TRJ stands for “The Rusted Jacket” which was aptly named for a group of BMW enthusiast, especially of the F30 variant (the current 3-series). The joke started when initial batches of the car had a similar problem, whenever the driver touched underneath the drivers seat, especially around the metal region, they would feel rust and that has been a known problem for the earlier variants of the F30.
So unlike certain groups where all they can do is scream and shout online about this and that, these guys instead decided to steer into the skid and formed a club! And last week was their 2nd year anniversary and they decided to have a bit of a celebration by inviting all members for a lunch event at Citta Mall in Ara Damansara.
Hanging out mostly in a Facebook Group, The Rusted Jackets are a close knit group but boasts over 842 members in their Facebook Group.
A group founded by Paul Suan to bring like minded people together and share knowledge and insights of owning a BMW 3 Series (F30). We are a fun group with regular Teh Tarik / Yum Cha sessions where we meet up to talk about everything under the sky. A group to share our memories and our stories of being part of The Rusted Jackets !
The event was fairly simple, lunch at Tony Roma’s, hanging out and chilling with friends as well as like minded enthusiast (me included!). Yes my car was one of the few odd ones standing out together with a Honda Civic, a CLA45 and a Q7. Don’t ask why because each individual story is so unique that makes you want to join the group for one of their “teh tarik” sessions just to find out.
Whilst waiting for everyone to arrive (Malaysians being Malaysians), everyone was hanging around the carpark “poisoning” each other with their rides as well as their latest add-ons. It was fun because each and every car shows their owner’s own unique taste and it was amazing how much of a journey they have gone to bring their cars to the current state as well as what are their plans for the future as well.
As mentioned above, Paul was the founder of the club and this time around he handed it over to Alvin Yee, to give the opening speech for the lunch. I won’t bore you all with the speech here but all I remembered that their target was to be bigger than an already existing BMW club about. Ambitious and truly possible is all I can say.
Why do I say that it is possible? I have been to a number of car club gatherings and what I see here in TRJ is that their bond is strong, you can sense the feeling of close knit-ness among the members and they all weren’t at all pretentious. Everyone had a genuine kinship with each other, everyone shared the joy and laughters, from celebrating birthdays to sharing out to get an expectant mother and father a present before their baby was born. Very different from the club where I walk in there and no one gave a damn, kept to themselves and just have that condescending tone of voice towards you especially if you live up to their “atas” expectations.
After lunch there were lucky draw prizes as well as gifts sponsored by several car shops as well as Auto Bavaria who gave everyone caps in a form of a door gift (me included yahoo!). The club also arranged with Wearnes Autohaus, a BMW dealership based in Segambut, to arrange a test drive which included an X4, 2-series and a 1-series. The route would be around the neighbourhood of Ara Damasara which I believe provided a good mix of twist, turns and long stretches. I should think so because each group took a long time getting back from their test drives!
I felt that the test drive was a nice touch, of course everyone went after the X4 and I couldn’t get a chance to give it a whirl. As much as I would love to have driven it but I haven’t had the chance yet to bring it out for a spin. Although I did manage to go for a spin in the X1 which I will be writing about pretty soon.
Standing out amongst a plethora of BMW clubs, TRJ stands to be one of the up and coming new club hoping to challenge the norm by putting friendship first and foremost. I guess that is how many clubs start out, a gathering of friends, sharing stories and life experiences. But sadly I see as time goes by, friendship can be spoiled by selfish reasons, whether it may be monetary or just power hungry. I wish TRJ all the best in their endeavours, I hope they invite me for more food events 🙂
