The Chrysler K-Car Meet at Bobs. Club reflections. Complaint

[89ARIES]

Well, we managed to scrounge up 4-K cars for our meeting tonight. This was out of the 12 I contacted. One owner had his water pump go on his 84 LeBaron Convertible. Our attendees were myself with my 89 Aries Coupe, Matt with his 82 Aries Mitsubishi 2.6 Wagon, Ken with his 82 LeBaron 2.6 Coupe, and David with his 84 Dodge 600 Convertible that I got to drive. Among the things we discussed tonight were how to keep the club growing and some financing that we need for our club. Also, we talked about legal protection and under what form I may I want to set the club up as. It could be a non-profit corp.

For the record, I have invested over $300 into the club of my own money and I think now I need to ask for donations. I have spent more time on the phone calling members multiple times to make sure they come to shows when they say they are going to come. I have called people long distance on my cell phone. It is a bit exhausting and frankly I don't like being a nag, but some people forget to call me or are just too busy to get a hold of. That is my only major complaint. A little disappointed that only 4 showed up tonight, but it was better than three. I had to call everyone at the last minute to make sure they would show up. One forgot about the show completely and readily apologized when I called and came over. I never really know if yes means maybe and maybe usually means no. People don't want to say no to me (or its to far as we are still too spread out). I hate standing around waiting for people to show. Granted, people are busy and I picked an insane Friday for the show. We desperately need more members in the Los Angeles area and there has got to be a way to reach more people as I saw a pristine non-club LeBaron pass by which I was unable to tag. I think we should do better for Spring Fling as it will be on a Sunday and I think more people will come out for that. I decided to only do a show every two months as it is just too much work for me to do it every month and I spend a lot of personal time on this expensive hobby.

I don't know if we can do the roadtrip this Summer as most of the members expressed doubt that they would want to risk driving their K-cars. Frankly, I think only two us for sure in Los Angeles would drive North 365 miles, unless more of you proved me wrong. No one has yet come up with any ideas for meets they would like to do. If 3 decide to go with me up North in July, I'll go. If none can commit, I might just stay home. I need to see more of us start advertising and trying to put on shows of their own. I wish there was some way I could attract more members in Wisconsin for Justin who is hard at work as the Wisconsin president. I am sure is facing similar challenges. However, I did get some boost of morale as we talked about some real needs we have as a club and everybody had some great ideas. I enjoyed driving the convertible and I think I will try to advertise on Whipnotic and the Chrysler Town and Country Club is graciously mailing me a list of much needed K-car members. I am hoping they'll at least be a few on that list in Los Angeles area. Don't get me wrong, we are constantly growing, but locally here in California it is an uphill climb and I could use the extra support. I think once we get up to 30 members in LA, I won't have to worry about people standing me up at shows and calling everybody at the last minute. I really don't want to be a nag and tick anybody off.

If the Ford Pinto club can have over 1,000 members, there is no reason why we can't grow. The problem has been trying to get in touch with people as frankly the cars are hard to find here and most K-car owners don't know we exist. Pictures soon to follow. If I wasn't so tenacious and determined to keep the K-car dream alive, I would have quit this club a long time ago. A few times that thought crossed my mine as it has been so much work to get to this point. There is no one determined to to keep Chevy Cavaliers or Celebritys alive. We are special in that we actually we want to keep these 80s classics around. I know we have some dedicated people and I will soldier on as long as I am able. Long live the K-car. Any suggestions and volunteers greatly appreciated. In a long winded speech, we exist, we are growing, albeit slowly, and we need more assistance. Lets show those muscle car people we are not a dying breed, but motivated.

Sincerely,
Guy V.Coulombe
Your Club President.

[ReliantLV]

Hi Guy,

Could the club goals be posted somewhere visibly, maybe people just don't know what it's for, and don't care? If they are posted somewhere, pls let me know (I'll admit I haven't perused the main site yet, mostly the forum).

A LOT of what you're saying, I am seeing at our dog club, and I might occasionally nudge some people but more often than not it doesn't help. Apparently people have other hobbies or interests, and just owning a rare dog breed or a rare car doesn't make them want to do anything more with it, I'm not sure. (or maybe going shopping on the weekend is more exciting than going to a car show or a dog show and participating) However, the ones that want to be active are a joy to be around, and we have had a lot of dog-related trips and adventures together.

Maybe it's due to the winter time hibernation (of both cars AND their owners!) that people don't want to plan anything ahead. Personally I am making HUGE plans, I just hope my Reliant can be brought to a 'reliably' driveable state. I feel though that I will have trouble finding someone to join me in my plans (everyone is just too busy ), but there is always my faithful four-legged baby that will go anywhere with me, even if we had to ride in a tank.

On a much more cheerful note, at least you see SOME K-cars there. Here we have some LeBarons (not the older ones though, only from 1987(?) and up), but I can only dream to meet another Reliant or Aries owner. I wish I had saved the contacts from 1995-96 when you could still see some in the streets.

