Midwest Sunbeam Club

[jack Bacon]

Well, I started mailing out a club promo letter and owner list to 50 Sunbeam Alpine & Tiger owners in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa & Wisconsin and so far the interest has been excellent. So far, the club name will be Midwest Sunbeams so far and the website is http://www.midwestsunbeams.org/ . Will keep you posted on midwest events and hope to have a Sunbeam gathering sometime this summer. Any Sunbeam owners in the Midwest drop me a line. We might affiliate with a national club but will need information on how to do that.

Best regards,

Jack

 

[Series3Scott]

Hey Jack - love your enthusiasm, but I'm a bit confused. You posted this under SAOCA Discussions, which leads me to believe you intend this new club to be an official regional chapter of the SAOCA?

We do have the provision for Regional SAOCA Chapters in our by-laws. If that is your intent, it does open up the doors for club funding as well as being covered under our club insurance, but we need to discuss this first.

If that is not your intent, I'll simply move this announcement of your new club into the General Chit-Chat section so as not to confuse people.

Please respond with some clarification. Thanks.

 

[jack Bacon]

Midwest Sunbeams

Yes, move to the General Chit Chat. We are just starting up and have to decide if we want to be a chapter of a national club. In the meantime, send me details on forming a chapter of SAOCA.

Thanks,

JAck

 

[Tullamore]

We do have the provision for Regional SAOCA Chapters in our by-laws.

Are there any at this time?

 

[RootesRich]

Are there any at this time?

Yes, the Southern Ohio Chapter is the most recognized due to the Invasion, but I believe there are others around. One of my goals for the summer is to have a gathering for those of us in Colorado.

The SAOCA Insurance Policy covers regional chapters so why not set one up and use it?

 

[AlpineIan]

I forgot about adding the by-laws to the SAOCA Info section of the site. That really needs to be up there. Scott, do you have a copy that I can put out there? The last time I remember publishing it was in the Alpine Marque at least 3 years ago.

The Mid-West has always been tough to get organized because everyone appears to be so spread out. I think it's good to get the middle part of the country organized.

I remember back when Tigertom was talking to me when I was starting the SAOCA. He and I had some really good discussions and the big question was "why do we need another Sunbeam club?" My response at that time was because there was no real focus on the Alpine... everyone back then was all about the Tiger and Alpines were an after-thought (or a Tiger parts car! ). I felt that there was no education or material being made available to Alpine owners and I didn't feel that it was ever going to be made available with the options available at that time. Tom made a statement to me that I will never forget. He said that the Sunbeam community fails because the owners are so divided and not united.

With that all said, my question to Jack comes full circle... Why do you feel the need to start another club instead of taking advantage of a platform that is already available to you. My next question is... Where do you feel the SAOCA has gone wrong? If you feel there are things we can do better we would love to hear about it in order to improve.

I have been discussing ideas in the past 6 months with the officers to try and make the SAOCA better... not only with this web site, but events and originazition. I think that everyone who uses this site needs to know that we are always open to ideas and want to make improvements.

 

[sunbeam74]

It would be great if regional chapters developed to a further extent. In the New England area we see other Alpine owners on occasions but really haven't held any specific "meetings".

Usually the gatherings we have had have focused around one of the Vintage race events or british car shows.

Steve

 

[AlpineIan]

We really lost track of the regional chapters. I know we even stopped having our monthly meeting here in the Souther Ohio Region... which was mostly my fault. I had become so wrapped up at my old job that I let those meeting slide.

Good news is that I'm now working for The University Hospital again and I will be able to get back to a normal life. I'm willing to continue my role as Southern Ohio chapter pres and start these meetings back up again. We used to have a ton of fun working on each others (Andy's) car... right Mike?

The by-laws really explaine the chapter roles to the club. I'll get to work on adding them to the site today. Hope to get them up there soon.

 

[chris]

I know over the years there has been loose talk about getting a California Chapter together. If Ian or Rich could send me a list of California members, I’d be glad to start the leg work. Even if we didn’t organize a new chapter it would be great to put together a gathering or mini Invasion for west cost members.

 

[AlpineIan]

Just posted SAOCA By-Laws under the "SAOCA Info" heading.

 

[napa 1]

Hi Chris. I sent you a PM. Thanks.
John.

