Challenges that hinder me recruiting for AACA
These are not complaints or things I think need changed just challenges.
Jay Wolf
1. Meeting location the meeting are held about
70 mile from me, so by the time you stop and eat you have driven 150 mile round
trip.
2. Meeting time and time change, meeting are
held Wednesdays 7:30 PM (8:30 PM my time with time change) so by the time we
have a meeting and program and interact it is well after midnight by the time I
get home and Thursday is a work day for most.
3. Street rod mentality of area. If you can’t
drive it 80 mph with the air on, what good is it.
4. Lack of appreciation of original correct cars at local and area shows. Local show judges don’t appreciate what it takes to keep something original and not just replace something with something that will fit and maybe work better.
5. You have to join 2 clubs. National and region, sometimes it is overwhelming. Our club had addressed this with juniors and students as they can have a free membership in our region.
6. Lack of National AACA show in out area. People don’t know what AACA is?
7. AACA has decent magazine, but not impressive
for $30 a year and it is bimonthly not a monthly like most clubs. $6 a copy is
a little high?
8. Competition of local clubs that don’t have
the vehicle restrictions AACA does.
9. Our region is very small so very few people
know members.
10. In the summer we have meeting at national
meets, so a lot of out “meetings are in the fall winter and weather and slick
roads are a hindrance for the drive to the meetings.
11. Apathy, even the interest people find some reason that this is not a good week to attend; their cat had a hairball or something. I have one person who has told me and planned to attend five+ times only to cancel out the day of the meeting when I call to make arrangement to give him a ride.. I finally quit calling him figuring if he can’t even make one test meeting what is the chance of him coming to any other meetings.
12.
Cost the Average per capita income is very low in
To give you and example
So we do have a financial issue working against us.
13. Most cars
in the area are modified. At the Huntingburg show about one fifth of the cars were AACA
eligible.
For two reasons: Choice and Cost.
Robert Reinke
1. Less
population in the central states.
2. Less $ per capita.
3. Few automobile factories and automobile factory workers.
4. A lot of people went west to seek adventure and new life and to leave
the old behind.
5. The east was settled first and has more history. I think the
mentality
is different the further west you go.
6. The west coast is 3 hours behind the east coast
- so membership
should be 3 hours behind. ?? O.K. skip this one
John Nikodym
My challenges to getting new members agree very much with the ones that you have listed.
One biggie is distance and number of interested
people. Population in
A centrally located meeting still means that most members will have to travel at least 80 miles one way.
Many meetings/activities are 100 to 150 miles from me.
I also see the lack of appreciation of original cars/ hot rod mentality as a major factor.
On the other hand I do feel that many people do not know anything about AACA.
We also live in a "poor" area in that household income is not real high which limits the number of potential members.
As far as lowering the cost of joining....If they cannot afford to pay dues they cannot afford to play with cars either/ People find money for what they are interested in.
I do agree that students could be offered a price break to get them interested so when they do have an income they are already involved in the club. I agree with Bob Reinke's thoughts about concentrating efforts on youth.
Chuck Crane
1. Distance is an issue given the size of
2. Few members have ever attended a National Event as
they're typically a thousand miles away. Same is true of the Annual
Meeting which is always held in
3. AACA is relatively unknown in Texas-There have only
been a few National Meets, primarily in the
4. AACA tends to attract older people so their cars are seldom seen except on tours-not many go to cruise nights like the street rodders do.
5. National has a good youth program, but we have no real sales material to attract the empty nest 45-50 year old set who have the money and time to play with old cars. Contrast that with Goodguys (we belong to that organization as well) and you see stuff on them in Hemmings and other publications.
6. I think there's a perception that to be in AACA, you must have an absolutely perfect stock car capable of at least a 1st Junior in shows-never a driver-just a trailer queen. Very few (including the members of my Region) even know about the Driver Participation Class (DPC) or HPOF for original vehicles.
