Feed back

[Steve Kerswell]

Sat talking to a couple of our sw kit car club this morning, both have positions on their makes committee, talking about Stoneleigh, they said it was quiet with empty trade stands and empty club stands etc. However both said that the Dutton owners club had a good show of cars. So well done to you guy's who made the effort and got your car's there. It was noticed. It seems that we may all be paying next year, no free spots for owners. Good idea?? Will it save the show? As a post script I know of another big show coming up and they are struggling to fill the trade stands, and it's not related to kit cars. The recession is still biting and shows are struggling to survive. Is it to early in the year for open top cars, camping etc. Is it in the wrong place. Discuss at your leisure chaps :-))

[Dave Adams]

If we have to pay I for one won't bother.....

might be time to organise our own events....as the club used to do.

[Steve Kerswell]

Unfortunately everything cost money now. Have you tried camping at a campsite recently? Not cheap, I payed £8 for a small tent, I had the use of toilets and showers, it was only a 2 man bivvi tent. My motor home puts it in the £20 bracket minimum on big sites. Small certified locations cost about £12-£15 per unit.

[James Doulton]

It cost me £5 for entrance and the 2 nights camping. I would still have come if it was £25. It cost about £30 for food. Plus I had to buy the tent (£125) and a new thick sleeping bag (£50) and some other camping gear (~£50). Then I spent over £300 on bits, odds 'n' ends and tools. Also we had a good AGM and I had a good time with a great bunch of characters. I don't think that an entrance fee would make much difference to me.

[Brian (up north) Morris]

:it should be in summer. kit cars early spring no brainer :-)

[Jim (across the pond) Adamek]

lol, You were able to fit all that gear in your Dutton?

[James Doulton]

There is lots of space in a Legerra when you have no passenger - there is a boot, space behind the seats and on the rear 'bench' seat and then all the passenger space too. Here is what goes in the boot...

[Jim (across the pond) Adamek]

lol, Never seen a Legerra here in Florida.

[Big Vern]

As Martin says, we're in the 21st century now, an on demand connected world, a website is now the trade stand one that can be seen easily by millions and so much cheaper than a trade stand at Stoneleigh. Even the auto-jumble is now online as part of the worlds biggest car boot/yard sale. Long ago we all met up at shows for a chin wag and talk shop, now we do that here and at anytime of day or night. The age of the car show is all but over just as the age of using cars for recreation is almost over. Though I have long believed it was wrong for kit car owners to expect to get in for nothing, (kit car shows are about the only shows I know of where that happens,) it is likely that charging for kit car entrants will be the final nail in the kit car show coffin. It is true I haven't been since I sold the GTM but Stoneleigh was in its death throws then and it doesn't sound like its getting any better.

[Dave Adams]

i have thought that the future of clubs such as ours is not in the modern kit car shows. to be honest the kit car shows are dropping by the way side as the public like so many other fields of interest  just cannot be made to join in.....the modern generation seem to want instant gratification......if you cant buy it off the shelf then iits not done....look at the modern tuning scene lots of go faster kits....even if you want to fit a Zetec to your car you can buy a full rwd kit.....but for a shade under 2K no one wants to root about a scrap yard, they just want it off a shelf done and painted and ready to bolt on...

the only cars selling soon will be the likes of a caterham..every thing in a box if it dont fit then send it back for a new one that does. they will be kit cars but everyone will be as similar as each other....no different that every production car out there.

we are in a minority hobby and we are looked on as odd people who just wont go out and buy a proper car.

the hobby and the club is dying because there are too few folks out there willing to put in the effort to be different. they just want to buy it and drive it...and preferably go to their local garage to get it fixed.

some things will attract the die hards, but the club is looking at fewer members for no other reason that it cannot offer any thing new. track days wont do it....maybe a local get together but a trip of hundreds of miles for a cold and damp show in early spring is looking like a lost cause.

i use my car as every day transport that is unique it has been to the continent 4 times and it was great fun it has covered almost 2000 miles in a week in comfort but i dont see me just taking it to shows any more. the shows offer me nothing i need other than the excuse to meet up with folks, which to be honest i donrt need a show to so anyway.

[Dave Taylor]

7 years we've been doing that as The Northern Duttoneers, last run out was 500 miles for me. We are all still together no, fee's, lots of helping hands. It works.

[Adrian Southgate]

Speaking of which... Thursday week Dave? Anyone booked us in yet?