SO-Cal Volvo club?

[d34thd34l3r]

So Ive seen that on this forum alone there are small bunch of rwd volvo owners.

The idea came to me while talking to the current leader of a scion club, club sciontific, they meet weekly and show off their cars, grab some food together and talk about car stuff. They have around 20 members which makes for fun entertaining meets.

I'm sure we could pull something like this off in so cal if people were willing to drive up to 1 hour max( I would be) we could find a good location to meet maybe monthly and just update each other on our progress and stuff. If we included the fwd people I think we could definitely have enough to start up a reputable crew (that just sounds weird...crew) in the so cal area.

Also im sure that people on this forum have friends who also are into volvos and volvo tuning who would make great club members.

Any thoughts on this?
pm me i guess.

Update: made a group here on TB
heres the link

http://forums.turbobricks.com/group.php?groupid=69

EDIT:
It would also be great if we had someone volunteer to help start this up

[TIPSP]

You missed the last two meets we had....

Muholland was awsome, and Mike's house was fun!

Sounds like a plan.....when do we start?

[fast242]

www.scvcoa.org

The monthly dinner thing with SCVCOA pretty much fizzled out and became difficult to organize since a few would say they were coming and then not show up. Sometimes, only Dave Barton would show who organized the dinners.

I personally don't mind going to a dinner periodically to meet volvo peeps, but monthly would be difficult with my schedule, maybe four or five a year is what I could handle. If you organize it, and pursue it, and PM people all the time or e-mail constantly, people will come. It just takes persistence to organize monthly dinners. And cheap, but good eats helps.

Cheers

PJ

[d34thd34l3r]

Yeah.... my Volvo is out of commission for the next few weeks ... in the shop.
And i was only around to hear about the second meet which i hadn't planned far enough ahead to be able to attend.

We start as soon as we get 2 or more people willing to meet up on an agreed location on a sort of regular basis.

[d34thd34l3r]

www.scvcoa.org

The monthly dinner thing with SCVCOA pretty much fizzled out and became difficult to organize since a few would say they were coming and then not show up. Sometimes, only Dave Barton would show who organized the dinners.

I personally don't mind going to a dinner periodically to meet volvo peeps, but monthly would be difficult with my schedule, maybe four or five a year is what I could handle. If you organize it, and pursue it, and PM people all the time or e-mail constantly, people will come. It just takes persistence to organize monthly dinners. And cheap, but good eats helps.

Cheers

PJ

Thanks for the info, I will definetely try my best to organize some kind of order. Maybe one day we can show up at a carshow and show these little sub 2.0s what a real car is.

[nosajnil]

actually i really wanted to go to the socal meet (my car wasn't ready)
it's hard to find volvo enthusiast here
i am in!!

[Caliwagon]

There are already two Volvo clubs in Socal, either one of which would probably love to tap into your eagerness to put together more local events. The first is the Socal Chapter of Volvo Sports America. This one, I'll freely admit (as its coordinator), is focused on vintage Volvos (122's, 1800's, PV's, etc...), so it probably isn't of interest to you.

The other is the Socal Chapter of the Volvo Club of America (www.scvcoa.org), which focuses on all Volvos, old and new. Dave Barton, who has already been mentioned in this thread, does a great job here, and pours a ton of effort in this club. Often, though, he's doing it all by himself.

My suggestion is that you join SCVCOA and take advantage of the structure and network that are already in place to add these regular get-togethers you have in mind. Dave Barton would be thrilled, I'm sure. Typically, people do not need to be VCOA members to attend VCOA events, though it is encouraged (and worthwhile).

Let me throw one more thing out there: organizing automotive events puts people at risk. When something goes wrong, lawsuits happen. Many formal and informal car clubs and gatherings have been unfortunate victims of this kind of crap, which is just part of the world we live in. As much as you might want to say, "Oh, that won't happen with these guys--we all understand," it's still just a fact of life. Everyone says that same exact thing. I don't want you or anyone else to go through that. Both the VSA and VCOA carry special insurance policies on all their events for this very reason. So, if there's no other reason to latch onto one of the clubs already in existence and build them up further, this is at least one!

