It has come to my attention that the Buick community, specifically club membership and event attendence, is approaching a fragile state at this time. Many Buick owners seem to be reluctant to keep current with their club dues and participate with their regions clubs and events. If you own a Buick and belong to a club they need your financial support not only when you initially join but an ongoing monitary contribution. I think in this day and age it is not asking to much to contribute your $25-$35 annually to help keep your club alive. We all understand that family and economic conditions effect how we live our lives and spend our time and money, but something has happened. Many regional clubs have closed their doors and the Buick events that are left are not getting the gate attendence they once enjoyed. Event costs are going up and attendence is going down. If we lose interest in our clubs or events, who will be interested when it's time to sell these cars down the road. No one will and the car you thought you could cash in on in your later years will be less desirable and bring less money. We must continue to fly the Buick flag or it will die. If you own a Buick.....support all things Buick.....or sell the damn thing and buy a foreign car. Please open a discussion here, so we may turn this situation around before it becomes worse. One way or another, it will effect us all down the road !!!
If that's the case, maybe I should get back into Corvettes and sell my Buicks while they're worth something. Seems to be some strong clubs and events over there.
I agree Moon (with your first post, not the second one). With the murmurs of the GS Nat's possibly coming to a close after this year, and, although I'm optimistic about the new BPG/race day combined format being a good event, I also have my concerns there given attendance the past few years. I know its tough for some folks to get time off or a long drive for others, but I can't stress how much fun I have at these events. I guess it comes down to the fact with less people "buick exclusive" we have a smaller pool of participants to start with.
Here in Western Washington, not aware of any localized organized BUICK clubs any more. Any potential "BUICK" gathering is a BOP venture. Recently those events have fallen off to extinction. The only organized gathering is annual Puyallup event which hits usually on Fathers Day weekend which rains, no race track, and is a BCA event. The Rain has an impact on attendance. Sad state of affairs. More power to the Mid West and East Coast boys who dedicate a lot of time to keep clubs together. Cheers! MarkO
I think smaller clubs have fallen to the power of the internet. In the early 90s, (I was born in '94) it seemed that the GSXtra was the premier source of all news Buick, including the best go fast recipes etc. Now, I can start a thread "what's the best 500hp combo for my application" and have numerous results in hours. I think the readily available information provided at an instant has rendered clubs useless. It may be beneficial to the loyal members that have been in the club for 20 years, but it provides no incentive to attract new members. In my opinion, my v8buick donation is worth far more than a club membership. Now... with all that being said, now is a good time for me to go join the BPG.
Life has many challenges, I was involved with the BPG from its start. I am a supporter of the new event. I think this is a win, win situation for all. less attendance has been a problem. for me I have sold all my cars and have no Buicks at this time. will be looking for new cars at some point, I found a girl with two young boys who take most of my time, and strength! hope to see good friends at Norwalk!!
:gp: There is nothing Buick specific in my area. Once a yr the ROA has a regional event that I'll go to and this year it got canceled due to lack of interest. Im a dues paying member of all the clubs even though I'll never be able to attend one of the events due to distance and time of year. I get the most bang for my buck with my donation to V8 Buick. Been to BG twice. Plan on going again this yr. hope its not the last.
Clubs live and die based on the people who run them. You need dedicated people who will step up and run the club, do the news letter, write the articles for the newsletter. Volunteer to do the car show. Set up and clean up for meetings. Work with vendors to get financial support, call hotels to set up group rates. Call the tracks to negotiate track days, man the gates and collect entrance fees, Run the club finances, deal with the upset attendee who is pissed about something. Set up the meeting saying you need commitment on who will attend so you can have food or seating only to have a bunch show that never said they were coming, and on and on. Seen our club set up and cook food for a low price at events. Amazes me how many are there with their $5 or $10 bucks for all the food they can eat, but never raise a hand to help, leaving all the work to the few Been there, watched those that loved the club, showed up for the meetings, but NEVER raised a hand to help set up, clean up, write and article, put the news letter together work at the events, come up with ideas that could make some $ for the club. How many of you can put up your hand and say I have done that on a continuing basis. Probably not a lot. You want a strong Buick community. GET INVOLVED. Don't depend on someone else to do it. OK, I'm off my soapbox.
