RUMCars Forum
General Category => Unusual Microcar Discussion => Topic started by: Jean on March 10, 2014, 10:34:16 AM
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I am disappointed to read that RUMCARS is being discounted by many enthusiasts. I am going to stick my neck out and say "What are we doing wrong and how can we make things better?" May be this should be a new topic. I know we are failing miserably with the web site but we just can't find a person with the time and the right skills to help us. I thought Chris is doing a great job with RUMCAR NEWS but there again our circulation is not increasing very much. The RUMCAR Forum seems to be popular but even that has been a little dead in recent months. Come on folks what is needed to keep the interest alive or is it time to gradually fade away? Jean
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In the words or Buddy Holly "Not fade away"! Rumcars will always be small along with RCN circulation. No reason to think it will shrink to nothing though.
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Nice of you to say that Bob, but it will do if none of you step up to fill the gaps that are appearing because of the age of those that set it on the road in the first place.
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Personally I prefer the carrot to the stick ! By the way sitting here suspecting that I have forgotten AGAIN to renew - have I ?
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Hi Jean, i don't think Rumcars are doing anything wrong, i think it's really just peoples lifestyles at the moment. Many people busy with work, and poor life balance etc. I agree the website has been quiet of late but like myself i pop in and out without posting anything.
Even though i've been on here quite a few years you can see i don't post very often, so maybe i should change, if i can change then i'm sure others can!
I should have made that my New Years resolution, be more visible on some of the forums i'm on.
As for RCN, Chris is doing a fantastic job, i've loved the Bamby/Cursor stories. What can we do to get more subscribers and forum participants? The Microcar fraternity keep themselves to themselves, so i guess that doesn't get the word out.
I think Micro maniacs have done a great job for the cause having a stand at the NEC, but i know that's a lot of time and money.
Is it maybe something we should all take ownership on, get the word out? Maybe during local car shows, some of the members, even if it's just one could take a car along and sell the Rum brand to people!
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Personally I prefer the carrot to the stick ! By the way sitting here suspecting that I have forgotten AGAIN to renew - have I ?
I am afraid so Richard, don't worry you will still get all four issues for 2014 when you do remember!!!Jean
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I fear it is a dark and misty affair as folk seem to have forgotten constructive criticism. There is one thing to be upset about something and harangue a club official. Worse, it tends to be an available one, who has no idea what actually happened. Its another to calmly point out, factually, that there has been a problem to, presumably, the Chairman. For RUM that would be Jean. No one is going to promise a perfect answer can be made to a compliant, but without feedback it is extraordinarily difficult to know what folk want, or what may, or may not, be a problem.
On the other side, as someone who has made constructive criticism, I can vouch for the fact the much of the time its been ignored, or not acted on. I am not suggesting that is necessarily out of order. Those doing the tasks do it the way they do it, as they do it free, in most cases. Maybe I am wrong anyway. However, I have nearly withdrawn from all clubs now, as I do not think I am. In several situations I have found myself in, by dint of doing club work, it has led directly to a confrontation between my knowledge of damaging facts and the operation of a committee. These issues raised in the correct way have been voted by majority to be fudged 'out of existence'. I cannot serve in this situation, as my responsibility to serve is to the club member, not the committee. Clearly in those cases I was the only one who thought this, which is rather worrying I think. I therefore resign and leave them to it.
So all I know is there are a large number of owners, certainly more of certain types of cars than others, who choose not to be a member of any club and become divorced from what the clubs do. Each tale as to why differs, but each is a loss to clubbing together, and a loss to that owner, as they become much more isolated.
It is not for me to transmit the full story given to me by the owner of the car at Newbury. I do not want the position of wosbird to the Microcar world. I would observe that the rise in values, change in ownership profiles, and the tendency of people to be more aggressively selfish, have a bearing.
A thought, of no strength either way. Do you think that clubs who sell spares as Limited Companies can, or are perceived as being, an informal clubbing together of owners? Or are newer owners looking at them as a business, as they pay for a service or parts. They therefore expect a degree of good service. Certainly the Americans, as a group, show far more expectation of good service and information access, and get pretty frustrated if they do not receive it. Americans tend to know how to complain. Its not a British thing to be seen to complain. Feeling fingers burned the potential recruit retreats feeling ripped off by what appears to be a business service, but is not set up to provide what that image in their mind portrays. In the same way, an advertised expert or service provider, on behalf of a club, is seen as a person similar to an employee, available to resolve problems at some speed, despite that he is a volunteer with his own complicated life to deal with.
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I have owned microcars on and off for the past 40 years and it was only a couple of years ago that i was introduced to the forum by John Meadows. Although i rarely post i am an avid reader and enjoy the problem solving that takes place between members.
Whenever i meet like minded people i promote the forum and show them a copy of the news magazine.
The only way to increase membership is to promote it, and the best way is for the members to encourage like minded people to read the forum and the magazine. The magazine is awesome and maybe if back copies were available at rallies (at a cost) then it may kick start more subscriptions to it.
This is just my opinion and i may be totally wrong.
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I read this forum regularly, and more rarely write something here. I'm reasonably keen on microcars, even though I've only ever had 4 Bonds and an Isetta.
I wanted to subscribe to Rumcar News, but haven't ... because when I tried to join, there seemed no way to do so without strange risk.
The website brings up a way to subscribe and pay via PayPal, but the "paypal" site which comes up does not show the usual green "secure" symbol in the address line, and what does appear are warnings that:
" ... this page includes other resources which are not secure, These resources can be viewed by others while in transit and can be modified by an attacker."
and, despite my regular use of Paypal (both .com and .co.uk):
"You have never visited this site before today."
I looked for another way to subscribe, but didn't find one. Perhaps I'm not the only one stalled by this?
Dave
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So far the comments seem to be purely on the role the Forum plays. I do agree that it does play a very active part in the affairs of the Register of Unusual Microcars but it is only the tip of the iceberg.
The Register is not a Club and was never meant to be. It was set up to protect the vehicles for life for which there was no 'one make' club and to help and inform their successive owners where we could. Over the years a large archive of information has been gathered together which obviously helps to feed the articles in RUMCAR NEWS for the benefit of everybody. These archives are available to all and copies can be made for a small fee on request. More importantly the new owner of a Registered car can obtain what history of a vehicle is recorded on our data base. There again this information is absolutely dependent upon information fed to us by successive owners of course. I hasten to add the names and addresses of past owners are not disclosed, however we are prepared to try to link the owners together where we can.
Also over the years we have built up a reputationt with the DVLA and the FBHVC as a reliable authority on many unusual makes of microcars. However, if the current thinking is to be secretive about the cars you own and the information gathered about particular cars which could prove useful to other owners it rather limits what the Register can do. It was designed to protect owners, to make sure that cars are genuine originals and where possible put a date to individual cars. This can only be done by gathering data from as many cars as possible because in so many cases no factory records have survived, but to do this the cooperation of the owners is needed.
The Forum can be very informative in this way but there are still enthusiasts who do not use computers that is why RUMCAR NEWS is so important. However, so many people today do not seem to have a clear idea of why the Register was started and what resources it can offer, given a chance, all the time there are volunteers like Chris,Alastair and Mike to make it work.
