help me out here!

yeah it would be great to see some new blood or get some of the newbies who post intros to be come regulars.

I am not sure what we can do, but there must be something, let me sink a vodka or two ( I have my best ideas then)

BTW I must sort out the graphics for the race car ASAP for the next round.

I will sort it with his stiggiyness

 

It's not just here, I think it's a sign of the times - The site lacks for nothing
and level of knowledge and helpfulness is way above par.

My solution has been to put stickers on my cars, cars in scrapyards, cars in the street,
and promoting the site in my online sales etc. I always have a bunch of "give-aways" lying in
my car

I think if more people did that, the site would grow as it should.

I've been finding other sites and promoting ST162.net as many of them are basically dead,
Celicas.com being my latest case in point.

What is disturbing is the trend toward spending huge amounts of cash on Steering wheels,
springs, mags, bars, gauges, pods etc - while at the same time basic maintenance has gone out the window.
A recent sad case in point being Spreys old car, which is being crushed as we speak.

Most new owners are young with very little know-how and don't have the cash to have their
cars serviced by dealers. I have tried helping younger owners here only to find there's no oil,
no antifreeze, leaking struts & P/S, cut springs, clogged radiators etc, etc

As a child it was normal for neighbors to switch motors, respray cars etc on the pavement.
That is no longer acceptable in our "PC" society and fathers are no longer passing on their knowledge.

I think the emphasis needs to switch towards basic maintenance articles and keeping the cars on the road.
In NZ owners are scrapping cars rather than changing a head gasket or a busted CV or gearbox.

The cars are reaching the point where gaskets are rotten, gearboxes are failing and many
owners don't know how easy it is to rectify these problems. Rust is another issue which
tackled early and properly shouldn't become the issue it has.

It's concerning to note how many "members" have simply disappeared over the last 2 years -
where are all those cars and owners?

 

Its very hard with the cars in the UK.

case in point a taxed and road legal 162, with mods in tidy nick went for £220 quid, that new owner doesnt care bout the car, its a cheap 6 month ride, thats all.

In the entire Celica club in the UK in their 4th gen forum, there is me and a couple of internet shy posters and thats it.

There is a lady called Zizzi I will try and bring over.

Somehow, we need to up the want and sexy level for these cars, time and time again, we see posters who buy a rough example and lose the passion quickly and move the cars on.

There are a number of great cars with dedicated owners, but unlike some of the clubs I belong to in the uk, we can never organise a global meet. which is where sometimes you can really find inspiration to turn that car into the project you want.

maybe some off the established members could put up some more video footage of there cars, lets all use ST162 tags in our titles, and build some "wow factor" maybe accross youtube.

maybe designate some members, I include myself in this to do as Stig does, sticker up cars, email sellers, link on everysite etc, get us noticed. Thats one side of it, get the newbies in though the door, the other side is keeping the newbies, thats a big challenge.
I agree the level off knowledge on this site is unsuppased, and its easy to access, I just dont know how we can make it more fun, maybe some forum games, some silly threads like word association, captions etc?

 

as alwayzsidewayz pointed out, its not really anything to do with the sight.
The sight is great looks good, full of helpful stuff, great members cars and great group of people.
Ultimately i think these days no one is very interested in these beautiful cars anymore in terms of something to be proud of. I think most members are on here simply to be able to get the info to fix there cars not actually participate. Iv mentioned this site on ozcelica.com a fair few times and iv brought a couple over but most of them even though they agree its a great site. They feel they are members of far to many forums and i think its a case of everyone sticks with where they are comfortable.

no offence but i dont think the comment about "disturbing trends" is going to encourage people to be active in fact prob the opposite effect. I personally like those things and have done most of them. If i was a non active member who wasnt already comfortabel with the site and the people that would make me feel like not posting. Also general maintanence out the window? not so sure i definately maintain my car but i never post up about my latest oil change or coolant top up as its boring and i personally cant see anyone caring.

Anyways the passion to not only maintain but improve these cars seems to be the problem and also most arent going to contribute with out personal gain unless they feel they are accepted/liked. Thats not an easy way to feel bout someone on the other side of the world whom you dont even know the real name of. I certainly felt that way at first regardless of the fact everyone was very nice to me.
wow that was long haha

 

Its a very good point, it must be hard to join a site where you dont know anyone much and feel appreciated.

just an idea, but how bout like a "buddy" system for the forum, stay with me on this, its only my 4th vodka (hic!!)
At school, a long long time ago, when you woz icckle and you went to the big school for the first time, you were asigned a much older kid to kinda look after you a bit and show you the ropes... (please say you can see where this is going, otherwise I will have to explain how I ended up in the girls locker rooms all over again :shock: lol)

maybe some of the more experienced guys and knowledgeable guys could help the new guys in a better way, be it info, links, or just pm ing away to give them confidence.

of course you will get some people who dont needs anything, but I think for others it may work.

just my vodka inspired idea.

 

haha buddy system i remember that! mind you it wasnt as long ago for me haha i like where your going with it but. My thoughts dont have the advantage of being vodka inspired but i am running ond caffeine and will power as iv been up for minimum 36 hrs does that count lol?
Maybe in the the new members thread or even general discussion there should be a sticky topic with info about Mods and prominant members (only if they are willing of coarse) such as email, real names, age, location.
Essentially we are talkin to eachother, you dont wanna just start talking to someone you know nothing about lol

 

cannot hurt, I would be willing to help where I can

(pours 5th vodka...mmm vodka... )

 

Yeah it's a shame to see all this knowledge and expertize go to well..."waste". There's so much god damn info on this site it's ridiculous and not to mention all the helpful people. I will admit that I have never been to another website of any kind that has people who help out each other so much; it's awesome.

