New forum members

[Amy]

Generally people interested in old cars are just that, interested in old cars and computers are of little interest.

Is that actually the case though? It may well be true of existing Jowett Car Club members, but that may simply reflect that it is something of an aging population.

I have recently joined a forum that is populated almost entirely by under-25s, all of whom have a wealth of knowledge of classics, most of whom have at least one classic - and through necessity (being young, time-rich and cash-poor) do the work themselves. They are massively enthusiastic - not to mention knowledgeable - and when I posted an intro of myself there was immediately a lot of interesting in my Jupiter as it's a rare car. They are all very computer-savvy, and I suspect a lot of their knowledge has come - in one form or another - from the internet.

Jack and I are similar, we find an awful lot of information on the internet and it is a tremendously valuable resource. I have recently become the owner of a Mazda MX5 and am now using their internet forum frequently as there is a massive amount of technical information on there, including Haynes-style pictorial guides on how to do common (and not-so-common) jobs to the car; these are made available to club members, and I can download them and print them out, which is exactly what I plan to do as and when I need to do the various jobs. Then there is the knowledge held by members themselves.

So I'm afraid I disagree Alastair, being interested in classic cars and being interested in / being a frequent user of the computers and the internet are by no means mutually exclusive. I think the Club could do itself a lot of good by engaging further with - amongst other things - the internet (IIRC there was no thanks to the webmaster at the Rally, despite just about every other contribution to the Club being noted) and recognising the huge potential that it offers. In particular in getting newer, younger blood interested in the cars. I have similar feelings about the national rally (it's not the obvious haunt for under-50s), but that's another matter entirely.

It is notable in the accounts which were recently published that the cost of the website is given in the Club's books is £0; I'm sure this doesn't reflect the actual cost of the website. Perhaps it's something that could usefully be addressed at the AGM.

Amy.

[Alastair Gregg]

The beauty of a forum is that we can disagree and not fall out about it. My case was based on the Jowett Car Club (I did say generally as you will observe), I am delighted you have found a group of younger folks knowledgeable on Classic Cars. Please invite them over and get them involved. We do need young blood and we need it to be Jowett orientated. I don't find myself in a place where I can easily invite hordes of young people. I would if I could. What I can do is help preserve the information and am doing that (and encouraging those that can be persuaded within the Jowett clubs who use computers and the internet to do so too).

But I stand by my statement,

[Tim Neville]

Well said Amy!
You have hit the nail on the head and mentioned something I and some others have been going on about for sometime.
I like;
'Ageing population'
'under 25's with a wealth of knowledge....'
'computer savvy....'
'download and print out..'
'club should engage more with internet..'
'newer young blood..'
' ...Rally not an obvious haunt for under 25's' (under 45's I'd say. That should stir up some response!).

As you point out; website/computer expense £0 ?????? Compare that to the cost of The Jowetteer.

Let's have a 'give a Jowett to an 'under 25' day!

[Chris Spencer]

Amy - You know my thoughts on this one, Tim - thanks for the support on the same issue - I am not under 25 or 45 come to that but approaching my 50's at vast pace. May be we should have something of a members collective (I'm not going to call it a sub committiee because some members may throw a wobbly at the thought) but a collection of members who can act as think tank and suggest measures that would not only attract a younger membership but also retain it - I am sure the pleasent Mr Webmaster would create a heading on the forum for us - volounteers one step forward please !!!!

[k. rogers]

The issue of attracting younger members is a problem not just experienced by the Jowett Car Club, but by most clubs catering for cars as old as ours. Amy, it is very unusual for a girl of your age to be driving a car twice as old as you are in the same way I suppose that a bloke my age drives a car 75 years old! Yes, there are younger people driving classics, but they tend to be cars that they remembered when growing up, say from the sixties or seventies. I suppose it's dfferent for the likes of you and I being brought up with Jowetts as they are almost the natural choice. The website is certainly invaluable for getting the message out there and I believe probably has generated younger members and those more computer literate amongst us, but for the reason above I feel we as other clubs for older cars will always be limited in attracting younger members.

[Alastair Gregg]

Me again

If there is room for an old crumbly in the collective, I'm interested in involving young people.It is a perennial problem as Ken says but it needs addressing, I have no quick answers but am keen to get stuck in to the problem

[Jack]

Me again

If there is room for an old crumbly in the collective, I'm interested in involving young people.It is a perennial problem as Ken says but it needs addressing, I have no quick answers but am keen to get stuck in to the problem

I think there's a lot of us that feel the same way (not feeling like an old crumbly, though most days I do!) and want to address the issue.

It is difficult knowing how to get more young people involved. We were talking about this today while working on the car and doing a bit of research, and realised that the vast majority of younger Jowett owners have either inherited their car or are the children of existing members. Unfortunately for every heir that loves having a very special car, there are two others which are simply not interested in owning such a car.

As such we have to get new members in to even the balance. I don't mind if someone is 25 or 85 if they want to be a part of the club - indeed many of the members who currently do so much for the club are 65+. But we need to recognise that a 25 year old has the advantage of 50 years of Jowetteering and sharing knowledge, contributing to the club, and promoting the marque ahead of them. Then again there's many people who only discovered Jowetts later in life and have given more to the club than younger members sitting on their backsides (guilty as charged!)

