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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Declining membership

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Declining membership -- page: 1 2 3 4     Ritzy1 07-08-2019 @ 3:11 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 46 Joined: Sep 2014 IMHO, to increase membership, like it or not, the members will need to be more inclusive and more tech savvy. For a start, including any vehicle with a Ford flathead, stock or modified, would increase membership and attendance at events. Just because you may not appreciate a car, doesn't mean the next person won't. A person who is attracted to modified vehicles can also appreciate your restored original. Taking your car to the local cruise night exposes more people to the early Ford V-8 and should be a social event. Who doesn't like to talk about their car? The other way to gain more eyeballs (and potential members) is through social media. I just looked at the club's official Facebook page for example, so far in 2019 there have only been six posts. Does your local have a Facebook page? How often is someone posting on it? I understand that many members may not even have Facebook, but the reality is that many of the younger generation do. Then there's Twitter, Instagram, etc., etc. All of these social media sites attract eyeballs. This message was edited by Ritzy1 on 7-8-19 @ 3:26 AM hupdoc 07-08-2019 @ 3:59 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 11 Joined: May 2015 Yes we should be more inclusive but there has to be a limit for me. I don't consider a car with no Ford parts on it to be a Ford despite what the owner says . I suspect that a numbers will continue to decline despite what action we take. The younger generation generally aren't interested in our cars - Many lack the skills to keep them running and their perspective is different . At the last national vintage car rally I attended of about 500 cars well over a third were post 1980 . They like them as they are "old school" but to their mind are more reliable and can keep up with modern traffic. For my part I have insured that my son has a passion for and can drive all my cars -When I'm gone he will inherit 4 . He will never sell them and will drive them all but I'm sure the 1968 Sunbeam Alpine will get more use than the 1930 or 1934 Ford and the 1910 Hupmobile might come out once per year if its lucky ! This message was edited by hupdoc on 7-8-19 @ 4:02 AM silverchief 07-08-2019 @ 10:14 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 518 Joined: Oct 2009 I have four grandsons, ages 20 t0 24. Except as a means of transportation, none of them has any interest whatsoever in cars. Their principal interests and time are all somehow internet connected. Several times a week I take my restored original 46 coupe to a nearby restaurant. I regularly get people stop by my table to compliment the car and ask me questions about it. More women than men. A few are elderly, most are middle aged. Strangely enough, the most enthusiastic are young people. They describe it as "awesome" and often ask to take pictures. Also, when I get a honk and a wave from someone driving the other direction, it is always a young person. Hard to explain. 1934 Ford 07-08-2019 @ 11:43 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 568 Joined: Oct 2009 Here is n idea I used when we moved ro a new town ans didn't see many antique cars. I went to the local Historical Society and introduced my self as an antique car guy. They referred me to the two guys in their Society who alyas drove their antique cars in the local parades. (A Model A & T guy and a Studebaker guy) They felt the same way I did about liking to drive their cars. I asked the Society to help me do a local history tour for antique cars, sponsored but the Society. They havememnership and non-profit status and new the local history. I wrote a 28 mile local tour, got resturant to stay open Sunday evening for the end of the Tour and got Free Advertising for the Free Historical Society Event for stock antique cars 50 years old and older. We had 12 cars the first time and met some wonderful people with stock cars and trucks 1925 t0 1964 (2014). They learned some local history and took a quiz at the end and a couple in a 1932 Plymouth won a free lunch on me. Now, 22 Tours later I have an email list of 35 tourists with antiques ranging from 1914 to 1969, includong 3 Early For V8's a few Model T's & A's, a 1924 Yellowstone Tour Bus, Studebakers, a 1924 Cadillac ans an unresotred 1935 Packard, plus some nice 50's & 60's cars. Some folks didn't like my "stock" requirement, but we never turnrd anybody away on tour day, some of them went home and got their antiques running just to participate the next time. The Historical Society sells the left over tour instructions to local tourisrs and put our 35 Ford V8 Pickup on their brouchure. We've toured western NC. NE GA & NW SC. and found some interesting places dine and most participants bring their wives. 