I agree with the thought of the club being exclusive to Monte Carlo owners. I wouldn't mind as long as a Monte owner/Member is friend's with another W-body owner. I was just seeing were you stood because I do know Impala owners come out to the meets.

 

I think if we organize and form a club, and hold our spring and fall Meets as we have been doing, we will definitely welcome both members AND non-members to participate in our Meets. Basically the same idea as other small car clubs that hold their own annual car shows open to everyone.

It wouldn't hurt to advertising our Meets a bit more than we have been in the past; e.g. handing out flyers at car shows, etc.

 

Some additional thoughts (some comparisons with NEOCC):
- NEOCC does not require you to be an owner to be a member (you just have to be an enthusiast).
- Clubs like NEOCC and NMCOA give members things like an annual newsletter (be it mailed via USPS or e-mailed, NEOCC just went to e-mail about 1 year ago).
- NEOCC has monthly meetings (at a bar lol) which is just a reason for any member who wants to come out and hang. I've never been to a NEOCC meeting. But having something like a regular meeting would be great to let current and prospective members just meet-n-greet.
- Are you trying to target all Monte owners (regardless of platform)? Or do you want to target FWD only? I assume you want all Montes, period welcome.

As for a logo, I'm no good with that stuff, but as Chibi said, it's what he does. But I keep thinking a custom knights crest (I like the crest as part of the heritage to the name sake, even though GM did not put it on the 5th or 7th gens).

No matter where the club is, I could not see all members attending every meet. But the club should probably have a "staff" (club president, treasurer, secretary). And at least a couple members of staff should be at any meet.

I've often thought this year it would be cool to try and arrange a meet-n-greet near me (but since my Monte has been at a shop most of the summer, made it hard for me to even think of organizing something like that, but I've sent some notice about local shows I'm popping into with my Monte).

Hope some of that info helps!!

 

So I'm leaning toward "Southern Michigan Monte Carlo Club" (SMMCC) and incorporating the below areas: West Michigan, Mid-Michigan, Flint/Tri-Cities, and Southeast Michigan. My personal opinion is that I think this would be easier and more reasonable to manage, at least to start, than a full Michigan state or Great Lakes region club. Also, the majority of our initial and regular Meet attendees are located in these four areas, and our Meet location is relatively central to these four areas as well. This does NOT mean people outside this area can't join and be a member; as long as you are close and want to be part, and can reasonably participate, we would accept members outside this area as well.



Jason, hitting on some items you mentioned:

Members being an owner. I agree with not requiring members to be an owner. As long as they're an enthusiast and want to be a part of something and actively participate, that's all that matters.

Newsletter. I like the idea of a newsletter, and I'm aware other clubs do this, but I'm not sure how realistic sending out a monthly newsletter is at this point. I could see doing a spring and fall newsletter to start, maybe something that would revolve around the time of the Meets?

Staff meetings. A monthly staff meeting seems a bit much considering none of us are really close to one another (I think Dave and I are the closest distance-wise). Considering those I know would be interested in this club right away, and who I think would happily take on a staff role, maybe we have a meet sometime soon to discuss what we want to do; Jackson, MI seems like a reasonable location to have that.

Target audience. I'd like this to target ALL generations of Monte Carlos. My hope is we start bringing in some members with the older cars. We just have to get the word out once established.

Staff at Meets. Yes, I agree we would NEED at least two staff members at all Meets which I don't think would be an issue.

 

Id be interested in joining. Sound like fun. I know there is a Mustang Club and Corvette club and others so why not a Monte specific club?

 

Perhaps a quarterly news letter (like a 1-pager). Something that you can e-mail (keeps cost and time both to a minimum). Re-affirms dates of meets, perhaps items members wish to share. Can also let people know if they need to renew, new members who joined, lots of different things can feed into it. Something simple and easy to organize (Matt, if you want to see a sample of one of my NEOCC newsletters they send monthly, I can e-mail one to you).

Maybe a quarterly staff meeting (could be used to discuss an up coming newsletter) and make members welcome to join a staff meeting.

Since your target audience is Montes, then members need to be owners or enthusiasts (since being an owner is not a requirement, nothing guarantees you don't just get w-body members involved, but that's all up to them). But the focus is the Monte.

You have a lot of good thoughts going into this. I really hope it takes off. Again, due to my traveling distances, I don't see me becoming a member BUT I can see me be an occasional visitor to the meets (maybe like once a year, more depending on what life throws at me)

 

Tadd, I figured you would be interested. I knew you were when I initially brought this idea up earlier this year.

Actually, yes could you do that Jason? I have the NMCOA mini magazine (mailed every two months) as an example too but it wouldn't hurt to take a look at others' for ideas. I think email would be the way to go so obtaining a list of members' emails and sending newsletters out quarterly (Jan, Apr, July, Oct) is do-able.

 

I've already discussed using New York's Monte Carlo Club (NYMCC) as an example for this Michigan club. Their website explains that their Club "is a place for Monte Carlo owners from all over New York and the surrounding areas". That is the same intent I have with this Michigan club.

 

Sounds like a good idea, Matt. I would be interested as well.

 

Sounds good Jason.

I sent inquiries to a few graphics places that do printing for awards, plaques, t-shirts, etc. for more information and pricing on what they have to offer; one of those places is local to me so I can easily stop in sometime to see what they have and discuss my thoughts with someone. Obviously thinking an award or two for each Meet, maybe 10+ dash plaques for each Meet and t-shirts. I'll update on what I find out.

I just think giving Meet attendees something to walk away with, as a little thank you for attending, would be cool and it adds a little more of something to look forward to.