Dwindling memebership

[Larry S.]

Dwindling membership

So today I get my copy of the Corvette Restorer in the mail and I am reading the financial statement, and I notice (if I am reading it correctly) that 2004 new membership revenue is $5,460.00 less then 2003.And that 2004 renewal membership is $37,279.00 less then 2003 so total membership from 2003 to 2004 is off a total of 42,709.00 and figuring the average cost of a new membership is 30.00 that means our membership has dwindled by more then 1400 people? I also notice the deferred membership dues was also off by at least $21,000.00

What’s happening here?

[James B.]

Re: Dwindling memebership

I actually just signed up on Monday, so hopefully that helped a little!

Regards,

Jim Brady III
1959 Corvette Registry, Webmaster

http://www.59registry.com

NCRS # ??? (to be determined)

[Patrick T.]

Re: Dwindling Membership

The cost of becoming a new member or renewing your membership starting January 1, 2006 will go from $30 to $35, so I'm told. PT

[Brian M.]

Welcome JBrady. *NM*

[Dick W.]

Re: Dwindling Membership

The membership #'s are still about 15,800. Maybe a slight increase from 2004. Several members have multiple year memberships (mine expires in 2009) so it is hard to take the statement and get actual membership increase/decrease from those numbers

[G B.]

Take a look around at the next function.

Here's what you'll see: more Cottontops than hang out at the Orlando Scooter Store. The average age of NCRS members is probably close to 60 right now. Beats me how we can avoid declining membership numbers unless youngsters (under 50) start joining in droves.

I'm not proud of this, it's just the truth.

[mike mccagh]

Re: Take a look around at the next function.

when i was 29 years old and joined NCRS as member # 14, there were 14 members. when i turned 45 years old and pres of NCRS, i believe the membership # was about 12000. It's been 15 years since i was pres and the membership # is about 16000.looks logrithmic to me. hopefully we are near or at the peak of the beel-shaped curve. one things for certain, unless the c-4 and c-5 owners take an interest in "restoration/preservation"philosophy, we're gonna see a dimunution in membership #'s. however, i suspect ther're still be an NCRS existing when my 60 year old butt finally gets put out in the pine box.its been a hell of a ride for me. mike

[James B.]

Re: Take a look around at the next function.

That is something I'm actually aware of, which is why I hope to be one of the ones "to carry the torch", as one of my Registry members, Tom Kemp, put it..

I'm 34, and have been passionate about cars overall my entire life- The Corvette chapter is a part that has been instilled in me by my father (62 going on 63, by the way..). I have owned an '81 (which I still miss today), am currently restoring a '59, and hope to be the owner one day of my father's '76.

I will admit though, I do find myself being an "oddball" of my generation. I feel, unfortunately, that many of my peers [in general] don't want to continue this tradition, because they are all too busy worrying about what the new Beamer is going to have, or what the new import of the year will sport. I also am one of few people in my age bracket, whose parents actually took the time to teach their kids the value of working on their own cars, rather than just dropping it off at a shop and not passing that knowledge on. These are just 2 factors alone that I can point out when it comes to trying to understand what is happening to the hobby as a whole. My apologies if I'm stepping on any toes, it's just my 2 cents worth..

At any rate, I'm glad to be one of those to keep the tradition going. I just hope I don't end up being the ONLY one!

Best Regards,

Jim Brady III
1959 Corvette Registry, Webmaster

http://www.59registry.com

NCRS Member ????

[mike cobine]

Re: Take a look around at the next function.

Along with that is price.

As the price goes up, so does the age of the buyer, to a great extent. Not many 20-year-olds are going to buy a $50,000 old Corvette to drive for a dozen weekends out of the year.

With prices on '67s going nuts at over $100,000 and much higher, you also have jumped into another group of people - ones who are not in it for fun and fellowship. People with an extra $200,000 to spend on a garage trophy pay someone else to know right and wrong and then buy. They don't have time or desire to learn it all, they are busy making money. So they don't join NCRS, not because of the $30, but because it is of no interest to them other than maybe enhancing the value of the investment they parked in the garage.