The Register is trying to help, not spy, dictate or make money but we need cooperation to do it.
I have plenty of back copies for sale but I am afraid I am unable to attend many rallies these days but some can be provided those of you who do if you would be willing to sell them on our behalf.
Let us have any other ideas you may have if you wish the Register to continue be of use to the microcar community in general. Jean
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I read this forum regularly, and more rarely write something here. I'm reasonably keen on microcars, even though I've only ever had 4 Bonds and an Isetta.
I wanted to subscribe to Rumcar News, but haven't ... because when I tried to join, there seemed no way to do so without strange risk.
The website brings up a way to subscribe and pay via PayPal, but the "paypal" site which comes up does not show the usual green "secure" symbol in the address line, and what does appear are warnings that:
" ... this page includes other resources which are not secure, These resources can be viewed by others while in transit and can be modified by an attacker."
and, despite my regular use of Paypal (both .com and .co.uk):
"You have never visited this site before today."
I looked for another way to subscribe, but didn't find one. Perhaps I'm not the only one stalled by this?
Dave
Dave, you can always send an old fashioned cheque to me at School House Farm and I will set the wheels in motion for you to receive RUMCAR NEWS
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there is nothing wrong with the PayPal links to pay. I just checked them. It also says I have visited that site 676 times.
the unsecured elements are the images on the page.
the "warnings" most likely have to do with the fact that the links are constructed from the "old" way when you could create a PayPal shopping cart without the "special code" that is encrypted and created from within your PayPal account.
I don't have access to the RUMCARS paypal account to create those encrypted links.
At www.Microcar.org the PayPal links work slightly differently because they are generated directly from the PayPal account.
So this is what you get for now unless I get access to the Rumcars PayPal account.
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Why is this discussion under "Sales and Auctions"? ???
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Well look who started it and hasn't moved it jim .Equally off topic whilst your at it jim can we put our clock right again - thanks. Now 1430 in u.k. WOAH Jim I just realised that our clocks are only 2 weeks off changing again , best left then . Has the forum been wrong for 6 months really ? I hadn't noticed until yesterday I think
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Thank you, Jean, Jim
Somewhat (?) reassured, I've bitten the bullet and clicked the PayPal links ... :o
Looking forward to the RCN!
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Why is this discussion under "Sales and Auctions"? ???
Because Jean asked me to split it away from another thread which was in sales and auctions. When I split it there didn't appear to be an option to the relocate the separated part in another category. Maybe only administrators can do that?
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I guess if you are like me, sales and auctions and mart are the first threads i go to, so probably in the correct place to get everyones attention!
Again i will put my hand up, i've only registered one of my cars on Rum, for no other reason than i was waiting on them being roadworthy before registering. Which was stupid i guess, as that will probably be 30 years time.
Lessons learnt from me, all my cars will go on the register.
In fact through the register, i was contacted by Rumcar admin to ask if they could pass on my details to a guy interested in my registered car. I now communicate with this chap on a regular basis, so thank you Rumcar register!
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I haven't been on here much of late, but that's simply because I'm way too busy outside of our microcar hobby, but as Bob will tell you I'm still involved and still manage to hunt out the odd bit a Beaulieu twice a year. ::)
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I haven't been on here much of late, but that's simply because I'm way too busy outside of our microcar hobby, but as Bob will tell you I'm still involved and still manage to hunt out the odd bit a Beaulieu twice a year. ::)
And visit me this morning with goody bag of car parts for the secret project! Thanks, I suppose I owe you more coffee now?
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So far the comments seem to be purely on the role the Forum plays. I do agree that it does play a very active part in the affairs of the Register of Unusual Microcars but it is only the tip of the iceberg.
The Register is not a Club and was never meant to be. It was set up to protect the vehicles for life for which there was no 'one make' club and to help and inform their successive owners where we could. Over the years a large archive of information has been gathered together which obviously helps to feed the articles in RUMCAR NEWS for the benefit of everybody. These archives are available to all and copies can be made for a small fee on request. More importantly the new owner of a Registered car can obtain what history of a vehicle is recorded on our data base.
Please let us know any other ideas you may have if you wish the Register to continue be of use to the microcar community in general. Jean
I am enthralled by the concept of there not only being microcars, which are very unusual by simply being a micro car, but there actually being UNUSUAL microcars. To me that is the creme de la creme.
Therefore the idea of any organization dealing with Unusual microcars is very appealing to me, and I truly appreciate this organization's existence. However, I am a bit less clear as to the stated purpose of the organization.
What is meant by your statement that Rumcars was set up to protect the vehicles for life?
I will truly appreciate it if I could have some way of scanning the archives for technical information that I have not been able to find, that is needed for me to properly maintain and repair the microcars that I have taken under my wing. Is there an index of sorts for the archived technical information?
I cannot afford the time or membership cost to try to keep up with the many clubs that dedicate themselves to the microcar makes that I currently posses. I also find it disturbing when organizations that purportedly exist to promote the health and maintenance of their chosen mark, go out of there way to limit the flow of needed technical information to only those willing to pay an additional fee for such. Strikes me as hypocritical, and excuse the unintended demographic implication, to not be "the American way."
While on the subject of American ways; as Jim has pointed out previously there is no American counterpart to the British obsession with license plates and old registration books/ cards, so much of your mission statement is irrelevant to American, and probably most of the rest of the world's interests. The history of a vehicle can certainly be interesting, but adds little in the way of value to our vehicles.
The only fake microcar we are likely to see here would be a newly built Peel, that would be likely easily discernible as such. Also the cost of paper Rumcars issues at almost $13 per issue might be a bit of a hard sell here.
However, what may be North Americas largest microcar event the "Southwest Unique Little Car Show" is going to be taking place only about 5 miles down the street from me in just a couple of weeks. I am hoping to get about a half dozen unusual microcars there, and would be proud to act as an ambassador for your lovely organization. I am also the head of a 250 member sport car club within the Los Angeles area, and will be promoting this show to its members. Hawking some older issues of Rumcars news, and supplying registration applications, or anything else that you would like distributed might go well, and I'd be happy to do it.
Please let me know how you would like me to proceed.
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It always amazes me that some people will pay hundreds or even thousands of pounds/dollars for a microcar and then begrudge paying a few pennies/cents for a club or a register membership/magazine.
Fake microcar? There are copies of various cars about but don't they only become fake if purporting to be the genuine article.
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That does raise the point that RUM is particularly British. Nothing wrong with that, probably means its better.... From when it began, to now, the whole world has changed. Just as the old Micro and Minicar Club had several ambassadorial positions round the place, I was honoured to be one of them, and was spread thinner than the American activities now, I suspect. That older club did have some elements of RUM to it. So an ambassadorial position or two in the more active Microcar countries might be an idea.
