Regional Solara Clubs & Solara Convention in 06 -Interes

[PhreakdOut]

Has anyone heard of, or wanted to start a regional Solara club?

I used to belong to the Windy City Z Club years ago and once a year all the clubs would hold a National Z Convention. It was a blast.

I'd bet I can pull some contacts together and organize a Solara / Camry car show at Toyota's Factory in Georgetown, Kentucky. (The birthplace of the Solara) (Maybe August or September 2006 so we can see the '07 Solaras on the assembly line?) TMMK does hold public tours. I'm sure they'd love to help with a special event like that.

It would take a lot of work and personal time, but I live for crap like that.

Let me know your thoughts on these topics ...

[michaels artic frost]

Go for it! You got my vote. I've actually been lookin' at organizing some annual events at the local dealerships, but have been too busy.

Let me know bro.


-M

[Whatever]

solaras are made in Canada

[michaels artic frost]

solaras are made in Canada

Maybe yours...lolz. The Gen 2s are made right here in KY bro! I've got several neighbors and friends that work there.

-M

[PhreakdOut]

Whatever: Oops, I forgot about the Gen 1s being built in Cambridge Canada. Mike is correct, the Gen 2s are built in Georgetown, Kentucky.

Regarding a convention in 2006, I'd be honored to do it. (Trust me, when I do something like this, it's a pretty big event.) It will take me a year to coordinate details and commitments. But I think that is the fun part.

The hard part is where this board can help. I would need people who are willing to be committed to attend and help run the event. (Car show , coordinating vendors to attend, etc..) In a sense, a "mini" Hot Import Nights type of event.

Any thoughts on how I can gage the interest level from fellow members of this board?

[trdkamuri51o]

not to be a dick, but it has been tried before doing a regional camry/solara club with a yearly meeting at georgetown. it never worked.

[PhreakdOut]

not to be a dick, but it has been tried before doing a regional camry/solara club with a yearly meeting at georgetown. it never worked.

I can understand that. Most are all talk and no action. I'm the first to say it can not be done by one person. However, I see a good mix of resources here.

I'm really interested in what went wrong (or didn't happen before.)
- Toyota said no to the show?
- The coordinator dropped the ball?
- No one showed any interest?

Your opinion is more valuable than you think.

[trdkamuri51o]

I'm really interested in what went wrong (or didn't happen before.)
- Toyota said no to the show?
- The coordinator dropped the ball?
- No one showed any interest?

Your opinion is more valuable than you think.

there was talk about it for quite a few months. problem was the location. its kinda hard to get people to drive several thousand miles just to meet other tuners without some sort of organization. my suggestion first would be to get ahold of toyota corporate (and pray) that they get back to you to help sponsor the event. with that said, sponsorship = tours, possibly give aways, event programs etc. the main thing that you will need is interest. its going to take lots of emails and promoting to get something like this rolling. having 10 20 or even 100 people sounds like alot, but only 1 of those 100 would probably show up. i would suggest making it an ATOM (all toyota owners meet) that would garner HUGE NUMBERS since its not only camry's and solara's which have a small community as compared to supras and celicas.

[~Spadwaller~]

I want in the Solara club SoCal chapter given theres a cool Lettermans jacket and secret handshake.

[PhreakdOut]

Excellent Points. The funny thing is that location is not the greatest concern for me. I've personally met Art Nimii (Pres. NA Manufacturing) and I have excellent working relationships with his senior staff. (We supply 50% of Toyota's North American exhaust systems) I manage that account for our company. My impression is that these persons would be rather excited about an event at TMMK. (So that's the easy part for me.)

The hard part is getting the attendance and support to prepare and run the event. Unfortunately, I believe your ratio of 1 in 100 showing is pretty accurate.

I like the idea of a "All Toyota Owners Meet." You get credit for that.

I need to get a few others interested in helping out. (Know anyone?)

[michaels artic frost]

I'm really interested in what went wrong (or didn't happen before.)
- Toyota said no to the show?
- The coordinator dropped the ball?
- No one showed any interest?

Your opinion is more valuable than you think.

there was talk about it for quite a few months. problem was the location. its kinda hard to get people to drive several thousand miles just to meet other tuners without some sort of organization. my suggestion first would be to get ahold of toyota corporate (and pray) that they get back to you to help sponsor the event. with that said, sponsorship = tours, possibly give aways, event programs etc. the main thing that you will need is interest. its going to take lots of emails and promoting to get something like this rolling. having 10 20 or even 100 people sounds like alot, but only 1 of those 100 would probably show up. i would suggest making it an ATOM (all toyota owners meet) that would garner HUGE NUMBERS since its not only camry's and solara's which have a small community as compared to supras and celicas.

^^^Very well put bro^^^

Brian,

Since I am local, my suggestion is to put together a solid presentation in MS PowerPoint and I'll try to schedule an appointment with who ever it may be at Toyota in G-Town and I'll present this to them on my laptop.

Let me know what you think, maybe someone else could come along and present with me.

-M

[trdkamuri51o]

here would be another thing. given that the internet is now a huge powerhouse for communities, we can organize beyond camryman, solaraguy, and toyotanation. there are over 100 online forums ranging from corollas, (vvti.net) to supras. or even scions. reason for the scion successes in these giant meets were stated above in my last post. corporate sponsorship, online forum sharing, and plenty of advertising.

get a location and secure that it can be used LEGALLY!!!!! sorry a parking lot at safeway or vons just wont work. once you have that then forum hopping and passing it on everywhere will help push for the event.

good luck as you WILL need it.

btw the guys on TN planned for over a year a giant meet at niagra. they estimated close to 100 cars, only 12 or 13 showed up for the camp out.

[PhreakdOut]

^^^Very well put bro^^^

Brian,

Since I am local, my suggestion is to put together a solid presentation in MS PowerPoint and I'll try to schedule an appointment with who ever it may be at Toyota in G-Town and I'll present this to them on my laptop.

Let me know what you think, maybe someone else could come along and present with me.

-M

Now you're talking! Powerpoint is my best friend .. next to my Solara.

Seriously, that's a great idea but I need to feel out who is the best person to contact.

I leave this Tuesday to Japan for 1.5 weeks of meetings with Toyota and our partner company, Futaba. I have a "drinking meeting" set with one of the General Managers for this Friday night. He can give me some pointers on how to effectively get approval and support from Toyota.

When the time comes, I would definately like for use to make the presentation together. My gut feeling is that the discussion will be held at TMMNA (Toyota's Manuafcturing Headquarters in Erlanger KY. <Cincinatti> ) I drive down there about 2-3 times a month for meetings.

If Georgetown falls through, I have excellent contacts at most of their other facilities. (NUMMI, TMMC, TMMI and we have a building currently being built on the property of TMMTX)

One other question I have ... do you know of a drag strip near Georgetown? London has one at 88 miles away. There's got to be one near by.

I'll post up from Japan as to how the conversation went with the General Manager.

[PhreakdOut]

(Sorry for being off the air so long. I just came back from Japan yesterday.)

I had a couple "drinking" meetings with a key person who could help get us setup for an event at TMMK - Georgetown, KY. It looks VERY good. I've asked him to send an email to the TMMK President expressing our interest.

We'll see how it goes. I hope we can get enough people to have a good turn out.