RUMcars Website Update !

[Jonathan Poll]

Hey All,

  Been working quite a bit on the RUMcars site these past 2/3 days.

I re-done the home page completely, I had boxes but the text was very pixelated.

One thing I will need though is an opinion on the Gallery Page.
Of course you cant see it yet, since its still secret

Should I have 2 pages: Our Cars (what we done on the forum), and a list of all microcars built, or just have the "Our Cars" page?

Enjoy!

[Big Al]

The MIni Marcos club has a list of all credible Mini specials and kit cars. It has pictures of many but not all of these linked to the listing. You click on the box and get the pics. It collects contributions and selects the best few to illustrate the car in question. The advantage of this is that that list can then become the start point for research into specific types of car but avoids to large a file on one section. Note that the Hammond Aurora is listed but not pictured.
The gallery of most clubs features a restricted range of cars rather than the diverse and increasing options available to RUMcar. However a researcher would prefer to have listed picture references than wading through a more unsorted gallery to find an image to work from. So I see the problem as there is a danger of duplication. Not sure if the two systems can link back to the same picture. Lets face it in some cases there are only one or two examples of cars so one set of pics effectively covers the topic before a personal approach for detailed information. The image library is going to be large.

I would think number plates will have to be blocked if RUMcar is to remain a register of cars not revealing the owner/location of the car. The problem of pictures is they advertise the ownership of the car, its desirability and the condition that it is in at the time of the photo. Stuart gets frustrated that I and other collectors will not allow pics of our cars. It is for those two reasons. First certain folk might work out where the car is and take it. Secondly on conserving/restoring a car there is nothing more annoying than having pictures then flashed up of it, unsolicited, in crap condition, especially if selling. There are sets of pictures of some of my cars on the net of which I did not publish and of cars looking in a very poor way which are actually quite good machines. This is one of the reason I decided not to take unfinished cars to rallies unless to sell.  Once the pics are published you cannot control the image - see spoof/scam adverts on eBay. So I suspect you will find some folks not supplying pictures or only selected ones.

[Jonathan Poll]

The MIni Marcos club has a list of all credible Mini specials and kit cars. It has pictures of many but not all of these linked to the listing. You click on the box and get the pics. It collects contributions and selects the best few to illustrate the car in question. The advantage of this is that that list can then become the start point for research into specific types of car but avoids to large a file on one section. Note that the Hammond Aurora is listed but not pictured.
The gallery of most clubs features a restricted range of cars rather than the diverse and increasing options available to RUMcar. However a researcher would prefer to have listed picture references than wading through a more unsorted gallery to find an image to work from. So I see the problem as there is a danger of duplication. Not sure if the two systems can link back to the same picture. Lets face it in some cases there are only one or two examples of cars so one set of pics effectively covers the topic before a personal approach for detailed information. The image library is going to be large.

I would think number plates will have to be blocked if RUMcar is to remain a register of cars not revealing the owner/location of the car. The problem of pictures is they advertise the ownership of the car, its desirability and the condition that it is in at the time of the photo. Stuart gets frustrated that I and other collectors will not allow pics of our cars. It is for those two reasons. First certain folk might work out where the car is and take it. Secondly on conserving/restoring a car there is nothing more annoying than having pictures then flashed up of it, unsolicited, in crap condition, especially if selling. There are sets of pictures of some of my cars on the net of which I did not publish and of cars looking in a very poor way which are actually quite good machines. This is one of the reason I decided not to take unfinished cars to rallies unless to sell.  Once the pics are published you cannot control the image - see spoof/scam adverts on eBay. So I suspect you will find some folks not supplying pictures or only selected ones.

I did not want to have every single car on the register, only the ones that people add on the forum or email me.
Sometimes pictures make the cars look better!

JP

[mharrell]

You may wish to reword the bit about "...there is no reason why microcar owners of any nationality could not register their vehicles...."  As it stands, this suggests that such international registration, although possible, perhaps has never yet actually occurred, nor is necessarily encouraged.  I fully understand this is not the case, but at first blush the perceived tone is somewhat off-putting.

I'd like to see a list of all known microcars built, perhaps with a straightforward way to suggest additions.  Provided such a suggestion box doesn't become the target of repeated abuse, it seems like a handy way to find out about as many makes and models as possible.  As Big Al mentioned, the Mini Marcos Club maintains an excellent example:

http://www.minimarcos.org.uk/altpics/index.html

as of course does Jim for the Vintage Microcar Club:

http://microcar.org/ourcars.html

[Rusty Chrome (Malcolm Parker)]

Elvis Payne's 3-wheelers site database is also a good example of what I think Rumcars should have although the button to the linked page is a bit too small for my taste.

http://www.3wheelers.com/AZDatabase/AZ_view.php

If the cars not on open display at a rally then by all means cover up the number plates if it's the difference between having a photo or not.