What do people want from an Austin Seven club these days?

[Steve Jones]

I've been a member of PWA7C for 30 years or more. It does what I need but these days I'm not involved in it much. I've been the Club's National Membership Secretary (twice) and I've been their local West Yorkshire Group Secretary but I've moved on. Probably moved back would be better as my interest these days is in competitive motor sport which is where I started 50 years ago. The VSCC provides most of my competition these days and I'm heavily involved there. They also provide competitive events where I share my cars with my 21 year old Grandson who has old cars throughout his DNA and earns his living repairing, restoring, maintaining and preparing them. Imagine, he gets (very well) paid for doing that!!  Local road runs aren't of any real interest but Malcolm's more comprehensive trips are great. My only problem with them is fitting them in with my other activities! I'm with Charles when it comes to sitting in fields with a laminated card on the front of the car. Fine if it's your thing but I'd rather watch paint dry. Controversially, I'm with Terry McGrath when it comes to Clubs. For many years I've believed that one, national, Club with a multitude of local groups is the way to go but I'm well aware that that is very much a minority view.

I think the internet has changed things significantly. Traditionally, if you had a problem and didn't have anyone you knew locally to ask, you wrote to your Club magazine and waited for an answer. Now, a post on a forum such as this or a Google search gets you the answer in minutes. As a friend once said, '..it's like having all your old car mates living in the same street as you'. 

Steve (67, retired and incredibly busy)

[John Mason]

Steve I know what you mean about busy I am the same don't know how I had time to go to work.

John Mason

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Thank you to everyone who has responded so far - please do continue to contribute ideas.

The 17-40 year old range is a little underepresented, if you know somebody that fits into that age band please do encourage them to come forward.

Rememeber:

1. looking to hear what you do want (as apposed to what you don't want) from an A7 Club.

2. Please do continue to post your age (group).

This is very interesting stuff.

[Roger Goldthorpe]

I am not a ‘club person’ and although I have been a member of various motorcycle clubs both local and national in order to take part in trials and sprints I never attended any club meetings.

I came late to cars (60) when I built my Liege and joined the Liege Car Club. With only 60 cars in total the club has a very small membership spread over the whole of the UK and beyond yet is very active. Members arrange meets that gives us the chance to gather together and through the Liege Club members only forum we are able to communicate and exchange information as we do on this forum. For those like myself who use their Liege for trialling we are brought together by our more specialised interest.

My ambition at 17 in 1960 was to own an Austin 7 but could not raise the £5 asking price. This ambition was eventually fulfilled in 2015 when I acquiring an RP. I joined the PWA7C but as my local branch is a round trip of 138 miles attendance at meetings is a no no.

I regard this forum as a ‘club’ and when I log on I always check who is browsing on line and although I do not know who they are or where they live and will probably never meet them I recognise them as friends united by a common interest.

A club is what one makes of it; some enjoy the social side, others committee meetings and organising while there are those like me who are happy to be on the periphery.

Roger 75 and counting

[jansens]

I'm 45 too. My main reason for joining any car club has always been access to parts/spares as most clubs only sell to members.

Second is to meet other people with knowledge to share.

Events don't worry me too much although some clubs do arrange events more in line with what I personally would find interesting, such as race/hill climbs and visits to interesting sheds/places. One has arranged visits to an aircraft restoration place I am annoyed I miss since I am now in the wrong part of the country. A club is more likely to be able to do such things than an individual just turning up for a tour.

Friends in Ak have organised and run very useful body building workshops that I would also be going to if I was still living up that way.

The clubs offer a few other perks. Cheaper insurance, special deals on the inter-island ferries and so on which are useful.

Simon

[Martin Prior]

My BA7C sub has just paid for itself. I visited the Club's excellent spares shed today and came away with several hard-to-find parts for a lot less than I'd expect to pay on Ebay.

[Duncan Grimmond]

I wish we had a local club Spares Shed in Yorkshire. Bristol is 5 hours on the motorway... boo hoo!

[Adam Brown]

I'm 30 and have been around Austin Sevens since I was around 9-10 years old when my late grandfather purchased his Chummy. I did John O'Groats to Lands End with him when I was 12/13 and various events over the years. I didn't drive one for the first time until 3 years ago.

My interests have since expanded somewhat to Lorries, Road Steam and Veteran Cars.

