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Index - Active Threads - Start New Thread 2008-01-17 22:03:41 Challenge participation Ken Bell Nation s Capital Jaguar Owners Club * forum user since 2005-10-04   My first reaction when I read Mr. Cook’s comments was annoyance, mainly at the hectoring, childish tone. After all, we’re all adults here and if we want to be abused we can always take a plane flight somewhere. A club ought to be fun and it’s not fun to read snarky stuff directed at the membership. But then, it bugged me enough that here I am writing so it must have struck some kind of chord. Suggestions I’ve read in the thread seem very reasonable but it seems to me that what’s at work here is something very fundamental and no amount of editorial browbeating is going to reverse the flow. I belong to the BMW and Ferrari clubs, too, so I get a little bit of perspective from the pubs and the (admittedly) thin mix of events that we’re able to attend as a family. Basically, I think the Jag club’s challenge boils down to two closely linked things -- demographics (i.e, age and money) and product line, some of which we can reasonably influence, some we probably can’t. As comparison, the BMWCCA seems to be hugely vibrant – lots of people, lots of activities. The key seems to me to be that the marque has a long and consistent history of exciting products that attract and keep a range of enthusiasts from entry level (that is, inexpensive, both new and used) to upper end. New buyers across the economic spectrum have a way in, also across a wide spectrum of products, many of which are attractive, agile and dependable. The company races and it bakes performance into its products consistently, year after year. The on-line forums are wide ranging and events are varied from formal competitions to end-of-workday happy hour gatherings. Above all, the club offers a friendly environment for family participation. The FCA strikes me a similarly vibrant but with a performance-oriented edge stronger even than the BMW club. That makes sense given the consistent heritage of the marque up to the modern day – witness F1 over the past decade, in particular. The product line is clearly high end but if you’ll settle for something less than a V-12, there is a lot of used entry-level product that will get you on the road. There are fewer people involved and they generally seem to be older on average with fewer younger children around. The events are somewhat rarified relative to the BMWCCA but it seems like a friendly and enthusiastic group on the whole. Frankly, the Jag club comes in a trailing third, in my ranking anyway. The product line since the XJS lacked excitement until the new XK appeared. But even then there’s been no entry-level spark to go along with that high end. The dedicated effort at Le Mans paid off well and Ford’s attempt to get back into F1 under the Jaguar name was great while it lasted but there really wasn’t the same dedication to that – and in retrospect nobody should be surprised at the lack of serious commitment. On the entry-level side of things, the X-type wasn’t even close in terms of excitement. The new performance headliner simply looks bland compared to the predecessor sporting machinery – one man’s opinion, of course -- but even if you like them all, where’s the young blood going to come from? Second and third owners of recent Xs, Ss and Js? I doubt it. There’s just too much other great sporting stuff out there to get people excited. A good example – a friend of mine at work with the money to spend on most any car project he’d want to bought a TR-6 to do. More to the point, somewhere in there the “Jaguar” that I grew up with and love – and you probably did too -- became little more than a “brand” in the ad-speak of today – a variant of a Ford, soon to be a “Ta-ta”, little more than a pawn in a third-world manufacturer’s bid for global status and market share. This challenge gets played out when the DC chapter of the BMW club has its traditional joint concours in the spring with the Porsche and Mercedes clubs. The Porsche club runs hot for performance across a wide spectrum of new and old vehicles, the Mercedes club runs hot for straw hats and excruciatingly painstaking concours inspections of a lesser number of aging cars. Even as a successful volume manufacturer, you don’t see many newer ones. The BMW club comes across as social, familial and encouraging about impressively clean performance machinery (new and old) but it’s not very anal about documentable originality or bottom side cleanliness. The Porsche and BMW clubs have a big turnout, the Mercedes club has a much smaller group that seems more inwardly focused and ascetic. Frankly, the Jag club strikes me as the same sort of culture, by and large. I’m not trying to