The University of Arizona’s car club, Car Cats, showed off the collection of automotive vehicles belonging to members of the group on the UA Mall Friday, April 7.
The club, made up entirely of UA students, has been around since about 2010 and, according to the club’s vice president, Jacob Fink, the club hosts a car show every semester.
This year has been different for the club.
“What we’ve been working on this year is becoming a little more official, a little more legitimate,” Fink said. “Working with [Associated Students of the University of Arizona], we just got our 501(c)(3) status as a nonprofit so we were able to raise funds, which is why we were able to get these awesome T-shirts and other supplies that were necessary to run this event this year.”
Now that the club is a nonprofit organization, it can receive funding and donations.
“We source our funding from a multitude of sources,” Fink said. “We go to ASUA for any expenses that they’re able to approve, and [for] everything else we reach out to independent donors or companies that are interested in sponsoring or donating sums of money.”
The club hopes to make its events better and to be able to afford professional signs, T-shirts and safety ramps for getting the vehicles on and off show locations.
“We’ve also had donations of cars as well,” said John Gengler, the president of the club. “And we’re looking for more cars.”
UA student Crystal Murray has had her 1980 Camaro Z28 since she was 12 years old and completely restored it.
“I’ve been working on it with my older brother and my dad, who passed away, but he was able to teach me some valuable lessons before that,” Murray said.
While the car show on the Mall is one of their main events, Car Cats is also involved in a variety of other activities.
“We go do meets, we do runs up the mountain and this is our big thing […] doing the car show on the Mall every semester,” Murray said.
According to Murray, the love of cars is “pretty much a passion that brings everyone together.”
More than just cars are featured at the club’s shows. Matthew Coy used to not care about motorcycles, but when he took an introductory class on them, he said, “I did a complete 180 and fell in love.”
Coy comes with the University of Arizona Motorcycle Club to show off his Ninja 400 sport bike.
“I can ride it aggressively or I can be more chill on it. Most sports bikes you have to ride it in an aggressive position where you’re leaned forward but with the Ninja 400 it’s kind of made where you don’t have to be that way, you can also ride more relaxed on it,” Coy said.
The club is open to any UA students interested.
“We don’t have any requirements for coolness. Our philosophy is that coolness and taste is highly subjective and personal to the individual,” Fink said. “We even have some members who don’t have cars. The club is about more than owning a car, it’s a lot about having an interest in and a passion to learn about cars […]. You don’t have to have a cool car and you don’t have to have a car.”
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