Thoughts Re: The SyTy "Community".

[DaveP]

Over the years, there have been numerous gatherings for SyTy owners and enthusiasts. Occassionaly someone entered thier SyTy in a general interest car show, and shared it on .net. General interest car shows expose SyTy to a broader audience of car people.

I don't usually attend general interest car shows. Not my deal. But this past weekend I attended a long-established car show in Pismo Beach, California. About 500 cars, they close off a few streets, widely attended by people from all over the Central California Valley. I was invited up by a guy that has entered cars in this show for 17 consecutive years, that I've been helping with getting his Syclone and 93 blk/blk Typhoon sorted out. He and his son brought them out and parked them side by side. He's been in SyTy's barely a year, but now has a pair of very nice trucks that with significant effort and expense have become great representive examples of what stock Syclones and Typhoons were back in the day.

I was surprised at the interest in them, especially the Syclone. Lots of "I know about these, but have never seen one" comments. Unlike conversation regarding Corvettes, I never heard "I used to have one" or, "my brother's, father-in-law's, cousin's, best friend, used to have one" regarding Syclone or Typhoon.

The interest in SyTy still exists but how, or can, we capitalise on it? My friend has information-boards he displays with his cars at shows that have the stats and facts regarding the car on display. He changes the insert in the holder depending on which of his 10+ cars he's showing. I was thinking of asking him to add a blurb along the lines of "for furthur information please visit SyTyregistry.com" to his poster board. But on second thought, why?

Many OG's became owners because of the truck, but stayed because of The Community on .net. The SyTy Community has pretty much disbanded. Not like it was even as recently as 4 years ago, which was Nats BG 2013. Something has happended. The glow is gone. And now it has splintered into three groups. I still like the trucks and I cherish the friendships I've developed over the 20 years of SyTy involvement, but I miss the day-to-day activity and comraderie of The Community we had on .net and Chat.

The bottom line is that three seperate entities is not condusive to having the cohesive group we used to take for granted. Owners can put a blurb on their poster boards at car shows, but if guys actually check the site(s) out, there isn't much of interest on any of them. The Powers That Be have got to figure out how to consolidate the three sites back into one, or what little activity is left is going to evaporate completely.

So the conclusion for this diatribe is: Are there any thoughts regarding how to re-kindle the enthusiasm for the SyTy Community? It's the networking of owners and enthusiasts that will know where the parts and knowledge are, which is important to keeping them running and therefore the desirability and interest in general that will attract and retain future SyTy peeps. Like my friend that is so enthusiastic he brought his two, that he's owned for less than a year, to a car show to share with others. He was rewarded for his effort by seeing other car people show the same enthusiasim for his trucks as he has. He should be sharing his experience here, not me. We need guys like this in the community. How do we hook them?

Thanks for reading.
DaveP

[Baythan]

IMO the splintering of the "groups" can do nothing but hurt the already limping enthusiasm. Obviously, for a number of reasons, it had to happen. But it leaves a bad taste when OG'ers bicker and split.

But you're right...the main ember that keeps this community together is barely hanging on. And it happened pretty quickly....just a few years ago we were absolutely amped to be a part of Carlisle. I don't know the numbers this year, but there's just not the same energy around it and I'm guessing there will be fewer trucks.

Maybe it's just cyclical...and this is a down period for our brand. And maybe it will come back. Or maybe we've said everything that could be said, and done everything that could be done to these trucks. At least in the Corvette world, they're still being made and new stuff to talk about.

I still get positive feedback at "regular" car shows (a little) and love the truck (when it's not leaking) and have enough local friends to keep the fire lit.

[sytyguy]

It's obvious the community is diminished. The new breed is not "hardcore" for the most part (there are exceptions mind you) and look to simply scratch an itch or cash in on a quick flip or don't realize what they're getting into. Every year that goes by, the trucks get more finicky and temperamental and this discourages a lot of new owners. Wouldn't surprise me to see some trucks with 15-20 different owners. So, for the most part, we're squeezing the life of this group from the older members and few devoted new guys. That doesn't lend itself to a flourishing group or even marginal growth.