When the Chummy was acquired Grandfather (Tony Brown) joined the Cambridge Austin Seven & Vintage Car Club. I have fond memories of some of the members back then and some of the events. Being part of such an inclusive and friendly club greatly enhanced and I firmly believe prolonged my grandfathers life. He was active as a club committee member and rarely missed an event back in the day.

Upon his passing I took up his membership of the Club and after attending a couple of events made the mistake of attending the AGM, which lead to me joining the committee!

For me the Cambridge Club is everything you could really want. It is friendly and welcoming, nobody really minds what car you turn up in (we've had lorries, Morris 1000's and other non period vehicles at various events). The noggin nights are well attended, we even manage two a month in summer. Advice is always on hand and freely given. Various club members are happy to undertake garage work for a small fee. There are several runs a year, and the club often gets a convoy together to Beaulieu.

My youngest sister is 21 and is now insured to drive the Chummy as well. She's joined the club but lives a bit further away and is probably a little young to fully appreciate its benefits. She does enjoy the events she come along to though.

[GK5268]

I am 54 and my Ruby was my 40th birthday present to myself and I used to regularly attend monthly meetings at the local centre, but it direction was not really focused on the cars, more on lunches and other food related events. I probably go once a year when there is a pre-meeting road run organised and it is nice to drive in convoy through country lanes that I would not ordinarily travel on. However, at meetings, attendees are distinctly of the older set, so much so, the monthly gatherings seemed akin to visiting an old people's home, a distinct lack of members below retirement age, but interestingly, a large proportion of older women, it almost felt that at any moment, the knitting would be brought out and there would be a clack of needles! A lot of discussion on health related issues and what pills are being taken, very little car-related. Perhaps I am being over-sensitive as I am getting older...

The current set-up would definitely put off younger members, it puts me off and I would be regarded by a young person as one of the older members, so there is a lack of appeal.

The club magazine, which is published monthly, is full of the same stories of meetings based around food and eating "naughties", very little focus on the cars themselves. I have read other regional club magazines occasionally and other club websites and the focus is much more on the cars and technical information.

I also belong to the Swallow Register (not a club), the demographic is similar with a top heavy with older age range, but there is an annual Swallow gathering over a weekend and the cars (and driving them) is very much the focus, the quarterly newsletter is also packed with interesting articles (plus my own submissions...) and is much more vibrant. The downside for the Register is that there are only very few cars that survive and the cost of these are out of reach for youngsters, I suspect that the rarity of the cars that many more will end up in Jaguar collections, never to be really used again, which is a shame. Nevertheless, there is much more focus on the cars and the sharing of knowledge.

So, what would I like to see from an Austin Club?

Well, the array of regional clubs does seem to be a duplication of effort, the number of different websites, magazines, etc., ok, we have the umbrella organisation, but it would make sense for club resources to be combined, primarily to provide the best technical resource and sharing of new ideas and developments. More of the club's content on-line and a monthly magazine has perhaps had its day, printed copies are expensive to produce and distribute, the frequency could be reduced, but with more accessible and regularly updated articles (to reflect advances in technology), as some older content is no longer, or less relevant, such as headlights, charging, looking at The Prewar 7 Club's published technical digest, so much has changed in the past 20 years.

I would like to see more effort in getting owners out in their cars, using them so that they are seen by the public - if young people see the cars on the road it might spark an interest - I have been using my Ruby over the past few months moreorless as a daily driver and have clocked up over 1,000 miles in that time, people are starting to see the car out & about locally and it does attract a lot of attention.

Organised road runs, such as a JOGLE, local treasure hunts, etc., may help get reluctant drivers out and about on the roads and raise the profile of the cars.

I would also like to see workshop events, this could be difficult as it requires a venue with decent workshop facilities, and various activities could be undertaken to help the less knowledgeable tackle new tasks for the first time, hone skills or just apply a different approach, hands-on would encourage newbie owners and hopefully, younger people to get involved.

More young people with fresh ideas, such as a younger members group, to help attract youngsters and make it vibrant and relevant.

There are going to be a lot of cars available as the older generation give up driving and custodianship needs to be passed to a younger generation and it has been discussed on the classic car press a scheme for handing cars over on a loan basis for a fixed term to young people and clubs should actively seek at balancing the unused stock of cars held by inactive older people with younger people as a way of attracting more interest.

We all need to use out cars as much as we can while we still are allowed to and hopefully, our enjoyment will continue...

[Ian Dunford]

Duncan.
The bungalow next door to the Bristol Spares Shed is up for sale
2nd.time only in 60years.
A fast drive down the motorway may be beneficial.
Ian