How it all began ~ SCION CUSTOMS

Larry and I were sitting in the dealership and wanted to find a way we could be the #1 scion dealers in the state of NC and in our division. After a few days we came up with SCION CUSTOMS. He would dress-up the cars and I would market them on-line for customers, we went to every car show that we could and got ideas. We decided that we were going to #1 no matter what.

Fast forward a few months, we sold a lot of Scions and were on our way. They the craziest idea we had was to start a car club. So I traded in the Matrix and got a 08 xB, and Larry got a company car that we could fix up. We decided to go with all the Toyota upgrades we could on his car and mine aftermarket parts. So the club started with "2". After a few months we picked up two new members. I put on the banners of all the members of the club and that is how you got in

We decided we were going to have a car show at the dealership. Southeast Toyota always has the SCION EXPOSED show in Florida. What better opportunity than to go to SCION "east coast MECCA". After that show we had our show two months later that cost a lot of $$$$$$$$, but we do it for the SCION COMMUNITY. At that time we had 6 members going strong!!!! I promoted the show all over the internet and it was a huge turnout. Much thanks to the other Scion clubs in NC, SC, & VA. We almost had more cars at our show than the Corporate SCION show in Florida!!!

Well after the show the name "SCION CUSTOMS" started to get bigger and bigger, we picked up more members. We met every 2nd Friday night at the dealership like clock work. Then we picked up three excellent members from the Raleigh / Cary area. These members are hard-core. They really embodied what we were looking to do with the club. Have a "few" people that we could connect with in a different city. Our intentions was NOT to grow into a massive car club to take over the world; just a tight nit group of people.

Fast forward to when the gas prices went to $4.00/ gallon. Well that put a strain on the club for traveling to shows and doing events but we kept in contact. Fast forward to today and everyone is talking about how bad the economy is, people losing their jobs, homes, we lost a good group of friends in another Scion club that disbanded and all looked bleak.

Anytime you have a LARGE group of people together as a group, club, association, whatever you will have personality conflicts, jealousy, etc; and we were diffidently not immune to this either. There are always a few leaches, free loaders, and party crashers in any large group. People hate to see others succeed.

Along the way there were some bad decisions made, expectations not met, and some flat-out failures. But through everything we still remain SCION CUSTOMS. Some even challenge the name SCION CUSTOMS, what is the word "customs" mean in the club name???? It can be perceived in so many different ways. I have been a car buff for many years and the word customs could mean, WILD CUSTOM, FULL CUSTOM, SEMI-CUSTOM, MILD CUSTOM, and BEGINNER CUSTOM.

SCION CUSTOMS was based on BEGINNER CUSTOM. You take a basically stock vehicle and begin building on it that is the sole premise behind the SCION Corporate Sales strategy. This is why there is no "trim levels" in SCION just xA, xB, Tc, xD, you can't get an XLE TC, or LE model TC, or LX model TC, just "TC". SCION built the car to be customized as an expression of your personality and some people missed the whole point of the very car that they drive. If you have a bone stock car, but have a CUSTOM audio system you're CUSTOM. If you have a basic looking car but CUSTOM engine bay, you're CUSTOM, if you have a CUSTOM exterior and stock interior and engine, you're CUSTOM. So what is CUSTOM?

A lot of the first members of this club came to it with a $1000 head unit in their car and did not even have $150 worth of window tint. Some came to the club with flat black painted stock wheels, while others bought a SCION that someone else gave them a pretty good head start with from the previous owner. We don't care how you show up to the club; it's about the journey to what you want your car to be. So if you have a STOCK car and you are saving your nickels to get a set of wheels come on over to SCION CUSTOMS. If you bought a turbo charged TC from EBAY come on over to SCION CUSTOMS, if you just want to have a good time with other SCION owners and you have a CUSTOM attitude but not car, come on over to SCION CUSTOMS.

Since day one, we do NOT charge any fee, MAKE you show up to meetings or car shows, etc; it is a VOLUNTEERS ARMY. But I must say this club is all about having fun and actually doing things, NOT the every weekend hang out with all the other local "waiting to get into trouble" clubs out there. This club has the best backing that any other club has out there being sponsored by Rick Hendrick Toyota SCION, what other dealership you know will clear out their cars to have a TWO-DAY event twice a year and earn NO PROFITS and lose SALES to help the SCION COMMUNITY?, I have not seen one yet across America.

Take a look at the groups sections of www.itsmyscion.com . The TOP GROUPS are two other websites, that ARE NOT GROUPS, and a GROUP that every girl with a Scion belongs to (even our members), and two other NATIONAL CORPORATE CAR CLUBS, then you have us SCION CUSTOMS down in little ole' Fayetteville, NC / Fort Bragg as the TOP group in a small town. Not in New York, not L.A., not Miami, in FAYETTEVILLE, NC. WOW!!!!!!! Who can stop us NOW!!!!!!!

See for us, its not about the trophies, its not about my club is bigger than yours, its not about how many of us can out race another club, its about the LOVE of the SCION.

Sometimes you have to restructure for the good of the club. And we are now in a restructure phase. To keep the integrity and strength of the club alive I am in the process of getting a NEW club logo designed. We are implementing a "membership cap". We have not decided how many it will be but soon we will make our determination on how many we will cap the actual club at. There are 6 members that already have a secured spot. This does not mean that other can not associate with the club; just these will be the 10 or 15 or 20 "CORE MEMBERS". When it comes down to decisions for the club these will be the decision-makers as a unit.

We look forward to an awesome year with the club and attending events and putting on our events for the SCION COMMUNITY also. If any of you have any questions you know how to get a hold of me on www.itsmyscion.com/Silverdragon