That, in itself, is one of the reasons we started this project....to accurately portray the trucks publicly (read increased value/awareness/owner type), to consolidate correct info and history, and to preserve the cumulative knowledge and data from our community for the future. Another is that we felt that .net was getting nowhere, both in Keith not working to improve the site (forum upgrade, etc...) and in the content kind of circling the drain. Lastly, we hoped to consolidate the community into a more focused and productive way of thinking about our narrative/information/truck values/etc.... This forum is to spearhead that with more streamlined conversations, cleaned up threads of critical info, preserved content that is easy to locate and digest, stimulating content that is new to the community, and still allow for the lighter side of things.

I too miss the old days. But the truth is that the community has diversified into different entities. Learning to embrace the new owner, nurture the potential hardcore owner, and still be relevant to the seasoned owner who has seen it all and is attending to hang out with buddies is the challenge we now face. This is no easy task and something we're gonna all work at, failing at times, but hopefully wind up with a more polished and homogeneous group as a result.

I compare our group more to the TTAs/GNs and Lightnings (though their numbers and awareness dwarf ours). Has anyone had their finger on that group's pulse over the last 2 decades to see how they've handled these changes/challenges? Curious if we can learn from their mistakes/successes.

[Captain Morgan]

Read this late last night but did not have the consciousness to reply, so here we go.

Interest... that word can be very vague. I think what my people feel at car shows when coming upon a Syclone or Typhoon is intrigue or fascination over genuine interest. I would say less than half of the people who ooh and aah over these trucks at a car show even bother looking up anything about them and out of that less than half, even less look into buying or owning one. How do you cater to that 15%, basically like you alluded to above, put something on there like "for more info, please visit sytyregistry.com". By putting something right in their face that gives them direction and correct information is not only a way to increase that number of people looking, but it would also show them that there is a community for these trucks, a following, others who do show a passion and love for these trucks. So that should hopefully answer your question WHY. Without the URL on there, you're going to lose a ton of people who will walk onto the next car and just say to themselves "ill have to look that up when I get home", and then never do, I know I've done it numerous times over the years and/or don't remember it until weeks or months later. Another way to think about is, if you're not advertising or helping to drum up traffic, you're definitely not helping the current situation at all either.

The same "interest" can be seen all over social media. When a SyTy picture is shared on AWD Army on facebook, or moderndayhotrods or gmefi posts one on IG, they get tons of props, tons of likes, but nobody is going out and selling their WRX to buy a Syclone.

Unfortunately in todays horsepower wars, these trucks are not very attractive to the new generation of auto enthusiasts. Ones that are in nice shape, run well, don't need a lot of work are going to be on the expensive side and when it comes down to it, slow compared to everything else that would be in that price range. Everything else is going to require work (which people don't want to do), require parts that are expensive and hard to find, and in the end are still going to be slower than what someone can do to an Evo or WRX. Instead of blowing $1000-$2000 on cladding, they can put that into making it faster, with parts that are cheaper and more readily available on an OBD2 computer that isn't outdated technology.

IMO, the people who are looking to buy a SyTy these days are;

1. the person who wanted one in HS but couldn't afford one when it was new
2. the person who has disposable income and thinks they would make a fun toy
3. the person who is buying it for the history or is a GM diehard
4. the person who doesn't know any better

Nobody is going out and buying a SyTy because their neighbor just got a new C7 or a Gen5 Camaro.

As for the community, it's definitely still there, its just hiding right now. Many of us who were super active 4, 5, 10 years ago have gotten older and have more stuff to deal with. Renz, Adam and myself are prime examples of that, but we are still here doing what we can, its just tougher to drop everything and go to a large (or small) event sometimes. The community has always been divided to a degree, whether it be between east and west, syclones and typhoons, sytys and sgts, v8 vs v6..... there will always be division, arguments and rivalry, not all of it is bad. Now I'm not quite sure what the three sites are, last I checked there was .net and ISTR. ISTR includes sportmachines, sytysogt.com, the FB group, as well as Instagram, Twitter, and just about every other syty entity except .net and we offered in multiple ways to help clean up and revive that pre-existing site but was unable to do so.

