UC History

[Trollhole]

I know some of you think I have been around UC before there was even a Land Cruiser being made but that isn't so. I'm actually a newbie compared to some of our members. As well I really only have a limited history of how UC came to be. I thought it would be interesting for us to put together a thread trying to outline some of the history of UC and some of the events and places we did over the years. David Harrison is certainly going to be needed on this thread as he is one of the original founding fathers of the club.

This year UC officially turns 15 though I believe we are quite older than that. So if you have anything to add in here post up and we can try to get all this into some sort of order.

 

[Trollhole]

Officers

 

[Trollhole]

Events

 

[Trollhole]

Found this in a letter I wrote for the annual sponsors in June of 06.

"About Upstate Cruisers:

Originally formed in the early 90’s UC became an official club recognized with the TLCA (Toyota Land Cruiser Association) in June of 2000. Since then the club has grown to over 50 strong. We include member from all over South Carolina and some from North Carolina. We do many trail rides every year and try to include all Land Cruisers from the 40 series to the 100 series. We also have adopted a stretch of highway and keep it trash free all year. We work with the local trails around our area to promote and maintain them so they will be around for many years to come. We are a growing club and expect to grow even further when the new Toyota Cruiser arrives in 2006. We currently are one of the more active clubs on www.IH8MUD.com."

 

[Trollhole]

Mission Statement.

The Upstate Cruisers is a fellowship dedicated to the preservation, promotion and enjoyment of the legendary Land Cruiser. We endorse the protection of Nature as well as assist in the welfare of our society through active community involvement. Our core value is based on demonstration of respect and dignity among our members and citizens alike.

 

[99UZJay]

Neat stuff, may have to make a position for "Club Historian" and make you it...

 

[informationjunky]

David, Alan, Henry Cox I think were the founders. Henry's son Nathan, Bruce ?? drove a light blue 40,



"Most of you may see this on the LCML,but wanted to post it here as well.
The first meeting of "Upstate Cruisers" will be Sat. June 5th at 10AM untill,
at the Devils Fork State Park on Lake Jocassee off Hwy.11 near Salem,S.C.
A chickenbog dinner will be served,as long as it lasts,bring your own drinks.
Anyone in the upstate of S.C. ,or surrounding area,who would like to be part
of this club,just drop me a line,for more info and directions.

Henry Cox TLCA # 5964
'71 fj40, '76 fj55, '91 fj80"

 

[the gimpey one]

the history is neat and all but i would like to see the old pics!!

 

[Capt. Jim]

I remember an early ride up to Alan's family cabin. From memory, we had 5 40's: Alan's, David Harrison's, Bruce Hulick's, Jonathan's (? yellow FJ40 from NC), and Henry Cox's. Myself, Barry Robertson, and perhaps Henry's son Nathan were there. It was the first time I met Alan and Henry.

 

[Capt. Jim]

One topic of discussion at that trail ride was getting the club's by-laws written. As we had just written our Florida club's by-laws, Barry and I gave Alan and David a copy of ours and the UC by-laws were then modeled after them.

As a footnote, many of us had already met on the LCML (Land Cruiser Mailing List) which was a very primitive version of Mud. I think the internet was a big factor in pulling all of us together, not only for UC but the national Land Cruiser family as a whole. I remember David H. used to sign his name on his LCML posts there as "David of Pumpkintown". He was literally shocked when I, as a Floridian, first asked him if that was Pumpkintown, South Carolina. (For those of you who have been to P-town, I think you can see how shocking this could be. )I believe that was the mid to late 90's. The culmination where we pretty much met in-person, in some cases a year or two after meeting on-line, was at GSMTR. Some of the old LCML posts still show up when googled.

The LCML was also the driving force that got the Florida Land Cruiser Association started. I remember how shocked I was to find there were similar LC fanatics literally just blocks away from my house. The great thing is the all the great friendships and networks that have developed and stayed solidly intact for years and years. Many of us have watched each-others kids grow up and get their first vehicle, Toyota, of course. My oldest daughter's first vehicle was a Red FJ80 that was Alan's daughter's first vehicle, that was Alan's wife's vehicle. I have bought and sold the same vehicles back and forth to other members more than once. I know many of our trucks have been in-bred with parts from each-other's vehicles.

Sometimes I think we're just getting started....

