> We are not talking about 25 years ago and how much disposable
> income we had,
Fred, I was not talking about 25 years ago either. Right now, today, there
are people that are interested in Triumphs but don't have a lot of money to
spend. And it was a lot less than 25 years ago when I was in that position
too (not to say it wasn't also 25 years ago <g>)
Like it or not, our hobby is dwindling. One of the symptoms of that is the
relative lack of "new blood". Raising the price of admission cannot improve
this.
My local clubs' dues are $30/year, which in one club does not cover the cost
of the newsletter. The other club just about breaks even, because of some
fairly recent cost reductions. Add $25/year for VTR dues, that's already
$55/year. Even now, I'd think twice before spending that much money, to
join a club full of people I didn't know and receive a newsletter that may
not have anything useful to me (and not available elsewhere for free, like
on the Internet and this list).
Much of Triumph's success in the USA was because it was the "working man's
sports car". Let's not price them out of the market now.
Randall
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