Suggestions for Interstate Membership

[sillycar chick]

Hi people, I have been reading some of the threads in here from people whinging about the fact that they have to earn rep to sell parts, wont want to pay the membership fee if they arent in sydney etc etc.

My view is the rep system is fair and I think its a good idea. I would like to post for sale ads at some stage, but right now I am more interested in learning more about my sillycars, and offer my knowledge to others in need. So am am happy earning my rep and the previlidge to sell parts. If you are just on here to sell parts, its called EBAY! (or the trading post!). And when I feel the time is right for me to become a financial member of Toymods, I plan on doing so, regardless on what state I come from.

My main suggestion however, is for all those comments I have seen about people not wanting to pay the membership fee if they are from other states. In the future I would hope to see "State Chapters" of the club, where you can go to say Brisbane, Adelaide etc and meet up with other Toymod members, and have supplier companies in your own state who offer discounts to financial members etc. It would expand the club Australia wide, and give non-nsw people the same opportunities.

It is most likely the Toymods Board has considered expanding their club into other states, and I really hope they have. I do understand all the behind-the-scenes problems of insurance, liability, funding etc., and Toymods may not feel they are in the position to expand just yet, but I would hope that when the time comes they would do so! Maybe if there was enough support from interstate members, forum members etc it could happen.

Well thats my say for today, and I hope others are thinking in that way too.

[boris]

Yep, its been discussed plenty of times on the old forums. I think it would be nice to have toymods in all states, but for now i think its gonna be either the toyota car club or a celica one.

[CrUZida]

Starting up a serious club is a very hard thing to do.
Lots of clubs collapse within a couple of years because its only the founders who are keeping the club going, and as they move on, no one else wants to step into their place.

We will be starting a WA Toymods division in the future, but I seriously thinks its a least a year or two away, as none of us have the time, or wish to put in the effort at this stage.

[sillycar chick]

Yeah, I can understand that these things take time, and it does depend on whether or not people are willing to join up financially in their state and stick with it. Hope WA works out!

[Lambolica]

It has been discussed in the past and it is open to happening. There are alot of issues as outline by Peewee, aslo alot of these tend to be finding the right founding members as well. I recall it is due to insurance issues that things keep bogging down in Talks.

[thechuckster]

perhaps different state clubs could look at affiliation into a national committee or some kind of umbrella 'mechanism' that creates a formal committee/structure without having to create an actual organisation?

e.g. each state club gets a member on a board or committee which can represent them at a national level and coordinate activities across borders.

Marque Car Club does this in Brisbane/Qld by providing an umbrella for sports driving clubs that want CAMS memberhsip but not direct affiliation, it also provides members/bodies for CAMS committees and acts as a conduit from cams and its state committee back to clubs.

fwiw, the various inter-state relationships between toyota clubs do seem to rely on personalities to keep interstate action occuring (is not a bad thing itself, but it places a lot of responsibility on people often without much reward and kudos). It's a great thing because you have enthusiasts with a personal interest in keeping things working - however when repalcements are needed, you have to rebuild from scratch

[Lambolica]

e.g. each state club gets a member on a board or committee which can represent them at a national level and coordinate activities across borders.

not a bad thing itself, but it places a lot of responsibility on people often without much reward and kudos). It's a great thing because you have enthusiasts with a personal interest in keeping things working - however when repalcements are needed, you have to rebuild from scratch

This is where the problem lies. there are several issues here with the way the Club is setup AFAIK that make this hard.

[TheToyman75]

Dana,

I can't speak officially for the current board as we are about to have our annual elections.

Myself personally would love to see Toymods as a national club but to be honest its not likely to happen anytime soon if at all. Keeping NSW running on track is already a major task for the current board and it really isn't possible to run an interstate division from NSW.

There are allot of reasons why its a difficult thing to do and club support is only a small part of them. The legal concerns and time committments required are huge and even tho we have been going strong for for what is now our 6th year we still have allot to improve on.

The car club scene is shrinking more and more each year and Toymods is working hard to make sure we are not going to be the next in line to dissapear.

What we do encourage tho is for interstate groups to form their own identities and create new clubs so the wider Toyota community grows from strength to strength. For now tho trying to assist the other states with our wider online community is about as far as we can go.

[sillycar chick]

Thanks for the info Rod. I would have thought the car club scene would have been increasing, as the numbers on this forum seem to be increasing....?? Maybe people are only interested in becoming online members and not full club members. I want to join up financially, but unfortunately this wont be in the budget for a while I have kinda overspent on my cars lately, bigtime!!

Its a pity about all the legal and insurance requirements clubs have to meet these days, it makes it hard for everyone. Anyway, maybe the short term solution for now would be for QLDers to organise their own "unofficial" meets, like the cruise I went on on Sunday. Just a thought....

[hamgatan]

Stitt/Steve -

any luck on the post box fellas? I sent thru my membership app and electronically transferred $50 to you 3 weeks back now. haven't heard anything back from you regarding confirmation of receiving this.. hows it looking?

Cheers

Chris

[TheStitt]

Chris its here you are now a club member.

Sorry i have been flat out on the wagon

I'll post your stuff in the next couple of days

Stitt

[hamgatan]

Thanks mate.. yeah i heard all the Board had cars off the road at the moment so yeah i was guessing that was why i hadn't heard anything. Cheers for the update!

Chris

[river]

Hi,

i heard all the Board had cars off the road at the moment Chris

I noticed this too. That's why I won't put myself up to be a Board Member, 'cos as soon as you do.. whooska... you're car's off the road!!

seeyuzz
river

[TheStitt]

Thanks for the support River