Volvo Owners Club E-volvo-ution?

[Mike_Brace]

Nice to see that there's agreement about the need for change. It seems to me there are the following types who need catering for:
1)What one might call the show and shine brigade
2)The restoration brigade
3)The old and much loved Volvo driver
4)The performance owner - two rival groups rwd & fwd
5)The newer Volvo owner (maybe not interested in show just loves his car
6)The younger Volvo driver who could fall in any of above categories
I realise most people don't necessarily fall neatly into one of above, but do feel some of these areas are not too well catered for.
I few of you have given indications of changes you would like to see - but who is prepared to do anything. I have submitted one article for the mag so far and am prepared to offer to help in other ways if I can.
Will anyone actually do likewise?
Myself I suppose I fall into category of 2, 3 & 4. I've done a lot of restoration of older Volvos and have extensive knowledge of all rwd Volvos, Currently restoring my former daily driver Amazon and have performance volvos - lhd 244GLE converted with 760 turbo and modded, also using 245GLT which is due to have a little magic breathed on it.
However, I have a degree of interest in the fwd Volvos and certainly want to see youngesters encouraged. My two sons are both well into their rwd Volvos and earn part of their living from them. We are trying to share our knowledge with others via the forum and are always willing to be asked questions both on straightforward problems and about modifications. Anyone is welcome to phone either myself, Dai, or Matt on 01407 832 290 for any help or advice we can give. We all speak Volvo - after all a Volvo is for life not just for Christmas. Let's get things so we cater for ALL Volvo owners.
Thanks for all the input - keep it coming
Mike

[Daniel M]

Hi.

Thanks for the comments Peter, much appreciated! The 480 in my gallery is my Dad's by the way. @ Foggy: RWD a true Volvo eh? I just can't win :P!

There have been some interesting points raised, and with regards to helping out on the VOC magazine, i wouldn't mind at all. I have a very hectic 3 months coming up mind you, with my BA coming to an end and all that, but i wouldn't mind doing a bit of work on it after-i've done a few Volvo related assignments before, and i wouldn't mind getting my teeth into something like this. A job would be nice at the end of it, but who knows!! ;)

I'm just going to run a couple of ideas past you, see what you think...

1-If keeping to the quarterly edition format, actually go out to peoples car's and do proper feature's-i.e take one or two people, and do like the other magazines do-interview the person and take shots of the car's. And get a variety, so a 240 Est, and 850 T5, and maybe a mod'd car for example one month. Even have a selection online, and get people to vote for the one's they'd like to see the most. Do maybe 3-4 features per issue. And don't wait for Volunteers, pick random people from the register, contact them, and if approved, follow up. Would be good to have some proper reviews (not that they aren't now), with some nice photography etc. Thats something i'd like to see anyway.

2-Mini driver/car featurettes. Pick say 5 for example, members from the register, and post them a Q+A form. On this Q+A could be questions like 'Name, Age etc', and then move onto questions like 'Current Car Owned, Previous Volvo, First Volvo, Next Volvo, most Bizarre incident in a Volvo, favourite Volvo, Worst Mechanical Fault Encountered, Funniest Name Given To your Volvo'.....stuff like that. Get them to reply with a picture of their car and themselves (if they wanted) and pop them in various parts of the magazine-just add a touch of humour to get people away from serious reviews.

Oh, and a 3rd...move all the bl**dy adverts to the back of the magazine in a dedicated section, rather than dot them about throughout! Maybe do a feature on some of the advertised breakers yards, so we can see more of the place as opposed to just a snapshot. Get first hand experience of the place and people who work there etc.

Oh, and a 4th actually too....more colour pages!! Black and White is soooo last season! :)

Ooh. Sorry. Rambling again....:)

[Mike_Brace]

Thanks for offer - hope the powers that be take you up on it! Like your ideas. Must say I agree about ads - yes they are a necessary evil but also can be very useful - at present though can be bl@@dy difficult to find a particular ad you're looking for. I'd imagen that what we will get thrown at us is cost of colour and who meets cost of going out to get features - assuming there are volunteers to give time to this. However, hopefully if enough of us PUSH for e-volvo-ution of the club and mag we will get results - if not it will totally stagnate into an old f@rts society. I may be old enough to qualify for that but have always requested to be put out of my misery if I approach that stage. I feel it is also very important to ensure the continued support from those who the club caters for very well, for without them there would be no club at present but there numbers are decreasing or should I sasy deceasing and as I said in my last post we need to cater for as many Volvo owners as we can. After all it is suppossed to be the Volvo OWNER'S Club and we are all Volvo Owners but from all different backgrounds and unfortunately some are hardly catered for at all whilst a certain section is effectively spoiled rotten. What about members running an older Volvo on a shoestring - what is there for them? Don't they need our help to keep the Volvo they love in faithful service when they don't have what some other members rely on - the bottomless wallet.
Your thoughts please - I'm particulary intereseted in hearing as well from those who are well catered for as well as those who may be reconsidering whether to remain members.

