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Club Mailing Address

P.O. Box 41034
Rockwood Mall
Mississauga, ON L4W 5C9

Club Executive

Lou Pereira
President

about Lou Pereira...

Lou Pereira

Nicknamed “Sweet Lou” since grade school days, OZC is fortunate to have this jokester front man and all round fun guy serving as the VP on its executive.  (The nick name originated from his coach who likened his suave basketball skills to that of “Sweet Lou” Dunbar of the Harlem Globe Trotters.  Who knew that back in the day he was an awesome player, certified official and even coach for a number of years!).

Lou joined Ontario Z Car back in late 2012.  He’s had his white 1990 Z32 since 1993 and the first car show he ever entered was at ZCON 2013 in Nashua, New Hampshire where his car took the first place prize.

Most of you will remember Lou as the Master of Ceremonies at Toronto ZCON in 2016, but you can find him at just about every OZC event with a smile on his face and great company in tow.

Affectionately known as “G-pa” by his grandchildren, Lou spends his spare time working on his Z32, rebuilding a new motor (you should see how shiny it is) and other stuff.

Nigel White
Eastern Vice President

about Nigel White...

 

Nigel White

Nigel has been a club member since 1994. He has had two terms as club President – first in 2004 and then 2005, and prior to that he was the club Webmaster for 2003 and 2004. During that time, being an inveterate tinkerer, his one and only Z, a 1973 240Z, has probably been off the road as often as on. In fact, his Z was not on the road at all for his first 7 years of club membership as it went through a complete restoration down to the bare frame by his own hands. Following that, it has gone through a never ending evolution in his pursuit of owning a classic car with modern performance and convenience.

The demands of his career in the Nuclear Power Industry have meant that the scope of his automotive projects often exceed his available time to complete them prior to the driving season. But he’s dedicated to the club and the friends that he has made through it, and cannot picture a point in his life where he will no longer be an OZC member or part with his beloved Z

Brian Gracie
Western Vice President

about Brian Gracie...

Brian Gracie

Brian joined Ontario Z-Car in 2003, just 2 weeks before the first ZCON was held in Nashua, NH. He has been hooked on Z conventions & club events ever since.

Most recently, he stepped up and filled a vacancy on the club Executive Committee as the Western VP for 2015. Brian and his wife Karen are also hard working members of the subcommittee that plans the many tours each year and the 2016 ZCON planning committee.

Brian’s first car he bought was a red ’76 280Z, at a dealership in Markham, which he still owns. Not the dealership mind you, the 280! Being an original owner of a Zed has been so rewarding for Brian. He has won numerous first place awards including the prestigious Certificate of Competitive Achievement with OZC. Even better is Brian’s ten minutes of his claim to fame on TV. Yes, his 280Z was filmed for the TV show “Style and Steel”. It could have gone to his head except that he is so tall!

Brian always loved the 240Z model and was fortunate to find a 240 in California, five years ago that he quickly purchased. He did a complete restoration and his dream green ’73 240Z has also placed well in many car shows.

At all types of car and club events, you can find Karen at his side. She is a Zed lover herself and enjoys driving her blue ’03 350Z everywhere.

Brian is now enjoying retirement from farming but still brings his strong work ethic with him as he applies himself to OZC events and club business.

Howie Yoshida
Treasurer

about Howie Yoshida...

Howie Yoshida

Howie joined OZC in 1999, having heard about a car show called Z-Fest featuring a whole bunch of Zeds.  He checked it out and was so impressed with the car show, the organization and the people running the event that he signed up on the spot and has been a member since that day.  Getting to know the members and seeing how hard they were working to make the club such a great organization soon lead him to become more involved and he became part of the cub Executive Committee (Excom), serving as the Zedline Editor for a period of 5 years Seeing another vacancy and having a desire to play with money, he currently fills the role of club treasurer and will hopefully continue to do so until the Excom no longer believes what he is reporting financially or they start seeing some really super expensive modifications to his Zed.

