For many, a car is simply a mode of transportation, a way to get from point A to point B. For members of the Carolina Automotive Club, though, they represent a way of life.
The club hosts weekly car meets at Pendleton Garage, along with various other events such as participating in autocross events on other campuses and fundraisers.
USC alumnus Glenn Wilson, who still hangs around the club and is a current employee of the College of Arts and Sciences, drives a 2022 Mazda MX-5 Miata. He said there’s a strong community around car culture in Columbia.
That culture encompasses the car meets, classic car preservation, modifying cars and the excitement of walking by a cool car on the street.
USC also has its own club for car enthusiasts, the Carolina Automotive Club, where students gather weekly for car meets, a common way for car lovers to gather, parking in the same lot to showcase their vehicles and work on cars together.
“Columbia car culture is really, really tight-knit and intertwined,” Wilson said. “Even if people have problems with each other, they’re still gonna help each other out and lift each other up.”
Will Holliday, a fourth-year economics and geophysics student, is the president of the Carolina Automotive Club. Holliday is the owner of a blue 2023 Camaro SS 1LE. He said there’s always a wide and diverse cast of characters at any given car meet.
“Men, women, people from all avenues of life,” Holliday said. “You just kind of meet, you talk about cars, you hang out, you get food, and a lot of these people are super passionate."
James Dean Windham, a USC alumnus who describes himself as addicted to cars, said the drivers that makeup Columbia's car culture scene look for cars that are not only reliable and well-made but fun and versatile.
Windham drives a modified 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Windham said he looks for cars that are adaptable and have a strong community around them, such as his Corvette.
“The great qualities I usually look for are part support and dependability,” Windham said. “It doesn’t matter if a part breaks occasionally, as long as you can still get it realtively soon."
Wilson said the cars people drive around Columbia vary in many ways, spanning a wide range of makes and models. When he sees a really special one, he remembers it.
“My very favorite car that I’ve seen in Columbia parks behind Cool Beans in one of the staff lots,” Wilson said. “It’s a Porsche 930 Carrera Turbo; that thing is awesome, and whoever owns it, I envy you.”
Members of the Carolina Automotive Club help to replace a tire on a member's car during their weekly meeting in Pendleton Garage on March 25, 2025. Various students and alumni come together to hang out every week and show off their cars and other vehicles.
Another key element of car culture is modding, which allows drivers to modify their vehicle's appearance and performance. Windham has modified his Corvette, which he augmented with Honda parts. He said the work pays homage to one of his favorite brands, Honda, and makes it more suited for racing.
Holliday keeps his Camaro the same as the day it rolled off the assembly line. Though he hasn’t modified his Camaro himself, he said modding can definitely enhance and leave a personal stamp on a car if done the right way.
“You want to your research, make sure what you’re doing is safe,” Holliday said. “I think it’s a great way to make your car unique, if you do it well and if you do it tastefully."
In addition to exploring the capabilities of newer vehicles, many club members also have an interest in classic car preservation.
Windham said it’s important for the definition of classic cars, such as historic vehicles and older sports cars, to be always be evolving, not only respecting and preserving historic mid-20th century cars but also appreciating modern classics as they age.
“Some people see classic cars as only stuff from the steam or the brass era, whereas classic cars, some of us may think of '90s cars from 'Fast & Furious' or 'Need for Speed: Underground,'” Windham said. “It’s really cool that as we grow older, the older people collect stuff that was their childhood poster cars, and that’s what is becoming classic.”
Nicole Bremner, a third-year statistics student and member of the Carolina Automotive Club who drives a 1990 Mazda Miata, bought her vehicle for only $750 in 2022 and fell in love with the car, as she fully restored it after it’d been left wrecked in a ditch. Bremner said she’s especially passionate about preserving classic vehicles and the history they reveal.
“I believe a lot of them are actually artistic statements,” Bremner said. “And if you look at them over time, you can observe how American values change.”
When it comes to the notorious “Carolina Squat” school of modding, where the front suspension is raised noticeably higher than the back. The technique was officially made illegal in South Carolina in November 2023. Bremner said she personally wasn’t a fan. Windham was less charitable.
“I absolutely despise it,” Windham said. “However, I do understand the appeal that they have because it’s something that makes them stand out.”
Bremner said even if it may seem like it on the outside, owning an eye-catching car is in no way required to join the community and the Carolina Automotive Club.
“You don’t have to have a 'cool car' to join,” Bremner said. “You just have to have an interest or an appreciation for anything automotive, whether it’s car, trucks, motorcycles.”
Bremner said she makes efforts to pull more women into club events, as car culture is often perceived from the outside as male-dominated.
“In years, we’ve been seeing a lot of developments in terms of women in motorsports or just general representation across the board,” Bremner said. “I think it’s really important for women to feel welcome and empowered in a male-dominated space.”
Bremner also said the club is working on a racing team to participate in more competitive autocross events, which is a motorsport where drivers maneuver through tight courses to see who can get the fastest time without hitting a barrier.
Holliday said all it takes to become a part of Columbia’s car culture is passion and putting yourself out there.
“You've just got to go up to people,” Holliday said. “You’ve already got one major thing in common, so just start the conversation. That’s all you've got to do.”
The Carolina Automotive Club meets on Tuesdays and can be contacted through Instagram and GroupMe.