Dear Chairman Norm
Re the setting up the a network of like minded people who could give an unbiased revue of a vehicle for people who have no clue what they are looking at is a good idea, However…
There are people out there who are absolutely clueless about Strato’s replica’s or even the history surrounding the original, but are prepared to spend vast amounts of money because “it looks a fantastic car and I want one”
If people choose to buy a car “blind” then that is their prerogative.
The chap who bought Nellie didn’t have a Scooby Doo regarding the type of kit, engine spec, brakes suspension etc… She was just an eye full of car to him. He did bring his father in law over with him who was a ex rally man and knew mechanically what to look for. But their familiarity of the Strato’s and it’s replica’s ended there. They were both really nice guy’s but I have a feeling that I could have got away with stretching the truth if I had the mind to !!
I also feel that there will be several cars “lost” to the club, Nellie being one of them, I have given Sylvain (the new owner) all the contact details I can and also extolled the virtues and benefits of our club, however as yet he has not joined. Maybe in the future ?
There does appear to have been several cars sold in recent years and disappeared from our club, but there’s the rub… not all people want to be a member of a club… any club.
Which leads on to our club, it has evolved into a “different” club to what it used to be when this dinosaur was one of it’s first members, my number was 6 (I think), back then when the industry was starting to turn out proper great looking replicas rather than “sheds on wheels”. The various manufacturers were selling Kits, whereas now more and more completed Cars are being sold. I went to my first club meeting just outside Doncaster and remember talking extensively to Geoff Turton who had finished his car immaculately, he had made all sorts of parts himself which was not included in the kit, his attention to detail was superb, again something which was not in the build manual but was achieved by extensive research, a proper engineer. There was more talk about a bracket for this, how does this go together, where did you find that, who sells this, etc because it was all fairly new to us all and we were all prepared to make things from scratch.
There were also more people competing in rallies, sprints and hillclimbs than there appears to be now. For a few years at Abingdon we had our own Strato’s category with up to 9 or 10 cars entered in the sprint and one year in total 21 cars attended, what a sight that was.
We have evolved into a different club with a different personality with a different type of member, so nowadays what do the members want?... personally time permitting I like to build, mend, make improvements to my cars, go on tours either weeks or weekends (now that I don’t compete anymore), I don’t go to as many shows to display my car as I used to as to me I have “been there and done that”, So for me personally things have changed over the years.
Whatever each individual want’s from the club I don’t know but the website is a very important focal point for us all.
Phil the Dinosaur