With respect to data and access this has always been the product of who was prepared to produce the original or a drafted set of information. In an ideal world there would be a Microcar encyclopedia on the net. The work would be great and possible full time to keep up. It is a fact that information is now a commodity and some people choose to charge for it. There is a balance somewhere. It is a problem though as if I was to compile a Haynes style manual for the Treinkel, say, I would want to sell copies to recoup some reward for the work. The minute someone posts the book on line my sales have dropped to minimal. With no way to protect that investment there is not a great incentive to do it. You yourself suggested you had not time to write an item on the Freeway front suspension. We all have the same problem and that is ignoring the ability, or patience, to create some flowing prose that is accurate and to be proud of. It is easy to make an error or to provide some very flat text that turns the reader off.
One thing that I hope to slowly address with my library, as it would be great to collect the published information on the cars, not the brochures perhaps - the collectors already do that and some collections are worth a lot of money. I am more interested in the information than the originality so facsimilies will do. That becomes a very handy resource not just for me but to folk who seek the info I might have.
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There are copies of various cars about but don't they only become fake if purporting to be the genuine article.
The vast majority of Peel Replicas I have seen all have cards in the window put there by their owners that represent them as a "1963" or "1965" Peel P50.
When the "new" Peel P50 was being advertised, it was done so as being built by "Peel Engineering" and the story was that the new owners had "bought the company". For the layman, this implied that they had purchased the original Peel Engineering company on the Isle of Man, when in fact all they did was "buy the company name" at Companies House at it was available for purchase. Of course these are not "fakes" because they are actually built by "Peel Engineering" but just not the SAME Peel Engineering that created the original ones.
However- their revisionist version of history continues now as they now appear to lay claim to owning "Peel" to further blur the line between historical fact and fantasy
from their website on the "History" page:
Peel was a manufacturing company based on the Isle of Man...In recent years Peel has been aquired (sic) by car enthusiast Gary Hillman and Faizal Khan.
The timeline of the page continues to go back and forth between the past and present with little differentiation between the two.
They also continue the claim that the Peel P50 still holds the Guinness World Record as "World's Smallest Car" when in fact the original P50 was recognized as the "World's Smallest Production Car". The currently built model holds no such distinction.
So while not making a specific claim to be the genuine article that came from the Isle of Man, the picture painted is that the old and new are one and the same.
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Robs statement holds true. Jims statement also hold true although no self respecting microcar enthusiast view the latest shame offering as a real Peel, all that misleading blurb is to reassure the uninformed that they are making a sound investment, yeh right!
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That does raise the point that RUM is particularly British. So an ambassadorial position or two in the more active Microcar countries might be an idea.
You yourself suggested you had not time to write an item on the Freeway front suspension. We all have the same problem and that is ignoring the ability, or patience, to create some flowing prose that is accurate and to be proud of. It is easy to make an error or to provide some very flat text that turns the reader off.
Does Rumcars want me to act as a Southern California ambassador disseminating information, and selling old issues of your publication at this upcoming biggest North American event?
What I meant to imply was that I did not have time to write a complete compilation, properly prepared with pictures/ diagrams to do the topic full justice at this time. For if I was to do so, I would likely be a microcar or two down on what I can get driving to the West coast microcar show in a couple of weeks.
If you notice, I did offer to spend 30 minutes explaining all that I have done on the phone to whomsoever has the interest and time at the present to compile it. Got no response to that offer, despite the supposed urgency of the request.. I later asked for someone to post a picture of the interior of the car showing the stock steering set up out to the top of spring retainer mounted steering arms, so that my explanation of what was wrong with it, and how my modifications corrected the mangled engineering so effectively. No action there either. so it seems that there is an element of "I want what I need, but I amnot willing to do anything in return for getting it" out there.
Regardless, eventually I will be happy to author a series of articles about it if necessary, given proper editorial guidance, for publication in your magazine. But right now I have to get out to my driveway to do some serious micro mechanicking. I finally just received a Saxonette clutch and enigmatic retaining piece after 9 months apart. I don't remember where exactly it goes, and I never did get the engine running yet. See what I mean about needing information?
How about starting a Wilkepedia style resource for microcar maintainers and mechanics?
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I have plenty of back copies for sale but I am afraid I am unable to attend many rallies these days but some can be provided those of you who do if you would be willing to sell them on our behalf.
Let us have any other ideas you may have if you wish the Register to continue be of use to the microcar community in general. Jean
HELLO!
IS THERE ANYBODY LISTENING TO MY POSTS AND P.M.s that really cares about the continued viability of Rumcars?
In addition to my three posts, I have comprehensively addressed and solved all problems associated with creating and manning a Rumcars booth at the largest North American microcar event of the year, to be held on March 29, 2014.
I also have obtained permission to hawk older issues of Rumcars, which I believe to be essential to having an intervention that actually produces new enrollees, and got permission to include a pamphlet mentioning the availability of these issues at the Rumcars booth at a discounted price, along with an application form into the goodie bags being issued to all the attendees that are paying a fee to display their microcars. This tactic would put Rumcar promotionals in the hands of attendees that are most likely to pay to join Rumcars.
I have communicated these accomplishments, and my willingness to handle all the tasks from this end to Chris, in a succession of four emails, after he initially contacted me about what promotional possibilities should be actualized.
To my astonishment, after solving all the problems on my end- he has gone silent, and not responded to my last couple of emails giving the go ahead to send some old issues for me to both display, and sell at the booth.
The argument that there is no budget for sending these in the post, because all dues collected go to printing and mailing costs rings hollow, as an electronic subscription that I just sent in, incurs neither of these costs, and any additional cost of mailing can be factored in to the price that the administrators decide to charge for each older issue sold. All fees collected would go back to Rumcars via PayPal transfer.
I also conveyed my proposals and achievements in actualizing this excellent marketing opportunity on a completely pro bono basis on my part in a p.m. to Jean a couple of days ago, but as of yet have not received any response.
This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for Rumcars, and it will pain me to see it wasted.
The uniqueness of the opportunity is owing to the closeness of the venue to my home. I am making an all out effort to get a half dozen of my more unusual microcars there, and to set up the Rumcars booth next to them to take advantage of the stir in conversations that they are likely to draw. FYI, A maximum of only one of the cars that might make it their could be a British car that I have imported. This ratio probably compares well to the ratio of microcars in the U.K. that have been imported- so no reason to panic about setting off a mass exodus of your indigenous vehicles.
Running down the clock can be an effective way to ensure a win, if you are in the lead position near the end of a game. But in this instance, the lead is what is being sought, and wasting time will only insure a very easily preventable loss of opportunity.
If you want Rumcars to grow, instead of fading away, as it has been reported to be doing- send me the old issues so that I can effectively funnel my showings and enthusiasm for the benefit of Rumcars.
If you can not be bothered to do this, then just admit that you would rather have Rumcars " fade away", and stop disingenuously asking for help in averting your chosen fate.
Sincerely,
Steven Mandell
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Steve, you are not being ignored but your suggestions are impractical for this year please see my PM. Jean
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Steven , the tone of your last post to is to say the least unfortunate. If you wrote to me in such a manner I would be more than a little upset. I have known Jean for over 30 years and am very confident that any decisions she and her team make will be in the best interests of RumCar s.
Shouting does little for her and nothing for you.
