Originally Posted by Coon-azz (Post 2304246)

Hi all. Myself and another Fredericksburg area Z owner are considering starting a chapter of the Z club for our area. Before we move forward, I'd like to find out more from our current clubs. I have several initial questions and would love any constructive input/feedback you could provide.

QUESTIONS:
1) Do we need permission from any of the other Clubs to build our Chapter?

For an informal club, no permission needed.

2) Should we start out as a sub-chapter from one of the other groups? (MAZOC)

I don't see a need to become a sub-chapter. MAZOC is an informal group and the closest formal Z clubs ore ZCAR and the Norther Virginia Chapter.

3) Any objections with starting an area chapter?

I'd suggest holding some get togethers and see how many people show up and are willing to participate.

4) Do any of the other groups have a sample set of guidelines they developed?

Again, not sure I would worry about guidelines until you determine how formal you want this to be and I wouldn't worry about that until you see what type of participation you will get.

FEEDBACK:
Because I've never started a car club/chapter, any advice you could provide would be helpful. Here are some of the ideas that I've been malling around, but never pulled the trigger.

a) Monthly Cars and Cigars meet

Sounds good

b) Start with model specific Z's. 280,240,300, 350 370. I'm only suggesting to start out with Apples-to-Apples.

I think Z specific would be a great starting point.

c) Build a chapter specific website for events etc

Would recommend using Facebook. Cheap, easy to setup, calendars and notifications included.

d) Monthly/bimonthly Tech Sessions

Bimonthly sounds good

e) Quartely road event

Also good. Could always ask MAZOC members to join in if they wish.

Please feel free to provide input.

Originally Posted by Roadster4Us (Post 2304535)

I'd also ask one of the Mod's to move this to the Mid-Atlantic region since it's definitely a regional topic.

Originally Posted by zeeder (Post 2304551)

I disagree, he's asking for general information for starting up a club and not trying to recruit local members at this point.

Originally Posted by Roadster4Us (Post 2304493)

It really depends on how formal you want it to be. You have groups like MAZOC that are very informal to the Z Car Association of Richmond which is very formal. It also depends if you want to become part of a formal organization like ZCCA.

I'd suggest starting out as an informal group, much like MAZOC and see how it goes. You can always build up if you want. This way if things don't take off you won't have invested a lot of time and effort for nothing.

My opinions on your questions are below.

Originally Posted by Roadster4Us (Post 2304569)

Except he is mentioning local clubs and specifically MAZOC which is close by.

We have a lot of clubs, both formal and informal in the area and they would be glad to assist, although they might miss this if it gets buried in the general discussion thread. Obviously his decision though, it was just a suggestion.

Originally Posted by zeeder (Post 2306250)

Great points! I thought you were just trying to say that this was the wrong forum because he wanted to start a club. Sorry for sticking my nose in!