Has the Custom Register Died????

[pml1979]

Hey,

I was just wondering whats going on with the register as there seems to be quite a lack of anything going on with it? Has everyones cars been put away for the winter not to be seen till the sun decides to put in an appearance again at some point next year.??

[millerman]

Perhaps the members have migrated to www.morrisowners.co.uk

[ratrodmog]

I think the custom section here is far more active with projects and general chat than the register is. Send a PM to Julesgti as he runs the register I think.

[Kevin]

I think the custom section here is far more active with projects and general chat than the register is. Send a PM to Julesgti as he runs the register I think.

Yes Jules is the one to contact as Lee seems to have dissapeared.

[pml1979]

Ah right i see, ive tried to get hold of a couple of people through the custom and modified register website as i've been trying to join the site but there is a problem with the form apparently when you try and submit it but had no joy

My dad warned me i might not get very far with the MMOC but i thought id give it a try anyway so that i could keep up to date with things but it looks like he may have been right.!?!?

[ratrodmog]

My dad warned me i might not get very far with the MMOC but i thought id give it a try anyway so that i could keep up to date with things but it looks like he may have been right.!?!?

I can't speak for the whole of the MMOC but the custom/ modified section is as busy as ever right now. If you are trying to contact people with modded mogs then more than likely they are on here or someone will know how to contact them if not.

[rayofleamington]

My dad warned me i might not get very far with the MMOC

from personal experience I can say that the amount of custom and modified cars owned by club members is VERY extensive. There are a huge number of custom & modified vehicles and people doing this, but not all have time to do club related stuff. If you can get to your branch or some of the bigger rallies it won't be hard to find them - and there's plenty on the internet forums as well.

There are a vast array of activities run by the club for all members including rallies, events, holidays, as well as local branches and specific registers. The main reason for registers is to help those with a specific type of vehicle / interest, and as with any club this relies on finding members who can dedicate time and effort to keeping a register going and active.
Across all classic car clubs, these folks are becoming a very rare commodity! Rather like the dissapearance of bees, there are not many great explanations or ways to improve the situation.

[pml1979]

Right things seem to be being taken out of context on this one.! I have actually been to my local branch meetings twice over the past 2 months and myself and partner have been totally ignored by the members there and made to feel un-welcome on both occasions. I also attended the national rally this year at harewood house and compared to the ones i went to in the past as a teenager i have to to say that it was extremely dissapointing and we only actually ended up staying for a couple of hours.

Im not sure if the club is dying off as a result of the stigma with classic restoration VS Modified and custom cars but i thought that it would have advanced alot more than it seems to have in the years inbetween.

[Kevin]

I have actually been to my local branch meetings twice over the past 2 months and myself and partner have been totally ignored by the members there and made to feel un-welcome on both occasions.

Sorry to hear that you found your local branch to be like that, at my branch we make an effort to introduce ourselves to any new faces and make them feel welcome and I often spend most of the evening with them to find out about their area of interest, and we dont mind what sort of Moggie you have even if its in bits undergowing a long restoration or powered by a V8 or just thinking about getting one

Im not sure if the club is dying off as a result of the stigma with classic restoration VS Modified and custom cars

I dont know where you get the idea that a club with 13,000 - 14,000 members is dying off, and the club does not have any stigma between types hence the different register's ect. There are those members unfortunately that frown on non standard cars just as there are modified members that frown on standard cars but there is not much we can do about personal opinions.
The hard part is getting people involved, in our branch we have a membership of 50+ and produce a monthly newsletter so we must be doing something right, however we don't often get many more than 20 attending and as for going to events its normally no more than 6 to 10 cars. A lot of it is down to working lifestyles with the different hours people now have to work and the distances travelled which is a common issue these day's.
Please don't think I am having a dig at you just that I feel you views are slightly blinkered and as you haven't filled in you whereabouts I can't offer any contact's within your area.
As for the National I assume you didn't meet those from the message board as there is a stand for all those that normally only meet electronically, with lots of tea and biscuits on offer and they will talk to anyone about anything