ISTR was created for the main purpose to gather and display correct information, but to also gather everyone "under one roof" if you will. We are very close to resurrecting what would somewhat resemble the ISTA membership and many of the things that existed in the community 20 years ago with some updated flare. We obviously cannot do this overnight and we understand there is going to be resistance to something "new", but we feel over time, once people see the benefits of being not only a member but the resourcefulness of everything we are trying to accomplish, the community will start healing itself.

As for shows or Carlisle in particular, I cannot really comment on what will be, however I see no reason why it would be smaller than years past. So far the numbers look very promising with I believe over 20 trucks registered already and I know Tom is hoping for 50 which he feels is not impossible, I can't really understand where the negative outlook is coming from. All I can say is it should be an exciting event for those that go.

Enthusiasm is contagious, so is negativity and deprecation, so whenever one seems to come out strongest will win. If more members would be supportive of each other, promote positive things, support what we are trying to accomplish with ISTR, maybe we could all collectively turn this community around.

[DaveP]

.... like you alluded to above, put something on there like "for more info, please visit sytyregistry.com". By putting something right in their face that gives them direction and correct information is not only a way to increase that number of people looking, but it would also show them that there is a community for these trucks, a following, others who do show a passion and love for these trucks. So that should hopefully answer your question WHY [to put the blurb on there]..

Excellent response. He has 10+ cars, and shows different ones at different events. I don't know when he's taking the Sy and Ty out again, but I'll make the suggestion to add the blurb to his info boards. Thanks.

I'm curious to see the participation for Carlisle this year. If it's an increase over last year, I may be interested in the event in the future. As I said in the "who's going" thread, the $1000 hit for Carslile as an add-on to a trip I'm already doing anyway is too pricey for this poor-boy for an event that the itinerary shows two days of "hang out in the hotel parking lot" as "activities". BTDT. I'm sure the Trucks at Carlisle is an attraction in itself, but at $1000, I still have to pass.

The "three sites" are sytyregistry, *********, and the FB group.

EDIT: LMAO!!!! at what the dirty-word filter caught. Too cool. :tup:

[Captain Morgan]

Excellent response. He has 10+ cars, and shows different ones at different events. I don't know when he's taking the Sy and Ty out again, but I'll make the suggestion to add the blurb to his info boards. Thanks.

I'm curious to see the participation for Carlisle this year. If it's an increase over last year, I may be interested in the event in the future. As I said in the "who's going" thread, the $1000 hit for Carslile as an add-on to a trip I'm already doing anyway is too pricey for this poor-boy for an event that the itinerary shows two days of "hang out in the hotel parking lot" as "activities". BTDT. I'm sure the Trucks at Carlisle is an attraction in itself, but at $1000, I still have to pass.

The "three sites" are sytyregistry, *********, and the FB group.

EDIT: LMAO!!!! at what the dirty-word filter caught. Too cool. :tup:

I need to update that Carlisle thread, of course everyone that is going may not be on here, so it won't necessarily an accurate count, but as long as people register correctly under SyTy Sportmachines, Tom can call and get an accurate count of who has registered.

In addition to the advertising of this place or ISTR in general, none us want to cram it down peoples throats, that's not what this is about. We are going to advertise and promote when its proper, but constant spamming of the site is not going to help. If everyone helped give hints or links here and there, it would became second nature, which we feel will happen over time, so we're just being patient.

As for the three sites, its still really 2, the FB group is not going to go anywhere and is part of this community, we have designed this site to work with, embrace and take advantage of social media in every way possible.

and as for the word filter..... it was done on another site first for sytyregistry.com so we only felt it proper to reciprocate the action.

