<VV> local Teachers won't help?

[henry kaczmarek]

Ah,
Now perhaps we can get past the Moral Indignation of the day, and attack a 
real problem.
Ed sez:
Unfortunately in my neck of the woods there is no one or darn near no one 
who'll take
> the time to do this. Our local club has many members who are more then
> qualified to "teach" the basics but just don't ask, it's to far below them 
> to show
> you.

Here's a guy who needs to learn the basics, doesn't mind getting his hands 
dirty, just hasn't ever done it with this kind of car before, and apparently 
joined CORSA and a local club to meet with like-minded people, and get the 
knowledge and mentoring assistance that he requires.

Ed, I don't know what club you belong to, but shame on THEM. The chapter you 
belong to, according to what your're telling us, doesn't seem to be 
interested in aquiring and retaining new members. This can happen in 
chapters, you may get some mail from other folks in similar situations.

 I've belonged to 5 different chapters, and no one group is like the other. 
Sure, the central thing is the cars, but each was different. Some embrace 
every new menmber, and do their best to make them feel at home, and get them 
the help they need. Other chapters, well, let's be kind and say, uh, they 
don't. Some of these groups have had basically the same membership since the 
late 70's, and though they "think, and feel" that they are a very open 
group, they don't see themselves from the outside.

Bill Hubbell or Smitty might be able to tell you about the mentoring program 
that was started in the Tidewater Corvair Club. It was too late for me to 
take advantage of it, but in some part it was my case, and others in the 
club that brought the program about. Out on the Great Plains, Terry Kalp and 
Ned Madsen can tell you about the tech sessions they have. I know I wish 
they were closer so I could go to one. They sure seem to have a ball working 
on each other's cars out there.

You know, if you can do all your own work on your lonesome, and that's what 
you like to do, good-o!  But for the majority of folks that can't, there are 
chapters out there showing the way. Owners have to get their hands dirty 
also in the process, but this kind of thing is what makes the learning fun. 
Perhaps if you can get the details from these people, you can present it to 
your club. If this embarasses some of them, then they deserve to be 
embarassed.

In case you missed it, I noticed that in the 15 years I have attended the 
Charlotte Autofair, the number of Model T's at the show has declined to the 
point where there are only 2-3 where there used to be 25.  Reason?? I asked, 
and one of the guys said:
"the people who were into this car are getting too old to drive, or they've 
died."

We now have in our little corner of the car world, original owners of 
Corvairs in their 90's (Tony Fiore for one), their 80's, and 70's and 60's. 
Go to a show and the bulk of the people you see qualify for AARP.  This 
problem will attack us sooner than we will like. Many of our owners will 
begin to slow physically, eyesight starts to keep you from driving,  next 
thing you know, what happens to our cars??

Every Chapter should be doing all it can to bring new members into the fold, 
make them feel like one of the group. Assigning a mentor to a new member is 
a great step forward in that direction. Making a good showing at events 
helps too.

Hope this was grown up enough for someone out there.

And, a Bonus!!!
Officer Donut safety tip:
If you get pulled over by a police officer, even if you're in the right, try 
to act like a grown-up. It just might keep you from getting a ticket, or a 
trip to the pokey.
Or, in one particular case, just practice what you preach.

Nitey Night

HANK