by Paul Sweeney Planning to join Gar & the gang at the show?Missed the full show information?
0 Comments
by Paul Sweeney & Gar Cole
by Paul Sweeney and John Simpson Its Awards season again and we are delighted and proud to announce that we have been shortlisted for the 3rd year running - and this time we are shortlisted in two categories - "National Car Club of the Year" and "Outstanding Online Presence". As a non-subscription club run by and for ordinary classic car enthusiasts, this is fantastic recognition for the community we have worked so hard to build, which can only further enhance our reputation and visibility in the classic car world. The full shortlists for the two categories we feature in are: Here is the announcement as seen in "Classic Car Weekly" magazine: The National Car Club Awards will take place alongside the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show 2018.
Established in 2016, the Awards are applauded for acknowledging exceptional work amongst UK Classic Car Clubs, the contributions of the enthusiastic people who run the clubs on behalf of their members, as well as celebrating the cherished cars themselves which the Car Club members own. Presented in association with Tourism Ireland, supported by Classic Car Weekly and endorsed by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC), the 2018 Awards ceremony and dinner will take place on Saturday 24 March 2018 at the NEC, Birmingham. For the full shortlist, across all award categories, visit the official website here: www.necrestorationshow.com/awards/awards-shortlist by Paul Sweeney Here are the official Facebook stats for our group covering the 28 days to 17 February 2018. As is normal at this time of year, activity and new member requests are a little down - however we hit a real highlight with the United States becoming the first country outside the UK to achieve 1,000 members - hence the joint flag graphic; welcome to you all! We are delighted that so many of you across the Pond appreciate British motoring heritage. Not only that, but we still have a remarkable 16,500+ members regularly posting, commenting or actively reacting to posts - we reckon that's a fantastic number! by Paul Sweeney Tis almost the Eve of Christmas and the end of another year beckons, so we thought a quick review of the year for our club was in order. It's been a year of milestones for the group - we have doubled our numbers during 2017 and are closing in on 21,000 members as I write this. In other headlines, we had our first-ever club stands at the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show at the NEC in early April as well as the Classic Motor Show at the same venue in November, and were also shortlisted in the Best Use of Social Media category at the Classic Car Club awards. Last but not least, we launched our online club shop to raise funds for bigger and better club events in the future. Other official club events organised by our Events guy Gar Cole with great support from Mike Peake and others included The Pride of Longbridge at Cofton Park Birmingham (April) and John Simpson organised the club's return to the scene of our first-ever meet at the Bubble Car Museum in Boston, Lincs. Each of the thumbnails below is a link to an event photo gallery - click on the thumbnails to view Next up were our return to Crich Tramway Museum courtesy of Paul Cheetham, the Shackleton Trust courtesy of Pete Curran and the Lupin Farm Charity Show. On to the Gloucester Vintage Extravaganza organised by Mike Peake and featuring the now-legendary "Council House Scum" incident, our first-ever driving tour around Snowdonia National Park organised by Gar Cole and to finish the year, our stand at the Classic Motor Show at the NEC in November. Our thanks to all those involved in making so many events happen and to those who made the not inconsiderable effort to take part -- in particular to Gar, without whom most of the above would not have happened. Also sincere thanks to each and every one of you that has posted, commented or blogged in the group during the year - keep on doing that! Coming in 2018The New Year promises to build on the successes of 2017 - current plans include:
FinallyWe hope you are looking forward to the New Year as much as we are. Last but not least, a big thank you for all your loyal support from the Admin team Mike Peake, John Simpson, Zebidee Habib, Steve Favill, Edwin Feenstra, Andrew Tanner and myself. We would like to wish everyone a peaceful and happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year. ... oh and one last thing - a brief message from Gar to all 2018 club event-goers........ BUY A RUDDY A-Z!
