Any interest in forming local 914World Chapters?, One Lesson Learned from European 914 clubs Options

[JeffBowlsby]

My recent visit to the 914 International meet in Italy opened my eyes to some interesting differences in the 914 communities here in the USA vs Europe. I had the great pleasure of meeting and spending a few days with our very own Gustl, Johannes, Peter and many others with the 914-passion and I think that common bond is an aspect of 914 ownership that most of us are interested in. 914s are not just about the cars – its about the people.

Europe is roughly ¼ the size of the USA, and they have multiple local 914-dedicated clubs mostly organized by country – 914 clubs exist in Germany, France, Italy, England, etc. These clubs meet from time to time locally to network, socialize and promote the 914 hobby in their regions (check out their individual websites). Once a year they all get together for a major high quality International 914 event somewhere in Europe. The International meet is always well attended (limited to 100 914s and their owners!), booked/paid a year in advance, and is hosted in a different country (by the local 914 club) each year on a rotating basis. It has official support from Porsche. The European approach is very supportive, and non-competitive in the negative sense.

In the USA, we have no organized, local 914-dedicated clubs. We have no regularly (monthly-quarterly-ish) organized local 914 events. We have no annual USA National 914 event. Europe has nothing like our 914world.com forums…in a literal sense, 914world.com is THE international 914 Forum because we have many international members here. I would like to see if we can increase international participation on the forum in the future.

The USA is much larger geographically than Europe which is a challenge for holding larger national events. PCA, SCCA, and similar groups are good events for some, and not that we want to withdraw from those, but they are not an ultimate 914 venue for most of us. Thanks to the camaraderie on this Forum, we do have a series of what I will characterize as fairly regular, regional, moderate-sized events that are always fun – Red Rocks, WCR, ECR, Okteenerfest, etc. Some locales have sporadic informal 914 breakfasts, drives etc. Only when someone volunteers to host an event does it happen – I think we as 914 Owners could all really benefit with better organization and regional leadership. New 914 owners need a venue to hang out face to face, and long-time owners can share their experiences. A real world, local, in person, ‘914 Garage’ experience is one of the great things about our community.

My idea is that we form local/regional 914World Chapters to generally help better organize us and promote the 914 ownership experience on multiple levels. 914World.com will always be our playhouse. None of us wants a dues paying, card carrying, rules/regulations format and I don’t propose anything like that. The idea is intended only to be a way for 914 owners to connect locally and informally, and perhaps hold a national event in the future. I don’t see the concept as divisive, but rather as unifying us, prospering the 914 experience and being a supportive environment.

What say you?

[billh1963]

I think there are several contributing factors:

The economy: the economy in many areas of the country has not fully recovered since the big hit in 2008. With wage stagnation, underemployment, high fuel costs, and inflation a lot of people just don't have the spare cash to put in their cars...let alone attend large gatherings. The Triumph Roadster Factory (a Triumph sports car parts vendor) hosts a regular summer party and has for years. They considered cancelling it this year due to the low number of registrations. This may be the last year they hold the party

Aging members: This is a common problem affecting all cars from the 1970's and earlier. People are interested in the cars of their youth. So, the number of people under the age of 35-40 is small. This trend will not change. While we have some young people on the forum, there aren't many

Value: We all like to see the value of our cars rise. In reality, this can sometimes be a death sentence. As values increase the collectors move in (usually more affluent older people). This reduces the number of good cars on the market and takes them out of circulation. The remaining cars are expensive to fix....which means they either languish or get restored to collector quality (once again minimizing their availability).

Then again, I could be wrong (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)