A QUESTION FOR STEVE OR WEST

[Terry Wiegand]

I just got the latest Speedster a little while ago. I read where the AACA has introduced a 'new' 100 year old Century Club Badge. If I am reading this right, the vehicle must attend a tour or meet to get this badge? This is way cool and our 1916 Buick is a mere few months away from being 100 and it really needs one of those badges on it. Is the AACA going to make these available to the owners of 100 year old vehicles similar to the way The Horseless Carriage Club does or is it going to be mandatory to attend a meet or tour? We have three of these old Buicks and simply cannot go to every meet just yet - the boss is still working at a very good job and sometimes it's hard to get away when a close opportunity presents itself. Just asking.

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas America

[West Peterson]

Hi Terry

Each vehicle will be presented a badge free-of-charge, but only while attending a meet or tour.

[MarrsCars]

Turn a negative into a positive and consider just how nice and memorable it will be to celebrate your milestone surrounded by friends and other great cars rather than simply popping open an envelope one day. Maybe you can try to plan ahead and make it a real event!

[West Peterson]

Exactly. The objective is to get the old cars out of the garage, too!

[24T42]

West,

The way you stated the policy ("Each vehicle will be presented a badge free-of-charge...") implies that they are only free if you enter a show or tour. Does that mean they can be purchased?

The Horseless Carriage Club of America has had a similar program for several years. They only require you send a $4.00 check, a picture, and a description (including serial number and whatever you know about the car's history) to the administrator of the program. I know the AACA is trying to get the older vehicles out but it would be nice to be able to obtain one without it being mandatory that the car be exhibited. Sometimes it is not feasible to get a 100-year plus car to an AACA National show or tour. National events are not always in your back yard.

[Marty Roth]

While we already have the HCCA "CENTURY OLD VEHICLE" TAG FOR OUR 1914 Buick,

WE FULLY SUPPORT the idea of awarding the new AACA 100 YEAR BADGE only to vehicles which participate, either ON-TOUR, or being shown at a MEET.......

Actually, our '14 will be shown at the Southeastern Divisional Meet in Lebanon, TN, and the following day will start off her week on the AACA Reliability Tour in Lancaster, PA.

We look forward to earning this recognition, and greatly appreciate the way our club has approached the award.

By the way, we do DRIVE (not trailer) the Buick all across Louisiana and Mississippi to local tours, as well as to cruise nights and Cars & Coffee.

Let's keep encouraging our members to get our early vehicles out on the road and on the Show Field where everyone else can enjoy them too - not just keep them covered up in the garage!

[Steve_Mack_CT]

+1 to this idea, the only twist I would submit for consideration is making this program available to local regions for local AACA region sponsored shows (such as our Glastonbury, CT show on June 8 for you New England guys!!). This would encourage those who may not be inclined to make a larger meet but could support/add tremendous interest on the local front to bring the old stuff out!!

[MarrsCars]

+1 to this idea, the only twist I would submit for consideration is making this program available to local regions for local AACA region sponsored shows (such as our Glastonbury, CT show on June 8 for you New England guys!!). This would encourage those who may not be inclined to make a larger meet but could support/add tremendous interest on the local front to bring the old stuff out!!

I like the cut of your jib. Great idea, anything that gets more and older cars out and being seen gets my support.

[Steve Moskowitz]

Kudos to HCCA for starting this idea but our reasons for doing it were not the same as HCCA. I have one of those badges for my 1903 and appreciate the program. However, AACA had ONE goal in mind and that was seeing more brass cars PARTICIPATING at NATIONAL events. We developed a badge that is expensive but we feel owners deserve a suitable reward for bringing their cars out. Judging from the initial reaction this concept is a real hit with the early car guys. We do keep a database of the cars that have earned these awards.

I like the idea of regions and other shows recognizing early cars in some way but they could develop their own reward system for these cars. At this time Steve we do not anticipate any expansion of our current program but who knows what the future might bring. The Century Club is only in its infancy so let's see if it even works.

[John_S_in_Penna]

I think the idea of rewarding the oldest cars' appearance at

national meets and tours is a very good one! Too many, I think, sit

idle in large collections or in the backs of older collectors' garages.

But they are fun to drive on country roads!

No award should be given for simply HAVING an old car. That would

mean simply getting a mailing list and sending out thousands of plaques

for nothing.

[pistoncollector]

I disagree with John. Our collection is sizeable (34 cars) and we have at least one club a month come to our house with their families to see it. We enjoy sharing it with collector car owners and FUTURE collector car owners. There are three "hundred year old" cars in our collection ('08, '10, '12 ) and all of them carry the HCCA Century Old Medalian. We are often asked what the significance is. I of course tell everyone about the HCCA and what it is all about. So this medalion brings credit to the HCCA and stimulates conversation about this club to possible future members. Wouldn't it do the same thing for the AACA ? Isn't the car still a hundred years old even if it does not attend a meet? Am I to understand that the AACA is going to deprive the car of the recognition it deserves just because the owner isn't capable of bringing his car to a meet ?

