Challenge participation

My first reaction when I read Mr. CookÔÇÖs comments was annoyance, mainly at the hectoring, childish tone. After all, weÔÇÖre all adults here and if we want to be abused we can always take a plane flight somewhere. A club ought to be fun and itÔÇÖs not fun to read snarky stuff directed at the membership. But then, it bugged me enough that here I am writing so it must have struck some kind of chord.

Suggestions IÔÇÖve read in the thread seem very reasonable but it seems to me that whatÔÇÖs at work here is something very fundamental and no amount of editorial browbeating is going to reverse the flow. I belong to the BMW and Ferrari clubs, too, so I get a little bit of perspective from the pubs and the (admittedly) thin mix of events that weÔÇÖre able to attend as a family. Basically, I think the Jag clubÔÇÖs challenge boils down to two closely linked things -- demographics (i.e, age and money) and product line, some of which we can reasonably influence, some we probably canÔÇÖt.

As comparison, the BMWCCA seems to be hugely vibrant ÔÇô lots of people, lots of activities. The key seems to me to be that the marque has a long and consistent history of exciting products that attract and keep a range of enthusiasts from entry level (that is, inexpensive, both new and used) to upper end. New buyers across the economic spectrum have a way in, also across a wide spectrum of products, many of which are attractive, agile and dependable. The company races and it bakes performance into its products consistently, year after year. The on-line forums are wide ranging and events are varied from formal competitions to end-of-workday happy hour gatherings. Above all, the club offers a friendly environment for family participation.

The FCA strikes me a similarly vibrant but with a performance-oriented edge stronger even than the BMW club. That makes sense given the consistent heritage of the marque up to the modern day ÔÇô witness F1 over the past decade, in particular. The product line is clearly high end but if youÔÇÖll settle for something less than a V-12, there is a lot of used entry-level product that will get you on the road. There are fewer people involved and they generally seem to be older on average with fewer younger children around. The events are somewhat rarified relative to the BMWCCA but it seems like a friendly and enthusiastic group on the whole.

Frankly, the Jag club comes in a trailing third, in my ranking anyway. The product line since the XJS lacked excitement until the new XK appeared. But even then thereÔÇÖs been no entry-level spark to go along with that high end. The dedicated effort at Le Mans paid off well and FordÔÇÖs attempt to get back into F1 under the Jaguar name was great while it lasted but there really wasnÔÇÖt the same dedication to that ÔÇô and in retrospect nobody should be surprised at the lack of serious commitment. On the entry-level side of things, the X-type wasnÔÇÖt even close in terms of excitement. The new performance headliner simply looks bland compared to the predecessor sporting machinery ÔÇô one manÔÇÖs opinion, of course -- but even if you like them all, whereÔÇÖs the young blood going to come from? Second and third owners of recent Xs, Ss and Js? I doubt it. ThereÔÇÖs just too much other great sporting stuff out there to get people excited. A good example ÔÇô a friend of mine at work with the money to spend on most any car project heÔÇÖd want to bought a TR-6 to do.

More to the point, somewhere in there the ÔÇ£JaguarÔÇØ that I grew up with and love ÔÇô and you probably did too -- became little more than a ÔÇ£brandÔÇØ in the ad-speak of today ÔÇô a variant of a Ford, soon to be a ÔÇ£Ta-taÔÇØ, little more than a pawn in a third-world manufacturerÔÇÖs bid for global status and market share.

This challenge gets played out when the DC chapter of the BMW club has its traditional joint concours in the spring with the Porsche and Mercedes clubs. The Porsche club runs hot for performance across a wide spectrum of new and old vehicles, the Mercedes club runs hot for straw hats and excruciatingly painstaking concours inspections of a lesser number of aging cars. Even as a successful volume manufacturer, you donÔÇÖt see many newer ones. The BMW club comes across as social, familial and encouraging about impressively clean performance machinery (new and old) but itÔÇÖs not very anal about documentable originality or bottom side cleanliness. The Porsche and BMW clubs have a big turnout, the Mercedes club has a much smaller group that seems more inwardly focused and ascetic. Frankly, the Jag club strikes me as the same sort of culture, by and large.

IÔÇÖm not trying to say that any of my relative observations about one club makes one somehow better or worse than another. ItÔÇÖs simply that the demographics of what has basically become an old car club (product line) are the driving forces that are going to make it harder and harder to grow ÔÇô if thatÔÇÖs what we really want. ThereÔÇÖs just not much we can do directly about the product part of it but maybe we can do something, over time, if itÔÇÖs important enough, to broaden the demographic of the club. If we want more people at events, I think we have to make sure that we consistently honor the ÔÇ£soulÔÇØ of the club -- the ÔÇ£sporting traditionÔÇØ of the cars in a way thatÔÇÖs eclectic, friendly and inclusive. There are lots of options these days about how one spends oneÔÇÖs time and car people are no different. If the objective is to increase participation, we should be less esoteric and more inclusive and everything we do should be designed to bring people in or showcase the club in the presence of more car people. Otherwise, they ainÔÇÖt makinÔÇÖ ÔÇÿem like they used to so maybe we just have to be reconciled to a core of participants and make that as much fun as it can be.

Ken
1971 S3 2+2
1969 S2 OTS