by Paul Sweeney and Gar Cole You might already be aware that we are delighted to have a stand at the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show with Discovery in March 2018. The selection process for vehicles to display on our stand is already well in hand and purely for logistical reasons this tends to limit us to UK-based members vehicles, but this year we want to involve our global membership too. How? Well, we have decided to acquire a display board for our stand, so the plan is to display the best quality overseas members' vehicle photos on it. So, we want great quality photos of non-UK members' pre-85 British motors to show on the wall to demonstrate to the show-going public, organisers and judges that our membership is genuinely global. Send 'em in if you're proud of your Brit! CLOSED 17/01/2018 - NO MORE SUBMISSIONS ARE BEING ACCEPTED.by Paul Sweeney and Gar Cole Our 2017 calendars were very popular and the 2018 version featuring our competition winners cars is now available in the shop! Priced at just £8.99 + shipping, they make a fantastic Christmas present for the classic car fan in your life. Why not order two and have one for yourself as well?
Visit our online shop to order yours. by Paul Sweeney Our 2017 club calendars were very popular. Now its time to design the 2018 calendar - and it could feature YOUR classic motor! But hurry - time is tight as the closing date for entries is midnight 30 November 2017 (GMT). Competition rules
THE COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSEDby Paul Sweeney Its monthly stats time and a major milestone for the group as we pass the 20,000 members mark. Increasingly, membership is becoming global with the USA reinforcing its position at #2. Hopefully this globalisation will continue as members from different countries, cultures and backgrounds definitely add interest to group discussions.
We have come a long way since the early days when every name posting in the group was very familiar, and there were frequent times when it seemed nobody was home. Big thanks to my colleagues and friends in the Admin team Mike, Zebidee, Gar, Steve, Edwin and Andrew without whom it would all quickly dissolve into standard social media anarchy. Also of course a big thanks to all of you, the members - in particular the loyal sorts who have supported us through thick and thin, helping us grow from the minnow we were not so long ago. We hope you will all stay with us and help us develop the group into an even more enjoyable place to visit in the future. by Paul Sweeney Its nearly Christmas-time and to help you celebrate in style, we have a great seasonal offer for you.
Spend £10 or more in our shop and get 15% off! Just enter the coupon code 'XMAS2017' at checkout and the discount will be applied to your order*. * Excludes Official 2018 Group Calendar Offer available November 1 2017 - December 25, 2017 by Paul Sweeney You might have noticed we launched a new group shop recently - and it feels right to offer a few words of explanation. It's not about fleecing our members for our own benefit; all those who help to make things happen in our group - either within the Admin team itself or the numerous other loyal folk that support us so well - are unpaid volunteers. We do it because we share your passion. So we have enthusiasm and energy in spades and most of us have to date funded some group activities from our own pockets just to get them off the ground. However that only takes you so far before you have to stump up even more of those hard-earned British Pounds to do things as well we we want to, and it gets difficult. None of us is wealthy. The group enjoys fantastic support from Phil Allin's Alvaston Press with banners and signs, great graphic design work from Dominic Coleman and brilliant support from several others, not to mention the luxury of sponsorship money from Carole Nash Insurance that has brought us a long way. Nevertheless looking ahead we felt there was a need to raise additional funds - through our own efforts if possible. Nobody likes going cap in hand asking others for money. What do we need money for? Well just to take one example - mounting a club display stand at the NEC. Firstly, we must have Public Liability Insurance cover or we don't even get in through the door. That alone can cost hundreds of pounds. Once inside, the 'stands' that clubs are allocated by the organisers are in fact no more than an empty piece of floor in a massive exhibition hall. We find ourselves up against professional outfits who have paid staff and large marketing budgets. Their stands are complete with carpeted flooring, their own electrical supplies, fencing, display screens, lighting, tables, chairs etc etc. Naturally all of that costs money - and anyone who has ever bought a simple meal at an NEC event knows nothing there is cheap. We arent saying we need all of that fancy stuff, but if you're going to be at these prestigious events you don't want to be a laughing stock either; so there is a middle ground and it has to be paid for somehow. What else do we need money for? Another example is our web site www.britishmotorvehicles.com. Its been designed & built and is maintained free of charge, but some things still have to be paid for: the domain and the web hosting both cost money every month.