The first new car he bought was a 1973 Datsun 510 which lasted 4 years and then bought a second hand 240Z that soon rusted out in less than 2 years.  Having caught the Zed bug, Howie, well actually he and his wife Sherrie became the proud owners of a new 280ZX in 1981.  She was the principal Zed driver for well over 15 years until the family grew and it became unmanageable to try and drive around 2 boys in a 2 seater.  Howie grabbed the opportunity to take over the Zed and hasn’t given it back to her since.  After seeing all the modified cars and talking to the club members, changes started happening to his Zed.  Emission controls started to come off, the AC unit stopped working so it was removed rather then replaced, a bigger exhaust that made more noise was added and a lowered suspension with stiffer shocks and bigger sway bars tightened up the ride.  That’s why you always see Howie riding by himself at club events, tours and shows, the wife has no interest in getting into a hot, noisy, bumpy riding, uncomfortable car but she does agree that it still looks fantastic for a 34 year old.

Howie’s Zed is no trailer queen for sure and he really enjoys taking it out on lapping days and running around cones at autoslalom events.  He often finds himself at these events with one of the oldest cars being driven by an old guy to boot.  He would sure like to have some company at the autoslalom events if only some of those cruiser and tour types would come out and try a different type of driving.  They would love it!

Bob Chwalyk
Membership Director

about Bob Chwalyk...

Bob Chwalyk

Bob joined the club in April of 2000 after purchasing his 1979 280ZXGL. The car has undergone extensive performance modifications but maintains a “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” appearance and is still in the process of undergoing further enhancements.

Club wise Bob took over the Membership Director’s position and has been involved with many club events and road tours. Since retiring from Dofasco in July of 2009, he is looking forward to getting involved with more club activities.

Rajinda Gunasena
Creative Director, Zedline Designer

about Rajinda Gunasena...

Rajinda Gunasena

Raji as he likes to be called, re-joined OZC in 2011, having originally signed up in 1997, the same year that he bought his pearl yellow 1990 300ZX (N/A). He went into “hibernation” as he puts it, in 1998 or so due to increasing family commitments. Sources tell us he wasn’t happy that he blew up his motor, three months into owning his Z32, at Shannonville during a lapping day organized by the club. Like most young guys, he probably thought the car was invincible!

Older, wiser and with less demanding family commitments, Raji is back zedding with other club members. He is a freelance Creative Director, in advertising as proudly displayed on his licence plate & forum handle, CREATV. A couple of years ago, he took over the role as the Zedline Editor as well as his current club initiatives in re-designing the website and the club logo, editing tour videos for our YouTube channel and a whole lot of design related work for the club.

An avid and a low handicap golfer, Raji is out on the links most weekends and weekdays too with his regular foursome knocking the ball around many golf courses. It’s just another excuse for him to get out and put more kilometres on his Zed. With that in mind, he is known to have a bit of a lead-foot (like almost all other Zed drivers) in keeping up with other faster cars in tough driving conditions. He does this all the while operating a couple of GoPro cameras mounted on his car. Did someone say “distracted?”

Just ask Raji about his recent trip to the “Tail of the Dragon” and he will not stop talking as usual!!

Eric Zondervan
Forum Moderator,
Zedline Editor

about Eric Zondervan...

Eric Zondervan

Eric moved to Toronto in 1972 with his first new car, a 1972 Datsun 240Z. There is a long story of how the car was used as a construction vehicle, was restored, was almost lost to the bailiff when the shop where it was being restored went bankrupt, then stored poorly so it had to be restored again, but it survived all of that and is now driven as much as 35,000 km/year.

Eric first became aware of Ontario Z Car when he pulled the car out of storage in 2005 to put it back on the road. The Toronto Star had a feature in the Wheels section called Autodate. Various car clubs listed their meeting dates there, so Eric attended one of the meetings and joined on the spot. The first Z Con he attended was Syracuse in 2005. The car wasn’t back on the road, but he got the bug in a big way. By 2006, Eric had the mechanical systems rebuilt and the car was on the road.