Anyhow, a good place to start is by socialising and welcoming members in. For anyone that hasn't seen it, a good opportunity for people to get their friends and families more integrated with the club would be to bring them along to The Winter Film Festival on the 4th Dec - tickets are now selling fast, my postbox had to be emptied twice this week!!! http://www.jowett.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1740 for more details. Tickets are limited, and will go on open sale in a few weeks to guarantee maximum income for the club if members do not sell out the Ritz.

Jack.

[Srenner]

Hello All:

I think Mr. Rogers is pretty much on the mark regarding cars remembered from youth. While Amy and I both can credit (blame?) our parents for our familiarity with Jowett, a vast majority have little knowledge of, or perhaps interest in, cars before their time. I see this at the big vintage races here in the US where I run the Jupiter. The cars of interest to those younger than I is firmly planted in the late 60's and later. Each "generation" has its own benchmarks and its own cultural touchstones. My nieces know the Beatles, but that holds no special meaning to them.

We have a good marketing angle in that the cars are low production numbers (rarity), came with advanced engineering (technologically advanced), are pretty reasonably priced (value), plus have a fairly strong club with good spares availability. And the cars are nice to drive.

We just have to get the word out.

[Amy]

I'm not going to start proposing solutions / suggestions now, as it's late and I've had a very busy week, so my ideas are not likely to be top notch...

But taking a couple of comments from Scott; I agree that there a definitely a certain proportion of owners (certainly Jowett, but across all marques) who have their parents to blame for their interest. However, I don't think that's true of everyone by any means; there will always be those who are simply interested in cars. On the forum that I recently joined, I only mentioned my Jupiter, but one of the first responses was "oooh, I'd have a Javelin like a shot" - this from a chap in his (I think) very early 20s.

Which brings me on to the second point, re. only taking an interest in cars from one's own memory. Yes, this is probably true to a certain extent as well, and to some extent this will be mere practicalities; my first car was a 1983 Austin Mini. This was because I liked Minis, but also because it was cheap to buy / own / run / work on / insure - now it would be classed as a classic, but at the time I bought it it was only 12 years old. When I was first able to drive, there were quite a few Minis still around, they weren't silly money like a lot of them are now, and it was a great first car. Point being, that for someone who is looking to get into older cars, it may well be more practical / accessible to plump for something like an old Ford or Vauxhall - plenty of them, parts are easy to come by, they're not going to break a student's bank.

BUT that doesn't mean that the same people who are now in their late teens / early 20s and running older Fords, Vauxhalls, VWs and the like aren't interested and don't hanker after something like a Jowett - it's far more likely to be that they can't afford a Jowett - they're (comparitively) rare cars, and a decent Javelin will likely be out of a student's price range and a Jupiter most certainly would be. Also, I've had a quick look through the cars that the guys - and girls - on the other forum have, and they're not limited to 70s onwards. They do tend to be the cheaper / commoner end of the classics though.

The interest is there, and that's the point. This can be nurtured - we can even harness it to the club's benefit - and the way we ensure that we go about it successfully is to ask our target market; simple market research.

Anyway, that's enough from me. Bedtime.
Amy.

[Chris Spencer]

Nice to see the responses - Now just prove some opinions wrong - in the early 80's when I was in my twenties I had a new Ford Escort which was the company car ( would I want it today - hell no !) - but I also had a 1935 Leyland double deck bus, and a 1934 Standard 10, over the years things came and went but I always had something of a motoring age - parents / previous background etc never came in to it - the influance came from our local vintage car rally - which in later years I went on to organise - we just need to work on how we can can market the club in order to appeal to the younger generation.

[Forumadmin]

Yes, we did have an interesting conversation today, when I expressed my frustration on a number of points. Perhaps at the gathering at the AGM these can be mentioned and addressed to make the webmaster's job easier.

1. All club officers to provide the webmaster with an email address if they have one so that requests can be directed to them. Note this email address is not public and the requestor will not know it until the officer responds to him by email. We could even change that by using the PM facility on the Forum if you really want to be that private!
2. If requests are sent to a club officer the reponse should be copied to the webmaster. I have found that some officers have not responded or have changed their email and not informed the webmaster. This helps as feedback so I do not worry when I trawl through all the requests that requests have not been answered. Since the requests page asks the requestor to tell the webmaster if a response is not received, there is some contingency. I do get a few and always follow up.
3. Please can the Curator of the Gallery be sent an electronic copy of the Jowetteer. It can then go in the club archive so we do not have to scan and proof read it; and if you really do not want it to be public for two years then fine (I find such a delay quite astonishing!)
4. Can Section Secs please create a monthly report for the website and post into their area on the forum. Please leave out email addresses and telephone numbers referring to the Jowett.org requests page for contact.
5. If the webmaster is sent an electronic Jowetteer (or it is put in its rightful place in the Gallery) it would be easy for him to post the ads and the events on the Forum thus reaching out to a wider public. Note that no personal info would be printed. Communication would be by the advertiser(seller) contacting the reader leaving their contact details via either a PM or a request to a club officer if seller was not on email.
6. If the members really want to have someone to drive and keep their Jowetts going in the next 20 years (or 10 years in some cases) they must start to communicate with a wider audience using new mediums and communication vehicles. We do not necessarily have to talk Jowetts; but talk about classic cars, or the design, art, personal experiences that just happen to involve a Jowett. In other words get a common interest and link into their web. Then feed in a link to Jowetts by saying 'visit Jowett.org'. Such cross linking will introduce the people to the Jowett website from where we can stimulate and further their interest. There are a huge number of over 60's 'on the web' and they can be used to tell their children and grandchildren about Jowetts and classic cars.

