Car Culture Links

Forward Motion (http://hofstra.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6098467175) is a local car club of mostly college-aged students. This applies to my pitch because they are one of the clubs I’m going to concentrate on especially because they are local. The group lets me know what they’re up to and it’s a way for me to contact them.

Long Island has a club of Nissan 350Z drivers and they have a forum for communication: http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=211367&postid=2296881. This forum will help me learn about what Long Islanders talk about in terms of their cars. From this I can also learn what they’re interested in and maybe find out if they are going to meet anywhere and that would be a nice photo opportunity.

A Wall Street Journal article (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120422248421700325.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo) talks about how Japan’s youth are no longer so interested in cars and how designers are trying to make vehicles more appealing. Although this isn’t local, the idea can add another angle to my story. What about Long Island car culture? Is that sliding as well? How do young people on Long Island feel about cars and owning them?

An Evo (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution) forum for New Yorkers: http://forums.evo-ny.com/index.php#1. It has information about meets, car parts, modifications, the new Evo X, etc. While reading through some threads I think I saw something about a female Evo driver, but I’m going to have to look into that. If I have the time to go to a meet or two, maybe I’ll run into a female driver.

The New York Auto Show: http://www.autoshowny.com/. When I actually go there I can probably find out some current information on new cars. And, of course, it will be a great picture opportunity. The relevance is that there will be lots of new cars and lots of people interested in cars…it doesn’t hurt to make some friends.

NY State Assemblyman Jim Conte endorses legislation in support of street rod and custom car enthusiasts: http://assembly.state.ny.us/member_files/010/20071010/ with Assembly Bill A.6484. What does that mean for custom car culture? "I am proud to support this legislation because it will make an important difference in assisting street rod and custom car enthusiasts," Conte said. Maybe now the question should be, is there anything stopping custom car enthusiasts and the growth of car culture on Long Island?

http://evolutionm.net/ has all the news an Evo enthusiast would need. The relevance is that the Evo is one of the popular cars on Long Island and to do a story on car culture one should probably get the scoop on some of the cars involved.

I’ve worked with Chimera Car Club before and they’re a good contact. Their forum, http://chimeramotoring.com/forums/index.php, like many of the others is helpful in gaining information about cars and driving roads, etc. They started the club in hopes of making it into something bigger. I can see where they are now and how car culture has affected their growth. http://chimeramotoring.com/about.php

A community of Subaru Impreza WRX/STi enthusiasts: http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/. This is another one of the popular vehicles on Long Island. Again, it helps to know about the cars that people work with here. What’s the best car to have on Long Island? What’s the best sports car to have on Long Island? Most popular modifications?

http://www.girl-torque.co.uk/ is a site geared toward female car enthusiasts. Although it’s a UK site and is not even close to being local, I’m sure there is a lot to learn from female car enthusiasts.

Racing and driving really fast cars…definitely a part of car culture http://gumball144.com//. This site has a lot of information on car culture and again, even though it’s not Long Island, there are always things to learn in different places. Maybe some of these things will reach the Island…or maybe they have and I have yet to find them.

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