[d34thd34l3r]

There are already two Volvo clubs in Socal, either one of which would probably love to tap into your eagerness to put together more local events. The first is the Socal Chapter of Volvo Sports America. This one, I'll freely admit (as its coordinator), is focused on vintage Volvos (122's, 1800's, PV's, etc...), so it probably isn't of interest to you.

The other is the Socal Chapter of the Volvo Club of America (www.scvcoa.org), which focuses on all Volvos, old and new. Dave Barton, who has already been mentioned in this thread, does a great job here, and pours a ton of effort in this club. Often, though, he's doing it all by himself.

My suggestion is that you join SCVCOA and take advantage of the structure and network that are already in place to add these regular get-togethers you have in mind. Dave Barton would be thrilled, I'm sure. Typically, people do not need to be VCOA members to attend VCOA events, though it is encouraged (and worthwhile).

Let me throw one more thing out there: organizing automotive events puts people at risk. When something goes wrong, lawsuits happen. Many formal and informal car clubs and gatherings have been unfortunate victims of this kind of crap, which is just part of the world we live in. As much as you might want to say, "Oh, that won't happen with these guys--we all understand," it's still just a fact of life. Everyone says that same exact thing. I don't want you or anyone else to go through that. Both the VSA and VCOA carry special insurance policies on all their events for this very reason. So, if there's no other reason to latch onto one of the clubs already in existence and build them up further, this is at least one!

Thank you very much Caliwagon for all the info.
I looked into VCOA and they seem to be a great club with a lot of big shows.
I was hoping of putting together something small, not really car shows but rather just get togethers of fellow volvo drivers talking about our cars and maybe grabbing some food together.
If anyone is still interested we should set up a meet date sometime soon and see how many people we can get.

[stray]

Thank you very much Caliwagon for all the info.
I looked into VCOA and they seem to be a great club with a lot of big shows.
I was hoping of putting together something small, not really car shows but rather just get togethers of fellow volvo drivers talking about our cars and maybe grabbing some food together.
If anyone is still interested we should set up a meet date sometime soon and see how many people we can get.

Well, if you have an idea for a meet, come up with something and make a thread. Thats how the mulholland meet got started.

[d34thd34l3r]

Well, if you have an idea for a meet, come up with something and make a thread. Thats how the mulholland meet got started.

Well? how many of you would be willing to meet up in the San fernando Valley area?

[stray]

If it's at a good time, count me in. :)

[d34thd34l3r]

How are the weekends for you?

[ThePOWERtoRULE]

I've gone to stuff in the past and organized stuff in the past. There's a bunch of us in SoCal that know/know of each other. Just plan a meet or show up to a meet. I haven't really seen anybody in several months (except Justin), because I was focused on my classes. Maybe I'll throw us a meet this summer (my birthday?)?? If not, we'll organize a SoCal Euro caravan, which is where we do the "showing up".

Trying to plan anything weekly is too much, I don't think most people have the time for that anymore. Monthly, perhaps? Spontaneous has worked best for me in the past.

[don hodgdon]

While it seems like a good idea to set up a monthly meet, those sort of things usually fizzle out pretty quickly. SoCal is so spread out and people usually have to come from quite a distance. I know the last thing I want to do on a Friday night is drive through LA traffic just so I can turn around a couple of hours later and drive home.

Personally, I would be more interested in a group that occasionally takes part in some of the thousands of auto related events that happen in the southland every year. Every weekend, from Santa Barbara to San Diego, there are car shows, museums, cruises, races, autox, meets, etc. that are great for meeting up and hanging out. If nothing else, there is always Cars and Coffee every Saturday morning and Coffee Roasters every Sunday that are perfect venues to meet up and then carry on somewhere else.

http://www.socalcarculture.com/

As Woody Allen said, "I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member". ;-)

[dieselboy]

:wave:

[d34thd34l3r]

Thanks for all of the info and input guys.
Way better results than I expected.

Other stuff:
As a group I dont think we would host any car shows but I'm sure we would go to many specially if this thing gets off the ground.

So far it sounds like Monthly meetings would work pretty well, we just need to find a good location. Maybe revolving locations? So that sometimes you have to drive 10 mins other times maybe 1 hour max? This way its fair with most people =)

Also if anyone is willing to put some effort down and help personally get this going please pm I could definetely use some help =)

Thanks
Gonzalo

[Caliwagon]

Thank you very much Caliwagon for all the info.
I looked into VCOA and they seem to be a great club with a lot of big shows.
I was hoping of putting together something small, not really car shows but rather just get togethers of fellow volvo drivers talking about our cars and maybe grabbing some food together.
If anyone is still interested we should set up a meet date sometime soon and see how many people we can get.