 

[mikephillips]

Wasn't so much working on Andy's car as nagging him about the need to work on his car. I've been after him to change tie rod ends for years now. The only work seemed to be when it quit....

 

[Series3Scott]

I know over the years there has been loose talk about getting a California Chapter together. If Ian or Rich could send me a list of California members, I’d be glad to start the leg work. Even if we didn’t organize a new chapter it would be great to put together a gathering or mini Invasion for west cost members.

Actually, we have a new West Coast Regional Chapter, and a new President for that Chapter, John Prittie. John will be working with the region to coordinate club-related activity and promote the club and the Alpine in general.

 

[napa 1]

For all of you western Sunbeamers, we will be starting a Western Chapter of the SAOCA. It's important to note that we will be organizing as a regional chapter of the SAOCA so will continue to enjoy the support and resources that this great association has to offer. Please contact me via my email link or via PM if you would like more information.

Jack, it would be great if we could work together and compare notes on getting the Midwest and Western chapters up and running.

 

[jack Bacon]

Midwest Sunbeams

Just wanted to let the leadership know they are doing a great job here. I couldn't have found a nicer bunch of guys and have no problems with any part of the SAOCA. The club will continue to grow as we promote the Sunbeam marque.

Ian, thanks for posting the by-laws and good luck with the new job.

You are right about the benefits of being a Midwest Chapter of the SAOCA. I was mostly thinking of a non-club, no dues but with monthly meetings & tech sessions. Also a big showing of Sunbeams at the local british car shows in the Midwest and our own gathering in June or July. The website midwestsunbeams.org would be more of a clearinghouse for events -shows, tech session meetings, etc. Just promote Sunbeams, like the small sign on my dash at car shows "THIS IS NOT AN MG".

I will have no trouble gathering the minimum members for a chapter and can probably submit the necessary information for starting a chapter by the end of the week.

I imagine Tiger owners would be welcome to join a regional chapter also? I have had a good response from Tiger owners.

John, I would be happy to share ideas and information with any other chapter.

Best regards,

Jack

 

[Jim E]

Well Eric G. and I started our own club, S.C.A.T. we have no rules and no dues no meeting dates and will let most anyone in the club unless we do not want to..... actually when we do have a meet a good time is had by all, well I have fun cannot always speak for Eric and the guests are on their own. Say Eric are we a regional chapter? do we want to be? when are we going to fry another turkey. Oh heck we had a SCAT meeting the other day when Ian was here and did not even notice, dang, well another successful SCAT meeting! Eric we did not talk about it but I am assuming Ian made the cut for a temp SCAT membership, then again he did not bring any beer... hmmmm shall we let it slide?


S.C.A.T. the club with no sticker....

 

[alpine_64]

Well Eric G. and I started our own club, S.C.A.T. we have no rules and no dues no meeting dates and will let most anyone in the club unless we do not want to..... actually when we do have a meet a good time is had by all, well I have fun cannot always speak for Eric and the guests are on their own. Say Eric are we a regional chapter? do we want to be? when are we going to fry another turkey. Oh heck we had a SCAT meeting the other day when Ian was here and did not even notice, dang, well another successful SCAT meeting! Eric we did not talk about it but I am assuming Ian made the cut for a temp SCAT membership, then again he did not bring any beer... hmmmm shall we let it slide?

S.C.A.T. the club with no sticker....

hey Jim.. i thought the SCAT logo was the deep fried turkey?

 

[AlpineIan]

I always considered SCAT a chapter of the SAOCA

I think what Jack is doing can be very much the same as SCAT. Here in Southern Ohio we have John Engle who always attends our meetings and events. Those of you who know John will know his fantastic MKI and MKII Tigers. We even let Scott continue to attend after he bought the Humber!

 

[mikephillips]

By the way Ian, glad to hear things are falling into place again for you.

 

[jack Bacon]

Midwest Sunbeams

Things are progressing!

I found 12 more people in the four state area so I have 60 Alpine and Tiger owners on my list. Also found the original club roster of the Midwest Sunbeam Registry. This was a local Twin Cities esablished in 1981 with over 65 members. I will be making phone calls to see if any of these people and cars are still around.

The website is under construction but drop by -

http://www.midwestsunbeams.org/

Will start the SAOCA chapter application soon

Regards,

Jack