How to create informal car group for casual meet+greets?

[Mojo88]

Tons of classic/muscle/high-performance cars in my area, and lots of shows, also lots of cruise nights. There's your standard 'Mustang' club, and 'Corvette' club, etc, etc. A lot of the events are scheduled weeks or months in advance, and then the weather sucks, and so the event is ruined.

So I'd like to try something a little different..... I am interested in creating a group of performance car owners where there is no 'schedule' per se, it would be a situation where you belong to the group, and then (always when the weather is particularly stellar) you would simply get a text on your phone notifying you of a "cars & coffee" or maybe a "cruise" or whatever, either that same day, or the next day.

This group would be totally free to join and very informal, and would exist solely to facilitate car-guy get-togethers on nice days.

Is anyone doing something like this already? If so, does it work? Any tips or thoughts?

 

[Mpoitrast87]

when I was younger I was apart of a "car club" and we would all get together to drive to events and such. But, as time went on only few of us were able to go to most events because people are just to busy with work and other parts of life. Its fun to do but its hart to keep it going once started.

 

[Zemedici]

local forums usually is where this stuff happens

 

[FromGTtoSVT]

I think it's a great idea

BUT

The biggest challenge is going to be finding events. There are literally thousands of car shows / gatherings across new england during the warm season.

You would need a sophisticated web crawl program to put all the events in one location, like an App that someone could log into and then be notified about.

As mentioned, this is where forums have ruled.

Whip's Wheel's is the print version of what you are talking about

I like the concept tho, lets keep the discussion going

 

[CobraBob]

Back in the late '90s, I used to go to cruise nights in the area a couple of times a week. Made a lot of friends. One cruise night in particular was very small; only 3-4 cars showed. Always the same guys. But you know what, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the car talk, etc. IMO even if a small number of folks can attend an event you might plan, it might be worth the effort. You'll need to be willing to search out/filter the cruises and shows and pick one or two a week to publicize.

During the same time period from 1996-2002 I had a website dedicated to listing cruises and shows in the area. I posted the dates, places and times for those looking for something to do locally. I honestly don't know how effective it was. I was just providing a service to fellow muscle car owners, saving folks from having to search out the sites. I always tried to connect with my friends a couple of times a week. Won't hurt to try out your idea. Just an investment of your time.

 

[CobraBob]

Just another thought. Some car clubs use a Facebook page to rally the troops locally. They post events going on locally, and group "friends" respond or sign up to attend. Mixed success depending on the size of the group and how well the page is kept up to date. Sometimes/many times the interest wanes when turnout is not good.

 

[Dip Dungles]

I like this idea, but day of or 1 day notice is hard to meet due to life in general.

I've wanted to go to a Cars and Coffee for over a year now, mainly because sitting in a parking lot for 7 hours wears real quick.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

Id say a local facebook page as mentioned. There are several pages around here, most of them are pretty weak but they lay out all the local meets. Then they also have what they call "pop up" meets when they do a short notice meetup somewhere. IE - 5 of us meeting up at Sonic @ 8pm tonight, join us until 10pm or something similar

 

[SVTPete83]

We did this in Chico California and started a Facebook page called fullthrottle. The only thing you needed to join the club was to be a gear head. Events are posted on the fb page and there is no pressure to have to go. We are a few years old and over 500 members strong. If you want to take a look apply to full throttle chico ca and I’ll approve it. We have a few admins and one guy that posts the weekly events. Super simple and no pressure.


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[04MysticCobra]

I started a cruise group here back in the early 2000's along with member NJ2000R. We used to meet at 2 different spots in Northern NJ and then head out for some great cruises for hours. We usually had 20-30 members most of the times. They were loads of fun. There were pics here from those cruises but probably gone since they were from around 2003.

Just have to find a crowd that really wants to do it and is in to meeting up. Not really hard to do.

 

[Mojo88]

I like this idea, but day of or 1 day notice is hard to meet due to life in general.

I've wanted to go to a Cars and Coffee for over a year now, mainly because sitting in a parking lot for 7 hours wears real quick.

Agreed about difficulties with short notice, but these types of gatherings are basically 100% weather-dependent, so when a perfect day presents itself, then it would be nice to take advantage. And I am totally in agreement with you about sitting in car show lot for 7 hours. That gets old fast. I would like to see impromptu gatherings at a wide variety of places, along with short cruises (with a few entrance ramps or someplace safe that cruisers could wring it out a little bit).

Id say a local facebook page as mentioned. There are several pages around here, most of them are pretty weak but they lay out all the local meets. Then they also have what they call "pop up" meets when they do a short notice meetup somewhere. IE - 5 of us meeting up at Sonic @ 8pm tonight, join us until 10pm or something similar

"Pop up" meet. That's a great name!

We did this in Chico California and started a Facebook page called fullthrottle. The only thing you needed to join the club was to be a gear head. Events are posted on the fb page and there is no pressure to have to go. We are a few years old and over 500 members strong. If you want to take a look apply to full throttle chico ca and I’ll approve it. We have a few admins and one guy that posts the weekly events. Super simple and no pressure....

Hey Pete, I will definitely sign up. I absolutely want to emulate your willingness to include ALL gearheads and would like to see how you guys do it. I'll use my forum name (Mojo88) somewhere in the application, so you know who it is. Thanks for the idea!! PS - can you please PM me a link to the signup page?? Thanks...

I started a cruise group here back in the early 2000's along with member NJ2000R. We used to meet at 2 different spots in Northern NJ and then head out for some great cruises for hours. We usually had 20-30 members most of the times. They were loads of fun. There were pics here from those cruises but probably gone since they were from around 2003.

Just have to find a crowd that really wants to do it and is in to meeting up. Not really hard to do.

Thanks for the ideas, and the feedback from your own experiences with this concept.