We didnt want to ask our members for money; we felt the only acceptable way forward was to somehow make the group self-funding. We decided to follow the example of many other successful clubs who raise funds by offering branded club merchandise for members to buy - any profits would then help fund our future activities. Previously we dipped a toe in this water, selling small numbers of club stickers and key rings and that showed there was a demand for such items. However to really make a difference we needed to do that again - but on a bigger scale. So we went for it, trusting that you would support us. We started with car stickers which have proven very popular. We just added club pens and key rings to the store and hopefully those will go the same way. At this stage of course, your Admin team are risking their own money to get in some stock to sell. If things go well, we should be able to purchase future stock from profits to date and stop needing to raid our own personal piggy banks. For any members keen to support the group but not interested in buying branded group merchandise, we have also created an option to make a donation - you will find it in the shop alongside the other products. That's where we are now; we are doing this purely to make this an even better club and to organise interesting and exciting events. We want to do things well and to stand comparison with other well-established clubs out there. We hope you will support us along the way. You can start by visiting our shop - just click here. Thank you. by Paul Sweeney Here are the latest group stats provided by Facebook. As expected, general activity levels in the group started picking up again as we moved out of the August UK School Holiday period and into September. New member requests are once again on the rise. Its interesting and very encouraging to note that from an extremely low start point only a year or two back, our representation in the USA has increased greatly. Ever since this group began, most of our members have tended to come from the British Commonwealth countries where British motors were most popular - Australia, NZ, India etc. That is still generally the case, but the American contingent in particular has now grown to the point the USA now has the 2nd largest number of members in the group - the UK being naturally the largest by some distance. Its also great to see Canada moving above France to make the Top 10 for the first time. A very warm welcome to all our North American friends! by Paul Sweeney Here are the latest group stats provided by Facebook. As we have come to expect, the month of August being peak UK school holiday time has seen a slight drop in activity in the group. Its very pleasing to see that the top post was Gar Cole's message about poor Ian Cross and his accident. It says a great deal about the caring nature of our members that this thread attracted more comment and reaction than any other. by Paul Sweeney The end of the 2017 season is already in sight, but fear not - here's a date for your 2018 diaries! The Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show is the biggest & best Spring show in the UK and will be back at the NEC Birmingham from 23-25 March. Following our very successful first appearance at this year's show, the organisers have kindly invited us to apply for a stand at the 2018 event - and of course we are keen (thanks Gar Cole). We will be selecting member's cars for our stand if and when our attendance is confirmed - if you are interested you don't need to do anything just yet, but remember this show is all about restoration so we will be particularly interested in restoration stories - and even more so if some resto work can be done during the show itself. More follows soon when the organisers confirm who will be getting stands. In the meantime, you can browse the official event web site here and here's a nifty video filmed at the 2017 event.
by Paul Sweeney
You know how sometimes you set out to do something, get it wrong but make something else instead? Thats what happened with this video - its not right for what I was doing, but I like it enough that I didn't want to just delete it - so here it is. Hopefully a few of you will enjoy it.