 

[Trollhole]

David, Alan, Henry Cox I think were the founders. Henry's son Nathan, Bruce ?? drove a light blue 40,

"Most of you may see this on the LCML,but wanted to post it here as well.
The first meeting of "Upstate Cruisers" will be Sat. June 5th at 10AM untill,
at the Devils Fork State Park on Lake Jocassee off Hwy.11 near Salem,S.C.
A chickenbog dinner will be served,as long as it lasts,bring your own drinks.
Anyone in the upstate of S.C. ,or surrounding area,who would like to be part
of this club,just drop me a line,for more info and directions.

Henry Cox TLCA # 5964
'71 fj40, '76 fj55, '91 fj80"

John what year was that?

 

[Trollhole]

Neat stuff, may have to make a position for "Club Historian" and make you it...

Jay one thing you can do is look on the presidents trophy and copy what officers we had during each year. That is the most correct accounting we have. I've got the original paperwork mary sent me on who was who but I cannot find it.

Gabe, David has a ton of VHS tapes on the clubs rides back in the days. I pretty much have all the club pictures and videos from 05 and on including TLCA articles, chapter reports, rosters, and just about anything else we had back then. I also have quite a few pics I saved from events the club had prior to 05.

Maybe we could see if we could get the club to pay to have David's tapes converted over to a format we can save on the clubs FTP site.

 

[Gundy]

Goodness gracious. I have a ton of VHS stuff from the very beginning.
Horse Pasture, Tellico etc.
I found a place to convert to digital but have yet to get by there.
The club was born at a Chinese restaurant in Clemson where Henry and I formally met
to try to bring the Cruiser crowd together. Scribbled the name Upstate Cruisers
on napkin. Wish I had that napkin.
I also have quite a collection of the early newsletters Henry produced.
Heck I have TLCA newsletters from when Gary just ran off black and white
stuff and stapled them together. That was before UC.
I had done a couple of GSMTRs before there was a UC.
Jim and I actually first met in person at GSMTR on a trail.
We knew each other from the LCML.
I'll get some tapes converted and post them to my Youtube
channel soon.
I'll try to get it done next week or two.
Some are a HOOT!

 

[steenh]

I have a big tub of old stuff from Mary that I got when I took the Treasurer job 4 yrs ago (and passed on to Lenny this year). Not sure where it is, or how far back it goes but I'll see if I can dig it out. I remember when I got that stuff when I started as Treasurer, that I was such a newbie! Still feel that way after almost 6 years in this crowd. I do know that I still have no mechanical skills!

 

[the gimpey one]

Goodness gracious. I have a ton of VHS stuff from the very beginning.
Horse Pasture, Tellico etc.
I found a place to convert to digital but have yet to get by there.
The club was born at a Chinese restaurant in Clemson where Henry and I formally met
to try to bring the Cruiser crowd together. Scribbled the name Upstate Cruisers
on napkin. Wish I had that napkin.
I also have quite a collection of the early newsletters Henry produced.
Heck I have TLCA newsletters from when Gary just ran off black and white
stuff and stapled them together. That was before UC.
I had done a couple of GSMTRs before there was a UC.
Jim and I actually first met in person at GSMTR on a trail.
We knew each other from the LCML.
I'll get some tapes converted and post them to my Youtube
channel soon.
I'll try to get it done next week or two.
Some are a HOOT!

If you would let me know how spendy it is to convert tapes over. I like trollholes idea of us trying to convert some of the old fotage over for posterity!!

 

[99UZJay]

If you would let me know how spendy it is to convert tapes over. I like trollholes idea of us trying to convert some of the old fotage over for posterity!!

I second that... I'd be very inclined to pay for a club history disc...

 

[IndianDoc]

I second that... I'd be very inclined to pay for a club history disc...

Provided that it is not outragious in price I think most of us newbee's would like a disc like that, I know that I do not show proper respect to the elders simply because I don't know that they are the founders of our madness.

 

[98 sr5]

As another newbie to the club I agree that I'd love to see where the club came from and the events it has held!

 

[Trollhole]

Wow lot's of events. All the ones from 2005 and current are on mud. This would include pics that we have. I'll try to go through and find all the links to those events and put them above in order. At one point we had 38 events in one year and over 150 members. UC as well as most clubs I've seen has had it's ups and downs. Looks like this year we are heading up. Lot's of stuff on the plate.

 

[Trollhole]

Jay how about copying the officers on the presidents trophy for me?