Greeting from TORC in the USA

[toyotageek]

Hello everyone!

It's nice to see that the TEC is now online! You have a fantastic website & forum, Congratulations to everyone involved.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Michael Foertsch, however all over the Internet I am known as Toyotageek. I am a member of TORC, the Toyota Owner's and Restorer's Club www.toyotaclub.org/ . Some of you might already be aware of TORC as it formed a few years after TEC, back in 1995. I have been on the TORC Board of Directors for several years and was the newletter editor (until it's untimely demise last year). Now I head up a blog that covers my forays into what I call, "Toyotamobilia" = automobilia related to Toyota: I collect minicars, brochures, books, ads, and other assorted Toyota paraphernalia.

I currently own 3 Toyotas: 1977 Celica GT liftback, 1996 Corilla DX stationwagon, and a 1998 4Runner. Also, sort of in the family is a 1998 Avalon (belonging to my father).

I work in the parts department at a Toyota dealer in sunny Southern California, and have been there for 20 years.

I don't know how active I'll be here, since I have my hands full with my blog (Toyotageek's Garage www.xanga.com/toyotageek ), my Yahoo Group (Classic Toyota Town groups.yahoo.com/group/classictoyotatown/ ), my MSN Group (2000GT groups.msn.com/2000gt ), and TORC will be going live with a new forum any day now. So, all that keeps me busy, but I will be looking in on TEC all the time.

Once again, I'd like to congratulate all of you on a great site.

Regards,

Mike ~ Toyotageek

[Debs]

Michael Hello I would like to welcome you to the TEC website.

Thank you for your in put on our forum.
Its good to hear that we are heading in the right direction.

I know what its like having alot of things on myself at the moment with TEC renewals going out.
But I still like to keep an eye out on here, I own around 7 different Toyota's at the moment. A couple of them are in need of restoration but I'm sure my other half will get round to them.
Its great to hear from other people that like Toyota's.
Please keep in touch

[toyotageek]

Thank you for the welcome Debbie!

Yes, that is the wonderful thing about this technical marvel called the Internet - it brings people from all around the world together! I've made new friends in Europe, Asia, Australia and even my own country, state & city!

I'll be keeping in touch! And you keep bringing us TEC!

[sidta23]

Hi been to your site a lot its great, great videos, Irwin helped me to get my fender flares & front spoiler, got from Toysport although took months, cheers Nick.

[toyotageek]

Hi Nick!

Thanks for the comments.

But, you have me a little confused -

sidta23 wrote: Hi been to your site a lot its great, great videos...

...hmmm.... the thing is, we don't have any videos on the site (never did, not even our old site). We have a gallery with photos, but no video. Perhaps that was another site you saw those at.

TORC News:

New Forum Online - Just to let everyone know, the all new TORC forum went online last week, on March 19th. So far we are off to a good start. FYI - the forum, much like the club, will primarily be directed towards pre-1985 Toyota vehicles and US owners, although we happily welcome all Toyota enthusiasts from all over the world. Our forum is based on the same software as yours (Proboards), so the look and feel should be much the same if you visit.

ALL TOYOTAFEST is coming soon. Yes, the time is fast approaching for the 11th Annual All Toyotafest, to be held once again at the Queen Mary in Long Beach CA. The date for this years show is Saturday, May 13 2006. If interest is high enough, we will also visit the Toyota USA Automobile Museum. This is currently the largest all Toyota show in the US. More info can be found at the TORC website.

[oldredcelicabryan]

Welcome. I'm sure I will be looking at your site sometime over the next few weeks.

[sidta23]

Hi dont remember where i got the videos, one is 8 mins long & was taken at show at the Queen mary starts off with a large TORC headline also got one of a ta22 flatlight called speed test & its 30 secs long, some one from TORC must have posted them on the net.

[Uncle Bob]

Like your diecast collection, i'm also a keen collector and have many of the one's you list...keep up the good work.

[toyotageek]

Thank you for the compliment Bob! My collection still has a long way to go. While I have many (most) newer releases as far as Toyota cars are concerned, I have very few older cars. They are not so common in the US and prices I see on eBay are beyond my budget. It seems there are many more "old" collectable Toyota die-cast in the UK. Maybe you could share pics of some of your collection one day, possibly start up a thread?

Regards, ~mike