For most of us certain things just seem to go together. For example, when we think of pizza, beer automatically comes to mind, or when you think of fish, you think chips. Well when I think of South Phoenix I think back to the days of cruising Central and low riders. Recently I had the opportunity to hang out with a relative of mine and his car club. After hearing a lot of the things that they do within the club, it started to remind me of something like a homeowner’s association.

For starters, in order to be in the club, your car can not be "stock." That means you have to have added some "upgrades" to it. For example, you put different rims and tires, or you added pinstripe to your car. The members are very into the appearance of their cars. This is where it starts to seem like a home owner’s association. Lets say my car’s windshield has a crack, or my bumper is dented, it is up to me to fix these problems, or risk being thrown out of the club. They are also required to pay member dues at the end of each month. This particular club’s dues are $25 a month. The dues go towards various useful things such as assistance if one can not come up with the money to fix their car, funeral expenses, trips, etc.

There are three chapters to their car club. One in Phoenix, Texas, and Nevada. The club has been around for several years and has around 60 members. The interesting thing that I found was that "members" are not the actual individuals themselves, but rather the cars. The reason for this is because it is easy for other car clubs to boast 100-150 members, but in actuality may only have 45 cars. In the world of car clubs, it is all about the cars and not the people.

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