[pml1979]

Right well it must be just the northern lot then, as i have noticed there does seem to be much more going on down south than there is up north, i did actually propose a couple of ides at the branch meeting and both got shot down in flames without even an ounce of discussion hence me and my partner decided that we would not be going again and have joined a classic car club that caters for all makes and models.
And as for the national on the saturday that we attended there was very liitle going on of anything and nothing happend in the arena all weekend so ive been told, most people seemed to be still in the campsite or sat at the back of there car in the line up drinking tea, there never seems to be a very good social atmosphere going on anywere on the show ground which is dissapointing because to be fair there is only so much comparing morris's that can be done before you've done them and got bored.

[MartinB]

I have actually been to my local branch meetings twice over the past 2 months and myself and partner have been totally ignored by the members there and made to feel un-welcome on both occasions.

I have only been to one of my local branch meetings, admittedly it was probably 17 years ago and it mirrored your own findings, basically I never wanted to go back again and never have.

To be honest, with my MMOC renewal coming up in a couple of months, I am really unsure whether to bother renewing. I have been with the MMOC for over 25 years and have always felt that the custom bit is something the club tolerates (just about) rather than encourages. Certainly other clubs are much more biased towards modfications and motorport (e.g. Hillman Imp club) but maybe that is just down to the different demographic of the members?

I have only been to 1 national rally this century, Sparkford, and the best bit there was having the test track available (even though I couldn't participate) which was organised by someone who has now been banned from here, probably for wanting to do things a bit differently and having some fun! For me, this forum no longer represents the best place to discuss custom/modified Minors.

[hotrodder13]

ive bin to one local meeting in 18 months cause they spoke about something completely diffrent (somet to do with schools) and it just wasnt for me, i was told by one of the members if i wanted to talk about minor and modifications, they wouldnt really do it because they liked standard ones, at that point i walked out

[Rich_T]

I find this thread quite interesting as over the past 23 years Ive been a member on 3 occasions, each time not renewing my membership for some of the reasons highlighted in this thread. Initially I got the feeling that as a 17 year old, some of the members felt I had no place in 'their' club, especially as I didnt have a standard car. On the next 2 occasions I joined, I didnt renew my membership becasue it was all a bit stuffy and it seemed that there was no place for modified Minors within the club. Granted there is the modified register but that seemed almost like a token gesture which should be seen and not heard and most certainly shouldnt dare to express any ideas.
Ive had my current Minor for 23 years as it was my first car, bought when I was 16 but have had 3 vans, 2 other saloons and a Traveller between then and now. As a result I question how the club would define an enthusiast.
Although I havent really been active on the forum since I joined, I thought I'd have a look at the club again but it strikes me from what Ive read on here that nothings changed.
Rich

[Kevin]

Well I am sorry to hear that there appears to be such a strong reluctance to accept modified cars in the more northerly regions, and although we dont have a current custom minor in the branch we have a fair few modified ones with 1275 engines, disc brakes etc and the odd hand finished paint job and a couple of concours cars and even a million so it looks like we have almost a full set at my branch.
I do conceed that we do sometimes have evenings when Moggies are not at the top of the meetings agenda, last month we were given a very interesting slide show and talk on the history of corsetry from early roman times through to the 20th century which was quite interesting and my stomach muscles still haven't recovered from the slides of the mens victorian Wasp corsets

[rayofleamington]

The club is made of many many thousands of people, so if the ones you've come across so far don't like modified cars, then please do look a bit further as there is a massive amount of custom and modified enthusiasts in the club.
Certainly at the web rallies there is as little stuffiness as possible and anyone wanting to be snobby about younger members or modified cars would get a lot of eyebrows raised!

In my branch we are desperately trying to get new people to come! So if you move to Warwickshire and come to a meeting you'll certainly not get ignored.

