Make friends at car clubs

Most weekends in the GTA you can find a group of people celebrating their wheels

Jul 12, 2008

Special to the Star

His name was Ron and he had a bright yellow 1968 Dodge Charger that got me hooked.

He was fanatical about his car and shared his passion with other club members who owned vehicles of the same heritage. I joined the Mopar Performance Group car club as his girl – a Dodge girl.

I thought it was an easy way to get a cool jacket embroidered with my name and the word "HEMI" on the sleeve. I didn't own a Dodge and certainly could not afford a Hemi, but it didn't mean I did not love them.

This weekend Toronto and Niagara will wrap up hosting the four-day international meeting of the Ferrari Club of America – the car club that won my loyalty when my affiliation with Mopar (and Ron) ended. My welcome package included a fancy name tag with my Ontario Chapter printed on it, an informative local newsletter and national supplement. I made valuable contacts in case I needed to buy, sell, trade or fix a Ferrari.

"You need to go with an open mind and be willing to meet new people. The club is about the car but it is also about the people," says Marie-Lise Lacroix, director of the East and Central Canada region of the FCA. FCA is a large worldwide club, boasting more than 485 members in the East and Central Canada region and 5,000 plus worldwide. A concourse, track day at Mosport and car rally are just a few of the events planned this weekend.

For most people, car clubs are more than just a series of shows – they are a network for meeting new people who share the same love. They are a source of information and entertainment.

Liz Burns credits the GTA's Trillium Miata Club with giving her 18 years of fun-filled experiences since she joined in 1992. Now club president, Burns puts it plainly: "Everyone knows that I am a confessed Miata-holic. I purchased my 1991 British Racing Green Miata at the Toronto auto show in 1991. I had never owned a sports car and had never belonged to a car club."

She joined the club the following summer.

"I've made great friends, watched the club grow," says Burns, who works hard keeping the club active and booking guest speakers and great drives. The Trillium Miata Club Inc. has more than 150 Miatas, which equates to close to 300 people – of all ages, sizes and ethnic backgrounds.

There are car clubs for specific marques, countries of origin and even just ... cars. On any given weekend in the GTA, a car club is having an event, a meeting, social, cruise, show and more. Many are listed in the Wheels section and Wheels.ca.

This past Sunday, for instance, in a mall parking lot in Vaughan, I stumbled upon the Maple Car Club, a gathering of performance cars.

Parking my new Dodge Challenger next to a Ferrari 360 and near a vintage Mustang, I enjoyed a perfect summer evening parleying some good old-fashioned car talk.

Whether a large association or a small group of "members," car clubs make friends out of strangers.

Toronto Star