Fred........ Here Here you are right on track and I have nothing but Praise for all who do. Thanks for your comment!!! :TU::TU:
:gp: This is so true of all volunteer based clubs, not just Buick. This is a sign of the times. I'm the president of one of the largest coin clubs in Canada, and the amount of work that we have to do to keep the club going and the membership entertained is phenomenal. We've seen many other groups wither and die because of exactly what is said above. It never ceases to amaze me that it's the younger guys who are the most active, with most of the retired guys saying that they either have no time, or my favorite, "It's a younger man's game". It takes a lot to incentivize the membership to volunteer to do things. We put on 2 large coin trade shows (the biggest in Canada) and we get more guys for set-up than most other coin clubs get in a meeting. All our members who volunteer are very well rewarded, we give them swag, bullion, food, and a shot at a gold Sovereign every year. So yes, it's about the people who run things, and the executive's ability to get the right people in place to do the work. As for Buicks; - well, there are really only two of us in the Edmonton area that seem to be pro-Buick supporters. There is no point at starting a chapter up here. There are some local clubs, but they're down to the point of being informal gatherings at restaurant parking lots and not full-fledged clubs anymore. Those are disappearing fast, the population is aging and the younger people have no desire to fix up old cars. A few people who were active in the local scene have pretty much all sold their cars and are in adult condos or assisted living homes now, and there was no one to fill them. There were other issues too; the group that was doing things were very "clique-y" and wanted nothing to do with guys starting out or who had cars they felt weren't worthy of their attention. That's about where I ended up with my Buicks with that lot. Car shows around here are organized by dealerships or charities, I don't think one club runs one anymore.
In the new Hemmings Muscle Machines, one of the contributing writers on the inside of the back cover has a short blurb about "the state of the hobby". He talks about this same problem happening everywhere, it's not just the Buick community. Older car guys are dying off, interest in general is waning,etc. I'm going on 45 with a 10 and 13 yr old, and I am only three and a half years into a new job/career after the economic meltdown of 2009, and I haven't been on the new job long enough to have any serious vacation time, so I have to pick and choose my few days a year off very carefully, and family vacation comes first, and unfortunately the car related events have to take a back seat. Money is still also a little thin after suffering the loss of a 20 year job/career, 9 months of unenjoyment, 2 1/2 years of under-employment, and now just getting my head back above water financially to where I can spend a few bucks here and there on the old cars without taking food off the table. So....for me personally, I don't have the time and money to throw around to go to/support club events. Grateful to the people who do have the time,energy,and money. FWIW, I am a member of a local support group in my hometown, and we deal with the same problems on a much smaller scale. We only have a small handful of people covering multiple positions to cater to thousands of people in the surrounding community. It's like trying to play a baseball game against a professional ball team with only a couple people trying to cover several positions. It does get frustrating, so I feel your pain.
We have a car group here with a Facebook page, and we meet once a month at sonic. The problem I have here is that half the time the Facebook page is spammed with stupid Internet meme pictures that the Mustang vs Camaro guys flame each other with. At the meets, the old timers all have old 30s/40s cars and they only sit and talk in a group. The rest of the folks have their little cliques. Then you have the guys who think their "race" car is what makes them cool (you know, the guys who yell at each other on yellowbullet.com, who just dropped 2k on a new nitrous setup instead of paying their child support), so they just talk crap to people or about how awesome they are, and then there a FEW who actually socialize. Most of them look at my car like there is a giant phallic object on the front because they either have no idea what it is, or think I screwed up my gto restoration. There are 2 people there, yes TWO who have ever actually had some decent conversation with me (which means we talked about something else besides THEIR 'special' car). Fact is, you guys are the greatest club left I think. We have an instant venue to communicate to folks all over, who want to talk buicks. Not to mention, I have NEVER seen ANY message board that is as helpful, polite, and on topic as v8buick.com (and I have been on a lot of boards, trust me this place is the gold standard!).
I have tried to support a few clubs motorcycle, truck, car including a Buick one before but they just seem to want your money and then go away please. They have their own inner circles of friends or old members that decides who is cool enough or their car or cars are cool enough to matter or fit in. Like going into a new bar, sure the owners want you to be welcome and buy drinks. But the people who hang out there all the time often decide who fits in or not. Its like being in HS again walking into the lunchroom as the new kid in school. Mostly like they take your money and make you sit at the nerd table
Thanks for the reminder:bglasses: Time to send Jim a little:dollar: As far as clubs I don't have any close to Me And for me to go to the big meets involves a passport and a lot of cash:shock:
Great post! The key here is "instant venue." You can't get this with traditional clubs. You guys are claiming that clubs are going away, I would say clubs are evolving. In today's consumer society, everyone wants what they want immediately. The traditional Buick clubs haven't evolved. I have never been to BPG or BG. I am willing to bet both events are the closest thing to Buick paradise. Hopefully, I will get there next year. For now, Buick heaven is v8buick for me.
Who is this clown to tell us that if we don't join a Buick club we should sell our cars? Who the hell does he think he is?
CLOWN HERE !!! Only a suggestion a**hat !!! BTW, how many BUICK clubs do you belong to ? I'll bet your Buick is Chevy powered !!!
