My plans and thoughts about running for CORSA Western Director

[davemotohead]

First of all I would like to address something that has been bothering me and feel it needs to be talked about.

I feel the bashing and treatment of Greg Vargas needs to stop. He has been a very good Western Director and volunteered for the position when no one would run. We would not even have a Western Director if it was not for Greg! He is very well liked and respected in the California area by many Clubs and Corvair people and has done a lot for all of us and deservers our gratitude! I for one appreciate all he has done and hope no matter the outcome of this election he keeps doing what he is doing for the local clubs! Even though you might not agree with some of the decisions made we are all Corvair people and we need to be nice to each other and no one should feel like a outcast or unwelcome in any instance! We all need to pull together! So Greg, from Me to you I thank you for all that you have done! Cheers!

OK, I am running for CORSA Western Director basically because I was asked to by many many people! These are my feelings about this: 1st its time to get the politics and agenda's out of CORSA and get it back to being a car club! Time to unite all Corvair people around the world. Hit social media like a sledge hammer and recruit new members! CORSA Membership is at a all time low and losing more members daily, they lost 200 members since January, if this trend continues CORSA will be no more and that will be a shame! CORSA provides many services to our hobby and the insurance alone for car meetings is in itself a reason to join! If we lose CORSA you lose your local clubs, your shows, and pretty much everything! No more Fan Belt Toss, no more Convention! Nothing!

When I see a post about CORSA on Face Book hit 85 negative comments and reasons why people will not join the club in a few hours I see a big problem! Its time we change that attitude! We need to make this club a "Must Join" option for everyone! We need to make Corvair people around the globe feel as if they are missing something if they are not a CORSA member! Its time for a change! So how do we do this? Simple! Put the members first!

#1, I vow to fix the CCF and return it to is former Glory. The first thing I will insist upon is reinstating the original moderators that were removed, reinstating a long time well liked member who was banned and returning the CCF to its rightful owners, the members who built it! CORSA can own it, fund it, administrate it and repair it! But the members need to run it point blank! That is the way it became the greatest Corvair forum on the internet and that is what it needs to be again! In fact myself and a few other have already rebuilt the CCF and we can make changes at will and give the members anything they want easily! We spent $250 and took 2 days and its already better than what CORSA has now. We can even let the members decide what skin they want at a push of a button! Its so easy its ridiculous! We will use the poll function and ask YOU the members what you want! And if changes are made that don't work out we can go back to what we had! In fact I plan on leaving what the current BOD has created and add our TAN forum skin as well, We can create a WIN WIN situation for everybody! We can even give you the members a choice of what color you want for you yourself? Its so easy! I posted some pics of our vision for the CCF, Click the pictures to enlarge it if they are blurry.

Also the forum can be used as a great tool to make decisions for CORSA, the poll function is the perfect way to give each and every CORSA members a voice! We will propose a change and you the members can vote on it! Easy! Time for all of us to work together instead of against each other!

And that goes for this Great Corvair Forum as well! Both forums are valuable to our hobby and need to be sister forums! Although owned and ran separately, Both have massive amounts of content to Help the Corvair hobby!

#2, Make sure the voting is fair! Last election 40+/- votes were tossed out by the current BOD with no attempt to contact the voters for clarification, IMO all votes should count no matter what! Jack Green lost by 12 votes last time, so how many of the 40+ votes tossed out were for him?

#3, I will work with the "Other" Museum and combine forces and funds to try and work a deal to create one big museum! 2 museums is a complete waste! Why have 2 small ones when we can have one great one? Makes no sense and the 2 million they want in donations I just don't see happening!

#4, I want to expand the Communique 5 fold, Leave everything we have now but add a ton of content! I want the club of the month, heck Clubs of the month, We want to see what every club around the world is doing, We need to showcase cars and builds, people and their cars, There is so so much more that can be done to expand our hobby, we can dwarf the Camaro, Mustang and Corvette clubs! Time for the Corvair to shine and rise to the top of the collector car world! Corvair people are a vast and deep group with talents like no other Car people I have ever seen, not just for Corvair's but in everything, the knowledge this group has is amazing! If we all pull together we can accomplish anything and now is our time to shine!!

#5, I will contact clubs around the world and have them send us pics and write ups of what they are doing, who is in their club, what projects they are working on? We have a off road guy who rescues people with a Corvair Wagon, his You tube content is massive! Lets give him a section in the Communique to post rescues he has done and what's going on with him? He was a Corvair guy before the Rescue business! EV Conversion Corvair's are becoming popular, give them a section, the airplane guys need a section, the racers need a section! All we need to do is ask and people will send us content! we can do this for clubs and individuals as well! You own a Corvair? We want everyone to know about it and you!

There is just so much more we as a community can do than what's happening now! We need to incorporate a great Welcome package for new members! Give them a shirt or coffee cup with the CORSA logo on it, and some Corvair Stickers and other small tokens of appreciation, that in itself will make new members feel like family! We have a GREAT Corvair merchandise vendor that can do amazing things! We have talked about a service to put people's pictures on coffee cups and T-shirts! Want your club on a cup? Send it to CORSA and we can do it! We can expand the CORSA merchandise massively and the profits can go to CORSA!