[Eggr]

I believe Dave is referring to my son George and I. Dave was gracious enough to drive 2.5 hours (each way) to join us at the Pismo Beach Father's Day car show. As Dave mentioned, I have a number of muscle cars and some newer cars that we take to shows. ( I have been dragging my wife and kids to shows for years). I am 57 and have always been into cars. In 1991 I had my first experience with a Syclone. I was in my 1991 L98. 6 speed convertible Corvette when I got next to a little black pick up. The light changed and he went. At the time, even though the L98 was near the end of production, there weren't a lot of mods for it. What mods there were, I had. The Syclone left and I hit it hard and was shifting as hard and as fast as I could. He surprised me, to say the least. Ever since then, I've wanted one. A little over a year ago we started looking for one. We found one that was in decent shape. Last summer, George and I went to Carlisle to learn as much as we could from established SyTy owners. Everyone treated us like they had known us for years. We learned a lot and had a great time. We asked around about who we should talk to in the L.A. area to help us with our truck. As you all know, these trucks are different than almost anything else. Even though I have been around American muscle cars all of my life, I knew almost nothing about turbo V6s. Many people suggested I speak to DaveP. When I got home I got in touch with him about working on our Syclone. Dave was willing to help us out and we are eternally grateful. Not only is he extremely knowledgeable, but he is a great guy as well. He has helped us on numerous occasions including going out of his way to come to us to help work on our trucks. We are grateful. We have since bought a 1993 Typhoon and he has talked me through a number of problems. Yes, we are new to the SyTy community. I certainly can't speak to the past SyTy community but I can tell you that every SyTy owner we have spoken to has been very welcoming and willing to help us. We love the trucks and everywhere we take them, people gather around them. People love them. I saw the suggestion about adding a blurb on the poster inserts to mention the website. We will be glad to do so. I know we may be getting to the party a little late, but I hope that we will be able to attend as many Syty gathering as possible (we took them to the local Cars and Coffee event this morning). Thank you to everyone who has stepped up to help us out. Hope to see you at future events.

[TNPhoon]

Too long to reply to the community aspect of it right now, but regarding interest at car shows and whatnot - I have a laminated quick "About" paper that I put on the windshield that says for additional information about this truck, scan this QR code or go to http://tnphoon.wixsite.com/1of28

I need to update that website, but I wanted to start a website dedicated to the truck and it's history without having to post it on 3 different sites.

[JoeSupra]

Its this community that gave me a reason why I bought my Typhoon last year in the first place. Ever since I went to the 2010 Hooters Meet in Mapleshade NJ wit my Blazer with a Typhoon swap, I knew from that day on I needed a real Typhoon. I saw what a great community it was just from that little meet. I knew I had to be a part of it. It was awesome to see what respect people had for the trucks and the respect they gave me after talking to each owner about the Trucks. Coming from the Supra community which is also a great community, it doesn't compare because its now filled with people who bought a Supra just so they can say they have a Supra or a bunch of flippers. This community is filled in my eyes with die hard enthusiasts. That's what I like to see cause that's how I am with Supra's. I am still new to Sy/Ty's and mine is nothing to brag about but Im hoping I can fill the same spot as I do in the Supra community but in the Sy/Ty community eventually.

[SyTyRegistry]

I think Morgan's response is exactly my same feelings regarding enthusiasm and ownership.

In 2 days, I will have owned my Syclone for 19 years. While I missed out on the true "beginnings" of the SyTySoGT group (but not by very much) with the starting of an email group - which I joined in 1997, I have most definitely been around for the majority of the evolution of this group from mail list, to forum, and social media platforms. I have taken part of the change throughout these past 19 years and have watched both the positive and negative effects it has. This group is most certainly NOT anything like it was 6-10 years ago....and honestly, that is a good thing, otherwise this community would probably cease to exist or be much more smaller than it currently is. We dont want to shrink. We want to grow bigger than we've ever seen. The age old saying.... change is good.

I have personally have gone through my stages of enthusiasm for these trucks. I have done the hardcore thing where I involve myself in every aspect. Ive also grown tired and overwhelmed by things where I step back and "go invisible" for a bit (but still pay attention) to take a break from wanting to participate. Ive had seriously good times with my truck. There have been plenty of times where I threw up my hands in disgust and walked away for months and even years (yes, Ive let my truck go 1-2 years before without touching it) and threatened to sell it before I returned to finish whatever it was that pissed me off. But, Ive never lost the enthusiasm and have always returned.

