The Graying of NCRS

[John S.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

I have been following this thread from the beginning. I did not realize until yesterday when I received my Restorer that it had a basic start from Roy's letter. I think all of the opinions I have read are valid in one way or another. I will throw in my 2 cents and then get to my real point. I am struggling to determine if I can go to national this year only for one reason. It is held during the middle of the week. I make a very nice living and am lucky enough to be able to afford not one but 2 corvettes. However I have to absolutely bust my ass at work during the week to do this. Much easier for me if it was held on a weekend. Now to the point. I think Roy hit the nail on the head when he talked about Corvette owners having a hand in getting young kids interested in this obsession. Let young kids sit in your car when they show interest, take kids on rides (with parents permission). Heck take adults for rides. Let someone drive your car if it doesn't give you a heart attack just thing about it. I will tell you that I am letting my future son in law drive my 09 in the autocross at the Big Bear Bash in late June. In fact there has been, how do I say it, a spirited discussion of driving skills and speed to the extent that there is a wager on best time. If the spread is more then a second it doubles. I look extremely forward to collecting my 200 bucks in June. The real motive here is I know he will enjoy this and be a Corvette convert for life. He has always liked Porsches and I am sure this is about to change!

[Pat M.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

This is very true, I belong to two local area Corvette clubs and most all members are not nor do they want to be NCRS members. There is only one who like me is a member of NCRS and a local Corvette club. But again, the interests are very different, most car club members have C5 and C6s, with a few C4s, whereas our regional NCRS in our state is 80% C2 with a few C1s and C3s. That is one problem, the other is that our local meetings are absorbed with talk of show and shine car shows, cruises, charity car show events, and tech talk about tire options for C6s, shocks for C5s, ways to increase performance on C5s and 6s with numerous aftermarket parts, what the C7 will look like or videos of the Corvette factory tours, etc. My NCRS meetings are all about tiny details of some alternator numbers from 1967, recognizing original equipment seats and side pipes, what to do about stamp pads now that Bloomington is changing, etc. Totally different scope of interests. I just don't see how that will ever come together, and maybe it shouldn't anyway, but it is very hard to impossible to get these guys interested in NCRS. Maybe if the Sportsman class was better defined, promoted, and understood, but that is just an ignored part of most meets I have been to.

Along with the other great points made by others, I think Michael is on to something here. Guys, there are not all that many people in the big scheme of things who give a crap about the minutest of details like we do. In fact, when I try to discuss such details with a "civilian" their eyes glaze over and they look at me like I'm crazy, as if thinking, "why would anyone care a wit about this stuff?" I'm not sure our organization is for everyone, or, for that matter, for most.

[Richard L.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

I have also been worried about the graying of NCRS. I am 57 and am often the youngest person at an NCRS event. But most organizations deal with this issue at one time or another. Having belonged to lots of professional associations and car clubs over the years, I have to say that NCRS has been the best. The membership fee is a bargain, the publications are top notch, and the members are awesome (if you take out the 1-2% mean-spirited folks, which is way less than my other organizations). In only my second year in NCRS, I was already Chapter Judging Co-Chair, been to many meets and judging schools from Chapters to Regionals to Nationals, etc. I have learned a ton from members while judging or having my car flight judged. Every person that I have worked with has been terrific and I could not have had a better experience. If we each get the word out to just one person each year about all the benefits of NCRS, we should be fine for a long time.

[Floyd B.]

[Dick W.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

I just ran across this link on another forum I frequent. http://nyti.ms/GHsR19 You may have to close the pop up ad

And we think the problem is unique to NCRS??

[Gary W.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

Thanks Erv for kicking-off an awesome thread....and for all the contributors, all of who's views are totally valid.
One topic has been missed: quality and management of NCRS's "life-blood" - accurate techicnical data.
If NCRS doesn't invest in 'modernising' access to, and sustained management of, correct/real tech data then it's all over. For me, the most valuable asset/resource NCRS has are it's TIM&JG's. And, for valid & understandable reasons, most of them are riddled with errors & ommissions.
The TIM&JG's are what differentiate NCRS from all other auto-clubs, not just corvettes.
It would be a horrible thought that when all the current members who have the correct/real knowledge only in their heads have 'dropped off the perch', future members will be taking as 'fact' that mitts were used to add black-out etc etc etc.
Cheers, Gary (Perth, Australia)

[Steve B.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

I just ran across this link on another forum I frequent. http://nyti.ms/GHsR19 You may have to close the pop up ad

And we think the problem is unique to NCRS??

Dick, interesting thread. It has always been my opinion that GM had a hand in creating this phenomena. When solid axles and midyears were new, the target buyer was in his twenties. Then when the C4 came along, they abandoned the guy in his twenties and went after the guy in his forties with a more upscale car. The long term problem was the buyer is the same guy who bought Corvettes in the sixties. How many guys in their twenties own new Corvettes today vs in the 60s? I'll bet it is way less.

