Volvo Owners Club E-volvo-ution?

[Mike_Brace]

Following on from thought provoking comments, suggestions and questions by Dai regarding possibility of the club evolving and catering for more of its members (See Volvo Enthusiats Club) I feel I need to make some comments myself. As an older Volvo nutter (and Dai's dad) I am glad to see that there is a lot of interest in this.
Firstly would it be a good idea to have a seperate forum in the General Topics specifically for any member to suggest and discuss ways in which they fell the Club could better serve them and other members. (How do you feel about this Bob?)
Secondly there are I feel the following topics arising which need further discussion and to see if any of these could be taken further.
I see these as:
1)Attracting younger members and keeping them.
2)Improvements/changes to magazines to cover younger members, the classics, modified/performance and customised cars. Whther this should be to the existing or should further consideration be given to on line publishing - maybe just articles as they become available and could be downloaded if interested - wouyld this be something that another person might undertake?
3)BKV - Can we have ALL volvos together on the field whether competing or not?
I see by the number of views that this topic is being read by many people - let's have the views of EVRYONE who reads it even if to say they agree/disagre and have nothing to add! This might at list give a straw (e)poll.
PLEASE POST YOUR VIEWS

Mike

[Bob]

Some points here worth discussing. I am about to log off and go to France for a week, but I have bookmarked this post and will pick it up when I get back. I will also be interested in other messages attached to this thread.

Bob
_____________________________
Robert Isaac
Volvo Owners Club
Director and Web Admin

[IC]

Hi Mike, I have organised monthly meets for the performance section for the past year and a half. There is a very enthusiastic core membership of young and the not so young who attend these meets, in fact the performance section is probably the most active of the sections in the VOC in having a regularly organised official meet on a monthly basis which attracts people from near and far - we had a meet at Phil Whitakers the Volvo specialist last month and together with the V70/850 section we are the busiest sections of our fora.

I already actively support members and non-members, some of which have recently joined us. It is important that we meet and share our enthusiasm rather than just talk on our fora. Simon Linton the 850/S/V70 register keeper drives all the way from Loughborough to London for every meet that we have - we are also supported by Graeme Catnach the S60 register keeper.

There is already very active support in our club, however we must look to the future in supporting new ventures and initiatives. One aspect of posting on the internet is that it is immediate - this is a very postive aspect of our forums. There are local social gaterings and meets going on all around the GB - details of local social dates are posted in the Driver.

i think a good way to start this might be to clamp down on all the bad press towards small volvos - which is all most first-time buyers can afford to drive due to obscene fuel and insurance prices on the bigger volvos. theres hundereds of posts saying 'not a propper volvo', 'bad build quality', 'unsafe' and so on, well if you keep up like that you're not going to have any young members - volvo300mania has managed to pick up 300 members on its english forums alone, in under a year! im sure that if you guys were more willing to accept young members cars then you might get more young members in here..

2ndly, about the performance section (which i personally dont really have any interest in - my insurance is enough as it is) - it seems from the forum that you guys really just do chip tuning on whiteblocks, and thats about it. there are a LOT of people tuning redblocks to a far higher spec, and it is much more of an art than sending your car to a shop who plug a new chip in and send you on your way.

[222s]

So far I haven't bothered to join the VOC as from all that I can find out, it doesn't really cater much for me or my car (as for parts and / or advice etc, I live not far from Tony Barrett's excellent South Service).

I consider the BKV and the working cars are of no great relevance to me, as my Amazon is battered, scruffy and rusty, (but of great sentimental value to me) not a polished trailer queen. Not surprisingly I'm not hugely interested in driving a long way for it to then be in the main car park, rather than part of the rally itself - whether people would actually like to see my car is another matter!!

Although I do intend to sort out the bodywork in the (hopefully) not too distant future, I consider it to be my 'modern' car (despite it being 13 year older than me) and it's in everyday use rather than a cherished classic, so it wouldn't fit into any of the existing show categories.

