The BritishV8 Pub

If I am reading this correctly, then I agree. So tell me if I am wrong:

The British V8 Meets should be separate from multi-day other clubs national or local gatherings but can be placed back-to-back with other events. Yes?

-BMC.

BMC Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If I am reading this correctly, then I agree. So
> tell me if I am wrong:
>
> The British V8 Meets should be separate from
> multi-day other clubs national or local gatherings
> but can be placed back-to-back with other events.
> Yes?
>
> -BMC.


Yes.

kstevusa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FWIW Seems we agree on the unique nature and
> diversity of our group. Now we really need to
> attract some younger people to keep the group
> growing & going. Many of us are "Old Hot
> Rodders" and have been around the block several
> times. Without new people and fresh ideas, we
> will become stagnant and not grow our membership.
> How do you guys and girls suggest we position
> ourselves to attract quality new members or
> devotees? We really need to get some young
> "Blood" within our ranks. Never mind the
> "Grim Reaper," he all ways collects his share.


Wow, re-reading this helps me further. My plan was to post three separate posts on this basic subject.

If the group would like to bring the event to MN in '11 or '12, Jeff and I were looking into growing this locally, having more people accept this type of event and people who are converting their cars by having One event that will allow the local British car clubs or local street cars in for half day. This would be something like an autocross/drag race to allow us to strut our stuff while making that portion of the event large enough to get something close to a full track day- with the general public assisting in the costs whereas we get the benefits of the track for more hours than anyone else with those drags at the end or whatever. This cuts our cost down lots, opens us up for a short time to the public to have access to our rides and gives us more acceptance on a national level at a national event.

Most multi-day exclusive events (lets admit we are being exclusive here) are usually open to the public for a car show with free attendance. In this case, I am suggesting a track or autocross course could be opened to paying and non-paying. Run with us ($) or come in and accept us and maybe even pick up members along the way.



Finally, for this posting: For the britishv8.org to thrive, it needs to continue to expand to a more broad base. This has to be done in one of a few ways:
1-Add more types of cars such as LS1 powered Porsches and German, French, Italian, Ukrainian and Japanese cars

2-Start promoting more exotic factory cars.

3-Broaden the acceptance within the British Automotive Enthusiast Community.

Choices #1 & 2 I believe are mistakes as we would be buried in cars that most of us may like but don't have as much interest in.

Number three would be something that most of the current sponsors would be interested in, and I believe most of the individuals who are regular postings as well. :)

PLEASE: Correct me or redirect me if I am wrong. I have a grow or die attitude in this case which is not always accepted.

-BMC.

I am with Pete and Bill on this one, but that number of acceptance has grown.

My name is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I love the Dr. Jekyll crowd and they are almost never the same as us- the Hyde group. I am a portion of both. I have my very original cars and my conversions.

What is sometimes considered the tweed hat crowd- completely original do not accept us but the cold shoulder I got years ago when i even considered placing a 1275 engine in a Bugeye has now gone. Look at Moss for goodness sakes, they realized that the crowd has changed: Moss sells superchargers, AC units, Cup holders, cruise control, race parts to a limited degree and even chrome plated wire wheels.

People, including myself have moved more away from complete originality because our daily drivers are so much nicer that our LBCs are just not as comfortable (Did I actually even think this- I must not be very tough anymore!)

My thought is that the acceptance level is still extremely low but getting better. Finally, I think all of us have come to more of acceptance level (or at least I have as well as a few others) of different cars.

Hey, even though Triumphs are only half as good, I am starting to like them. (Just Joking!)

Time will change all.

-BMC.

Over the last 10 years, I would say that this hobby & business has grown much more than people realize.

The British V8 Meets for example, seem to have grown by at least 10% each year.
That growth is huge! Especially for cars that were built at least 28 years ago or much more.

Curtis has done an awesome job on this website, with amazing content.
This has helped enormously to the hobby & growth.

With MG kits available for Rover V8, GM V6 and soon for the Ford 302 install, many LBC’s & owners are just waiting for more power & reliability.

We have a proven recipe that will keep growing for many years to come & we need to be careful not to spoil the mix, but keep it fresh too!

Cheers

Pete

Scheduling and locating the British V8 annual meet to be in the general area and time frame of a national event for some Marque isn't a bad idea. Some of our members would benefit from the reduced travel as they would normally attend both events and certaily those members who are also in business would benefit by the additional exposure, but we need to keep our event completely seperate from the others. We can probably do more to promote interest in our hobby by attending other events as individules and wearing appropriate attire such as British V8 or Roadmaster T shirts which might be conversation starters (and conversion starters as well). I'm a new kid on the block as far as the British V8 group goes, but I recognize the uniqueness of they group and don't want to see that lost. I've attended a lot of different meets over the years, both in British cars and Street Rods and nothing starts to compare with the fun experience I had in Wisconsin this year. I want to come back again and bring the Midget. I probably wouldn't consider driving the Midget to a national MG event, but I would to the British V8 meet, and I hope I can make the trip to North Carolina next year.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2008 12:47PM by V6 Midget.

