Happy New Year from The New Jersey F-Body Owners Association!!
We are rolling into 2012. Chevy has the 45h Anniversary Camaro on the lots. And the NJFBOA is approaching our 8th anniversary this summer. Time sure flies. We now have over 3,000 members signed up, and over 300 check the forums regularly. The last few meets have had 30+ people come out, with all generations of F-Bodies represented.
First we’d like to mention the 1st two meets of 2012. Then we have new business to attend to, so please keep reading!
***January Meet Saturday Jan 21st, 2012***
We yet again are heading back to the Firkin Tavern in Ewing for our annual kick off meet. As always it will be an open buffet and a cash bar. Not all details are confirmed but we will update this post soon with those details. But the date, location and approximate time are set.
We have limited space available in the game room at Firkin, so we have set up a pre-payment that will run through 8:00 pm Tuesday January 17th. The cost of the meet is $25 per person prepaid, and $30 at the door on the day of the meet. Active Power Members enjoy a $5 discount off the cost of tickets. Please see the thread for pre-payment information.
Time: Lunch time, ~12-5 (exact time TBA)
Date: Saturday, January 21st
Location: Firkin Tavern
1400 Parkway Ave.
Ewing, NJ 08628
www.FirkinTavern.com
Please see the thread for more information and a sign up list:
http://www.njfboa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=58243
***February 2012 Meet – join the discussion!
February will be a north NJ meet. Brian (Blackbirdws6) had a “bright” idea (pun intended, he manufactures high quality HID retrofit lighting). Let’s go karting at V-17 in Maywood (
http://v-17.com). It will be either Sunday 2/26 or Sunday 2/19. Take a look at the details and maybe leave a note or vote in the online poll if you are so inclined.
http://www.njfboa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=58262
*Watch for the 2012 Meet Schedule - coming soon!
***Club News***
This newsletter differs from the last few in that we want to talk primarily about the club and where it is going. Despite our robust active membership, we can’t help but think we are missing too many folks. We see that disparity in sign ups vs. active members. We see NJ Camaro and Firebird owners on other forums, and at cruise nights, and at the track, that don’t come out, or don’t even know about us! Well, we want to start getting more people involved.
So we are making some modest but important changes to a few things, all with the eye on growing both membership size and member activity levels. We think it is time for a refocusing on the cars we love and the people that own them.
With that in mind we are starting by making some changes to the forum setup. We know online forums are not everybody’s idea of a good time, and that is cool. We have always maintained that the NJFBOA is a local car club with an online presence and not just a local message board. But we also think the forum can be better utilized by all, both the active users and the passive readers looking for information. So with all that said we are moving some things around, adding some new stuff all in an effort to meet the needs of a diverse membership. So let’s take a quick peak under the hood!
***Events Forum***
This continues at the top of our forum because meets are at the heart of NJFBOA. In ‘NJFBOA Events’ and ‘NJFBOA Meet Pics’ (new) sections we highlight details of our past, present and future meets. ‘Cruisers' Corner / Other Events’ lists lots of local car shows, cruise nights and other events.
***Camaros, Firebirds and the People that own them***
Just like the title says, this forum is dedicated to our favorite cars and their owners. Some very exciting new sections can be found here.
* ‘Members Rides’. Here you can post up about any Camaro, Firebird or American Made RWD/AWD high performance street/race vehicles you have ever owned. Show your stuff! And because we all have different tastes in cars, post without fear because in this section only positive posts are allowed. For those new to this online stuff, we have posted a helpful tutorial on using the popular photo hosting site PhotoBucket:
http://www.njfboa.org/photo/pb.htm This link contains everything you need to know about sharing photos saved on your computer with the rest of the club.
* ‘Member Projects’ section. This is a place members can post all about their ongoing big projects. Frame off restorations, race car conversions, etc.
* ’Stop the Presses!’. Here we celebrate any member who gets published in magazines, newspapers or major online sites, regardless of make/model. We are also going to post up any NJ Camaro or Firebird we come across. Let’s celebrate all things NJ Camaro and Firebird!
***Community Forums***
Here we find the most social part of the board. This is where folks hang out and shoot the breeze. We have the ever present ‘Lounge’ for general BSing. Then we added the ‘Scotch and Cigar Lounge’ for members over 28 years old who may like to keep the discussion with folks more their own age. We also introduced ‘The Bounce House’ where the younger guys can do whatever it is they do. We continue to host the ‘Multimedia’ section, a place to put all the other pics and vids you want to share with other members. Finally is the ‘SEMA Action Network and Automotive Legislation’ forum. Our one exception to our no politics rule, here we discuss automotive legislation and the work done by SEMA SAN to help protect and grow our hobby.
***NJFBOA Forums***
Here we drop all the club related information. We moved our special Power Members only forum here to go along with the sponsor and site related forums. Kind of the club business district.
***Regional Forums***
This is the best place to be part of localized events like cruise nights and meets. To match our meet planning concept, we have broken central NJ into East and West, so now there are 4 regional sub forums.
***Competition Forums***
Nothing new here, keep on talking about racing!
***Tech Forums***
We know we are not the end-all-be-all of tech support. But we do a pretty decent job, and the more membership grows the more collective knowledge we have to share. And this is where we share it. We look to you, our members to help each other out. And with that comes more responsibility for the staff to maintain decorum, which we will continue to improve on. No real changes here except a slight re-purposing of the ‘Restorations / Fabrication’ tech forum. Previously active projects were put here too. But those threads have been moved to the new Member Projects forum, so this forum will now be strictly tech.
**Classified Section***
No changes. Buy & sell stuff.
So that is where we stand today with changes to our online presence. What else are we changing? Not much, yet. We will continue to maintain the meets page (
http://www.njfboa.org/events/) and the home page (
http://www.njfboa.org). We told you that you technically don’t need the forum! When appropriate we will again list our meets on websites like njcarshow.com. We have also branched out into the web via Facebook. Like Us! (
http://www.facebook.com/pages/NJ-F-B...21724734563484).
We also plan on consistently getting newsletters out on a monthly basis (not as long as this one I hope!) to help communicate upcoming events and club news. We also want members to keep club fliers in their car, hand them out and talk to folks. We periodically post new ones, and we will try to mention that in each news letter.
Our whole goal here is to grow and diversify. More active members means more opportunity for all of us. Better monthly meets, more charitable opportunities, and maybe different types of events that we might not be in position to do now, like track days or driving tours. Maybe with some luck even bring back the East Coast F-Body Nationals some day.
How can you help? Come out. Be active. Bring in new faces. Have fun. Get involved. That is how.
Enjoy your new year. See you in January at the Firkin Tavern!
***CLUB SPONSORS***
We would like to thank our sponsors and ask for your continued support of our club sponsors. If you have a question or a need, please give them a call and tell them you're from NJFBOA. Support the companies that support the NJFBOA.
Eastern Grafix -
www.EasternGrafix.com
Hanlon Motorsports -
www.HanlonMotorsports.com
HP Tuners -
www.HPTuners.com
Island Dragway -
www.IslandDragway.com
Jersey Devil Detailing -
www.jerseydevildetails.com
Rock Auto –
www.rockauto.com
JS Performance -
www.JSSpeedAndCustom.com
RPM Resto and Custom -
www.rpmrestoandcustom.com
Sick Speed Performance -
www.SickSpeedPerformance.com
Summit Rod and Custom -
www.summitrodandcustom.com
If you or anyone you know would like to sponsor NJFBOA please contact us.
Thanks again for all of your support and for continuing to spread the word about the New Jersey F-Body Owners Association. The finest Camaro and Firebird club in NJ, serving all of NJ!
