I'm all for a car-show and cook out, however my 4Runner is hardly car-show material. It badly needs the hood repainted, and doesn't have a single mod on it. Although once the hood is painted and I put a coat of wax on it, it still looks like brand new which is rare for a 15 year old 4Runner.
One thing to understand, dealers get involved for one reason only...they want a larger customer base. In this particular case, I chose to seek out the dealer, not the other way around.
Having helped during the start-up and expansion of both TTORA and TTR, I understand who and what can make a well organized club with benefits for its members. Anyone can start a "club" and do meetings, but my intent is to get a well established Toyota club in the North Central/East US that is supported by manufactures and business. This translates in to better events, more support, bigger network, cooler swag, more members and so on.
To date, I have involved (and gotten a commitment) from Discount tire, Rocktek Customs, and SunRocket (i will explain later). When it is appropriate (after I get a commitment out of the local Toyota dealer) I will broach the conversation with Toytec, Baja, Mombasa, Expedition one, ARB, Iron Man, and even perhaps CBI.
My intent is to set something up that we can enjoy, and we can potentially take advantage of some benefits. I have some work ahead of me and I will have to invest some time and money, but in the end we will have a useful club and a perhaps our own ORV park.