7. Although the dues are an issue, I agree with John Nikodym that people find the money for what they are interested in. I do think that West Peterson's work on the new Antique Automobile helps raise the value received from the dues to National.
8. In my area there is a view that National does nothing for the Regions. We engineered a January visit from 2 National Directors-the first in the 45 year existence of the Gulf Coast Region.
9. It's getting tougher to
find a "Sparkplug" in the Regions who knows National Officers,
Judges, or Shows/Attends National Meets or
10. Lack of tolerance by our members for modified cars-we lost 3 good members because one lady let them know that they should "be with their own kind" and not with AACA-even though their cars were not radically modified. Those individuals told me that they liked to drive their old cars and made drivetrain changes for reliability and comfort. They definitely understood that these could never be shown under AACA and fully appreciated why AACA takes its stance on Authenticity. But they were made to feel unwelcome.
11. An observation from attending 2 Goodguys National Shows in
12. It's a tough nut to crack in the Midwest and the West since there are few regions and shows-contrast that with the many regions close together in the East where you can probably attend a sizable AACA Region sponsored event nearly every weekend-within easy driving distance.
Joe Goss
1 There are a lot of local clubs that have good activities.
2 There are many car activities in the area.
3 There is not enough time to want to add more clubs such as AACA into everyone's schedule.
4 Good or different events are what draws interest. ( Build it and they will come)
5 VMCCA has a lot of activities and folks join to be able to participate. Some activities came under their wing for insurance purposes that now gains them new manditory members.( Example - Grand Indiana Auto Tour)
6 We all weed out clubs and magazines and such every once and a while. What makes our decisions?
7 Is there some special event such as Hershey to keep us in?
8 Do we really like the activities that club does?
9 Do we have special friends in the club that keeps us there.
10 Would a local affiliation help?
11 Might AACA be an umbrella club with local clubs under it. and not be overly restrictive to these clubs.
12 Could membership be non-exclusive?
13 We gave
a try at doing the local AACA region,
14 Printed material such as the "Antique Automobile" might draw some people if it were available for prospective people to see.
15 AACA has a great web page which sort of acts like that umbrella I mentioned earlier.
16 Maybe some cards like business cards with the web site and contact information might help spread the word.
17 Maybe a link http://www.aaca.org/introduction/introduction.htm as a 'click and send to a friend' on the web site would help.
18 In thinking of the 'send to a friend' link, Ebay has such a feature that links to the item and allows the sender to send a personal message. Such as one might say, 'Make sure to see the discussion forum', or This club has a great magazine, sponsors the big Hershey meet, or has a tour coming up that we might like"
Myron Smith
My comments
are name recognition. It would seem to me that AACA should be the most
recognized group name in the world of old cars. It isn't.
Nathan & I went to the swap meet at
We were in
the
There is also to be a another national marquee event in our home town this summer. We had considered going to it, that was until we found out the cost of registration, and it wasn't within our budget. Our mgmt is to be complimented on their frugality.
1)
I live in
2)
One of the biggest problems in
3)
Hotrods seem to be a big attraction out here. Many well attended events are hotrod oriented
with a sprinkle of classic car attendance, such as Hot August nights in
4) A lot of the increase in Hotrod attraction are young kids…the ones we are trying to capture to increase classic car interest. Hotrods are considered drivable cars for the most part. People don’t want to have to trailer around cars as they are cumbersome, difficult to drive, and consume even more gas. Many of the older classics have problems with reliability that precludes them from going a far distance for fear of something that will strand them
5) The AACA requirements: Maybe there should be two separate qualified groups with different standards to accommodate some of the cars that might be partially modified but far from being Hotrodded. This at least would not preclude as many individuals and discourage them in AACA participation and encourage them to go elsewhere to display there cars and participate in other non-classic events.
Also from Eric
I
strongly believe, however, just as a general overview, the differences in
West Coast and East coast is night and day. I was back east in