This is a pretty special and very unique group. With the mystique and still unknown aspects of our truck's history, it keeps ownership interesting for me. Im not part of many other car groups so I dont know if the comradery follows suit with all car groups, but the fact that still today I still see total strangers offer up personal help with places to stay or rescuing someone stranded in their area still blows my mind.

To continue on Morgan's explanation of ISTR, we also have the goal set with ISTR is to bring something new into the community and actually create a better organized and professional group that is recognized not only by ourselves, but other groups and industry leaders too. We dont want to be just about a forum. In fact, this forum is not the main focus of ISTR due to there are other aspects of ownership we want to promote, improve upon, and maintain. This forum is meant as a hub for ownership interaction and being able to find correct data quickly and easily without having to sift through years of misinformation like you would on other sites. It's taken 25 years, but there is more TV coverage and internet articles today than there ever has been. Values are back on the rise. We now have multiple channels to communicate and reach out to both current and future owners with social media (facebook, instagram, twitter, etc). But like Morgan already said, this is not an overnight change and it will take considerable time for those to see the change and note that what we are doing with ISTR is for the betterment of this community that we pour our heart and time into just because we love these trucks. We have some insane ideas where we want to take ISTR.....some are going to be easily executed, others will take some time to make happen. ISTR is still in the early stages but time and the support from owners will push it forward and help make it grow and showing new owners that there is a network of knowledgable and skilled owners out there is what we need to expand.

Enthusiasm is contagious. Supporting ISTR and what we are doing by help spreading the message is something that doesnt seem like a big deal, but it does indeed help. This thread is already proof with Dave telling his story about an owner and a few posts down, there he is posting. That is awesome and shows the power of verbal communication. We are working on promotion things, re-introducing old techniques with a new flare (Storm spotting cards for example) and throwing in some twists and benefits to make it worth the effort to want to be a part of ISTR and put value into your dedication as a SyTySoGT owner.

ISTR is a change. It's new. It's still confusing for some while others see the goals. The road hasnt been entirely paved yet for ISTR, but that's where the excitement and enthusiasm comes in.....because with the support of everyone who joins, we all get to help pave that road.

[NM_TY_Guy]

I have not been around here long but I'll give my insight and opinion of the community for what it is worth. First I do not write as eloquently as some here and it keeps me from posting at times so I apologize ahead of time. I've owned my first TY just over 2 years now shortly after owning it I was told about .net from a co worker who owned a SY at the time. I attempted to join but never got accepted until one day saw mention of it on the FB page once I commented on a post and was finally able to join .net. This is the biggest reason I believe the community has shrunk. People go thru the process to register then are never added for whatever reason (maybe this is part of the reason for the splitting in to 2 forums?). The other reason I think people may not get involved is the way newbies are treated on the forums I get that they sometime come with crazy different ideas and questions that have been answered or are irrelevant but who wants to learn and be involved if your treated like a jerk in the beginning before people have given you a chance or you had a chance to learn who is who and who knows best. The forums and FB group helped me to realize SY TY's are not all elusive and that I really wanted a white one so I bought a second " basket case" 93 white TY Partly in thanks to the forum and the research i should've done before I hastely went out and bought my first one just because it was close by. I do appreciate Dave P and his knowledge and while I don't know all that the admins disagree about I've learned alot from reading his post (pre deletion period too bad his knowledge was ripped out). Having 2 forums during a time when forums are becoming obsolete is frankly well, stupid I know you guys (ISTR) want to do something different but personally feel everything can be accomplished in just one forum and hope you all will resolve your differences sooner than later. I would love to attend Carlisle and meet many of the people most of whom I've gotten to know from the FB "group" I think attending the event would be a blast tho I admit I am not a big partyer or drinker and feel the cost involved to hang out will prolly keep me from making the trip along with the fact I work Saturdays and taking time off is always an issue. This seems like a bit of gibberish and even tho I have questioned deleting it I hope my opinion is helpful.