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Club ZZ
The Corolla legacy
The best-selling sedan fully deserves its own car club
Words by Kristine Garcia; Photography by Charles Custodio
The presence of car clubs in this motoring industry is often ignored. Club ZZ, or the Altis Club Philippines, is proof of that. They feel that the participation of car clubs in motoring events is never legitimately acknowledged enough. Still, they don't mind when people say, "Enough of car clubs already." They couldn't care less, as a matter of fact.
Top Gear's shoot with Club ZZ was an event that was anticipated by many of its members. Clearly, it was more than a photo shoot to these fellas. All 57 of them gathered, and even hours before the appointed meeting time, most members had already been hanging out. Under the sun, Club ZZ was having a good time.
They did a little showing-off amongst themselves. Jerick Ngo, a member since 2005 who DJs as a hobby, showcased to the guys what was in his trunk: a Pioneer CDJ 100 player, a DJ M300 mixer, three sets of JBL speakers, and three JBL amplifiers. Not bad for an impromptu sound system for a magazine shoot.
And as they realized that another club was having its own ‘gang' meeting on the same parking lot, Club ZZ simply moved back in order to give the other club the space that it sort of deserved. It was no big deal and it didn't even have to be discussed.
Club ZZ was founded in 2004 by JB Gosiaco, Conrad Young and Makoy de Dios. Conrad had owned an Altis soon after it came to the Philippines back in 2001. Just a few months after his Altis purchase, he joined Toyota Auto Club, although none of its members had the same car as his. It was in a car domain in Yahoo! where Conrad found JB and Makoy, and he saw photos of their already set-up Altis cars. He asked them if they were interested in forming a club of their own, and suggested that the three of them meet.
To date, Club ZZ has 60 members and there are over 2,000 active accounts in its online forum. "We've been inviting new guys to come join our group," says Conrad, who is also currently the vice president of the club. "Owners of the new Altis are just as interested to be part of Club ZZ."
Their current president is Andrei Lopez, who seems to have bagged the title—and most importantly the trust of the founders— because of his natural marketing skills. Events such as this pictorial are organized by an events committee composed of Reo Dantes, JR Tan, Don Casino and Jeff Domingo, who do their best to make time for the club no matter how busy their personal schedules are. They meet monthy, usually at The Fort Strip. During the summer months, they hold fun runs to and from Tagaytay, for example. "We have karting days, too," Conrad shares.
Club ZZ states its reason for being this way: "Our primary mission is to maintain our status as the premier Toyota Altis community in the country."
The club probably already is.
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Top Gear Philippines - May 2008
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