In closing these things are just the tip of the iceberg, there is so much more we can do! We can create a suggestion sticky on the forum to bounce idea's around! We can use both forums as tools to strengthen our outreach to new members! CORSA needs to sponsor as much as possible, if we don't own it then endorse it! I feel its time to blow CORSA up and bring it into the modern world! The Corvair Owners group on Facebook has 20,000 members, CORSA has less than 3000, lets change things and get as many of them to join as possible! Just imagine what CORSA could accomplish with the revenue increase if we had say 8000 members paying dues? We could do anything! We can leave the old and add the new and together we can become the envy of the collector car world! We can do this if we all work together!

As far as the voting goes, I am pulling for Jack Green. Larry Claypool is a great choice also, but I feel Jack has the business experience as far as a non profit organization Corsa needs right now!

Also, I have suggested to the Club putting on the Fan belt toss this year we change the name of the long distance award to the "Timothy Shortle Long distance Award" In remembrance of Tim, I think he won that award more than anyone, He will surely be missed!

So that is just a summary of what I wish to accomplish if elected, the choice is up to you! Dave

[American Mel]

Well said, Dave.

[Phil Dally]

Go Dave GO...all good stuff.

[flamingchariots]

Need to get rid of those repulsive "Forum Rules" also.




Kevin
Medina, OH



PS: I voted for Jack Green, too.

[Bertle]

Speaking as a British corvair owner I have considered joining CORSA a couple of times but what can the club offer me that this and the other forum don't? I love the community feel of the forums and the knowledge contained within, it would be a great shame if CORSA died off but I don't see what it can offer me. If you have any ideas on how the world wide membership could be more attractive I am all ears!

[ihscomputers]

Need to get rid of those repulsive "Forum Rules" also.

Yes, Kevin, the current "CCF Community Guidelines" are overbearing and unnecessary.

The old Corvair Center (prior to CORSA's mismanagement) was self-regulated and thrived based upon a few simple rules that were similar to the following:

This is a fun, family-oriented forum with a few simple rules.

1. Have fun and enjoy your Corvair experience here.

2. Use common sense and good manners.

3. Have a thick skin and remember that tone of voice and body language are difficult to convey through the written word.

4. Topics that do not pertain to all things Corvair, must be marked OT (Off Topic) to warn users accordingly.

5. Refrain from overtly political or religious discussions because they usually result in strife and division.

6. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Using discretion and empathy goes a long way, especially in difficult situations.

[davemotohead]

Speaking as a British corvair owner I have considered joining CORSA a couple of times but what can the club offer me that this and the other forum don't? I love the community feel of the forums and the knowledge contained within, it would be a great shame if CORSA died off but I don't see what it can offer me. If you have any ideas on how the world wide membership could be more attractive I am all ears!

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Do you know other Corvair owners in your Area? If so start a chapter? Either way member or not I feel anyone can send info to CORSA about themselves and their car and be put in the Communique! We need to get away from the "Members only" Club mentality and drift to the "Anyone with a Corvair" Mentality, No one CORSA member or not should be excluded from participation, you cannot grow a club by excluding people, hopefully a decent welcome package and a revamped Communique will be a reason to join CORSA.

Right now a on line membership is only $37, I personally think it should be a even $40 but include a great welcome package, better magazine and slight merchandise discount for members. I think the merchandise needs to be improved and open for anyone regardless of member status. its all about value for the Dollar, the better the Value the more people will join, Heck everyone likes a Corvair T-Shit!

I don't know all the inner workings of CORSA at this point because I am not a BOD member but I do know the current system is not working because if it was CORSA would not be losing members and getting such bad press by Corvair people on social media. I feel its time for a positive change for the club and a new direction is needed to entice people to once again embrace the organization.

[Phil Dally]

When I got back into Corvairs in 1991 after a 15 year hiatus joining CORSA was a must do...I hope that comes back.

[66vairguy]

Speaking as a British corvair owner I have considered joining CORSA a couple of times but what can the club offer me that this and the other forum don't? I love the community feel of the forums and the knowledge contained within, it would be a great shame if CORSA died off but I don't see what it can offer me. If you have any ideas on how the world wide membership could be more attractive I am all ears!

You have summed up the issue in our club. Few see any value in CORSA with FREE advice on the forums.

I've seen clubs come and go, then come back. Most members just want to show up and have a good time talking Corvairs. It is DIFFICULT to get folks to volunteer for club positions to organize, keep track of funds, do a newsletter, etc.

I watched a local club implode after a "take charge" character became President and insisted on "his way". Well, he became a club of ONE as folks left the club. He got bored with Corvairs and faded away. After a few years the club rebounded.

Decades ago a club friend who did the newsletter moved to a new job. I was asked to do the club newsletter. No pay, just supplies re-imbursement (paper newsletters you had to mail). I did it for a couple years then one day at a Corvair show an obnoxious club member stormed up to me and said "You are not doing what I asked you to do with the newsletter. Next meeting I'm calling for a vote to make you change it." After cooling off, I replied - "I do NOT get paid to do the newsletter. I'm a volunteer and I AM NOW GIVING YOU THE JOB OF DOING THE NEWSLETTER! You can do it however you want". I never did another club newsletter and the obnoxious character never showed up at another club meeting.