John
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"I want what I need, but I am not willing to do anything in return for getting it"
I am not going to be drawn on the situation regarding ambassadorial positions for RUM. It was a suggestion of which I, as on outside voice, can make or support, but not influence in any way.
I can however vouch for the fact that your comment, above, is very much the order of the day from far more people who get in touch with me about things, than really makes any sense. I suspect a lot do not even realize they are doing it, as it is very much the modern way to demand things, expect a service fulfilled and then to disappear with narry an acknowledgement. Indeed I have even had complaints back about things given for free.
Sadly the answer is that many people do not value something unless forced to pay for it. Thus what should be free has to be charged for, to get people to value the service, as they are to stupid to be wise enough to behave themselves in a proper manner, if it is free.
One reason my ensign is as decried as oft as it is welcome. I have long chosen those I will help from past experience, and no amount of blubbing is going to change that, if I find my generosity has been abused. Was not I who made the choice. As you say, with a garden full of my own projects why should I bother with fair-weather friends.
Clubbing has to be a two way activity and so often I find myself attempting to achieve some goal, with all sorts of noises of encouragement, only to find next to no actual physical support on reaching a result. Classic Committee activity too, which is why I think I am out for joining another committee, and we are talking wider than Microcars here, now. One only goes through this so many times before becoming defensive. Thus I will bang out the odd item I wish to do for publication still, but much more of my time will be devoted to projects under my own control, which may lead to a marketable publications, where I receive something in return for my trouble and not risk prose being hacked about or bother so much about people determined to miss read what I had written. They do say as you age you become less of a socialist. Ho hum.
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New Hail Mary Pass plan.
Just stuff as many old issues of RCN as you can afford to mail inside an ordinary envelope, along with a flyer that I will copy at my own expense.
I will lash these down to the display table for all to purview, and then hand out flyers to those who have shown sufficient interest.
No time to delegate as they need to get to me within a week.
Shouldn't the cost of mailing be covered by the amount collected by one electronic subscription to RCN that has no associated printing or mailing costs to defer from available funds? :-*
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ofgs jean and chris , what is the problem ? just do it :)
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Jean Chris, i will donate £100 for the postage. So if you have the time can you gather as many back issues as possible unto the £100 postal limit and get them to Steve?
But don't forget i'm still awaiting the full set of back issues i ordered a month ago, plus the Hammond collection book?
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Speak of steping up to the plate!
Way to go Milnes! :D
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that is a VERY generous offer - respect ;)
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Thank you Steve/Richard :-[.
No need for respect to me though, i think the repeat should go to the people who run this forum and the Rumcars! As Jean has said, some are getting on in years, so who is willing to take the baton from them?
I don't have the time (I'm sure most of us will have the same excuse) but i can help in other ways, as i'm sure most of us can on here. So what's my promise to Rumcars?
1: £100 donation for postal to USA.
2: Purchase all back issue of Rumcar News, at the requested price by Jean, with a small donation on top. (Just waiting on you Jean).
3: Try and post a little more on the forum (i'm on and off quite a bit but don't say much).
4: Post some more pictures.
5: Register all my cars with RumCars
6: Use Rumcars experts to help me register all my Foreign cars, as per latest Rumcar article
7: Make a concerted effort to come to the next Rum gathering (i've not been to any microcar meet yet)
8: Try and be a little more active in the Rumcar and Micro car community in general
9: Try and promote Rumcars in general, even by trying to sign up 1 new member per year.
10 Buy more Microcars :).
I'm not saying this will all happen tomorrow but will happen over the next 2-3 months.
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Good effort !!!!! I've contacted jean for rum car posters , flyers and what ever which I will be handing out to interested people at the Enfield show in May ,I know I'm new to the forum and my car isn't in the same category as all your classics but I would like to help in any way that will help rum cars stay alive
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At the risk of running with a batton not actually in the race.
1/ Does the request for back issues mean that RUM is holding copies of all, or the majority, of its publications?
2/ Or is it a case of producing additional copies from RUM held file copies?
3/If the former is the latter a feasible project to replace out of stock magazines?
I ask this because if 2/ and someone is to create duplicate copies that is a lot of work for one set of magazines. It would make sense to budget for a multiple run. There might be other orders of full sets that would pay for an excess to be put to stock. Additional donations might increase the budget to achieve that. Not only a handy, if limited investment income for UM but it would mean a bigger but only single task for he who does the production. I would suspect saving him a lot of time.
If 1/ marvelous! Then this is an investment that should offer a limited income. What happens when the copies run out? Is 3/ a fundable project over time.
Clearly these questions are something beyond the time scale of the immediate topic but if there is a need to look at funding for the future, here is a handy way folk can help, offer RUM donations in excess of cover price, and perhaps a way to bolster things up, if needed. I would certainly buy a run of mags to put in my library. I have an inconsistent collection of original publications. There might be others interested too. Please understand that this is a general observation as the topic came up, so possibly might be a different thread.
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Digital copies is one solution - print it yourself.
But there are problems:-
Once in digital format it can be copied to anyone and everyone (and it will) - no income.
Some people like an original copy produced at source but it would be impractical to stock or re-publish a never ending supply for just a few enthusiasts.
Would it be better if the income came from actual membership (or just call it subscription) rather than revenue from the magazine. currently expensive in hard copy but cheaper in digital.
Increased revenue from more contributors / members?
Two classes perhaps - 1. with microcars 2. enthusiasts without microcars?
The cyclemotor club renews membership at about £4 with hard copy or £3 with email magazine. (they charge £0.25 extra for on-line renewals to cover PayPal charges)
They send a nice reminder email with a link to paypal to pay. it's easy and quick and cheap.
Dear XXX
Your subscription is due for renewal on 1 April 2014.
You can renew by PayPal by going to the Renewals page on our Website at http://www.autocycle.freeserve.co.uk/renew_uk.html.
We now offer the alternatives of receiving the club’s newsletter by post or by e-mail postal. If you opt to receive the newsletter by e-mail, you save a pound on your membership fee.
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Interesting Barry. Just discussing this elsewhere. With folk not seemingly so club orientated and a lack of folk to run them, the alternative is to have the club membership at a nominal amount to cover costs of internet etc., or free. I think the old postal thing is nigh on outmoded. The magazine is now an interactive website. By offering no services for membership but access to exclusive information downloads for a charge and events at a discounted rate, free or some suitably advantageous option. Thus club effort is reward by money to keep things ticking along and there is an inducement to go to events cheaper than unbooked or non members can get in. You do not interact with the club on joining, the club does not interact with you. Seems fair to me. I might go further and hold an excluded event, that was really good, forcing folks hand to join so they can attend the really good rally. This is a much more modern model that many web based operations use. Those who are active get reward back, the lazy get nothing and have a choice, don't they. Could even reward input of info, articles by information trade or some freebies.
Could be the model for a possible Wessex Club. Its the free market option to the tax revenue option really. Sadly the free-market rewards active participation, so will not suit all.
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I think there are a lot of plus points to an online forum, newsletter etc but i guess i'm a little old fashioned and still like a proper newspaper, magazine.
I can imagine the costs of a production run of old Rum news prohibits reprinting them, which is a real shame. As can imagine there will be a lot of interesting articles i would love to read. As discussed before these could then be used at car shows, car museums to sell and promote the Rum car forum & magazine.