Well to contribute I've had "www.st162.net 4th Gen. Celica Community" written in my bio on Xbox Live for as long as I can remember...hehe. Hope this helps/helped a little.

 

I still think it is very disturbing when people can spend $200 on a steering wheel etc,
and can't spend $30 on an oil change and filter etc. I've got nothing against customizing
cars - but, I think the mechanical side should come first!

If people don't like hearing advice like that, perhaps they don't deserve to own a 22yr
old car in the 1st place?

I'm tired of helping people at my time and expense only to find the car at a scrapyard
a few months later.The buddy system can work but be prepared for much heartache.
Last week I had a guy with no money wanting a drivers door, I told him if he spent an
afternoon helping me strip the car (getting to know me, learn stuff etc) he could have
the door for free.
The answer - "Aw na bro, thet sounds like hard work"

My plan was to get some Kiwi's together and then take it offline on weekends with workshops,
swap meets, show days, breakfast runs etc. Sofar the people I've met are from
all over the country and nearly all have serious problems (motor, box related).

Maybe you guys who have large concentrations of cars in your areas can actually
do some of the stuff I'd like to get going here?

I know there are MR2 runs, Dragon runs, Celi days etc overseas and a big part of building up
a car is being able to enjoy it with like-minded people and showing it in public.

 

the way i see it, theres too many other cars out there that have overshadowed the little guys, so they just fade into the background. every other gen celica is veiwed as cool. but not ours. these cars are old, worn out, and in most cases stupid expensive to fix. (if you go to toyota or a shop) their being crushed, beaten, left for dead. like hell half the members on this site have never posted.. like theres just noone who likes these cars. asides from all the regs on here, theres a small following for these cars. the buddy system would work ,but it would be a pita for the few handful's of experienced members on here.

back on topic,
i know i still love my car, the pos that it is. and i know others do too for theirs. thats what makes this place what it is. if some idiot buys a celi for the shear fact of beating it up and junking it, then fuck them. there not worthy of being here. this is and has been the only 4g specific site. if some idiot, or some enthusiast wants to know about these cars, they will find us. i would like to see more media, get more vids out to mainstream news (races, events, ect,.) try to even post an ad in a mag. even just a brief colour ad with the site logo.

someone once said;
"you provide me the media, ill provide you the war."

alot of the new members dont take part in site activities, i guess there just not into it as we are. we cant rely on the newbies to boost this place. sure, new faces always help. but we gotta think big, like for example, every willing 4g celica in canada driving single file down a highway... they will see us whether they like it or not. get news crew to cover it, hell i went to school with a guy who has his own production company. can you say media coverage? well thats my bit. . lol

 

totally agree on the above points, as a ranted about a while back, we do seem to be the unloved gen of celica :evil:

The media thing sounds cool, buts its gettin people to do something, that the hard part,
maybe we could do a site vid? with footage provided from lots of cars, be it just static pictures and a few clips, dropped in with some cool music, and some rally footage and facts.
Then just go mad with it linking it everywhere? I dont have the skills to do this btw, but if we knew someone, it would be cool.

The daft custom side vs mech stuff, know where you are coming from Stig, but, (just being devils advocate) we dont want to become too serious, we all start with doing daft stuff when we are kids, its parting of the learning process.

However if we can help just one or two guys / girls ( why dont we have more chicks on the site btw??) get it together mech wise then the site is making a diff.
you ideas re alocal meet, workshop session etc all sound well cool.

 

and another thing, I have actually not renewed my membership off the first club I joined since I got my car 6 years ago.

no point in paying £20 to be insulted by ST205 drivers when you guys can insult me for free, so gt4oc can stick it. :twisted:

not sure why this is relevant, but I spend most of my forum time here, Celica club uk, as it does lots of local events to me, my sprint forum and Celicatech, that's it.

I love exchanging 4th gen stores with people from all around the world, maybe the site flyers could push this a bit more.

THE global resource for the 4th gen celica, members in x amount of countries etc etc..

Why don't we try and introduce 4th gen celica day, one day when every member has to do something with there car, be it just waste £10 on a drive for the sheer hell of it, or if the cars in the shop, being worked on / built up etc, you have to spend time with the car on that day.
Pics from the day, and maybe a sticker the club can sell saying happy 4th gen Celica day

maybe we could introduce a quiz, where random questions bout the cars are asked, more for, new guys to the cars, and site etc where they have to do some digging on the site to answer the questions. no real prize, but we could rank them from slowest to fastest etc, get a bit of friendly comp going, plus get people to read up more on the site?

 

For Celica day, we should "celibrate" on the first day Celicas were sold, if we can find that out.

The quiz idea sounds fun.

 

well, im new here and i plan to stay. im only seventeen and i want to learn prety much everything i can about cars in general whether it be mechanical stuff or driving techniques. ever since i got my celi ive been trying to learn as much as i could and i guess you could say that has been effected by my lack of funds. as far a meets and everything, most of you guys are separated by large bodies of water from me so.. yeah. and btw stig, i would have loved to help you strip that car and learn stuff about cars while doing it.

 

I raise you your vodka and your rum a double shot of 12 year old jameson! I have this idea and call me crazy but i really really think this could be a good thing for the site. Lets advertise like crazy, make up some interenet banners and slap them on websites, i know someone of you have to own your ownwebsites or a myspace or facebook or something. I saw a little car club send a few pics into a tuner mag a couple months back and the mag published a little readers rides thing about the club with some pics of their baddest cars. lets get a couple pics of the bad ass 4th gens and send them in to a mag under readers rides and then promote the website like that. i rock a st162.net sticker on my drum kit lol!