Where to...?

[mickeyduck]

Just a wee word as to what's going on with the club at committee level.

First point is, as has been said before, we're taking it back to basics. The club's getting back to its roots and the things it was founded for are thus our guideline - namely, keeping our MR2's on the road (no MR2's = no MR2OCNZ) and getting out and having fun in them with other MR2 enthusiasts.

So, what can we do to further these two simple objectives? That's exactly what committee are looking at. We're bouncing around a few ideas and hope to formulate the occasional plan to help things along.

For example:

We've had to look at the question of Mega Run.

It seems that Mega Run is something of an institution in the club - yet attempts to hold one have failed over the last few years. What really matters of course is, do we try to hold a Mega Run (and again risk failure) or not? To my mind the first question should be "why?"

On the face of it that's a no-brainer. Past Mega Runs have been deemed huge successes. Well attended, enjoyed, and even if you want to look at it from the financial point of view, able to be run without incurring a loss. So we offered the South a chance to set up the next one. The initial prospective organisers withdrew due to other commitments, so we went back a step and took another wee look.

Mega Run is traditionally held at the same time as the club's AGM. One train of thought holds this as a good thing, as the event can draw in a better AGM attendance. But on closer inspection we ran into a bit of a speed-bump. Attendance at an AGM is a pivotal aspect of setting the club's direction, as the attendees views are reflected in the resolutions made at the AGM. As such attendance must be encouraged equally in both islands and promoted without bias towards one or the other. I make no apologies in being absolutely committed to this basic principle of equal opportunity.

For that very reason the AGM is held in two venues at the one time - one in the North Island and one in the South.

It would therefore make sense for the club to hold the greatest woo-hoo event of the year at both the North Island and the South Island venues of the AGM.

That is what the current committee has agreed upon in the majority, if not in its entirety.

However some of those involved in past Mega Runs have voiced the opinion that unless a Mega Run is a single event in a single place, it cannot be a Mega Run. Sadly this suggests that "Mega Run" as it was is now relegated to the annals of history. Moving forwards the club will encourage each island to hold the biggest woo-hoo event of the year to coincide with the AGM. But it would appear that we may not call this a "Mega Run" for fear of offending some past organisers and attendees. Where that leaves the club's Mega Run funds is another matter. Frozen for ever? Personally I'd prefer Mega Run to simply morph into being held in both islands at once, and the funds held in the club's account for the promotion of it be used for that purpose rather than simply sit idle and be of no use to the club. People wishing to attend the event in the other island can always cross the ditch if they wish. We'll have to see where this goes in the end but in my estimation it's time for the club to take a fresh look at things and move forwards.

We're looking for ways to help keep our MR2's on the road. This was a founding tenet of the club and for good reason. No MR2's = no club.

I own a 45 year old Holden. Being an Australasian classic it has specialist companies out there to help supply parts to keep it on the road. Yet I know first hand just how hard it can get to do so as the thing gets older. My AW's are starting to hit the very same barriers I experienced a decade ago with that Holden. That rings alarm bells...

You may notice the AW had 14 inch rims as standard, and that you can fit 15 inch rims quite readily. Sad fact is that over the course of the last year or so almost all tyre suppliers here have ceased importing decent tyres for 15 inch rims (14 inch fell by the wayside a couple of years earlier). Do I want my AW off the road simply because the tyre companies aren't selling enough performance tyres in the required sizes? Heck no! An AW with rubbish tyres is one with a short life expectancy and an AW with no tyres is no use to anyone either. Something needs to be done.

Again I can compare my experiences with my old '66 Holden to what's happening with my AWs in the parts department.
I have two AW11 SC's. Both have had the short handbrake cable fail at about 200,000kms snapping the bead off the top end.
Both have had a number of other faults requiring replacement parts. Funny how mass produced items such as cars suffer the same fate with all the same things packing up (drivers door window switch, radio surround, front bumper iron rotting out, b-pillar plastic trims broken...)

And believe me it's just a few short years and the SW's will suffer the same fate, parts becoming increasingly hard to find.

We looked briefly at the idea of the club running a national MR2 wrecking business. Seems it's a very hard thing to get off the ground as there are a lot of things could work against it. And I can see that. But it's a pity considering that every part sent to scrap is potentially one less MR2 on the road. And that the club could possibly make money out of running such a business. But for now at least that idea has been shelved.

So we are now looking at how the club might help provide value to its members and help keep our MR2's on the road by way of importing parts. Early days yet but the idea is basically like this:
Imagine we can sort some alliances with other outfits in the Sates etc to help us do bulk buys and save us some cash on the import / shipping expenses... Maybe we can use a club bank account to have folk deposit funds and we do a quarterly bulk buy from overseas of parts? Maybe we can suss a tyre supplier to bring in tyres especially for our members using a similar approach?

Anyway that's one of the ideas we, your new committee are working on.

The idea is also of course that these kind of deals would be open to the club's financial members - but hey wouldn't you pay the $30 membership fee if it saved you more than that in buy or shipping price? If it unequivocally helped you keep your MR2 on the road...

A couple of other things we are up to:

We're working to build the buzz again where regular runs etc are concerned. Christchurch is a case in point as it's suffered greatly over the last couple of years and we're stoked to see our new AC Jason Wareing jako21 get busy down there with his mates backing him up. Paul tazlvr and Julz photonbeams are doing great stuff in the lower North Island as is Chris CJ in the Waikato.

We're looking at producing some articles specifically aimed at assisting MR2 owners with their purchase and maintenance of an MR2. These articles will be in the Members area of the forum as they'll be designed to provide some real benefit readily without having to scour the forum for hours on end to acquire the same information. Of course, someone will have to actually write them...

We are revising the club's Roles and Responsibilities document to make it better reflect the current state of play and thus be a much more pertinent and relevant document. We're intending this be done each year with the appointment of a new committee so as to keep it up to date and relevant.

And we are looking at ways the club's bank account and moneys can be used to help provide value to its members - the importation of tyres and parts outlined above being a case in point.

Now for the unashamed plug - if you like what we're trying to do and where we're trying to take it, feel free to either gain or renew your financial membership. Your support is much appreciated!

Any comments or questions - please PM me using the wee button at right. Cheers.