Al i've been told by Jean that not all old copies are available, some they will have to photo copy. So this would make me believe the ones they have are left over ones from the original print run.
I'm not sure how much each magazine would would cost if Rum cars were to say have a limited print run of 50-100 for each edition that was missing.
It would be good to hear from the administrators on this, as this might be a viable business decision to 1: Shore up stocks of missing back issues, 2: Allow new members to complete the collection of magazines, 3: Allow willing members to sell back issues at the various classic meetings, this will promote Rumcars and also bring in much needed funds, no matter how little that may be!
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Just another thought :o
What about merchandising?
If funds are a problem, how about selling some branded RumCar products?
I think Micromaniacs have done a fairly good job in self promotion, especially at things like the Classic car show in Birmingham. Some on here may be a member on Micromaniacs, so would have ideas on fundraising ideas?
Now i know if you start selling lots of Tee shirts/cups etc, then it's someone else's time. So what about limited edition runs, 100 special edition tee shirts etc?
Another idea, a special edition book/booklet.
I'm sure there are enough members of the RumCar community that have enough unique cars to fill 50-100 pages. Lets say 1 page per car, at least one picture, then some details of the car, details of the owner if thats the way we go!
I'm just trying to throw some ideas around ;)
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I think there are a lot of plus points to an online forum, newsletter etc but i guess i'm a little old fashioned and still like a proper newspaper, magazine.
I can imagine the costs of a production run of old Rum news prohibits reprinting them, which is a real shame. As can imagine there will be a lot of interesting articles i would love to read. As discussed before these could then be used at car shows, car museums to sell and promote the Rum car forum & magazine.
Al i've been told by Jean that not all old copies are available, some they will have to photo copy. So this would make me believe the ones they have are left over ones from the original print run.
I'm not sure how much each magazine would would cost if Rum cars were to say have a limited print run of 50-100 for each edition that was missing.
It would be good to hear from the administrators on this, as this might be a viable business decision to 1: Shore up stocks of missing back issues, 2: Allow new members to complete the collection of magazines, 3: Allow willing members to sell back issues at the various classic meetings, this will promote Rumcars and also bring in much needed funds, no matter how little that may be!
I thought that this might be the case. But still a handy stock to own. As to a marketing possibilities I think that needs to be digested by those at the sharp end even before start up investment is considered. A management framework may already happily exist.
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Merchandising is a harder investment. I have never really got to the bottom of what people want and why they buy. I have been in many clubs and all ended with stocks of unpopular items they had to right off in some way. Needs careful management.
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But there are problems:-
Once in digital format it can be copied to anyone and everyone (and it will) - no income.
this is not really as big a problem as people make it out to be.
I have experimented with making MICROCAR NEWS magazine available as a Digital copy available to ANYONE that signs up for our forum (paying member or not) and to date those downloads have been less than 50 for any issue.
I also think that the person who would download a digital issue without paying would not have paid for a print copy in the first place, so there is no income lost.
The market audience for both MICROCAR NEWS and RUMCARS magazine are people that want a paper copy in their hands.
Re-printing back issues is another can of worms though as pointed out already.
I have the original digital files for all copies of MICROCAR NEWS, but the previous incarnation of the Microcar & Minicar Club's MINUTIA was done with a hodgepodge of programs and files and they are all gone now.
A similar thing probably exists for Rumcars as they have had several editors over the years and I can tell you first hand that the last thing you think about after pushing out another issue is "how can I archive this information so it can be easily be reprinted later should the need arise?"
The older issues appear to be photocopied from an original. For small runs that was probably more cost-effective in the day. I know that Chris needed some copies of some back issues recently and could not find them and I supplied him with something I had, so I don't think a complete set of back issues to reprint even exists today!
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I think that we all agree that the paper copy is what we value.
Copies missing from the club archives could be listed on a page dedicated for such on this website.
They could be mailed back to Rumcars, dropped off en masse, if anyone has a pile of the wanted issues, or better yet- scanned into a modern format and emailed to Rumcars, eventually completing the collection.
Existing non properly formatted copies could be scanned into the Rumcars data base, then copies made as needed on a per request basis, so currency of stock would not need to be maintained.
There are some Lexmark scanner/ printers that still make black and white copies for 1 cent per page, color pictures adding proportionately to costs. So a good profit could be realized from each issue printed. A black and white only option, could be made available for a lower fee than the one with color inclusion.
Members sending in copies for scanning could be rewarded by including a complimentary copy of their choice bundled in with their returned original and next RCN copy at the time of its issuance. En masse contributors that drop off a significant number of copies, would have to pick up their originals and complimentarily awarded copies at RCN headquarters, or pay costs of mailing back to themselves.
If properly set up, this could be a fairly well automated process. Order gets emailed in with Paypal payment- dates of requested issues typed in/ clicked on in computer data base- printer prints copies- human sorts, staples and mails.
A good source of profit for Rumcars. Just need the right printer and a properly compensated volunteer(s) to input into the data base and do the stapling and mailings.
Speaking of which, I am spending every moment that I can spare now getting ready for this weeks Unique Little Car Show, but as of this time, still l have not heard from anybody sending me issues of RCN to hawk or display. Somebody in a position of power needs to follow through ASAP or Milnes' extremely generous donation will go down the tubes, and Rumcars will miss out on all the benefits that would be realized by my manning a booth next to the largest grouping of Unusuals likely to be on display.
If the present administration of Rumcars lets the gift of bird in hand to their own best interest get away, it is unlikely they will go after the others in the bush.
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Dear All, For everyone's information, I have numerous copies of many of the back issues from RCN 47 onwards and would very much like to sell them, I need the space. They have been advertised by Chris several times in current editions but very few people seem to want them. I agree if we could only sell them it would bring much wanted revenue . We can advertise them in the current issues and on the web site but we can't make people buy them. Chris even publishes an alphabetical list of cars covered in which issue in the hope someone may be interested.
So indeed a lot of back copies are available, unfortunately only those produced on Chris's watch and some of those from Tony Marshall's time have digital masters, Those Mike Shepard produced have paper master's but sadly no masters were kept of the very early ones, so there is a problem filling in any gaps . I do however have a complete set of RUMCAR NEWS from RCN1 to date in the archive from which the missing issues could be copied in some way, but what is the point of setting up a system if no one buys them?
The same thing applies to merchandise, in the 1990's I bought in key rings, licence holders, car badges as well as windscreen stickers but they did not sell very quickly in fact I still have some key rings in stock today. Once again these have been advertised in RUMCAR NEWS too. A capital outlay which has taken over 20 years to recoup, so we don't feel inclined to order more. Another enthusiast arranged on behalf of RUMCARS for tee shirts and sweat shirts sporting the Rum logo to be produced on a made to order basis, so there was no initial outlay apart from the art work this time. These too were advertised, but the up take was so small the supplier withdrew his offer!
Given these facts can you wonder why we feel we are flogging a dead horse. If we had more subscribers the magazine could be produced more cheaply. If each current subscriber made a point of showing off their magazine and got one new member that would be great. Chris and I just don't know what more WE can do to whip up enthusiasm because we need your physical help to carry the ideas through.