[Michael J.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

Steve, when I was growing up in the '60s, most people I knew who owned new C2 Corvettes were in their 30s and 40s, those of us who were late teens and 20s had no way of affording that car, unless Daddy was rich. Corvettes have always been very expensive new cars relative to other options that attracted older new owners. In those days a used C1 could be had, but who wanted those old things when the Sting Ray was out there and so much better in all ways and you could get a '57 BelAir and stick a 327 in it and beat the socks of a used C1 for half the price. I don't think things have changed fundamentally since those days, the $$ are just bigger all the way around.

[Clem Z.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

i may have posted this before but here it goes. back in the day teenagers needed a car if you wanted to have sex and today a car is not required. you just goes to the girls apartment

[Kenneth H.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

For me, it isn't the graying of NCRS, but the graying of the entire car collecting hobby that worries me. Somehow we need to get the kids of today interested in classic cars so that they'll be the ones to carry the torch in the future. When I go to a car show, I see kids with their parents, but they seem just mildly interested in the cars. Anytime I see a kid with a parent I do something that would be considered sacrilegious to some on this board. I invite the child to sit in my 'vette. The parents generally like the idea, and even pull out the cell phone to take pictures. But the look on the kid's face when he or she climbs in is priceless. It seems to be something that might stick with the kid for awhile. I figure if I can get just one child out of 100 interested in classic cars enough to be a future collector, I've done my job.

In my opinion that's where our future is, and we should take every opportunity that we can to nurture that interest with the kids of today.

[Mark D.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

When I was running my L88 through NCRS and Bloomington, I would let kids sit in the car. If they liked it, I would let them drive it around the block...and speed shift it...with a 7/11 Big Gulp in one hand. When they got back, I would let the whole family sit on the hood and take pictures. Before they left, I gave each family member a 4296 Holley restored by Jerry Luck.

Didn't do any good, never saw any off them again.

[Kenneth H.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

Gee, Mark, maybe if you actually had let some of those kids sit in your car, rather than treating it like a shrine, we wouldn't be talking about the graying of NCRS.

Thanks.

[Keith B.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

One thing I was thinking of trying to get the younger people involved is getting some of the cars you only see in books at meets. Like a real L88 or L89. I have been around these cars for 20 years going to Carlisle and alike and I have never seen a real one. I would love to hear one start up and run. I would think if at some select meets NCRS could get the owners of some of the rare interesting cars there and then advertise them for being there. it might get some people there. just my two cents of being 28 and into old Corvettes

[John F.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

I am far from an expert on corvettes. My first car was a 55 Ford that I paid $75 for. My best friend and I (both 15 at the time) bought a Motors Auto Repair manual and decided to overhaul the motor. I mowed lawns, baby sat for my cousins, and anything else I could do to buy parts for that car. We had an old neighborhood mechanic (Chester Lawton) who we went to for advise. He drove a late 30s Chevy pickup,wore a welder's cap, and had a big stogie hanging out of his mouth at all times. He made us work for the answers to our simpleist questions. He would prod us as we tried to come up with the answers. It took me about a year to get that car all fixed up from the bottom up. The car was all ready to paint when it rolled in the snow on a country blacktop going less than 30mph. You guessed it! I couldn't afford full coverage in those days. Pulled everything from the wreck that we could salvage and started all over again. I would fix one up and sell/trade for something else. I went thru 7 cars in high school. My first vette sighting (56 vette) was a friend of my neighbors. When he pulled into the driveway between our houses the windows would rattle. I enlisted in the Air Force 1966 right out of high school. I had a few cars then and purchased that same 56 vette from a good friend of mine in late 1968. I drove it a little, but decided to leave it at home with my 16 year old brother when I went back to Kincheloe AFB in the UP of Michigan. I did not want to drive it in that deep snow. I sold it after a 30 day leave before going to Vietnam. When I returned and started college I picked up a 62 vette and drove it for two years before selling it (late 1971) getting married and starting a family. Roll forward 35+ years, kids grown & gone, I got another 62. I joined NCRS and the CF. What a wealth of knowledge between these two organizations. I enjoy the interaction amongst the guys/gals on these forums. I always took my kids to local car shows so they would appreciate the history of cars and how to maintain them. We need to keep young people involved. Could we ever combine a major event? Like NCRS, Solid Axle Club, TriFive. I think so. I believe it would expose the young people to a cross section of the car hobby. Then let them make up their minds. This will be my first year attending the National convention and striving for a four-star Bowtie. I never thought I would ever get into the judging thing until I came across a survivor car. I just enjoy the hobby and I am a purist at heart. It is fun to take a car part off and refurbish/restore it. The many hours/money we put into our babys is for our own self satisfaction and to see the eyes on spectators as they attend our events is priceless. I to like to let a few spectators sit behind the wheel. Someday they become one of us!

[Terry M.]

Re: The Graying of NCRS

John,

I was at Kinchloe from early 1963 to Spring 1964. Do you know that it is a state prison now?

NCRS held a National Convention in Reno Nevada in the late 1980s in conjunction with the National Nomad Club.