Websites for classic and marque car clubs
An established car club's website does more than show cars. It signs up and renews members, lists every chapter's events, keeps decades of tech articles and back issues for members, and has to keep working after the volunteer who built it moves on. Elimenti designs and rebuilds websites for national and regional clubs devoted to one make or a family of makes, anywhere in the US, usually on WordPress.
What an established club's site has to handle
- A members-only area. Some pages are for everyone, and some are what members pay dues for. The site has to know the difference.
- Joining and renewing. Join and renewal have to work with the membership system the club already uses, so the treasurer isn't keying in records twice. How the two connect is scoped in the proposal.
- Events. A calendar for national and chapter events, with registration, and the details people check before they drive three hours: date, place, schedule and rules.
- A technical library. Manuals, tech articles and back issues, organized so a member can find the one on their model and year, with member-only access where the club wants it.
- A forum. Where members ask the questions the library doesn't answer yet.
- Chapter pages. Each chapter with its own contacts and events, run by its own volunteers, inside one site that looks like one club.
- The newsletter or magazine archive. Past issues kept in one place instead of in someone's inbox.
Why WordPress usually fits a club
- Volunteers can update it. Chapter heads and the newsletter editor each get their own login and edit their part of the site, without calling anyone.
- Standard plugins, no lock-in. Memberships, events and forums run on widely used WordPress plugins rather than code only one person understands. Any premium licenses are in the club's name.
- The next webmaster can pick it up. Club volunteers change. WordPress is common enough that whoever takes over next has likely used it, and any WordPress developer can step in.
- A real handover. At launch, the club gets written documentation of how the site is put together and admin access to everything, plus a walkthrough for the people who'll edit it.
WordPress needs regular updates to stay current. Site Care covers them, plus backups, for $175 a month, so that job doesn't land on a volunteer. About WordPress websites →
Moving off an old platform
Many clubs run on Joomla, a hand-built HTML site from years ago or a Wix site that has outgrown itself. Moving off one comes down to a few steps:
- Take stock. List what the current site holds: pages, library files, past events, forum posts and how members log in today.
- Decide what moves. Some content comes across as it is, some gets archived and some is retired. The club makes those calls with us.
- Build the new site. Designed and written around how members and new visitors actually use it.
- Keep old links working. Old addresses point to their new pages, so links in past newsletters and search results still land somewhere useful.
- Switch over. The club's domain points to the new site, and the club keeps every account in its own name.
Moving old content, such as library files, past events and forum posts, is scoped and priced separately in the proposal, because one club's archive is fifty pages and another's is twenty years of back issues.
1 of 1 Car Club
We designed and custom-coded the site for 1 of 1 Car Club, a private Porsche club based in Chicago and Dallas. The collection page runs from a single data file, so adding a car means editing one entry and dropping in photos, with no redesign. The membership application asks what the club needs to know and sends it straight to the club's inbox. Read the case study →
Built by someone who's run a club
Our founder co-founded Red Devils Garage and organized its charity car meet in the Hinsdale Central High School parking lot. More than 200 cars came out, and it raised $10,000 for HCS Family Services. We also handle the event pages for Burdi Clothing's car shows in Hinsdale. We know what members and guests look for before they show up.
Running a small or invitation-only club instead? See car club websites →
Questions clubs ask
Can our volunteers update the site?
Yes. On WordPress, each volunteer who needs it gets their own login, and at launch we walk them through how to edit their part of the site: events, chapter news, posts and photos. The club also gets written documentation, so the next volunteer isn't starting from scratch.
Can you work with our existing membership system or CRM?
That's where we start. Joining and renewing should run through the system the club already keeps its records in. How the website connects to it depends on the system, so we look at it before the proposal and scope the connection there, with the price in writing. If a system can't connect the way the club needs, we'll say so before anything is signed.
Do you work with clubs outside Chicago?
Yes. We take projects anywhere in the US, and every project runs over video calls, so distance doesn't change the process. 1 of 1 Car Club is based in Chicago and Dallas.
How is moving our old content priced?
Separately from the new site, in the same written proposal. We look at what the current site holds, such as library files, past events and forum posts, agree with the club on what moves, and price that work on its own line before anything starts.
Pricing and next step
Everything is scoped to the project, and projects start at $4,000. Copywriting, a basic SEO setup and up to three rounds of revisions are included. Membership connections and moving old content are scoped and priced in the proposal.