​Incidentally - the 'selected members cars' are those whose owners kindly offered them for display on our stand at the NEC in November. As you know, our stand can only fit four cars, but this is all of the cars offered; aren't they great? We honestly would have been happy to take the lot! by Gar Cole & Paul Sweeney Great news - we just heard that we have bagged a stand at the November show! This will be our first appearance at the UK's premier classic motor show - hopefully the first of many. Our stand will be in Hall 4 this time, close to the Auto Jumble area. Its an end stand next to the restaurant as you can see on the floor plan shown below. Gar Cole will now go into organisational overdrive and more news will be shared as it becomes available. There will be camping available for what Gar calls "the intrepid"! To those who offered their cars for display - we will look at the final selections very shortly and let you all know as soon as we can. Club discount price tickets will be made available in due course. The organisers describe the event thus: The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with Discovery, is the Biggest and Best Classic Motor Show in the UK! The event welcomes classic car enthusiasts from all over the UK and beyond to share their passion for classics. This year’s show will be held from 10-12 November 2017 at Birmingham's NEC and will showcase over 2,500 amazing classic cars and motorbikes covering over one million square feet – that’s about 12 football pitches! More information follows as and when.
by Paul Sweeney by Paul Sweeney and Gar Cole Some of you will recall we threw our group hat (no it's not a yellow bowlie!) into the draw for a stand at this November's Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at the NEC, Birmingham. The disappointing news is that we were unlucky on this occasion but we are on the reserve list, so may be offered a stand if another group pulls out (this happens often).
So for now, our sincere thanks to all those that offered their cars as exhibits. We will let you know if and when a stand becomes available. by Paul Sweeney We now have 15,000 members! It was only 6 months ago that we reached 10,000 members; little did we think when passing that milestone that we would be reporting an amazing 50% increase in our numbers since then - particularly as it covers the traditional "quiet" period for UK classic car clubs when folk go into hibernation though winter. Its been a very busy time for the group despite the season in the Northern Hemisphere - a massive effort went into organising and manning the group's first-ever stand at the Practical Classics Classic Car Restoration Show at the NEC at the start of April. Very well done to Gar Cole, Mike Peake, Tony and Garry Brooks, Liam White, Lincoln Hunt and Andrew Tanner for making sure we put on a display that attracted interest and many favourable comments from our peers and competitors at the show.
We hope to be invited back for this November's Classic Car Show (also at the NEC) and when that's confirmed we will unveil details of the exhibits we have planned as soon as we can. Apart from that, we are looking forward to a busy calendar through Spring and Summer 2017, ending with our very first Driving Tour around Snowdonia in October, then our first venture outside the UK in 2018 when we are going to Ireland! On behalf of the Admin team including our Events Coordinator Gar Cole, a big thank you to every member for your support - we do appreciate it and are optimistic that this year will see our club continue to grow and become even better than before. by Paul Sweeney The finalists in the 2017 National Car Club Awards have been revealed. This year has seen the most nominations from clubs and club members to date. The overall Award winners will be announced at the awards dinner on Saturday 1st April at Birmingham’s NEC. Lee Masters, Director of The National Car Club Awards, said: “We had 209 nominations, which is 25 more than the inaugural year and it’s fantastic to see the clubs embrace these awards. Once again, the standard of entries was extremely high with a fantastic mix of clubs of all sizes. “Some of the categories had over 30 entries and reducing these down to a shortlist was extremely difficult, making that place on the shortlist even more valuable and an incredible achievement.” A total of 16 awards will be presented at the ceremony, hosted by Mike Brewer alongside the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show. Enthusiasts of BRitish Motor Vehicles is well represented
Just being nominated for these prestigious awards is quite an achievement; to be shortlisted is amazing, and of course to win would be the icing on the cake. So, keep your fingers crossed for us all with the group award - and please join me in congratulating both John and Pauline for being shortlisted in their respective categories. We wish them every success on the night and hope we will soon be congratulating them both on winning a very well-deserved award.
Finally, our best wishes go with the group representatives at the awards ceremony, Mike Peake and his wife Anita. We hope you both enjoy a great evening and please come home with a fabulous award. Win or lose, we can at the very least anticipate an amusing blog about it all from Mike's alter ego, Fat Bloke. by Paul Sweeney The nominations for cars to go on our stand at the NEC show this November have now closed and we want to thank all those members who have offered their pride and joy to represent the group at this premier event. We were blown away by the number of cars nominated and by the extremely high quality. We dont know yet whether the group will be granted a stand at the November show or not - or how big the stand will be (they do vary).