Socal VCOA has been doing car shows, but they want to be doing regular monthly GTGs and dinners like you're suggesting. There was just no one to lead in this area. You can be the man!

Directly from www.scvcoa.org:

CHAPTER VOLUNTEERS ARE BEING SOUGHT
VCOA is a non-profit organization and all officers and directors are unpaid volunteers. The SoCal Chapter is currently seeking members who would like to help make this a better chapter by volunteering a little time at some of our local meets… or if your more ambitious than most, consider volunteering to organize a local get-together in your area.
SoCal is BIG. We currently need representation in: L.A., Inland Empire and San Diego.

[ThePOWERtoRULE]

Thanks for all of the info and input guys.
Way better results than I expected.

Other stuff:
As a group I dont think we would host any car shows but I'm sure we would go to many specially if this thing gets off the ground.

So far it sounds like Monthly meetings would work pretty well, we just need to find a good location. Maybe revolving locations? So that sometimes you have to drive 10 mins other times maybe 1 hour max? This way its fair with most people =)

Also if anyone is willing to put some effort down and help personally get this going please pm I could definetely use some help =)

Thanks
Gonzalo

Well, it's difficult to find a place central to the West Side (not sure if there's many on here), the San Fernando Valley, The San Gabriel Valley, The Inland Empire, ALL of Orange County. And that's counting out all the San Diego and Ventura guys (although Ventura guys have made it to LA more than once). I'd say.... I dunno.... Whittier? Alhambra/San Grabriel/Rosemead? Somewhere in North OC? Burbank/Glendale?

[d34thd34l3r]

Well, it's difficult to find a place central to the West Side (not sure if there's many on here), the San Fernando Valley, The San Gabriel Valley, The Inland Empire, ALL of Orange County. And that's counting out all the San Diego and Ventura guys (although Ventura guys have made it to LA more than once). I'd say.... I dunno.... Whittier? Alhambra/San Grabriel/Rosemead? Somewhere in North OC? Burbank/Glendale?

We can separate different areas, SFV, OC, san gabriel, and ventura. and then rotate like each month the meeting moves to a different location.

[L8 APEKS]

We need it.

The lack of socialism and cohesiveness in the SoCal Volvo crowd pales in comparison to that of the VW/Audi/Subie/anything else you can think of crowds.

[d34thd34l3r]

We need it.

The lack of socialism and cohesiveness in the SoCal Volvo crowd pales in comparison to that of the VW/Audi/Subie/anything else you can think of crowds.

So lets
Keep the word around and the thread alive, know any volvo people who are not on the forum? tell them about it and keep them updated, maybe l8 you can go on VS and see if we have any guys there interested?

Im not gonna be on untill late tonight so any ideas can be pmed to me =) ty

[don hodgdon]

We can separate different areas, SFV, OC, san gabriel, and ventura. and then rotate like each month the meeting moves to a different location.


Just some ideas of places to meet, or places that have been used for meets,

SFV - The Nethercutt Museum, Northridge; Autobooks/Aerobooks, Burbank (very active Sat morning crowd); Woodley Park, Van Nuys; Coffee Roasters, Sherman Oaks (?)

OC - Cars and Coffee, Donut Derelicts

LA - Petersen Museum, Farmers Market, Malibu,

Ventura - Why would anyone want to go to Ventura? ;-) j/k, I'm sure one of the locals can pick a spot. There are some great drives that start in Ventura.

[HonestJhon]

i know that there have been a few things that i have gone to.
but as with everything, timing is everything. my work schedule varies, and hence, some times i cant make it to meets.

I know im planning on being at socal euro, and would definately like to caravan down with some people from around here.


as for a weekly meet, i DOUBT i'd be able to make it consistantly. Would be fun, but i doubt i'd be reliable for that.

there are a few people in the area that have been to meets that arent really active on the forums.

what major intersections are you around? one of my best friends lives up in northridge. im out in the southern end of the valley (tampa/victory)


if you really want to set something up, i will do my best to make it, but like i said, i dont think that i'd be able to make it to regular meets with my varying schedule.