All of my century old cars are AACA First Prize winners and one of them is even an AACA National Award winner. So they have been on the show field before. Doesn't that count for anything? I think that Steve makes a good point and that the purpose of the Award is to stimulate owners of century old cars to bring them to a meet. I like that. However, I would like to suggest that the same thing can be accomplished and make everyone happy with a simple change. All we need to do is to have two colors or two designs. One color or design recognizes that the car is a century old and that the owner is an AACA member. The other color or design can only be obtained by attending a meet. It might even be compared to an "Award" and the other one as simply a "Recognition" of the car.

That's my two cents.

[Paul Dobbin]

Good thread. I'm happy to see the really old cars get an incentive to come out of the garage. We tour quite a bit and on the general membership tours it sometimes looks more like the Winn-Dixie parking lot than an antique car tour. Some some members with great collections will show up in their 1988 Grand Marque or a 1987 Corvette with A/C. We, in an 80 year old car still enjoy the tour, but would rather be sharing the experience with cars of a bit closer vintage. Unfortunately, the same thing happens at shows. If we want younger people to love really old car, they need to see and recognize that they still run, drive and look good at 100. I think showing up in a 100 year old car is well worth the medallion reward. It's a participation thing, that should be encouraged.

Another incentive for the older cars to come out would be free admission and a dash plaque for a non judged display class after a vehicle reaches 75 years old. It would improve most shows by having the really old cars there and at $1.00 a dash plaque, it's a good investment.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Paul Dobbin
Tried to add picture of 100 year old cars on 2013 Glidden (see edit history)

[Marty Roth]

Our 1914 Buick was shown at the June, 2014 Lebanon, TN Divisional Meet, and was also driven the entire AACA/HCCA Reliability Tour in Lancaster, PA the following week.

We are delighted to have this "Fun-Driver" recognized with CENTURY CLUB membership, and appreciate the efforts of AACA to encourage the display and driving of these vehicles.

[sam r]

Marty

Can you tell me what the modern distributor cap on your car is from and how it was adapted to your 1914 Delco Distributor?

I have a '15 in need of a cap.

Thanks

Sam Romeo

[Steve Moskowitz]

Paul D., you really hit it on the head. There is a REASON why AACA wants 100 year old cars to participate that goes beyond just seeing them active at a meet or tour. Members and public need to be exposed to these great cars if we are to get new people interested in owning them in the future. Unless they see the cars operate going in to a show, talk to owners about them or seeing them on tour they do little to PERPETUATE the brass era hobby sitting in a garage. Yes, I own a brass car and need to get it to a meet since I do not have the badge yet!

The idea suggested by Piston Collector would add an awful lot of expense to the club as our badges are not inexpensive at all. As to free entry: it has been discussed but abandoned as it is expensive (AACA national already is at a financial disadvantage at most meets) but most importantly other members felt we would be signaling out a class of owners at the expense of others thereby making them "second class citizens". Then the question is 50 years old versus 75 versus 100. No matter what decision AACA would make someone would be unhappy!

We have already given out over 200 of these medallions and they have been a HUGE hit with owners.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Steve Moskowitz (see edit history)

[Paul Dobbin]

.

Steve,

The Century Club medallion is already a goal to strive for. Since we sold our 1915, we only have to hold onto the 34 Ford for another 20 years.

At that time it will have paid for parking on show field for over 60 years, and maybe AACA can comp the registration fee's to get old cars to attend.

It does not matter whether it's 75, 80, 85, 90 or 100, getting the really old cars to the show is a problem that should be rewarded. After a couple hundred shows another trophy is no motivation and the 25 year old car with A/C is more comfortable. We all know guy with massive collections of

great really old car that they've paid to show for years. They don't want another trophy and probably don't even want to be judged, but to be an honored guest? Why not invite then to display cars to have a real antique car show. Nobody would be any more offended than not being allowed on the Glidden or other tour that has age requirements. The number of people who even know what your 1903 car is going down every year and the number of people who would consider owning it is too. Age take a bigger tool on humans than it does our old cars. Maybe creating some interest is not a financial strain on the club, if like me, they've paid for parking for 40 plus years.

[Steve Moskowitz]

Paul I completely understand but there is a BUT... Members want it all (absolutely nothing wrong with that as they should want it all). A first class magazine, website, someone to answer their questions, free library, insurance for their regions, judging, tours, etc. It takes a lot of cash to pay for this organization since it is quite large. Our dues have really not gone up in many years. We did have a five dollar increase but $3 goes to the museum and $2 goes to the library. Leaves the club with $30 to pay salaries for 10 + people, put out a magazine, buy trophies and awards, postage, utilities, etc. So anything new that is a drain on finances makes it difficult for us as many people do not want to see a dues increase even though we are the least expensive major car club I know. The club has been paying as well for 79 years and I can guarantee you the meet fees have not come close to paying for the awards in decades if ever.

This is just the thumbnail of the problem. We have looked at free entrance to shows for quite some time and cannot make it work without an even more serious problem for the national club.

I would also say, many members who do not and have not ever shown at a national meet or tour (the majority of our members) feel they should not have to subsidize the judging system. They have a point.

Anyway, the only purpose of this is to say that all the decision we make are really thought though to the best of our ability and that there is always a back story that the average member is not aware of..

Have a happy 4th!