The final selection will therefore be delayed until we have confirmation - and we are informed that wont happen until May. We realise you will be keen to hear the results but please bear with us. We will make further announcements as soon as we have been notified by the organisers. by John Simpson & Paul Sweeney Great News! We have once again made the the shortlist in the National Car Club Awards in the category of 'Outstanding Use Of Social Media'. This is the 2nd year running we have been shortlisted, so we are hopeful that this time we might go one further and be crowned winners. The full shortlist in our category is:
The official Press Release for the awards reads: The finalists in the 2017 National Car Club Awards, in association with Tourism Ireland, have been revealed. This year has seen the most nominations from clubs and club members to date. Supported by Classic Car Weekly, and endorsed by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs, the overall Award winners will be announced at the awards dinner on Saturday 1st April at Birmingham’s NEC. Lee Masters, Director of The National Car Club Awards, said: “We had 209 nominations, which is 25 more than the inaugural year and it’s fantastic to see the clubs embrace these awards. Once again, the standard of entries was extremely high with a fantastic mix of clubs of all sizes. “Some of the categories had over 30 entries and reducing these down to a shortlist was extremely difficult, making that place on the shortlist even more valuable and an incredible achievement.” A total of 16 awards will be presented at the glittering ceremony, hosted by Mike Brewer alongside the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show. The shortlist covers eight of the award categories with the finalists for the Lifetime Achievement award still to be decided. The other six awards will be decided by the judges on Saturday and presented their prize at the awards dinner. There will then be a ‘Judges Special Recognition Award’ presented to a club that the panel feel has gone the extra mile in the classic motoring movement. NATIONAL CAR CLUB AWARDS 2017 SHORTLIST CLASSIC CAR CLUB CATEGORIES: NATIONAL CAR CLUB OF THE YEAR, SPONSORED BY LANCASTER INSURANCE: ASTON MARTIN OWNERS CLUB BMW CAR CLUB GB INTERNATIONAL CLUB FOR ROLLS ROYCE AND BENTLEY ENTHUSIASTS MG CAR CLUB MORRIS MINOR OWNERS CLUB (MMOC) NATIONAL STREET ROD ASSOCIATION PANTHER CAR CLUB ROVER SPORTS REGISTER SPORTING BEARS MOTOR CLUB TR REGISTER TRANSIT VAN CLUB WOLSELEY REGISTER OUTSTANDING CLUB MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR (PRINTED): HAVOC - FORD AVO OWNERS CLUB LANCIA MOTOR CLUB - LANCIA MOTOR CLUB MONSTRO - MAESTRO & MONTEGO OWNERS CLUB SAFETY FAST - MG CAR CLUB ASOC NEWS - ASOC (AVENGER & SUNBEAM OWNERS CLUB) SOFT TOP HARD TOP - MX-5 OWNERS CLUB TORQUE - PEUGEOT SPORT CLUB UK FREEWHEEL MAGAZINE - ROVER SPORTS REGISTER THE HORN - SUNBEAM ALPINE OWNERS CLUB REGISTER - MORRIS COMMERCIAL J, J/B AND 101 REGISTER OUTSTANDING USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA, SPONSORED BY LANCASTER INSURANCE: ENTHUSIASTS OF BRITISH MOTOR VEHICLES BUILT BEFORE 1985 FORD RS OWNERS CLUB MK1 GOLF OWNERS CLUB OPEL MANTA OWNERS CLUB UK TRIUMPH SPORTS SIX CLUB MINI COOPER REGISTER OUTSTANDING WEBSITE OF THE YEAR: AUSTIN 7 CLUBS ASSOCIATION CRASH BOX & CLASSIC CAR CLUB OF DEVON JOWETT CAR CLUB MK1 GOLF OWNERS CLUB TR REGISTER VOLVO OWNERS CLUB OUTSTANDING CAR CLUB EVENT (RUN OR RALLY), SPONSORED BY CLASSIC CAR WEEKLY: ASTON MARTIN OWNERS CLUB AUSTIN A30/A35 OWNERS CLUB BMW CAR CLUB CLUB TRIUMPH JENSEN OWNERS CLUB MG CAR CLUB FORD RS OWNERS CLUB MORRIS MINOR OWNERS CLUB MX-5 OWNERS CLUB ROVER SPORTS REGISTER THE ROVER P6 CLUB TR DRIVERS CLUB OUTSTANDING SUPPORT OF NEXT GENERATION, SPONSORED BY FBHVC: AUSTIN A30/A35 OWNERS CLUB MG CAR CLUB MORRIS MINOR OWNERS CLUB YOUNG MEMBERS REGISTER THE IMP CLUB DEVOTED MEMBERS CATEGORIES: NATIONAL CAR CLUB UNSUNG HERO, SPONSORED BY FOOTMAN JAMES: STEVE CONRY - AVENGER & SUNBEAM OWNERS CLUB DAVID YEOMANS – GORDONKEEBLE OWNERS CLUB TOM MORLEY – METRO OWNERS CLUB GARY LAZARUS – MIDGET AND SPRITE CLUB PAT AND BARBARA FARMER – MORRIS REGISTER NICHOLAS WALTON – RILEY MOTOR CLUB PAULINE BLAKE – SUNBEAM TALBOT ALPINE REGISTER PETER MOORE – TAMESIDE CAR COLLECTORS CLUB BARRY PRIESTMAN - THE CRAYFORD CONVERTIBLE CAR CLUB BRIAN HUMPHREYS – THE ROVER P6 CLUB NATIONAL CAR CLUB AMBASSADOR OF THE YEAR: GAVIN BUSHBY – FIAT MOTOR CLUB (GB) GRAHAM ORCHARD – FORD CORTINA MKII OWNERS CLUB ALAN MOSS – LOTUSEXCEL.NET AND SPORTING BEARS MOTOR CLUB WAYNE SCOTT - TR REGISTER NATIONAL CAR CLUB LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT, SPONSORED BY TOURISM IRELAND SHORTLIST TO BE ANNOUNCED 15TH MARCH WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED ON THE EVENING OF THE AWARDS: BEST STAND AND CAR DISPLAY (UNDER 75sqm) BEST STAND AND CAR DISPLAY (OVER 75sqm) BEST RESTORED CAR BEST CAR IN SHOW BEST LIVE WORKING ON CARS AT SHOW NATIONAL CAR CLUB WINNERS AWARD, SPONSORED BY LANCASTER INSURANCE JUDGES SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD by Paul Sweeney and Gar Cole We announced recently that we have acquired our first group sponsors, but were not able to reveal their identity at that time. We can now reveal that it's Carole Nash Insurance Consultants Ltd of Cheshire. In return for granting Carole Nash exclusive status as the group's sole insurance sponsor and permission to display their logo on group event artwork, the benefits to the group are:
We would like to extend our thanks to group member Peter McIlvenny of Carole Nash for helping to make this happen. Peter says, "We are delighted to sponsor such a vibrant and proactive group. Our policies are designed for true classics and I am sure the members will benefit from our policies that include free agreed value and UK & European Breakdown cover, as well as a friendly professional service all at a competitive premium". by Paul Sweeney A problem with Facebook is that, unless you happen to be online when something is posted, it moves down the page into oblivion pretty quickly and you can easily miss stuff you would have liked to know about. Sometimes we share news of general interest to members and only a proportion of you ever sees it. So this page will contain news updates from the Admin team and Gar Cole, the Group Events Co-ordinator. By checking back here occasionally you can make sure you never miss anything we think might be important to you. Everything published here will also be posted in the usual way in the Facebook group. |
EditorsPaul Sweeney |