Les and I have been brainstorming about a National All-Datsun Meet and
we hope to have some specifics nailed down about our latest west coast
idea within the next month.
But I wanted to let everyone know that there has been a major change in
the National Z convention. As some of you may know, Les and I met with
the two guys who were organizing the Z convention to talk about the
show. We were trying to combine our all-Datsun event idea with their
plans to open the Z convention up to all Datsuns. We had some unanswered
questions and some misgivings but we tried really hard to work things
out and work with the guys. Les and I thought we had come to an
agreement and shaken hands on a deal whereby we would organize and run
the show portion of the event. Our idea was to ensure that all Datsuns
were catered to at the show. This was working out to be a big deal show,
what with the new century (I am sick of the M word and I just won't use
it :-) an all. Lots of Datsun celebs were planing on attending, and
folks were coming from all over the world. Well after a few months of
not getting any replies to our emails and phone calls, and not seeing
any specific pricing (one of our big concerns that we never could get a
satisfactory answer to was where was the $$ for all their plans going to
come from), we got cold feet and decided to pull out. Not long after
that, the pricing info was finally posted on the web and we were shocked
(but not all that surprised) to see how ungodly expensive everything was
going to be. There was a poop storm about this on most of the Datsun
lists and lots of folks changed their minds about attending, Les and I
included.
That was just the start of the problems the ZCCA had with the two guys
who were supposed to be organizing this for their local Z club, and
finally the ZCCA took back control of the event. They have changed
everything around, lowered prices big time, altered the schedule to
something more realistic, and fixed all the problems that Les and I were
concerned about. Les and I have worked out an arrangement with them
whereby we are overseeing the classic Datsun portion of the show itself
and they are handling the Z portion.
I urge any of you who were considering attending this event and got cold
feet, to reconsider. And for those of you who have been looking for some
national event to attend, this is going to be one of the biggest and
best events of the year. Even if you can't drive to the event, flights
to Vegas are cheap from just about everywhere. The ZCCA really does want
all Datsuns to feel welcome. They are more than happy to pay for
trophies and do what it takes to make all the classic Datsuns feel
welcome. Their only concern was that they didn't feel qualified to
organize a show for Datsuns other than Zs and they enthusiastically
welcomed our offer to organise that part of the show for them. Mr. K
will be there, as will Bob Bondurant (with the Z car Les just finished
for him) and author Brian Long. Folks are coming from as far away as
England and Japan to attend, and I've been told a bunch of cars are
being shipped over from Japan for the event.
Activities include a track day, drag racing, tours, the show, an
autocross, and more. Plus you and your family can catch the shows and
other fun in Vegas. You can find out more and register on-line at
http://www.zcca.org/
--
Marc Sayer
Editor/Publisher
Z Car & Classic Datsun Magazine
http://zcarmag.com
Voice 541-726-6001
Fax 541-746-0863/726-6001
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