Thank you. That really should be the first thing any of us here say to any Autopian members we encounter, unless there’s, say, a pack of angry weasels in mid-leap behind you, in which case the first thing we should say is “GET DOWN! WEASELS WEASELS OH GOD SO MANY WEASELS” and then we should say “thank you,” after we’re certain the weasels have overshot their target and are scrambling for cover. This is because, weasel emergencies aside, the first thing on our minds is how much we appreciate your support as members.
Ideally, your membership will be a perpetual thing, something that stays with you throughout your life, continuing to enhance and enrich it, like an STD. To accomplish this, though, you need to renew your membership, again like an STD. But unlike most STDs, Autopian membership renewals come with some real, exciting perks, and I’d like to go over those with you now, if you don’t mind!
Here’s what you get when your plan auto-renews (for Vinyl and above, as Cloth members forgo the many pleasures of the physical world, and we respect their choice), broken down by your Membership Level. Sure, higher-level members get more stuff, but you’re all beloved by us, from the lowliest, filthiest Cloth Member to the most exalted and regal Rich Corinthian Leatherite.







Those are fantastic, right? They sure are.
And, of course, there’s still all the old 8-bit-generated cars you’ll get on your birthday, with hand-made graphics and BASIC coding from me! I need to figure out how I’m going to mix it up this round, and I better get started soon, because that stuff is tedious. Crap, what am I going to do this round? I’ll think of something.
Oh, and I’m very excited to make the hand-painted Candylab cars for our RCL members: I’ll be taking blank wooden Candycars and painting them by hand, each one as unique as your car’s own oil drip patterns!
And, of course, when you renew, you’ll be eligible for all of our events and giveaways and trivia nights and no ads on the site and, well, you overall quality of life will improve dramatically.
Thanks so much for being members! There’s so much more to come! And if you’re not a member yet, you can fix that right here.
[Publisher note: Our membership season is basically 12/8-12/7 of the next year. So we are in season 12/8/24 to 12/7/25. If you are a current member and signed up in November or December pre 12/8, you should still get your orange shirt/one of last year’s pins (or alt pin, depending on timing).
If you become a member before 12/8, you will probably still get last year’s orange t-shirt and then, in late November/early December next year, you should get the above. We have printed a bunch of the orange shirts, but when we run out, we’ll start transitioning over to the new one for new signups. This is, you’ll be surprised to know, the least complicated way to do this. The theory of this is… OH NO, MORE WEASELS. THEY’RE BACK. DUCK! – MH]






I am on auto renewal, but thinking about paying yall even more money. How can I upgrade my membership?
Now I’m going to be disappointed if the back of the shirt doesn’t say something along the lines of “LOOK OUT! WEASELS!”
Two pins!! 😀
I’ve been very pleased with the shirt quality so far as well.
Nice. Just checked to make sure I updated my address after the move.
You forgot about the Jeep with cats in it pin! I have that one.
Kinda tapped right now, so I’ll be waiting until mine is up for renewal in the spring.
My favorite pin is the one of David’s ZJ with the cats in the window.
I mean, the act of getting an STD can be a real, exciting perk.
Can’t wait to open up a big ol’ box of renewal for Christmas this year.
So my yearly membership starting in June of 2025 will renew in January of 2026?
Is there an option I can check to not get the swag? I simply don’t need it and thus don’t want it to be wasted.
Same question as this fine, decent person above me. I already have too much stuff laying around.
Same here! It’s nice to see it exists, but I’m fine to opt out.
I’d also agree with this. I appreciate that you offer swag, but the T-shirts have been donated and the rest gets tossed in the metal recycling.
I’ve mentioned it before, but a thought – how about automotive functional (ish) swag, like keychains, someday?
I’d love a “Clam-Air 50” pencil tire pressure gauge or similar…
Say hello to a big box of taillight trim!
Yeah, I think of how BigTime started selling “I ♥ My Dumb Car” license plate frames for example.
I’ll the same questions that went unanswered when you tried to sell us some T-Shirts a few days back
1 Are the Ts fitted or straight cut
2 What is the actual measured size at the chest of each size
3 Are they continuously woven or do the have seams going down sides.
(Asked by 3 people different people that the staff ignored last time)
If you want to sell swag and membership maybe answer questions from people looking to buy it.
Me personally I don’t want any swag for a membership. I just want you to fix the comments so they are threaded oldest on top. Is that on the list of things to fix? (I’ve asked this question at least 4 times without any response)
1. Fitted
2. I don’t have the right kind of measuring tape, though I could rig something up it’d only be for men’s L
3. Seams down the sides
First an orange shirt, then a yellow one…
Hopefully for year #3, y’all will stay with the 70s color scheme. Perhaps brown or light green…
I’m moving back to the Raleigh area in the next few weeks. I hope there are some Triangle meets planned so I can annoy some of you in person. 😉
Oh yeah, my Autopian bumper sticker is shot. Any chance of getting another?
We are intending to move there this spring! I agree, meets would be great!
Join usssssss
I’m also hoping for another meetup, hopefully one that’s not in the dead of winter. However, iirc, there’s more development near the usual gathering spot than before (lot opposite Merritt’s Grill), so it could be an issue. Merritt’s Grill itself seems to be getting even more popular. Maybe with some planning, there could be an official connection with it for the next gathering.
I’m upvoting a brown diesel wagon shirt option right now. I’m in DC, but my roots are in Raleigh and I would definitely come down for another Triangle meetup!
Hey guys I emailed Mark but haven’t heard back. I recently went from monthly to paying for a year but my subscription went from my new handle 78spyderfan back to my old Mr sarcastic and as a result I am not being recognized as a member I keep being blocked out of member content and keep getting the ads to become a member. A double whammy as it were. Any chance you can get this fixed when the new week starts?
Weasels ripped my flesh. FZ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP-cQa3eEZk
Oh yeah
Fine, you’ve twisted my arm. I’ll ignore what’s coming through my inbox soon.
Weasel is my daughter’s nickname and she loves the pins on her backpack. She’ll be excited for a couple new ones!
That’s a fantastic nickname!
Had a mate who’s nickname was Weasel too! His girlfriend was Mrs Weasel. Good for your daughter!
“GET DOWN! WEASELS WEASELS OH GOD SO MANY WEASELS”
Sounds like your weekend is set.
I’m in for 2026! This site is terrific; thanks for all your hard work and clever journalism.
Did I suck up enough?
Great, now we’ve got weasels *and* a duck
Maybe the duck will fight the weasels
I was pretty sure our subscriptions auto-renewed? Can we clarify this?
I was wondering the same thing so I clicked on the account tab and sure enough it auto bills, but there is a choice.
Yeah, it does auto-renew. We time this out because in the next couple of weeks people will get an email reminding of this and we’d like them not to turn it off.
Hey Matt, I think the wording in the article: “to accomplish this though, you need to renew your membership” does make it sound like some action is needed. Maybe a little clarification?
Love you all! Hope everyone renews and lots more sign up. This is the best place on the internet!
Cool, fixed. Thank you!
I looked under my account and it says I’ll be charged the annual fee on Dec 8th.
Me too.
I’m a bit slow today due to sleep deprivation (ah, parenthood!), but does our memberships EXPIRE?
I need to fire up my mainframe right now and make sure I’m still on-board!
Depends on how you signed up. Mine is on auto renewal but you can sign up as a one time thing too
Autorenew is the default.