1934 Ford's since 1972 supereal 07-08-2019 @ 2:31 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 I hate to say it, but age plays an important part of the hobby. My kids are 63,61, and 60. Great kids, but no particular interest in my cars, except for the "old man's" love for them and the cars. At 84, I am in the process of offering my convertible for sale. It was a tough decision, but time for someone else to enjoy the "top down" fun. At $29,900, well below the NADA book value, and the cost of the restoration parts alone, it is on the block. trjford8 07-09-2019 @ 7:32 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 4203 Joined: Oct 2009 Bob, you can't be 84. Your mind is still young. Unfortunately time marches on and we can't take our stuff with us when it's time to leave the planet. I'm sure there is someone out there to take the wheel of that nice convertible. supereal 07-09-2019 @ 10:14 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 Thanks, Tom. I have a hard time believing my age, until I look in the mirror. I have been very fortunate in life. My kids are doing fine, I have four grandkids, and the only gap in my life is the loss of my wife of 63 years in 2018. She loved convertibles, and so did our dog, my constant companions when the '47 was rolled out. Most of my "old car" friends are gone now. I have been learning housekeeping, cooking, and how to run the washing machine, vacuum, and other household necessities, leaving little time for the cars. I built the convertible as a "driver", with an overdrive, good lighting, etc. I haven't advertised the convertible yet, and anyone interested can reach me at 319/325-2978. The email address in the Roster is out of date. therunwaybehind 07-10-2019 @ 12:28 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 180 Joined: May 2019 I came to the Early Ford V-8 Club to drive my interest directly to the as built version of my first car. I had a bad experience with trolls around 2008 who took issue with my posting render of a model of my father's 1953 Ford Country Sedan which some know was all steel, no wood, station wagon. They insisted that on the Internet only the penultimate version of an image could be shown and they insisted that TurboSquid was where those models were sold. I had no interest in selling my models which take me sometimes weeks to make and were then strictly made from memory with no immediate go-bys. Then one asked me to make him a "Rock an Roll" car. At the time I was reading a magazine that had come to be know as "Live Design" that included all the lighting and props for stage shows. I had thought about making prop art for a local theater group so I said to myself, "They probably would like renderable of Janet Joplin's Morris Minor convertible." I specifically avoided the 47 Ford in "Rebel Without a Cause" and the back ground passing 47 Ford in "A lonely Place" with their ties to movies James Dean and Humphrey Bogart. What I missed was Z-Z Tops 1934 Ford. Got me there, I am rock and roll era around 1957 and on through folk songs to the 8-track and cassette era. Anyway once I posted my model of a convertible version of a 1948 Ford I got a take down notice from a VP of Ford. "Do you own this?" Struck me as odd as Henry Ford himself in 1911 proved nobody owns the car patent that Selden fronted. Now more recently as I was researching 1947 I found that Brooks Stevens invented the shallow draw steel body station wagon with a Jeep version. Oh! My! Stevens/Duryea and all that. Well, here is my naïve and a bit lewd 1953 Ford wagon as rendered now that Benson Ford has the Selden patent documents. Yeah! He was a HAM radio operator. The bear at Yellowstone tried to eat this coil and pulled down the whip at the top! 42guy 07-10-2019 @ 4:33 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 108 Joined: Oct 2009 I an in the same boat as Supereal. I am nearing 82 and have been doing this since 1964. My 2 daughters don't want the car nor do my grand children. The 42 hasn't been out in 2 years as all the shows here don't really cater to old cars. Everything is 60's factory high power cars. One of the last shows I was at , the car next to me was a brand Vette. TomO 07-11-2019 @ 7:44 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7244 Joined: Oct 2009 If you don't drive them, people cannot appreciate them. I went to a large Cruise Night (newspaper said over 125 cars) a couple of weeks ago and parked in a nice shady spot. I was joined by a 57 Chevy hard top on my left and a 68 Shelby Mustang on my right. I had a lot of people walk over just to look at my 40 Mercury. When I was leaving the Shelby owner said " Your car attracted a lot of people, I would see them walking over towards our cars and they would stop an look at your car and then move on without looking at my car." The Chevy owner said "I agree, they looked at your car and then skipped over my car to look at the Packard Caribbean next to me" . A 39 Ford Tudor with a dual carb and Offenhouser heads and a 40 Tudor with a Chevy V-8 also drew a lot of attention. On the Dive Your V-8 Day we were at a museum and later at a restaurant. At both places there were admirers of the cars. When our group stopped at a McDonalds for a break, the cars drew a lot of attention from the customers. I was parked in a closed business parking lot waiting for the others to catch up with me and several cars pulled off the road to admire my 53 Lincoln. There are many reasons that the Early Fords are not drawing the big money that they did a few years ago. Stock market returns, income, expenses, condition of the "restored" cars and the supply of restored cars on the market Unlike my younger ( I'm 85 years young) friends, Supereal and 42uy, I intend to keep my cars a few more years. It gets more difficult to maintain them every year, but I can still do most of it and I do enjoy driving them. I don't take the long trips like I used to, and most of my driving is to local shows and Cruise nights. I can't take the 90 + degree days or sitting in the sun, but do enjoy the days when it is in the 80's like me. My children do not want my cars and my grandchildren can't afford to maintain them, so they will be sold when I am through with them. Tom

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