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Well as said before Jean, Steve is willing to sell some magazines at the USA car show and i'm willing to pay £100 for the postage.
I'm waiting on you getting back to me regarding a full order of what back issues you can get between you and Chris and i will pay the money with a small donation on top.
Now here is something else, how about making a list of all the back issues not available, lets say it's 10, how about getting a price to have some reprinted, obviously the more printed the cheaper they are, i will sponsor 1 issue being reproduced. Rumcars gets all the money brought in!
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Again ignoring time issues.
It is possible to now scan text into a program that recognizes text. It will make a best guess and you then have to proof read and edit the text, but it is far, far faster than inputting raw text and better quality than scan and bang. A similar program can clean up diagrams. There is not much that can be done with low image quality, though. So a clean set of magazines is possible in an ideal world. The world is not ideal and I can only see such a major redraft happening if someone dedicates to the task. You never know.
Given time I might get these programs and sort out some stuff I want to do. If I get the hang of it I might be able to do other stuff in the off season. But with the work in hand that is 3 years away I think.
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Dear Friends Of Rumcar News
Since I have taken over as editor of RCN, I have been sent by Tony Marshall the digital masters of various of the issues that he produced. From these I have been trying to rebuild the magazines to build a digital archive in both the original desk top publishing format and in pdf format, which will be accessible for longer.
The problem with the files I have been sent is that many only give me half of the magazine, as the way Tony and Lynn produced the magazine was that half was on one computer, and the other half was on another computer, as putting it all on one computer firstly was too big for the computer ram size, and secondly it allowed them to print the magazine on two A3 printers at the same time, speeding up the printing process.
The other problem is, that while you are working on the magazine all the images are not held in the main file but read the image files. But when complete you save it all by embedding the images and fonts before you send it to the printer. As Tony was doing the printing, this was not always done, so with a lot of the files I have, they have the words, and the layout, but the fancy fonts used are missing, along with most of the images. This means to rebuild the editions each page has to be rebuilt, by finding or rescanning the images, and finding and resetting all the text in the right font and point size. For 32 pages, rebuilding one edition can take up to 50 hrs. For some issues I have taken a copy from my archive and just scanned the page and pasted it into place, . This is very easy and quick, but does not produce such a clear text or bright colour images for the pictures. It also ends up a bigger file size. Other pags I have completely retyped the text. I have tried optical character recognition, and was impressed with the results. Between producing the four magazine issues a year, I try and rebuild four old issues, dependent upon which ones Jean has run out of, and which ones have been requested.
My long term aim is to have all the magazines available in pdf format, so Jean does not need to hold any paper copies at all. From the pdf copy our printer will print off single copies on request, so we can then provide back issues on demand, either printed paper copies or digital copies.
As you will appreciate re-establishing the archive in a digital format is a slow process. We have a few issues from the 70's, all of the 80's none of the 90's and half of the 100's and all of the 110's. Pre 75 there are no digital masters so they will have to be scanned copies into digital.
You can imagine that if Jean was to hold 10 printed copies of each back issue with 120 issues to date, the stock of back issues would be 1200 copies, each worth about £4, would mean a stock value of say £4800. Stock on the ground takes up space and costs money. Take into consideration that with a magazine that is 30 years old, the early copies will have been sitting for 30 years waiting to be sold which again is funds that could have been earning interest in a bank.
I am certain that the long term plan is sustainable, and allows for the fact that in years to come printed paper copies may well be a curiosity, much like the 78 rpm record is today.
If only I could devote all my waking hours to running the magazine, but unfortunately work and home life get in the way.
I hope that answers some of your questions.
Chris Thomas
Rumcar News
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Earning interest in a bank? Which one? - I take your point though. Liquidity is important in a low fund organization.
Indeed RUM is fortunate to have someone doing this level of archive investment. It is to be applauded. Text recognition should be the quickest way, but as I said, and you confirm, scanned images are the problem, after shear time to revise the data. For me unusual fonts are of less importance in a reprint, over the content. However you have set a standard to which you wish to work and really should stick to it if its possible.
Big Al
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With the greatest respect to all of your hard work Chris, I think there is a quick solution in advance of any detailed rebuilding of text data.
The most important thing is to make the archive of magazines available to read.
This is best achieved by scanning whatever missing masters there are and outputting as pdf's Job done!
Is there any real need to get the old magazines back into editable format - word etc.?
They will never need editing as they are what they are - as published.
The quality of the pdf can be quite high if the scanning settings are chosen carefully.
I use Adobe Illustrator for graphics but have a stock of over 8,000 fonts from Corel Draw.
I tend to scan as colour jpg files at high resolution (masters) then convert to pdf using 'Scansoft Paper Port'. The resulting files can be big but not too big whilst retaining good quality.
Pdf files can be edited in illustrator so any picture files could be put back in but I really don't think its worth the time and trouble.
I am pretty sure most people would be only too happy to receiuce a good scanned copy printed, or the pdf so that they can print it if they want.
People have said that we all prefer hard copy. Personally I prefer digital as its easy to file, easy to find and doesn't take up any space.
It is a great challenge to get every magazine back to original text in editable form but is it worth the effort.
I am not belittling your fantastic work but just questioning the amount of effort required and timescale.
I have an A3 scanner if anyone needs large scans.
I have an A4 photo scanner which can scan film, slides and negs - I am happy to help anyone out if they have slides that need converting to digital but my time is limited and I need to work.
Attached jpg from a slide that my local farmer had in his draw - Debenham Suffolk.
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Holding stock is always a risk for any business, club, group of friends etc. Indeed stock levels (get it wrong and left with excess) has been the demise of many a business!
But limited edition promotional items not only bring in much needed cash but it's a good way to promote RumNews, RumCars forum. How else can you do it? Well i guess you could take Steve and myself's offer of getting some of the old back issues in a box and getting them mailed to the USA? So then you have got in some much needed cash and hopefully some promotion out of it, even if you only get 1 new subscriber, it's not cost Rum anything?
Now as for a limited edition merchandising, i've muted the idea around in my circles only from yesterday and have orders of 6 coffee mugs, on the back of that i would take another 6 Mugs, to keep and sell to visitors to my place.
So 12 mugs sold without even trying minimum of £1-£2 per mug clear profit to Rum, not much but that is without even trying.
So without having to keep stocks, put a post on here and also something in the mag, put a cutoff date for orders, 20-30 mugs sold, some much needed cash in with very little effort.
Call it the 2014 celebration mug.
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With the greatest respect to all of your hard work Chris, I think there is a quick solution in advance of any detailed rebuilding of text data.
The most important thing is to make the archive of magazines available to read.
This is best achieved by scanning whatever missing masters there are and outputting as pdf's Job done!
Is there any real need to get the old magazines back into editable format - word etc.?
They will never need editing as they are what they are - as published.
The quality of the pdf can be quite high if the scanning settings are chosen carefully.
I use Adobe Illustrator for graphics but have a stock of over 8,000 fonts from Corel Draw.
