im gonna need a new banner.

[Vampyrate]

lol, i may be able to help with that... just tell me what you want as far as pics go, and i'll try to work something out. I have a lot of pretty cool fonts that woudl look killer

[Doohickie]

How about a club named:

Mid - Eastern Hyundai Owners (MEHO)
Containing DC, MD, VA, PA, WV, NJ,OH, and DW

South Eastern Hyundai Owners (SEHO)
Containing NC,SC,GA,AL,FL,TN,KT,Mississippi

North Eastern Hyundai Owners (NEHO)
NY,CT,NH,VT,Mass., RI

Mid- Western Hyundai Club
Mich, KS, Missouri, Nebraska, CO, IL, IN, WI

Southern Hyundai Club
TX, NM, Lou, OK, Arkansas

Western hyundai Club
CA, AR, OR, NV, WA

From our experience in DFWHyundais, it is better to have heavy involvement from a relatively small number of people in a local area than to try to draw large numbers in from a wide geographic area. Streetkiaz is trying the latter and I think they aren't getting any more people at their statewide meets than DFWHyundais gets at a local meet. And because we are local, we tend to see the same faces every meet. The more local you are, the greater the percentage of people who can make it. That being said, most of our people were from Dallas, Fort Worth and Denton, but we also had people from Cleburne (an hour out), Wichita Falls and Tyler (each 2+ hours, in opposite directions).

Those long distance guys, by the way, were all Tibby owners; don't underestimate the value of their involvement in getting a club off the ground.

Instead of Western (CA, AR, OR, NV, WA), it would be better to have a South Bay Hyundai Club centered around Torrance, CA and reaching out to the coast from LAX to Long Beach, and about the same distance to the east. An area that small isn't such a big commitment to drive on a monthly or bimonthly basis. Think small, and grow from a kernel of hardcore enthusiasts.

[Doohickie]

Another thing to think about: What IS the purpose of the club you propose?

I can think of several:


Organize local meets ("Show-off", DIY, Rallies, etc.)
Group participation in regional/statewide/national meets
Group participation in local, non-Hyundai car events
Rating local businesses (dealerships, suppliers, paint/repair shops)
Networking to promote your own local business
Discussion of local car-related issues
Generally hang out online. Yeah, we do that here, but there's a different flavor of it when you've actually met someone.
That's basically what happens over at DFWH.

There is *some* overlap with what happens here, but it's better in some respects than just hanging out on the "local" forums here. Instead of being part of the South Central "local" (actually regional) board, or even part of a statewide board, we are our own board and in a more real respect, a true car club. EXD is good for hanging out and good for tapping into a deep knowledge base. I think the local club sites complement, rather than compete with, the largers sites.