Tom wrote:
> >Joe Curry wrote:
> > > Bill,
> > > Actually, I don't think we do a very good job here in the US of
> > > promoting our clubs to the masses. snip
As Tom H. notes below, I have probably handed
out a zillion flyers, talked up joining ANY club
to people I meet at car shows, events, etc.
The reality (IMHO) here in the USA is that there
is just so many things for people to do that
they must parse their time accordingly.
Additionally, I recall some 24 years ago (when I first
joined the newly forming Long Island Triumph Assoc)
that just the appearance of a running TR-3 was
something that drew great attention. Likewise, the
ability to obtain new or used parts for a restoration
was always a search...until the entering of TRF, Moss,
and others.
Now I can sit back and order parts by email; I have
a shelf full of catalogs; I can advertise by ebay if I
want to sell (or perhaps buy) stuff. Even for cars that never
had a significant following in the US, I can Call or FAX an order
to the UK with my credit card and have the parts for my
Herald in a week.
The club
scene is really for those people that look at the car as more
than just a piece of interesting transportation or the
occasional Sunday drive. WE (the club joiners in the USA)
take great pleasure in the friendships built, the knowledge
learned, the gatherings, etc. The car is a conduit to
something intangible that not everyone that owns
one has interest in.
> > TO: JOE CURRY,
> > I've known Bill Sohl for almost 30 years. Never saw him without a club
>bochure
> > in his hand....... I can say I've knocked on doors coast to coast when I
> > saw a TR in the yard.all in the interest of letting people know there
> > was assistance..Clubs don't promote themselves.. ..
> >
> > The people in them do.....
> >
> > Clubs here formed to swap parts and enlist help to put back together
> > what the individuals believed to be worthy. We put ads in wewspapers to
> > find what we needed to stay running.. Now you buy a TR and Ten parts
> > catalogues are found under the seats with literature from a couple of
> > dozen car shows. Why? We who were there when there were no parts and no
> > shows, know.
> >
> > "Formed to Preserve the Marque"
> > T.R.
As Tom notes, been there, done that.
In some ways the USA club scene (or as some might view it,
the relatively low participation vs the probable number
of actual owners) is the product of the clubs' successes
in providing reasons for companies like TRF, Moss etc
to exist. Some of those companies (Moss for example)
publish their own free periodicals which are apparently
more than sufficient to meet the "education or reading
desires" of many Triumph (as well as MG, etc.)
owners.
One of my pet peeves (Bill gets on the soapbox now:-)
is the TR owner that shows up at a club sponsored
gathering (usually a car show) and then berates the
people putting it on, the judges, etc. I have as past
president of both the local NJ club and the national VTR
encountered such individuals and I have little or
no sympathy for their gripes when I learn they
are not even supporters of a club. Usually they
have just finished a restoration and they want a
couple of trophies to puff up the value of the
car so they can sell it. Frankly, those people are
better off not being members.
OK, soap box off too :-)
Cheers,
Bill K2UNK
|