Start your own section. It is not all that difficult. In the LA
area, there are many sections with different interests. I don't know
about now, but San Gabriel section used to have a lot of members who
owned old and dirty wrenches and knew how to use them.
We could even start the first MBCA VIRTUAL section. Sort of like the
Gull Wing Group used to be within MBCA.
IF MBCA won't cooperate, we can form a new nationwide/international
group. We could even borrow Alex Gabard and turn it into a virtual
International club. (and borrow his name, Mercedes Veterans) We
could get Hendrik and John Green from down under. John is a
veritable walking encyclopedia.
In going through his Facebook page he appears to be heavily vested
in the W124 and earlier stuff. That's great, especially if there
are enough owners out there for him to make a living doing it. As I
mentioned previously, it also looks like he does a fair amount of
NOS and used part buying, too. He had a couple of posts where he
had purchased large numbers of parts and was selling them.
Sounds like Jaime experienced a lot of what I did some years back
when I got together with Scott Suits and tried to get at least an
occasional car enthusiast event in the calendar with the local
section. Scott was all for it, but the locals wanted nothing to do
with it. All they were interested in was social events, really
little to do with the cars themselves.
What really sucked here, and I don't know what Jaime's situation is
like, is that the local section really covers a large area, pretty
much all of west central Florida from Sarasota up to maybe Crystal
River and east to Lakeland. There are two dealers in the immediate
area, Crown in Clearwater and MB of Tampa in Tampa. A dealer in
Lakeland and Sarasota are on the fringes, but technically in the
area, I believe.
When I talked to the folks at Crown they knew about the section but
had little interaction with them. For that matter, it was tough
just to find someone at Crown who was even interested in talking
about the club. I wasn't that interested in Crown myself, as they
are about an hour away.
I went to MB of Tampa, where I do business, and quickly found the
person who did their promotions and advertising. Within 10 minutes
we were in his office talking with both the parts and service
managers about possible tech events. They were very interested and
seemed a little confused as to why they never heard anything from
the local section.
I spoke to the advertising person at the dealer in Lakeland over the
phone, and they were interested too.
I already described the response I got when I brought up the
possibility of having an occasional meeting and/or tech event in
Tampa. They pretty much told me that was a nice idea and moved along
to something else. I knew at the point I was wasting my time.
What's really sad is that the local section (and this is historical,
as I don't know what's going on now) seemed to be a social club for
the elder and elite. All they seemed to be interested in was
getting together at a restaurant, maybe after a drive, and having
lunch or dinner. No shows, no tech events, no autocrosses, nada. I
know that Scott was successful in getting a few things going in the
past couple of years, as that was when he contacted me about
rejoining. I think he got something set up at a local airport used
for closed track events a while back, maybe an autocross, I don't
recall.
Worse yet, there is a huge area for the section to draw from, and
lots of potential members. By limiting the meetings and events to
Pinellas County, where most of them live, they effectively cut off a
large segment of potential members, even possible casual ones.
I've devoted too much time to this already, but it brings up a lot
of memories of trying to find some locals to get involved with over
a common interest. It was pretty frustrating at the time, and still
is to some extent, knowing the potential that's out there for some
fun with other MB owners.
It would be nice to have a really active section like GWS or some of
the sections out west.
Dan
On Dec 6, 2014, at 10:25 AM, Jaime Kopchinski <jaime...@gmail.com> wrote:
I agree about Pierre, I've met him several times and was impressed
by his knowledge and enthusiasm for old cars. I think he actually
tracked me down the first time we met, knowing I was the guy with
that 240D website so many years ago. The MBCA needs more guys like
him.
I made a strong effort this spring to get involved with the local
MBCA section, specifically during the June Jamboree. I spoke to
the section president and national president, and former national
president about ideas to get more younger people in the club and
bring the car back into the picture. Some were very enthusiastic
about the ideas... I was asked to join the local section as a board
member. I followed up with an email with several ideas, and I
volunteered to take over social media for the section, which is
sorely lacking. Nothing became of it. I received a reply that
they were already working on my ideas. Meanwhile, the entire 2014
car season has disappeared and I don't see any changes.
I have a garage full of old Mercedes I'm constantly working on and
improving. I work for Mercedes Benz in research and development of
new products, and have an intimate knowledge of their products for
the last 60 or so years. Its safe to say these cars define much of
my life professionally and personally. It would seem logical that
I should find a group of people with similar interests to share
this passion, which why it seems like a logical that I get involved
with the club.
I'd still love to do it... maybe in 2015. There is potential
there. I know many people involved in these cars in this area who
are not involved in the club because they'd rather goto a car show
and kick tires than visit a museum and go out to eat.
Jaime
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