As suggested in one of the previous posts, I'd like to see all the Volvos parked together, whether they are being judged or not. This is normal procedure for many other car clubs, when even unstarted and half finished restoration projects are on display at their rallies. It sounds perfectly reasonable for those entering for the BKV etc to be parked separately, but as for the rest, it would be nice to have them organised by model - ie all the Amazons together, the 1800s together, 140s together etc....

http://x-files.serveftp.com/paulhark...ture.sized.jpg
1967 Amazon 122S B20 o/d Estate, 1961 A-H Sprite Mk2 948cc

I agree with the comments made by 222s. Apart from the cars entering the BKV competition, all the others should be in together, preferably grouped together by model.








480 S 1995

[Al115]

Interesting observations on the Performance Section. Most of the cars do seem to be whiteblocks, but then the redblocks are so well covered by TurboBricks already. A lot of our members do go for chip tuning, but there's plenty of other discussion (suspension, tyres, intakes and exhausts, you name it). However on the newer cars particularly tuning options are limited without ECU tinkering...

I'd be very happy to see more 300s/400s at our meets. We had a modded 440 recently, and Foggy supports us with his silver beast. The more the merrier really.

Just my thoughts.


Alastair
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http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/photopos...357v70-sig.jpg

[classicswede]

I see some positive responce to mike's questions. The performance section must be one of the most important parts of the club for the young members. I must travel down to a meet as soon as I posibly can. It will be nice to meet up with and see what modded motors turn up. My main intrest is in PV 120's 1800 140's and the 200 series.My dads amazon was a truly amazing experiance I fell in love with it and now I have about ten of my own!! It would be very nice to see articals on modifed car in the mag, all we need is for someone to write them(note to self, must write in about some of my cars). I do hope we will see all volvos on display at this years BKV.
Thats me for tonight
KEEP on comenting
Dai

[Peter Milnes]

The only problem I can see about parking in gaggles of models is what do you do about the people who tow their caravans to the BKVs? How can they park in car model gaggles when most caravanners want their car next to the caravan? Also what do the disabled members/drivers do?

Unfortunately it would be a nightmare to organise as you are not just talking about cars, but car owners who are a varied lot. That doesn't detract from the good idea proposed, it is just a cautionary reminder of the varied origins and thoughts of Volvo owners. So don't stop the ideas coming, it is only by airing them that good ideas bring fruit.

All the best, Peter.

[TheJoyOfSix]

I would prefer it if the competition was renamed Best Volvo, not Best Kept Volvo. Many cars are in excellent condition for their age/mileage, and truly have been looked after by their owner but would never win a Best Kept Volvo purely because they are unrestored, or maintained with non-Volvo parts etc etc.

To give an example my 760 has done over 80k in the last 5 years and is now at 195k. It has a non-Volvo battery because when the original failed it was either a half mile walk to buy one for £45, or a 45 min bus ride plus half mile walk to buy a Volvo one for £70. Yet despite common sense dictating the cheaper, nearer version my car has lost points at the BKV for non original equipment. Equally the rear pockets in the front seat have stretched elastic. This is because, suprise sprise, the pockets are used to store things in. Yet again the car was marked down for this. Until the arrival of the 960 it was the everyday car and so subject to the rigours of everyday use. It is still a lovely car in great condition, but doesn't stand a chance at the BKV. I am not alone in owning a car like this and I just feel the current rules are not set up to encourage the average VOC member to participate as they will not stand a chance of winning.

On another note, what is happening with the under 25 prize? The winner last year turned out to be somewhat older than that but why wasn't the prize then immediately awarded to the second highest judged, regardless of the standard? This is hardly going to encourage the younger members if they can't even be awarded anything. (Note: I am not under 25 myself so have no personal axe to grind on this one).

Finally, myself and a friend have regularly come in the top 3 in the driving test challenge. In previous years there used to be a prize for 2nd place, but this seems to have disappeared to the extent that I was called up to accept the runners up prize only to walk to the podium and be told that there isn't one!!

Whilst I have enjoyed the day out at the Nationals in previous years, there are a few details that I feel could make the day more fun for all concerned.

The forums on the other hand seem to be ok after the last round of Trolls got banned.