http://retrostance.proboards.com/index.cgi

I suggest you give a bit of thought to spelling and punctuation. Also, what can you offer me on that retro forum that I don't already get on this retro forum?!

The brass knuckles are bloody in the wrong end.

And the colour scheme makes my eyes bleed :/

It's retro all right made my iPad look like a c64

I wasn't knocking him, I just think it needs a little polishing, as well as some clarification as to what the unique angle is.

you now that blue screen accompanied by a horrendous continuous beep you used to get if you accidentally switched to a channel late at night after it had stopped broadcasting? perfect colour match.
only thing is my head associates the two so closely, i get the beep just from seeing the colour, even though its not there. they used to put it up to get you to switch channels you know. says it all really.

and i actually LOLed at the brass knuckles. someones never used em, or seen em being used. i fail to see what connection they have to 'retrostance' either? maybe the OP can explain?

Was going to stick up for the OP
Until I clicked the linky
Was going to comment kindly
Sadly now I can't see

Your stance is not that retro
Didn't see anything as old as a metro
Maybe if you could spell
I wouln't give you hell

Perhaps you'll get more members
But I'll return to sender,
The pink stuff on the knuckles
Gave me serious chuckles

On the upside, you have chosen a 'proboards' format, which whilst a bit old-fashioned to look at compared to other stuff is at least a reliable service.
Having your forum fall over every five minutes is incredibly infuriating, especially if the providers' support seems to be one man with an iphone and a shaky grasp of the english language... (thanks freeforhosting, no really thanks!)

Fair play for starting up a forum, I take my hat off to anyone who can dedicate the time and energy to run one properly...starting it is one thing but managing is a whole different ball game and for that I salute you.

The first thing I would change (as the others have said, for good reason) is the colour scheme. Bright colours = harsh colours and I've only been able to manage approx a minute at a time before my eyes start to do funny things. That's not an exaggeration either, you genuinely need to consider a colour scheme that's more sympathetic on the eyes.

Spelling. A forum will generally follow how it is led. In your case, you have a number of cases where spelling and grammar are saying it'll be fine to use text speak, poor punctuation and spelling. This will encourage laziness and poorly written posts which, while some might find tolerable, even acceptable, many won't. Those people will probably not bother with the site or certainly won't post as much as they would if it was encouraged and expected to write correctly and coherently. If you're not careful you'll end up with a site completely over run with unreadable/illegible posts. All because it's deemed acceptable from the outset.

Alienation! Yep, the fact you have a whole section just for Fords makes me think this is where you're general preference is set and for that I immediately feel that all other makes & marques are there as padding. I like Fords, but I equally like all other makes. By having a Ford only section and everything else is bunched into a 'general' category (underneath the Ford bit) it puts me off because I feel I'm not enough of a Ford fan to meet the (unwritten) preferences of the forum founders.

Sections: You have SOOOO many sections and most can be combined into a more concise format. Why have an eBay, a Gumtree and various other sections within 'for sale' when they can all be put into a section called something like, "Advertised Elsewhere"? That's just one example.

Also, by opening with "MERCHANDISE" is looks like you're trying to sell before people have even got their foot in the door. A welcome section with the rules and an introduction section is always a better way to start.....have a look at many other forums and see how they have laid out their sections and how many sections/subsections they have. Research and use that research to better your own layout. Maybe take some notes of other forums colour schemes too....

Lastly, knuckle dusters? WTF?? Forgetting that you obviously don't know how they are used, what is the purpose of them as the main picture at the top? Is this a forum about street fighting? Are you trying to promote violence? Maybe something more car related, maybe even retro related will help.

As some others have said, you need to decide exactly what and who this forum is aimed at. The title aside, I don't get the feeling that it's about 'stance' at all, more about old Fords doing burnouts (a burnout is not a drift BTW ) - Your title is Retro and Stancing. Make sure you're site lives up to the expectations of what people think they'll be getting when they check into such a site. If they don't get what's promised, they most likely wont' hang around.

Sorry to go on, I do hope you make a success of it, but I think you need to address a whole range of issues before it can really work. If I wasn't at all bothered or didn't care, I wouldn't have taken the past half an hour to write this response. Please don't think I'm slating your work, not at all, just telling it from my perspective and how I (for one) went into the site hoping for "Retro" and "Stance" and came away with sore eyes and rather disappointed with what I found.