Please discuss at the AGM.

[Robin Fairservice]

Why don't more people know about Jowetts? How often do you see a mention of them in the magazines that deal with Classic Cars? MG's Jaguar's, Aston's etc on and on ad nauseum. I stopped subscribing to "Thorough Bred & Classic Cars" because of the constant repitition of a few makes. I doubt that the publishers of Hemmings over here have ever heard of the make. Will the Jowett Centennial Rally feature any where?

Has the Executive ever sat down with magazine publishers to find out how to get more articles in their magazines? Did Keith ever get a mention of his Javelin taxiing peole like Moss and Brabham at the Goodwood Reviva?. Any chance of an article about the Moss family Javelin? Noel thinks that advertising concerning Jowetts is needed to get articles published; but by who? Should the club retain a PR flack?

How will the youger people ever hear and learn about Jowett's if they don't ever read about them?

[Chris Spencer]

Robin - Well said - and I have bit my tounge for too long now so here goes - whilst the history of Jowetts is a very important factor along with the fact that the said history is recorded both in written and film media. However, this shall largely become useless if the said history etc is retained within a closed shop format - the word needs to be spread far wider and louder than I have witnessed to date should we wish to make any form of impact. There are many ways in which to achieve this and little is being made of the free resources available to us. I would love to take this very point up at next weeks AGM but unfortunatly the day job is getting in the way hence I can not attend
( should any one read this and is attending I would be grateful if my apologies could be passed on ). In the meantime we really need to wake up and present the club to the classic motoring press with out excuse.

[Jack]

Why don't more people know about Jowetts? How often do you see a mention of them in the magazines that deal with Classic Cars? MG's Jaguar's, Aston's etc on and on ad nauseum. I stopped subscribing to "Thorough Bred & Classic Cars" because of the constant repitition of a few makes. I doubt that the publishers of Hemmings over here have ever heard of the make. Will the Jowett Centennial Rally feature any where?

Has the Executive ever sat down with magazine publishers to find out how to get more articles in their magazines? Did Keith ever get a mention of his Javelin taxiing peole like Moss and Brabham at the Goodwood Reviva?. Any chance of an article about the Moss family Javelin? Noel thinks that advertising concerning Jowetts is needed to get articles published; but by who? Should the club retain a PR flack?

How will the youger people ever hear and learn about Jowett's if they don't ever read about them?

Hi Robin,

I have spent a fair bit of time in recent years publicising events and trying to get sponsorship or get people to take action. Our end goal is awareness and involvement, but these things aren't too far away from getting column inches for other purposes.

We have got a Jowett onto a major publishers website for the last 3 months, and potentially in the middle of the NEC in a months time. All we did was take some photos, write the story, and then hand it to the publishers running a competition.

Journalists for virtually every local paper I have ever dealt with will publish almost anything that is written for them. Hand them a set of good quality images, come up with a decent story with a decent catch or interesting angle, and they will run it. They might hang on to it for a month or even more until they have a quiet week, but stories will get published with very little work.

Practical Classics will publish pictures of restoration projects that are underway - I know many members are working on one car or another at the moment - and will feature anything out of the ordinary.

But we shouldn't leave this to one person - any member that is aware of a project underway should offer to go round with a camera, and write a story. Then just send it in, there's at least 10 different appropriate magazines for one type of Jowett or another, I simply refuse to believe that we couldn't get a Jowett in 3 major features next year if we put our minds to it. Magazines will publish the stories that write themselves - they are busy people who will never say no to a free story. They won't pay a journalist hundreds of pounds to write an article when people like you and I will write the story for them.

There was an absolutely brilliant article in Yorkshire magazine (I think it was) about the centenary rally, loads of photos, the kind of magazine that we've all read when waiting for the dentist, barber, or even waiting for our car to come out of the garage. All it took was someone inviting the right journalist and talking to them about the cars.

We can get there, and publicity is fairly easy to come by when a sizeable percentage of us just do it. Our cars are photogenic, interesting, and different. Let's celebrate it and exploit it to our advantage.

Jack.

[Robin Fairservice]

I am glad to hear of the activity this year in contacting,and getting stories, into the media. I can say I did my bit by writing an article for the B.C. Vintage Racing Car newsletter about sporting Jowetts. Here is the link to this newsletter, "Vantage":

http://www.vrcbc.ca/wp-content/uploads/ ... -20101.pdf