<VV> Thoughts on CORSA Membership

[Jeffrey B. Aronson]

As a fairly new member, I hesitate to enter this fray, but I might well 
represent several sectors of CORSA's membership, so I'm jumping in.

First off, I'm fairly new as a member [2007], the consequence of living 
in a state with no CORSA chapter and not very aware of resources for my 
Monza. I bought my Corvair not because I lusted after one, but because 
it seemed like an interesting, entertaining, well engineered, affordable 
vehicle (as a student I owned one from 1969-71).

Second, I am not a car collector; my vehicles must be road-worthy and 
usable year round, in most any conditions and driving situations. The 
placard on my Corvair at the Bay State-Clark's event this fall read 
"Please Touch."

Third, I am very interested in the design/mechanicals/engineering of the 
car. I love to drive it but club events seem to always occur during the 
spring and summer months when I must work 7 days a week to make the most 
of seasonal income opportunities. I'm a car guy more than a club guy.

Fourth, I must work hard for my modest income and I'm likely to have to 
do that until I am buried in my car. If I'm putting money into something 
other than maintenance and repairs of my car, it had better be worth the 
cash and the time it took to earn it.

Fifth, I'm a professional magazine editor of another automotive 
enthusiast publication, /The Rovers North News. 
<http://www.roversnorth.com/store/t-downloadsrnnews.aspx>/ The magazine 
goes out to 31,000 households, 6 issues a year.

I mention all these because they represent my interest in and connection 
with CORSA.So are some suggestions for CORSA:

1. CORSA's model is based on needs that predate the internet, cellphones 
and relatively affordable shipping. It pays for a magazine with uneven 
writing quality, some great technical pieces, historical information and 
personal memoirs. By its content you'd assume the magazine presumes a 
healthy interest in chapter activities and expensive national events.

CORSA needs to ask itself if its activities, beloved by many existing 
[but declining in number] members, reach new members. What if a new 
member's work schedule does not give them flexibility and/or income for 
a regional or national meet? Not everyone these days has a 9-5 job with 
defined work schedules and days off.

What could CORSA do to promote the growth of lots of little gatherings, 
all over the country - Corvair MeetUps, instead of a national convention 
that a vast majority of the membership can never attend? What if younger 
car enthusiasts actually found out that the Corvair is wicked 
affordable, wicked usable on a daily basis, and wicked entertaining and 
cheap to drive? What if CORSA took the lead in that effort instead of 
focusing on national events?

2. How will CORSA attract new members if it does not celebrate the 
Corvair itself? I would never give a copy of the /Communique/, even the 
one with my article :-) , to a potential younger member because it just 
has no appeal to them. Stories about how someone prepared their car to 
be a concours or "trailer queen" winner do not appeal to car buffs.

Maybe the /Communique/ needs to become a Corvair enthusiast magazine 
instead of club publication Many members seem to be parents and/or 
grandparents; why can't CORSA promote young men and women who want to be 
seen in cool cars like Corvairs? I've seen one letter to the editor to 
his point in my 14 months of receiving the /Communique/, and only one 
article.

As an editor, I will remind everyone that finding correspondents to 
write quality articles, for free or for payment, is very time consuming 
and labor intensive. I spend a lot of time working with potential 
writers to get their articles to show up on time and to improve the 
quality of the work for the magazine. It's not a soft volunteer position!

3. There needs to be a definable benefit to join when you live in an 
area with no local chapter. (BTW, when Maine enthusiasts have reviewed 
the requirements for a local chapter, we've chosen to say "no" and 
retain our loose confederation). Helping an out of state chapter reduce 
their insurance costs doesn't cut it when I'm worried about meeting my 
rent. I've purchased event insurance - it isn't pretty - and commend 
CORSA for that benefit nationally. But I'm going to have increasing 
problems justifying membership when CORSA is looking at a 30-50% dues 
increase.

CORSA could do for me what the Corvair Forum [thank you, San Diego club] 
and VV [thank you, CORSA] do - connect me with other Corvair owners. But 
the only thing I ever hear from CORSA's institutional leadership is 
discussion of dues, of dunning more people. What I want to hear is what 
you want to accomplish to promote the Corvair as an enthusiast automobile.

The CORSA website is, to be blunt, much too oriented to club matters and 
lame in its presentation of our wonderful, exciting, entertaining cars! 
6 tabs on club matters and 1 on the car? Why not open up the club 
website to ideas that would enliven it? Ask yourselves - do members go 
first to the CORSA website to connect with the enthusiast community, or 
to the Corvair Forum?

4.  Corvairs are not a "hobby" with an entry fee for every member; 
they're a hugely entertaining classic car that you can own for the sum 
of a used Corolla - and you can drive it every day. Please recognize 
that some members do not own Corvairs as collectors, and they love them 
as daily cars. That's why Clark's and the Corvair Underground, and other 
vendors, get my attention and appreciation. What's CORSA doing to 
promote ownership and enthusiasm, rather than membership?

5. Maine has an active group of enthusiasts who link together thanks to 
the internet. We're a large state [at least for New England] and we 
can't see each other as often as we'd like, but we are a successful 
"cyber club." We keep in touch online. When we meet in person, we 
celebrate the cars, not the meeting itself. We looked at establishing a 
chapter but after looking at the regulations, wondered "why?" I'll bet 
we're not alone.

6. Why not invite CORSA members to advertise their services and/or 
businesses in the Communique? Why are the classifieds only Corvair 
related? Why not some pages at a modest cost with "classifieds" of 
member services/businesses? Why not encourage members to do business 
with members?

I write these thoughts as someone who has contributed an article to the 
Communique, looked into forming a CORSA chapter with other local 
enthusiasts, has served on Board of Directors of other organizations, 
and cares about CORSA's success. I have no illusions as to the 
challenges faced by Board members. I do believe that the messages 
implicit in our financial statements make it clear that it's time for 
substantial change - and that the change will be good for the long term 
health of the organization. The structure now in place, with the 
purposes it has set out for itself, may not be the way for the future.

Thanks for reading this LONG missive. I, too, want to see CORSA succeed.

Jeff Aronson
Vinalhaven, ME
www.landroverwriter.com <http://www.landroverwriter.com>

'66 Corvair Monza Coupe 110/4
'66 Land Rover Series II-A [2]
'80 Triumph TR-7 Spider