Around this time, Ed Burkhart was stepping down as webmaster and the club was searching for a replacement. It was obvious no one was coming forward, so Eric offered his limited skills. Fortunately, Zak Irvine recognized the shortcomings of the site and Eric’s abilities and approached Eric at a swap meet with an offer to rebuild the site and let Eric do the routine maintenance. This has been a satisfactory arrangement, although Eric had to rely on Zak’s technical assistance extensively. The site Zak created has been a phenomenal success with visits jumping from several per month to hundreds per day, and new users signing up every day. As of July, 2015, there are almost 1400 users.

Zak’s work commitments have left him unable to provide the technical assistance Eric requires, but Raj has come forward with a whole new package. Eric is quite looking forward to working with Raj in this new environment.

Terry Weston
Merchandise Director

about Terry Weston...

Terry Weston

Terry joined OZC in 2003 after purchasing his 350Z in the fall of 2002. His very first car was a 1971 240Z so the Z bug was planted early on. In 2004 he started  Zeetoyz Inc. that catered to Nissan and Infiniti owners looking for custom billet items and working with Nissan Dealerships on Accessory Items.

Terry has held the Presidents position for 2 terms and with the help of a strong executive implemented several changes in the way the club is run today. After that Terry chose to take on the Merchandise position and has held it since. Terry continues to be active in the club attending events and helping out the ZCON committee.

Terry and Sandra who also owns a 1993 Nissan 300ZX reside in Hamilton with their two sons.

Diane Dale

Diane Dale
Website, Social Media

about Diane Dale...

Diane Dale

Diane Dale

Loving Z cars as long as she can remember – Diane bought her first Z, a beautiful sleek black 1992 300zx with lots of Stillen mods back in 1998.  Immediately joining the Ontario Z Car club she got her first taste of the track at their fall event at Mosport.  

She was hooked, attending every track day she could possibly sign up for all over Ontario.  In 1999 she purchased a 1971 Datsun 240z (shown here) with her good friend Bill Dawson, and soon after purchased a Safari Gold coloured street version of the same car.

Diane took over full ownership of the racecar in the early 2000’s and started travelling to many tracks all over North America to compete in Vintage and Non-Vintage race events.  With the help of Greg Whitehead, Tony Silvaggi and others at Whitehead Performance (and countless dedicated and well loved friends) she accomplished many podiums and even CASC-OR Sprint and VARAC Group 70+ series championships.  

Along the way she maintained her membership and close relationships with her Ontario Z Car friends.  In 2013 Howie suggested she step up to help organize the track day for OZC’s pitch on ZCON 2016.  Delighted to help out she found herself surrounded by an amazing team of people who made great things happen.  Looking forward to continue that experience, she stepped in to help out with Social Media starting in 2017.  (As well as organizing the Winter BlizZard Karting Series – let’s go!)

Diane Dale

Mauricio Gomez
Past President

about Mauricio Gomez...

Mauricio Gomez

Mauricio lovingly known as “Mo” to many of us is one extremely busy guy! He is the current President of the club after the successfully heading the organizing committee for the 2016 ZCCA car convention in Toronto.

He joined OZC in 2010 and has become one of the most active members in its many activities. A big advocate of using new technology, Mauricio is always promoting and chatting about Zed car and general car events on social media and forums. He owns 3 Zed cars, a red 1990 300ZX (2+2) a 2005 350Z Roadster and have recently added a  94 300ZX TT convertible with 800hp… and yes it’s RED too!

Mauricio has his own successful business and is also pretty handy installing electronics in a car. Starting as teenager, he could wire a car with all the latest gizmos in audio, alarm & security systems in a jiffy! He is another one to watch on the roads as he is pretty quick and is known to leave others hanging behind when leading car tours.

Having recently left bachelorhood, Mo & his pretty wife Shima can be seen at almost all OZC events, especially if there’s major partying going on!

Want to Join The Club?

Enjoy being part of a great group of members with cars ranging from the 1970 Z’s right through to the latest 370Z, as well as a number of 510’s, roadsters, GT-Rs and the Infiniti model line up. Don’t pass up a great opportunity to socialize with others that are as passionate about their rides as you are.