[TIPSP]

Muholland is a good place ;-)

[d34thd34l3r]

i know that there have been a few things that i have gone to.
but as with everything, timing is everything. my work schedule varies, and hence, some times i cant make it to meets.

I know im planning on being at socal euro, and would definately like to caravan down with some people from around here.


as for a weekly meet, i DOUBT i'd be able to make it consistantly. Would be fun, but i doubt i'd be reliable for that.

there are a few people in the area that have been to meets that arent really active on the forums.

what major intersections are you around? one of my best friends lives up in northridge. im out in the southern end of the valley (tampa/victory)


if you really want to set something up, i will do my best to make it, but like i said, i dont think that i'd be able to make it to regular meets with my varying schedule.

When and where is SOCAL Euro?
I live on nordhoff and balboa so were pretty close.
If we do get this off the ground I think CSUN would be a great SFV meeting place.

[fast242]

Tell ya what. I live about 1 mile from the NHRA museum which is pretty interesting due to the amount of one off drag cars and a few other things. I propose a BBQ meet at my house. Most likely on a Saturday, but a Friday would work. If on a Sat, we could meet at my house, then cruise to the NHRA museum, and then back for Burgers. We can call this the Inagural SoCal monthly dinner kickoff. After that, we can do the venues at different locations. Over the last few years I have been shying away from events due to lacking in time to go anywhere and no car to really show. Now, I seem to have a little more time, and I miss the events.

Cheers

PJ

[TIPSP]

Sounds fun.....

[d34thd34l3r]

Very good idea for a first meet.
Any takers?

[fast242]

Maybe if a date was set. Probably in two weeks, or so.

PJ

[244NA]

I'm in. I'd be happy to help out as well. However, I'm pretty much screwed on weekends unless you give me a month or more of notice. Weekdays are hit or miss.

[engraverwilliam]

to me the meets are about Driving the volvo as well as showing it...if its a work in progress who cares...we are rolling!
Got your PM
Keep me posted

[d34thd34l3r]

Of course we have to roll thats the whole point of even owning a car =p

[fast242]

I am in some pretty good agreement about rolling to a destination. A periodic meet with a short drive through some nice roads, is pretty fun. The only downside is that it creates a long distance for some, and a long event. And sometimes legal speeds get exceeded excessively, which the local constable might frown upon. SoCal has many neat roads, and I know of many fun little jaunts. Throw some ideas, and maybe one will stick as a future run.

CHeers

PJ

[d34thd34l3r]

A couple of weeks sounds great, lets you and me talk fast242 and see what we can come up with and then make a thread for that meet.

BTW:
Join up!
http://forums.turbobricks.com/group.php?groupid=69

[d34thd34l3r]

bump bump

[yamahapro]

ill join

[d34thd34l3r]

random bump

[typebox]

bump.

any upcoming events on august? :roll:

[stray]

Well, there's an autocross in santa barbara this weekend.

[d34thd34l3r]

Sorry to not have really been checking the forum.

Theres the drag race event on october 31st
It should be fun and I hope everyone can make it.

[yamahapro]

where at? whens the camarillo drag race in camarillo?

[typebox]

where at?

oct 31, autoclub speedway @ fontana, CA.

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=180811

[d34thd34l3r]

And everyone is coming!!!

free stickers for everyone that shows up!!!

[fast242]

And everyone is coming!!!

free stickers for everyone that shows up!!!

Any of those MEGA stickers left? not that I want one, but it is pretty funny to see one that big.

The night before the drags, possible BBQ and other fun stuff for those who might be stayin at my house to be fresh for the drags instead of driving silly early, or getting a motel. We want this to be as cheap as possible, and thus I am willing to help. Zip ties FTW.

PJ

[d34thd34l3r]

No sorrry there was only 2 of those. How far are you from the track? It will be my first time drag racing=) Im down for a BBQ. I would like to be there by the 6am pulls

[fast242]

No sorrry there was only 2 of those. How far are you from the track? It will be my first time drag racing=) Im down for a BBQ. I would like to be there by the 6am pulls

About 20 min from my house. Whatever the distance is from the 57fwy to the 15Fwy by way of the 10fwy.

PJ