I tend to scan as colour jpg files at high resolution (masters) then convert to pdf using 'Scansoft Paper Port'. The resulting files can be big but not too big whilst retaining good quality.
Pdf files can be edited in illustrator so any picture files could be put back in but I really don't think its worth the time and trouble.
I am pretty sure most people would be only too happy to receiuce a good scanned copy printed, or the pdf so that they can print it if they want.
People have said that we all prefer hard copy. Personally I prefer digital as its easy to file, easy to find and doesn't take up any space.
It is a great challenge to get every magazine back to original text in editable form but is it worth the effort.
I am not belittling your fantastic work but just questioning the amount of effort required and timescale.
I have an A3 scanner if anyone needs large scans.
I have an A4 photo scanner which can scan film, slides and negs - I am happy to help anyone out if they have slides that need converting to digital but my time is limited and I need to work.
Attached jpg from a slide that my local farmer had in his draw - Debenham Suffolk.
Yes, having a manipulative version of this information is useful for the long term, as it is not just a copy of itself, but archive information. It can be later be altered and re edited for advancement of fact, language and use.
Screen clashed or low quality resourced pictures have not the depth of clarity to image enhance. While not a criticism of magazine production, it is a fact of the production methods that low grade images are in older magazines. Without access to the original or source image no quality image will be possible for images beyond a certain state. It was ever a problem of print production, in which I worked, that artwork arrived to press with inadequate image quality.
The second paragraph substantially justifies the first. As later the missing imagery might be found or enabled, thus it can simply be included rather than the entire record reprinted from scratch, again.
It is a time issue. Do it at all. Do it. Do it well and create an investment opportunity of increased value of your time. The third way is the best, if it can be done, hence applause.
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I have received the package of 35 magazines, and banner in piecemeal w/o damages.
Big THANKYOUS to Milnes for donating the expensive postage, and Jean for having to spend a couple of hours to work it all out with DHL. ;D
I had also spent a couple of hours researching shippers, and had also decided upon DHL prior to this.
If it were just going to be shipped from one end of the US to the other, we have an amazingly cheap US postal 3 day unlimited weight for a 5" x 10" x 12" package @ an $18 rate. That's right, if you don't set off any Geiger counters you could fill that sized box with spent plutonium, and still get it shipped anywhere in the country. But going overseas its a whole different ball game, and evidently from your side of the pond postage rates are never a bargain.
I've been working non stop trying to get my cars ready, and have of course run into the expected unexpected snags.
First casualty is that my most modern and high performance micro, and up until now most reliable micro- the Autozam AZ-1 appears down for the count. Another victim of modern alcohol containing fuels going bad.
I just put in a new battery, gallon of high test, and gas treatment, and got it all shined up nicely, but barring an overnight miracle, it is down for the count, and too heavy to push up ramps on to my trailer.
After 9 months looking for Mincomtesse clutch parts, and dealing with a non starting engine, I literally got it all together, and engine running after typically needed tank and fuel valve removal and clean out, and new fuel line and carb rebuild. However it will have to be carried over my garden path from my bedroom patio to the trailer, as the replacement unit was sent with the 2 speed centrifugal clutch elements reversed, and after spending a couple of hours very cafefully, but necessarily vigorously tapping them over my damaged crankshaft splines, and securing them with red locktite to help compensate for the spline galling, I don't know how I will ever get them back off.
It is just now getting light out. Back to work on the others. Wish me some good luck, I'm giving it my all to make a good draw to the Rumcars booth.
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Hope it all goes well Steve and that you sell a few subs. My only fear is that it may spell another mass exodus of cars from these shores. Hope not as they are hard enough to find now for us as it is.
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Spent another 12 exhausting hours, and $100 repaying friends for helping get 6 cars to the show today.
Three wheel car transporting on a big 2 ramp trailer can be a bit challenging to say the least, especially when the track of a car is less than the space between ramps!
At one point just after my engineer friend assured me that the front wheel of the Minicomtesse couldn't fall through- it did just that. Thank goodness for the 2 front training wheels that caught the side ramps after it only dropped about 8".
I also had a panic attack, when after months of work, I could not find the Petite's key. We ended up laboriously pushing it aboard, requiring another trip- only for me to remember just before going to bed that the key is not needed to run the engine!
Don't yet know how the spatial allocation is to work today. Will try for a couple more cars getting there today, and to get a good position for the booth. Still haven't worked out how to get the individual 8" x 11" pieces of paper that spell RUMCARS NEWS together for display. But will give it my all later today
Thank you for your support,
Steve
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Now for a bit of cotroversy ! why not ? Is it possible that RUM has lost it's way ? I am a vintage / Classic enthusiast and I believe , prepared to be told I am wrong - back it up though , the older RUM readership were . I dropped out when Tony started to feature more modern vehicles . Chris has the same angle possibly , just possibly , the readership don't want it - discuss.
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I am not in favour of lots of discussion on modern micro-cars unless they are unusual or unique in some way.
But
We cant just say they are not micro-cars if they do fall within the scope. What is the scope? (not that one again I here everyone shout)
I don't want a formal (rolling) shut-off date but perhaps an informal agreement on what is unusual and what in relationship to newer vehicles.
The there are really old vehicles from the 20's etc?
Some would prefer a quite narrow time-scale from about 1953 to 1967 perhaps - 'real micro-cars' born from necessity?
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I would favour a vintage microcar magazine but we do have to consider the next generation who in a few years may look back nostalgically to the Funtech of there teenage years. Remember, when rumcars started some of the now classics were not that old, Bondbugs for example.
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Agreed . I only ask as I , and perhaps others ? , feel increasingly out of step . Indeed I feel more in common with Villiers powered Invacars ! Than I do with electrical or diesel modern 4 x 4's and suchlike . Is it not them that are taking over RUM.Is it not that there should be a quite seperate movement for them ! Perhaps , to my mind that RUM should be concentrating on Historic UM's - perhaps RHUMS ?
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What do you mean "taking over RUMCARS?" The magazine has not been taken over by them but has just included them. The register is what it is, a register which you don't see so how do you know the proportion of modern verses old and the forum is only as good as the last post. I think the whole scene has shrunk, most of the core forum users don't drive microcars anymore, the rally attendances have dropped off, the only things on the up are the values of the classic microcars and the amount of investor collectors there are. If there is nothing to talk about with the old stuff people are going to resort to looking at the new stuff.
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I'm happy for the magazine to cover a diverse spectrum of vehicles that fit within our predefined terms of reference whether old or new. I may be wrong, but I expect any nominally disproportionate coverage of more modern vehicles probably reflects the dearth of new and informative material about more vintage /classic machines rather than any genuine bias. Aside from unique vehicles the number of vintage /classic unusual microcars is pretty small, and a very large proportion of the limited reserve of informed material has already featured in the magazine over the years. I might have preferred a two page spread on the origins of the Gordon and Vernons industries in the last issue or a four page spread on Motobecanes, but without inserting a load of waffle, is there the material to support it? Perhaps reprinting old B&W articles from past issues with colour pictures of ongoing projects, stuff hidden in sheds and any addenda of note would help Chris boost "old" content without too much major effort - assuming that people have unseen colour pics to submit.