[caraholic4life]

Great post Dave.....IF I were a CORSA member and lived on the West Coast, you would have already received my vote.

[whenim64]

davemotohead wrote:

"I want to expand the Communique 5 fold, Leave everything we have now but add a ton of content! I want the club of the month, heck Clubs of the month, We want to see what every club around the world is doing, We need to showcase cars and builds, people and their cars, There is so so much more that can be done to expand our hobby..."

That there is so much more that can be done to expand our hobby is correct. But expanding the Communique, if you mean the printed Communique, is wrong.

The printed Communique is CORSA's biggest cost, and a literal expansion of it would result in either a massive dues increase or bankruptcy, or both.

The proper answer today is a printed CORSA Quarterly, a nice, big, splashy color publication four times per year. The rest of the year, 12 times per year, a digital-only CORSA Communique, formatted for and delivered via Constant Contact, can contain all that expanded content that you wish to see.

That's the way forward. It's not 1978 any more.

--Bob Marlow, former CORSA Director and VP, lover of print, and realist

[davemotohead]

That's a good point Bob, I don't know all the cost involved with everything as of yet, But the way I see things everything can be changed for the better if done correctly. Imagine if we doubled the member ship and raised the dues to $40 but offered more value for the Buck? Made CORSA more user friendly, pooled the members resources, there might be a Corvair guy out there who can get the Communique published better and cheaper? All we need to do is ask? You say its not 1978 any more, I feel like CORSA is still stuck in 1978! And that is the problem, if we don't revamp, reorganize and modernize CORSA to attract more people and especially young people. It will crash and burn, its already headed that way with the loss of members and unhappy members who don't renew.

We need to change the negative threads about CORSA on the internet and social media into positive ones, We need to make the CORSA community a fun place to be with full transparency and member participation. Like I stated, We need to make CORSA the place to be for all of the Corvair community, with increase interest and members ship, more services and merchandise offered, comes more revenue to improve other things that are lacking. Like the Communique! Right now I get my copy, open it up and pretty much done with it in 10-15 min, its 28 pages of rehashed old stuff (and that's Great) and some adds and show info.

The content needs to be increase substantially as well as CORSA's presence on the World Internet Stage! Right now the Facebook Corvair Owners Group page is the most active place on the internet, and Corsa has nothing to do with it! The Corsa Face book pages are pathetic! There are 2 of them, the real one that see's no action to speak of what so ever and Members are not even allowed to post threads there! You can only respond to a post made by the BOD! The other CORSA page is not even owned by CORSA and it see's more action than the real one!

CORSA bought the best most active forum on the internet the Corvair Center Forum, and chased away all the regulars who built it and now its the least active Corvair Forum on the internet! That my friend needs to be changed!

The CCF should be CORSA's flag ship main sounding board for the entire organization! Being able to create polls and get real time member feedback and make decision's based off what the members want is invaluable and its not being utilized at all!

Bottom line, CORSA will die without members, no members no funds and no CORSA! So Recruiting new members is the #1 Priority! And right now its losing more members every month than gaining, by a large margin. That needs to be fixed if CORSA wants to improve anything else!

[66vairguy]

Speaking of costs to run CORSA. Are the elected regional directors paid any monies by CORSA? Do the Board of Directors get paid?

Over the years our local club was told that CORSA "benefits" would be reduced if all club members were not CORSA members. Then other "schemes" came along to raise funds for CORSA. It seems like CORSA has a money problem.

[Frank DuVal]

The idea the local club needed to have CORSA members is simple. CORSA insurance covers the meeting! Freeloaders were coming to the meeting with the benefit of being covered by insurance and not paying their way. See, I wrote it from the other perspective.

Yes, both local clubs I belong to (NVCC, CVCC) have non CORSA members. We think of it as CORSA publicity, to get new CORSA members. Charge it to the CORSA advertising budget....

[davemotohead]

No they do not get paid, its basically a volunteer position as its a non profit organization. CORSA relies upon members dues and donations to operate so attracting new members and getting existing members to renew is most important! I don't think any Corvair guy would have a problem spending $40 to join CORSA if they see value in joining and understanding what CORSA does for the Corvair community. Right now CORSA has no real voice / presence on social media or the internet so how can new members even know about the organization and what they do? IMO its time for a media Blitz in advertising to garner more interest in the Club. Time to educate Corvair people about what CORSA does for them even if they are not a current member. Once people realize they are benefiting from Corsa when they go to a club meeting or Corvair event like the fan belt toss they will be more incline to join!

Its like we are a car dealership but we have the best car on the lot hidden in a back room and don't tell anyone about it and expect it to sell, Time to move CORSA to the showroom up front!

[joelsplace]

I think people should be directed here from Facebook. Use Facebook like the old Corvair talk email list. Facebook is terrible for answering questions and even worse for trying to find information.