A lowly Triumph was the inspiration for one of the more radical MGB conversions here, that being Jim's Blown V8 with the big wing on the back. He was used to smoking all the B's around with his freshly rebuilt 4 banger, until we got my TR4A running. When he struggled to keep up getting on the interstate, the solution was American V8 power!
This leads me to conclude, Brian, that it is not the stock Triumphs that are half as good..; )

Jim's car always has a crowd around it at any regular British Car Day, but never gets voted in as a crowd favorite.... go figure.

Dan B Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jim's car always has a crowd around it at any
> regular British Car Day, but never gets voted in
> as a crowd favorite.... go figure.


No need to figure...the purist's do not appreciate nor understand the effort and dollars that go into any conversion.

If it "ain't like it left the factory it shouldn't be recognized" mentality dominates popular vote LBC gatherings.

Yet a stock Ford Model A is only worth about 20 percent of a Hot Rod A.....

That's true --- now what do we need to do to make the same happen w/hot rodded LBC's?

We're just getting started, wait until some cars like Terry's or Dan's start hitting the market and you'll see some price setting take place which will drag the rest of them up a bit. Right now there really haven't been enough high end cars hit the market to establish a price or "wish list" like there have been hot rodded model A's
Get some British V8s featured in a film like American Graffitti and they'll really take off. I saw the street rod market take a pretty good step right after that movie came out. It's all about establishing a base price reference and getting the demand up.

We have all felt the frustration of the purists resentment to modified british cars....10 years ago it used to really PO me...today I do not care...and I think this line of thinking stems from the fact that our group IS the one gathering momentum...in 2006 I posted on our local groups board (MGCC SWOhio) about our v8 meet being held in conjunction with the national meet in Townsend...I got one lousy response (weak) from a club with over 100 memebers...but guess what, this year one of our MGCCSWO members (a TC owner with a hubris :-) attitude) converted his mgb to V6 power...HOLY SMOKE!!! And to top it off, I got first in the mgb/mgc Gt class with my sebring V8 car at our annual meet Saturday...now that is progress from the attitudes several years back...I don't care about the award...but gaining the respect of the show and shine crowd shows that there is some gradual progress towards understanding the V8/V6 hobby...
just my opinion....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2008 07:37PM by RMO 699F.

Quote:

And to top it off, I got first in the mgb/mgc Gt class with my sebring V8 car

Well deserved, no doubt!!!

Photos of that handsome automobile - 17 new snapshots from British V8 2008
(I'm STILL waiting on the "How It Was Done" write-up, Mike!)

Mike, your car looks great... not sure what you did to be able to delete the scoop on the hood, but I like it way better the way it is now. What else did you change on it?

Thanks Rob...that former hood with the extra clearance scoop always bugged me too...a little too much boy racer for me...but it was required because of the way the 4.3 90* V6 sat up so high (never did the logical surgery on the front crossmember) The reason why I now have a normal "C" hood is that last year the V6 came out and a 3.9L rover V8 was installed...I had an original aluminum "C" hood that I purchased from Tony Giordano in Carlisle about 10 years ago...so it was repaired and installed...
Cheers
mike

(This is in reply to Kelly's previous post on page 1) I don't know if it's a local phenomena or not, but here in the KC area we have several "cruises" hosted by different businesses or towns throughout the summer months. Most of the cars attending are street rods or muscle cars, but I'm sure our cars would be more than welcome. I attended one cruise and was warmly received and a lot of questions were asked by some younger people. As the cost of a muscle car or street rod project body goes up getting into a British V8 becomes pretty cost effective for the younger person and might be more attractive to them. If there are such cruises in your area try to attend one and get some reaction. If we all managed to attend at least one a year it would really get the message out pretty well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2008 12:25PM by V6 Midget.

Getting more youngsters into the group is a really good idea and we can't rely just on kids and grandkids. Maybe something like arranging to take the some of the cars to a local school for a display to the Jr/Sr high kids. All they see are the new cars, most have never even heard of our LBC's, and maybe one in a million has any idea they can be such a potent package. I say, let's see if we can get a regular tour of classroom visits going. Do they still teach autobody classes? That might be a good place to start, though we'd probably reach more of them at the regular schools.

Jim

We have a "Cruise-in" here at the local shopping center every Friday night, with 200-300 cars in attendance. I took my GT a couple of weeks ago and got a real good response. Even the youngsters were impressed. I'm going again tonight.

Jon (LS1 Porsche 924) told me that he met up with the minnesota sports compact group meeting/drive a few nights ago. There are probably a few of these in every State. I guess they are quite friendly and accept his Chevy powered German car. That may be a decent crowd to show your cars off too since they don't mind running the non-main stream, or at least less main stream stuff.

-BMC.

How about an east and west meet? I'm thinking it might help improve attendance, as it would allow those who have limited vacation time (read younger workers) to go. They could pick the closest event, and maybe use just a week's vacation for the whole trip. Would be cheaper too, which also helps attract more people.
Maybe have one event in early summer, the other one in the late summer. To spread them out for those who can do both!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2008 02:52AM by MG four six eight.