say that any of my relative observations about one club makes one somehow better or worse than another. It’s simply that the demographics of what has basically become an old car club (product line) are the driving forces that are going to make it harder and harder to grow – if that’s what we really want. There’s just not much we can do directly about the product part of it but maybe we can do something, over time, if it’s important enough, to broaden the demographic of the club. If we want more people at events, I think we have to make sure that we consistently honor the “soul” of the club -- the “sporting tradition” of the cars in a way that’s eclectic, friendly and inclusive. There are lots of options these days about how one spends one’s time and car people are no different. If the objective is to increase participation, we should be less esoteric and more inclusive and everything we do should be designed to bring people in or showcase the club in the presence of more car people. Otherwise, they ain’t makin’ ‘em like they used to so maybe we just have to be reconciled to a core of participants and make that as much fun as it can be. Ken 1971 S3 2+2 1969 S2 OTS 2008-01-21 13:36:15 Challenge participation Dan Lokun Jaguar Affiliates Group of Michigan * forum user since 2005-06-22   "Frankly, the Jag club comes in a trailing third, in my ranking anyway. The product line since the XJS ..." Why would you rate your Jag Club/JCNA third because you do not like the current Jag models? That may be valid marque critique (it's matter of personal taste) but surely this is not a club/JCNA issue. The best solution to club deficiencies is renewed/increased participation towards solutions. You get out your club/JCNA (and your car or cars) what you put in - there's no free lunch. Hats off to any and all car club volunteers everywhere (even Tata collectors) who work behind the scenes and make events happen as if by magic for the rest of us participants. Volunteerism is scarce and underappreciated when it should nutured. P.S. - - - - I suggest that there be an AGM convened in Las Vegas so we can lighten up already. Regards, Dan Lokun Toronto Canada 90 XJ-S, etc. 2008-02-25 08:39:04 Challenge participation Patrick McLoad Jaguar Club of Houston * forum user since 2005-06-27   Ken: Simply put, there are car owners who choose to participate in their respective club activities, and those that don't REGARDLESS of how family friendly the club events are, period. You could have an event nestled in-between a theme park and a race track, with a big free buffet in-between and still people wouldn't come. Add logistical obstacles (distance) and you are now talking about a very small percentage of Jaguar car owners who participate on a local, much less national level. (We've beat this horse to death on a previous post). What type of Jaguar model has little to do with it actually. There have been clunkers from all car manufacturers (with exception to Ferrari). Very few USA folks follow F1.....naturally, you do since you own a Ferrari. Jaguar's lack of F1 participation is not the problem. I would remind you that Porsche has little to do with F1, but they still manage to sell a lot of cars in the US, and as far as I know, have active local clubs. I agree with Dan....a car club gets what they put into an event. Hold a great event with lots of cars and family fun and no one remembers;....but hold a crappy, boring, and uncomfortable event and no one forgets! Cheers to the volunteers that work behind the scenes! Patrick Patrick McLoad Jaguar Club of Houston (Previous Owner of) 1966 RHD OTS E-Type 2002&2009 N. Champ 2008-02-25 19:51:44 Challenge participation Dan Lokun Jaguar Affiliates Group of Michigan * forum user since 2005-06-22   If you aren't into to club events - no biggie ... BUT if you are into club events but not satisfied then you have to help fix your issues ... Myself, I am just not into German cars - not my style .... wait, I do like the Weismann and the Yes! (car maker's "!" not mine). Regards D Lokun XJ-S, etc. 2008-02-25 19:54:39 Challenge participation Dan Lokun Jaguar Affiliates Group of Michigan * forum user since 2005-06-22   If you aren't into to club events - no biggie ... BUT if you are into club events but not satisfied then you have to help fix your issues ... Myself, I am just not into German cars - not my style .... wait, I do like the Weismann and the Yes! (car maker's "!" not mine). Regards D Lokun XJ-S, etc. 2008-02-27 09:58:23 Challenge participation Patrick McLoad Jaguar Club of Houston * forum user since 2005-06-27   Ken, please read this thread (just two below yours!): http://www.jcna.com/forums/view.php?Vref=JCNA&Vfnum=010&Vthread=4079 Patrick Patrick McLoad Jaguar Club of Houston (Previous Owner of) 1966 RHD OTS E-Type 2002&2009 N. Champ