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DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER ! We were posed a question by Jean and I put my bit in - perfectly happy to be corrected . Perhaps all the old write ups and articles have been printed perhaps the mag has done it' s job - and very well too ! Perhaps the internet means owners can keep in touch more easily and don't NEED a printed magazine ?oh and on the Gordon front i never volunteered to do it ! :)
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Dear Richard, Bob, Malcolm and Barry
Rumcar News has been running for 30 years ( 120 issues) and has had four editors, in that time virtually all of the historic microcars have been written about. Every time I have a bright idea I trawl through the back issues and low and behold it has been written about before, so coming up with new material is not that easy. Having said that, there are some cars that have slipped through the net, but these are so rare there is very little information available to write more than two lines.
My experience is to get the photographs first, and then write the article around the images and what they show. ( like the classic windscreens article)
There are three other areas that I try and include in each issue, But do not always succeed, and they are electric cars, cars from around the world, and new cars. With the one make register reports and at least one Uk based historic article, up to half the magazine is related to what Richard would call Historic Rumcars, leaving the other half for news, ebay sales analysis, books, cartoons, and the three other branches.
As I have always said. The readers are the experts and know more about their cars than I ever will, I as editor can help you to get the words on the page, like I did with Alan Evans for the Bambi Story. Do not be afraid to try putting pen to paper as it is my job to sort it out before it is published. The more you send me the less I will have to find from other sources.
Being restricted to 32 pages is another factor in the number of pages devoted to a subject. The 32 page restriction relates to 100 gm weight to get the magazine into the cheaper postage band, to save money. More pages means more printing and postage cost.
With such a narrow readership I need to keep the subject spread as wide as possible to keep everybody happy, as everybody would like a magazine just about their one love joy. producing such a publication for just three or four people would be uneconomic.
You write about your favourite cars and I promise I will publish it in Rumcar News as soon as I can squeeze it in.
THINKING CAPS ON GUYS
Chris Thomas
Rumcar News
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Both well considered and well stated Chris.
Thanks for doing such great work balancing out all the considerations and restrictions and still providing such quality content to the magazine.
Thanks also for being in on the process with Jean and who ever else that I have to thank for capitalizing on Milnes' very generous donation to get the 35 copies of RCN to me on time for the big show here last Saturday. I have finally recovered enough from the grueling 3 twelve hour days of moving cars around to find the energy to post my thanks to you all for making this possible.
I am declaring my representation of Rumcars at the South West Unique Little Car Show at least a moderate success, as we definitely got noticed in our first North American exposure, I did sell 20 magazines, and everyone had lots of fun!
There were a good 135 cars on display. I will retry sending a picture or 2 of our booth's presentation, as the 2 pictures that I tried to send when I first typed out this posting on my cell phone last night would not come through, and then required a complete retyping.
Hey Jim and Jean- What do you think of making Vintage Microcar , and Rumcars sister organizations of a sort by allowing an even trade of advertising for each group in their transcontinental counterpart's publication? I doubt that either org would lose any subscribers in the deal, just a win/ win for those enthusiasts that were not yet enlightened enough to subscribe to both.
I believe that the US postal rates are lower than the UK's, so Rumcars subscribers that decided to take the additional plunge would not be as monetarily penalized as the similarly inclined enthusiasts from the US.
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The technology I am using is only allowing one picture at a time, as adding more to this brings up the message "exceeded file size"
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i must just say that i have not meant to infer critisism of chris , or indeed tony , but only that it is a difference of approach . i also would like to thank chris for all the background work that he does making articles come together so neatly and comprehensively - it's certainly not his fault when it comes to the Gordon page ! you can't make a silkpurse ...... :)
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Here is another. This one wouldn't send without my including some text.
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The technology I am using is only allowing one picture at a time, as adding more to this brings up the message "exceeded file size"
The restrictions on file sizes PER POST are clearly listed where the attachments are added.
This is primarily to help accommodate those readers who are not on fast internet connections and don't want to wait forever and a day for massive images to load.
It also prevents someone from uploading dozens or hundreds of full-size images at once which can cause a lot of damage to the forum and make it run very slowly.
There is nothing preventing you from making multiple posts, each with a single large image.
That being said, I have "upped" the limitations to allow even you to upload 2 full-size images to a post now.
and yes, unfortunately you DO have to type SOMETHING in a post, this is not a photo gallery. You can just type a period if you want. But you can't leave it blank with only a photo.
I have already run an ad for RUMCAR News in the issue of MICROCAR NEWS that came out and was available to anyone at the Microcar Museum Auction last February.
How many new subscribers resulted from that? Or was the ad just preaching to the already converted? I never heard back.
I know that from all the times I have travelled the USA to go to shows and manned a booth I have managed to disseminate a LOT of magazines and subscription booklets, but I have NEVER been able to account for more than TEN new subscribers from any single venue, usually much less. That includes being at the 2009 Auto Show in NYC with 500,000 people coming to see the booth with 4 Vintage Microcars and giving away 5000 copies of the magazine (you can't sell them at the show). Ten days in NYC to get Ten new subscribers. Not exactly cost-effective. Especially when you factor in the cost of the extra printing, the shipping, paying the union to move everything for you despite everything else being free at the venue because we were invited "guests".
The biggest "tell" I have been able to get from going to shows and trying to get people to join or subscribe is that I have found people leafing through magazines and then picking up subscription cards, only to put them back saying "I'll sign up when I get a car".
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Well done Steve, a nice collection of cars. Hopefully got some interest in Rum 8).
Did you get a chance to enjoy the show at all?
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Sure did Milnes!
But I would be lying if I said that I don't feel somewhat physically drained by the experience still.
I am going to have to convert my trailer to a near flat bed configuration, and invest in an electric winch. :)
Thanks again for your support.
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I would favour a vintage microcar magazine but we do have to consider the next generation who in a few years may look back nostalgically to the Funtech of there teenage years. Remember, when rumcars started some of the now classics were not that old, Bondbugs for example.
To which I would suggest that as a classic non Microcar knocking at the door to come in. For me it marks the next generation of small cars by concept, date and CC. Just as Cycle cars are not Microcars. Yes there are crossover machines. But there remains a difference as well.
Does that matter. I do not know, but I know what I am interested in, and what I am not so interested in. Attendance and support depends upon those factors. I wish I was more of a polymath like Barry or Steve, but I have this kind of cut off on modern stuff. Done Light cars and lost interest really. So like Richard I have less interest in later French cars, electric jobs and new cars. Indeed I view many of the later groups as red herrings more to do with PR and politics than good production engineering practice. The forum is free, as is what folk wish to register. The Mag is not but in the absence of contributions it inevitably becomes more the reflection of the interests of the Editor who has to produce it. So if there is increasing demand for these newer subjects then something is going on in the way of Chicken/Egg. Its not for me to stop that but I cannot suddenly become interested. RUM has the ability to adapt that an outright club has not. Something to be embraced even if I am sort of against it, if that makes sense.
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I would like to see any Microcar 4 wheel, 3 wheel, old , new, even the French ones 8)