Mike

[classicswede]

Nice to see a lot of discussion under away regards improving the club and magazine. Another thought on an area that needs discussing is technical help.
We can't all rely on Jack Cluer all the time. He puts an awful lot of time and effort into the club. The forum is a great medium for those of us on the net, however some people would really like to be able to pick up the phone and have some one to talk to. Drawing from my experience with the Austin Ten Driver's Club (I own a 1935 Austin 12/4 Ascot). They have a breakdown register which lists ALL the club members and also denotes those willing to help, from tea and sympathy to recovery and workshop & spares facilities. Obviously we know Volvos NEVER breakdown but also gives useful contacts when at home or away and can help make new friends locally and also could provide contact with members such as myself who have specialist knowledge and skills which may not always be covered by the normal channels. I'm sure there would be a lot of people willing to help and have there details published. ARE YOU ONE ? ? ?
PLEASE POST! ! !

Dai

[foggyjames]

I think this comes through involvement with a more localised (not necessarily geographically) Volvo 'community'. With our gang of performance redblock enthusiasts, we've got a good proportion of the bases covered when it comes to knowledge...and likewise I have a number of people (admittedly not as many) for 300-series specific problems.

Maybe one of the VOC's roles could be to connect these people?

cheers

James

[Daniel M]

Again, more interesting points raised. I def. agree, the ad's are a necessary evil-it just feels like they break up the magazine, so a dedicated section i feel would help tidy up the clutter! But from experience, you'd be surprised at how much you could save from cutting down on other things to push the £££ into other areas. The magazine doesn't have to be 'x' amount of pages long-i'd be happy to see a cut in page quantity if it meant freeing up a bit of cash to look into other areas. Also, you have the Technical magazine-everybody gets a copy of each, so why not use one as a purely technical/ad based mag, and the main one as a feature mag? Here i go again....!

With regards to technical representatives/guru's, would it be possible to pick a member or two, maybe even a team from each section who would be interested in becoming like a human bible? So a problem could be put to all of them (after a solution hasn't arisen in the forum), and that person (they are each nominated a section of which they specialise in) can then either help to solve the problem, or pass on details of somebody who may be able to help? (Sounds really lame now i'm reading it back!). The problem is then delivered to the relevant person, so it isn't one person being bombarded all the time. Maybe even a generalisation across the whole Forum? So they have a dedicated engine team, a dedicated bodywork team, a dedicated suspension team etc, that cover the whole forum? Say 5-6 people in each group? Or is that sounding like it would be an impossible task?

It just feels like the VOC lacks 'punch' sometimes. It's flagging a bit and needs a fresh approach. There are plenty of good people here, and Mike is right, we are a community-lets make it a community to be proud of (stands down from his chair, wipes the tear from his eye!). Volvo's are subject to alot of abuse as it is-lets not give people more ammunition!

So, out of curiosity (don't have a magazine to hand)-does anybody know who publishes the magazines? Web address or contact details? I really want to follow this up-or would anybody suggest a different approach?

Anyway.....sorry. Again.

Dan M

[Peter Milnes]

Dan, check page 3 of the current "Driver"near the bottom right hand side. You should find the details you are in need of.

Mike Brace, don't forget the caravanners and disabled members who also own and love their Volvos.

All the best, Peter.

[Mike_Brace]

Yes Peter, I certainly would not forget disabled members and caravanners - my 240 trailer was specifically built for transporting my wife's disability scooter and I have been caravanning in the past.
I'm only too well aware of the problems and extra costs faced by those with a disability, whether physical or other and we do need to ensure they are properly catered for - I remember chatting to Vic Barnes about this at one of the BKVs. Let's here from some of these members and see how the club can improve to meet their needs!

Mike

[Bob]

Just to let you know I am reading your comments, and thanks for them. With no feedback from the membership the board feels that all is going OK and there is nothing to change or add, and this is the way it has been for a long time. So comments are welcomed and will get discussed at our meetings.

Bob
_____________________________
Robert Isaac
Volvo Owners Club
Director and Web Admin

[foggyjames]

Therein lies a very telling statement - people with complaints / comments have perhaps just thought "Humph, VOC...grumble grumble" and done no more about it. It's alright to shout from the sidelines, but unless the comments are actually made, and a positive way forward suggested, nothing changes. I think this thread is a huge step in the right direction.

cheers

James
(Just back from a 300 series meet with ~15 cars, including a faster-than-a-T5 340 turbo :))