I've no idea what this year's National was like but some have been better than others. My favourites in the last 10 years have been Scunthorpe and Haynes. Going around the track in a supercharged minor was an unforgettable experience. Donnington wasn't good for me as I had a migraine, not helped by the big queue in the heat haze at the entrance. I might be judging it unfairly as I was ill.
If you consider that Nationals have been held together with track days etc.. it does make me wonder why the club gets the anti-modified reputation, but I can only guess that it comes from the members more than what the club actually does. Like many on the forum, the 'entertainment' in the main arena is usually something I avoid like the plague. for all the complaints there are few suggestions of what would make it better - I'm not interested in owls, dancing dogs, majouretes, clowns, knitting etc.. as I'm over 10 and under 50. However in this age bracket there isn't much arena-type entertainment to be interesting. I guess motorcyle stunt displays, chainsaw juggling and other stunts would get me to go to the arena.
As for finding people to be uninterested with new/younger/enthusiastic members.. I know there are a lot of stuffy old ##rts who really enjoy having a picnic within 3" of their exhaust pipe and only want to talk to the group of people they came with (who they also park next to), but I'll probably be the same when I'm in my 70's (well, ok I probably won't but many will) - so if you want to find an open minded bunch of whacky enthusiasts then avoid most people who have a picnic table covered in a tartan blanket lashed to their rear bumper* and make a bee line for a web rally and to the website tent on National rallies.
I tried (but failed) to have a website party at Haynes rally - we got as far as having our own marquee but with some going to the official party and others wanting a quiet evening it just didn't happen - I might try again next year.... by getting the young members register to organise it
The year before last we had a great evening trying to set a world record of how many people can fit in a trailer tent (courtesy of Roger Rust) - although you probably had to be there to appreciate the humour!


* I said most and not all - even some of the back bumper picnickers can be interesting individuals.

[pml1979]

Ok ill give you an example of what happened at the last meeting i went to a couple of weeks ago, the branch is going to be hosting the northern regional rally in 2012 so i went armed with a load of ideas such as other car clubs that id been in touch with who would have been more than happy to attend as well as a confirmation from the NW Hot air balloon society, the NW steam association and i was thinking it coulds all be tied together with a circus theme and i actually had a mobile circus troup who were willing to come and put on a display as well as teach children some of the skills. Id also been in touch with the local scout and guide group who said that they would aid in marshalling the event as well as a music forum and had bands and singers who were willing to perform at the event. I also said that it should be made into a weekend event so that it would attract even the northern most clubs to make the trip down.! I even suggested that it should be made a charity event for possibly 2 charities.

I did all this myself through some research on the internet and a few emails and phone calls in a couple of days.

And guess what happened.!!!!!


Sweet F**K All thats what.!

Hence why i am no longer going to the meetings and have joined a different classic car club, and im sorry to say but alot of the MMOC members are of the older generation and once there gone who's going to be there to carry the club forward...?????

anyway rant over ive got to go do some work on the mog.!!

[chickenjohn]

Ok ill give you an example of what happened at the last meeting i went to a couple of weeks ago, the branch is going to be hosting the northern regional rally in 2012 so i went armed with a load of ideas such as other car clubs that id been in touch with who would have been more than happy to attend as well as a confirmation from the NW Hot air balloon society, the NW steam association and i was thinking it coulds all be tied together with a circus theme and i actually had a mobile circus troup who were willing to come and put on a display as well as teach children some of the skills. Id also been in touch with the local scout and guide group who said that they would aid in marshalling the event as well as a music forum and had bands and singers who were willing to perform at the event. I also said that it should be made into a weekend event so that it would attract even the northern most clubs to make the trip down.! I even suggested that it should be made a charity event for possibly 2 charities.
-snip-

We do a lot of the above in the Kent Branches Hop regional rally. We also have a prize for "best modified".

And we welcome modified Minor owners into our branches.

