What is it that owners want from a Club? Can a National Club do any of that better than a marque club?
Well taking the second question first. We know that the bigger marque clubs offer spares. They choose to do this as a club, thought most seem to be small businesses, with a club facility attached. That facility produces a magazine. I think most offer 6 editions a year. Most offer a rally a year, some exclusive of any other type of car. Others seem to manage a spread of events over the year, like the Bond Club, who are pretty divorced from the spares. I wonder if that is a demonstration of how a club gets confused by having the spares service 'in house' as it were. The Bonds, free of this, can get on with doing something else.
So the fiefdoms exist. Some more successful than others. The common difficulty seems to be to fill the magazine with interesting items. The business arms, by definition, are going to resist any demunition of their market power, despite that they are often happy to loose it via inactive social support. They feel protected by the act of joining the club, as an access to parts, at times confused as to quite what marketing approach they require to really answer owners needs.
So to take on a club that decides it is not one that wants to defere to yet another organisation, in this case an umbrella National Microcar Club, is to invite a united front not to join in. Clearly stealing business, or membership, which is access to business in most cases, and to disrupt marque tradition, is going to create resistance. That really leaves you with
1/creating a blastingly good magazine that covers the entire topic. I cannot think of many folk that well informed, who would edit. Thus enough expertise would need to be on call, to edit by a good editor.
2/probably using the internet much more subtly to increase the range, depth of information and coverage, here to for not seen. Thus including associate world members, who will be interested even if they cannot participate.
3/a clearly best forum for advertising and exchange of cars, parts and information.
4/should the club become large, it can do special offers on bulk purchasing. Say things like Oil, thus creating savings enough to offset membership.
5/success will probably bring some other organisations in with it. A big if is does that happen at the start, or because of the success of the idea pretty much erodes the need for those, currently independent, entities. That is not say those entities would disappear, but they would metamorphose to make best use of the change, so as not to duplicate work. The NMRC being one, yet its funds are for events, not running a club. THat purse would still require administration, unless there was a change of policy. It can prosper under the mantel of the other organisation, but yet feed its host events and historically wise information. That would position the National Microcar Club as joint host to the National Microcar Rally. A perfectly sensible notion.
RUM car would also be a candidate to become part of a bigger whole. Would it wish to?
The first question I do not think I can answer anymore, but to say some of the biggest turnouts of Micro people are for auctions and clearances of cars and parts these days. The collector is the dominant factor, as they seem to own multiples, thus the majority of the cars. Myself included. That means the days of 200 microcars at a National Rally are going to be hard to achieve, unless the whole group of owners is stimulated to come along and take part, not just the few who happen to be active at that time. It used to be a cannot miss event, that seems to have driffted. I do not know how you do that without doing something as radical as above, be that under what ever umbrella.
Folk always want pictures and items about MIcrocars. I sometimes wonder why, as they seem not to read and digest them, but there are many who collect all the books and such. So a top line magazine production might be produced for the home owner, but gain world wide sales.
Then there is the fantastic. The LBL rally showed that there are numbers of owners who will take on well organised events covering miles of sometimes demanding roads. Plenty have the cars to do it, the time to do it. Have they the will and sense of adventure to do it. Clearly such a trip would need careful preparation, and probably end at a major weekend event, where the showman can join in the fun in a bit of a bunfight. That is, to me, the great reward of bringing this idea together. Everyone gains.
But who is going to break step and take the flag forward?