With the price going so high, few old Corvettes are on the street. So very few younger drivers see or relate to an old Corvette.

Tonight in the store, I paid with a $20. The kid at the counter goes "Wow, is that ever an old twenty! It's a 1990!"

Think of that in terms of cars. To us, 1990 was yesterday, or maybe a month ago. To that kid, it was when he started K3 or K4 and probably quit peeing his diaper. He has nothing he can relate to a '67 except maybe "that was the year my mom was born" or something like that.

When many of us were buying old Corvettes in the '70s, they were half the price of any new car or less. They were what we drooled over as kids and suddenly, they were easily affordable. They were fast, they looked good, and they were basically cheap. How can that not succeed?

Today, there are few new cars that cost more than an old Corvette. They are not what many remember as kids. They are not a cheap thrill ride. The few years that are cheap are not half as fast as any rice rocket. Heck, most pickup trucks today can beat a mid '70s Vette, about the only years many younger drivers can afford in the way we did, as a second car, playtoy, something to race, etc.

Corvettes are victims of their own success. The prices went up, only the old guys can relate, the young guys left behind. Look at the Model T and Model A and see where Corvette is going.

The only difference is that unlike the Model T and A, if the market were to crash on Corvette prices, dropping to say $15,000 for a decent driver, you could actually drive it everyday. Driving a Model T everyday would not work at all with the highway speeds and such.

[Craig S.]

Re: Take a look around at the next function.

More power to you Jim!!

[William C.]

Re: Take a look around at the next function.

Pricing way back when... was one of the arguments used for bringing the '68-72 cars into NCRS and then subsequent models. Today, the C-4 cars are quite modestly priced, at least relative to a new grocery getter today. This is just one more way the organization has tried to deal with the "graying" of the membership over the years.

[mike cobine]

Re: Take a look around at the next function.

If you remember, it wasn't the price at the time that got people into NCRS. The $2500-$3000 midyear and the $2000 early C3 got people into Corvettes, not restoration.

What got them into restoration was seeing a modified one sell for $3000 and a restored one sell for $6000. But they already had the cars, they just wanted to gain the extra.

Today, many who own the cheap C3 and C4 don't seem to be all that interested in the Corvette legend. Back then, nearly everyone was in a club. Nearly every club did things, went places, had a great time. Caravans miles long going to Bloomington, with 50% under 30. Remember the 50th Birthday party at Nashville? I doubt that 50% were under 50.

Today, that seems to be much less.

The few who have preserved their C4s did so because they had already entered the restoration side with a C2 or C3 before buying their C4. But people buying their starter Corvette as a C4 don't have that background. They find places that help make them faster, make them work, and find ways to repair some of the silly engineering that costs far too much today in a shop.

And unlike Corvette owners going into restoration in the '70s, many new Corvette people have heard tales of NCRS and how if your Corvette is less than perfect, you have wasted your time. Look at the negative NCRS comments on eBay. NCRS is colored with an impression to many that NCRS is stuck up, full of itself, and can't stand any deviation from original.

With so many cars being unoriginal in one way or another, it seems too much for many buying a Corvette to even consider NCRS.

[Clem Z.]

this is my input to this

people now days that put $50/60K into a corvette want to drive it not let it set because driving it will lower it value like a restored one. there are only so many people out there that can afford to own 2 or more corvettes at one time,a NCRS corvette and a driver,and those are the people who join NCRS.

[Clem Z.]

to add to my post

the NCRS has too many "check book collectors" that buy a car,drop it of at some restorers,write a check and trailer it to a NCRS meet to collect a award. then you have a corvette enthusist who works on his own car in his 2 car garage at home,doing most all the work himself for 4 to 5 years and is DQ because the door hinge is loose. this does not set well and you will loose members like this. JMHO

[Dave F.]

Jim is not an oddball

Don't count us young folks out just yet. I'm 36 and I have a '59.

True, a few people think I'm a bit nuts when I bust out my NCRS judging guide to find the correct color for a hose clamp, but hey, they all love the car!

-Dave