However, the whole idea of modifying the Minors seems to have declined a lot in recent years in the south East. You are wrong in thinking that there is a demographic crisis and that the solution is modifying- a misconception, what has happened is that we see a LOT of new owners who buy their first Minor as a 40 or 50 something (person as well as the car!), and less new owners in their 20's and 30's. The demographics of the ownership has shifted upwards by two decades, BUT the influx of new members in these age groups is very healthy, the East Kent and Kent branches are bigger than than they have ever been.

I think what has happened is that this new generation of owners like to run end enjoy their Minor as a second, fun car, for nice days and shows and club meets and so prefer to keep their cars in excellent, restored, original historic condition and don't see the need to modify the cars when they can enjoy them as standard. The cars are kept garaged, out of the rain and bad winter weather and not used as daily drivers. The young driver who likes to modify has moved onto the Clio/ Saxo/ Corsa type of modern hatchback and the Minor is moving away from being customised, or modified back into being an original cherished classic. Local classic owners who do modify seem to be going for Mk1 escorts, VWs and Minis rather than Minors.

That is what i have seen happen to the Minor scene in my part of the South East over the past 15 years as the cars have moved out of daily use and into classic use, so there is less need to modify the cars (disc brakes, bigger engines etc) if they are not used as daily drivers. Certainly, we rarely see a modified Minor at a local classic car show these days.

[pml1979]

Look in not bothered if the car is modified, chopped, customized, original or covered in fur.!!

The fact is that in the past 20 years the club has gone backwards not forwards. When we went to our last meeting my partner asked them what the aim of the club was ie what are the club goals.!

And you know what not one of the people there could answer the question.!!

I rest my case.!

[charlie_morris_minor]

Ok ill give you an example of what happened at the last meeting i went to a couple of weeks ago, the branch is going to be hosting the northern regional rally in 2012 so i went armed with a load of ideas such as other car clubs that id been in touch with who would have been more than happy to attend as well as a confirmation from the NW Hot air balloon society, the NW steam association and i was thinking it coulds all be tied together with a circus theme and i actually had a mobile circus troup who were willing to come and put on a display as well as teach children some of the skills. Id also been in touch with the local scout and guide group who said that they would aid in marshalling the event as well as a music forum and had bands and singers who were willing to perform at the event. I also said that it should be made into a weekend event so that it would attract even the northern most clubs to make the trip down.! I even suggested that it should be made a charity event for possibly 2 charities.

I did all this myself through some research on the internet and a few emails and phone calls in a couple of days.

And guess what happened.!!!!!


Sweet F**K All thats what.!

Hence why i am no longer going to the meetings and have joined a different classic car club, and im sorry to say but alot of the MMOC members are of the older generation and once there gone who's going to be there to carry the club forward...?????

anyway rant over ive got to go do some work on the mog.!!

I do not know you and I have no idea how you phrased ( in the club meeting ) what you have written here but as this was only your second meeting you appear to have turned up and telling everyone how to organise the rally......make it two days...these people are lined up.. this is the theme we should have.... put your self in their shoes a total stranger turns up and is telling them how to do things.. i am not surprised they said nothing if you had turned up to your second meeting when i was active in the south wales club telling me all this i would have been lost for words too.

I can see you were trying to be helpful and proactive, but maybe you went a bit over the top without being asked..

[pml1979]

if being over the top gets things done then im sorry but maybe there need to be a few more over the top people in the club to make things a bit more exciting and make people want to join, go to events, meetings and the like instead of avoiding it altogether.!!

I thought that was the whole point of a car club to make things happen and get things done? ive seen alot of posts on here about there needing to be people to take on more stuff for the club and then your telling me that its not appreciated??

HELLO MAKE UP YOUR MINDS YOU CANT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS???


Besides im not really that bothered now like ive said ive gone elsewere and they were really excited with some of my ideas and have incorporated them into next years rally.!!!!