A car club that has kept its Detroit headquarters members-only since 2021 is finally opening its doors to everyone else — through a coffee counter. The Motor City Car Club Café is set to open Saturday, Oct. 3, inside the club's headquarters at 2475 W. Grand Blvd., and unlike the club itself, the café will be open to the public.
A New Front Door for a Members-Only Club
The café's arrival marks a notable shift for Motor City Car Club, known locally as MC3, which has operated as a members-only car club, according to Crain's Detroit Business. The café sits inside the headquarters of the Motor City Car Club, giving curious Detroiters a taste of the space without requiring a membership card to walk through the door.
MC3 launched in 2021 as a response to what its founders saw as a lack of automotive destinations in Detroit, per Seen the Magazine. The club is housed inside Hettche Ford, described as Detroit's first-ever Ford dealership and built in 1922, giving the club's home its own slice of automotive history before a single membership was ever sold.
More Than Just a Garage
The outlet's earlier reporting describes MC3 as a coworking, event and incubation space built around the future of motoring, with amenities that go well beyond a typical car club. Members reportedly get access to lifts and a paint booth, an automotive retail boutique, detailing services, restoration work, cars for sale and club events, all under one roof.
The club also offers dedicated and secure vehicle storage for members' spare or collector rides, according to MC3's own club page. That combination of coworking, storage, retail and event space dedicated entirely to cars is something MC3 has described as a first-of-its-kind setup in the Motor City.
Detroit Joins a Growing Car Club Trend
MC3 isn't the only operation blending car culture with hospitality. Birmingham's Out Of Office Garage similarly pairs a members-only car club with storage and event space, branding itself as a car club for social people and a social club for car people.
What sets MC3's move apart is the decision to open a public-facing café inside a club that has otherwise kept membership at its center. Membership at MC3 has reportedly come in four tiers ranging from $50 to $450 per month, per Seen the Magazine, though it's unclear whether the café changes anything about how those memberships work going forward.
For now, the headline news is simple: starting Saturday, anyone can walk into a building that used to require a membership just to get a look inside. Whether the café becomes a regular gathering spot for Detroit's car-curious public or stays a one-time novelty will likely become clearer once the doors actually open this week.