Irena
in snowy Latvia

[jhkaster]

I’m a member and officer of several car clubs. The problems you discuss are universal. Over the years, my observations have been:

• Most are followers, not leaders.
• Most want to join clubs and attend events freely at their will, not wanting to be pressured into any activity.
• Most want to get something out of an activity: food, learning experience (like history, maintenance or cosmetics of the cars) and camaraderie.
• Many would gladly pay membership fees if they are getting newsletters, at least quarterly. This reinforces the desire to learn and to elevate in their minds the status of the vehicles the own.
• However, the challenging economy, now, has people cutting back on spending; which includes restoration work, club meets, driving, meals, and memberships.

Bottom line, each club needs a mission statement, objectives and guidelines with routine and consistent actions and communications to enthuse their members. It can take years to build this consistency. With each action and event, clubs must answer the question each member asks: “What am I getting out of this?”

The challenge is keeping it fresh. Car enthusiasts tend to have interest beyond one make or model. To keep things fresh, in my experience, a club must:
• get down to the detail level, such as changes through the years for something as simple as one component… like a clock, radio, placement of lighters and switches, or materials used
• reach outside the club’s car make/model supported
• do car comparisons and meets, in a positive and fun way, with other clubs (never ridicule another car)
• invite restoration specialists to speak about mechanical, cosmetic and customizations… it could be something as simple as the proper way to wax a car

But it always comes down to answering that question each member asks: “What am I getting out of this?” It’s the price of leadership to always keep answering that question.

[1of10K]

I wish there were more local members around northern IL/southern WI for events, meetings, etc. but reality is that, at least around here, most people view the Ks and the K cousins, as well as the rest of the 80's cars, as just transportation, disposable cars, etc etc etc. Almost all of the K's around here look as if they will disolve to rust and dust if they just stand still for a few minutes and the drivers really don't seem to care at all, much less want to fix them up and join a group.

One idea that I have thought of relates to the interest expressed here in the other 80's cars; X,J, Pinto/Bobcats, Celebritys and cousins, all the rest of them. How about seeing if other similar '80s car clubs would like to be a link on this site, and allow this site be a link on theirs?? I like Ks best, but I like all types of cars and there are many other late 70's early 80's models that are interesting to me. I am willing to bet that some Pinto or Citation X-11 owner might also appreciate and be interested in some of the various K's. Maybe "cross-clubbing" might be a way for a larger group of different 80's types to get together for a show or a cruise night. I wouldn't mind being at a show with a nice Granada, Omega, Versailles, Colt or other cars that my K would have mingled with when it was new. Why not have all these cars mingle once again? Strength in numbers!

[88 aries]

yes im having a hard time trying to get more members in the wisconsin part, all the cars up here are either rusted or people just dont care about them. Which i often see a lot. every show i go to im the only one with a K-car, accept the one i go to in iowa, where they have a front wheel drive class, last year there was chrysler TCs and couple of dodge shadows and even a rampage.

every car i tag i get no response from the owner, so then if i see the car around often i try to talk to the owner.


but ya i think maybe we need some help from allpar.com

[ReliantLV]

Maybe "cross-clubbing" might be a way for a larger group of different 80's types to get together for a show or a cruise night. I wouldn't mind being at a show with a nice Granada, Omega, Versailles, Colt or other cars that my K would have mingled with when it was new. Why not have all these cars mingle once again? Strength in numbers!

I like this idea!

[89ARIES]

I think its a great idea. We'll keep our identity as the K club, but will encourage all owners of unloved American 80s cars without a club to hang out with us. The brand new Chevy Citations Forever Club comes to mind. We are not dead. We just have some challenges. At least will still our gaining members.

[88 aries]

you know we forgot another forgotten 80's car The Renult Alliance, i havent seen one of them in at least 12 years

but ya i like the idea of this revoluation we could have our main site and then on the side we could have a place for our Gm competors.


we also could astablish our own cruise night called forever 80's or something like that.

[ReliantLV]

we also could astablish our own cruise night called forever 80's or something like that.

Ohhh, stop that, you're tempting me to make a trip over there!!!

[Butch]

OK I'm new to this board, theres alot of good ideas posted here. Fact is there's only 2 car clubs for the Chrysler FWD cars, this one and the ShelbyDodgeAutomobileClub. The SoCal chapter welcomes all Chrysler FWD cars. I'm not a big fan of the K cars BUT I don't want to see them destroyed either. I do love the 600 thu and would like to see all the Turbo cars saved. I noticed while reading here no one seems to be into mods that increase perf. These cars can really haul a$$ and get good MPG with alittle tweaking here and there. In my opinion you guys really need to interact with the other club and forums if you expect to grow. There's alot of people into the Mopar FWD cars.Guy come to our club meeting in LaHabra and meet the gang. Also get in touch with me and I'll put my scanner on you car to see about fixing your codes.