Boldsmobile

Please state who exactly you think is acting like a three year old. I'd like to make sure that's not directed at me.

You want to blame everyone else but yourself for how YOU make others feel?

Your post #6 states its all about collectabilty, implying if not stating that is your own POV. Than in your conclusion #1 , you state you don't share the viewpoint of those who don't welcome (implied) Aleros.

Which is it?

starfire

+1

jaunty75

I have no intention of making anybody "feel" any particular way. Good god, if we can't have an adult conversation without people breaking out in tears, then it's all over.

It's both. There is a HUGE difference between not regarding some cars as "collectible", or regarding some cars as less collectible than others, and being downright hostile to those who do.

I personally do not believe that the later Oldsmobiles are as collectible as the earlier ones. They're not as popular now, and they won't be in the future. That's my opinion. There's nothing hostile about it. There is no intent to demean or insult. It's certainly a legitimate opinion. I certainly would welcome any Oldsmobile at any car show.

But I also fully welcome and respect those who hold a different opinion, and I'm not going to go off half-cocked and start insulting people who hold those different opinions.

Hell, I own one of the least-collectible Oldsmobiles out there, an early '70s clamshell station wagon, something that I have never seen at ANY Oldsmobile car show at any point in history, and that includes the handful of Nationals I've been to as well as a host of local chapter shows. I know full well it's never going to be worth much, and I know full well that people don't regard it as collectible. But I don't care. I like it. I understand their point of view. I don't hate them. I don't insult them. I've never been not welcomed at car shows.

car_designer

That is the most important part, that you like it. I actually have been asked "Why would you take that to a car show?" about my Delta 88... a few times. But yet at the shows, many people come up look at it and ask about it. But there are those who don't think it should be there.

Perfect example is coming back to the car at a local cruise night and seeing someone leaning on the fender. Now just a little aside, they were sitting right over the horns, and didn't move even when I got in the car. But stepped away just before I honked

In the end, I can see both sides of the discussion. Right now, yes the 60's and early 70's cars (or at least most) are the popular ones. But a few years ago, the local antique car club folded due to lack of membership. So in 20 years, who knows, the muscle cars might lose their popularity just like the Model A's and T's did... Or their popularity will hold. Only time will tell.

Boldsmobile

You want to have an adult conversation but yet you call others a 3 year old?

You want to have an adult conversation but yet you suggest others are breaking out in tears?

You call these later oldsmobiles a sows ear and expected what? A ehug?

jaunty75

Ha! My sympathies. No one has ever quite said that to me.

What I like to do at car shows is set up my chair and stuff well away from my car. It's much more interesting to watch from a distance people who show any interest in the car, and they're much more likely to take a close look at it, peer into the interior, and so forth if the owner isn't sitting right there staring at you. That always intimidates me. This gives me a good sense of actually how much interest there really is in the car.

My argument would be that "right now" has been right now for 30 years. As I said earlier, 20 years ago, the '60s and early '70s cars were the bulk of what you saw at Oldsmobile shows. I think that's pretty much still true today.

Heck, the National Antique Oldsmobile Club was founded (in 1980, I think) with the specific purpose of keeping the Cutlasses and 442s out. While it's changed now, probably because their membership was dying off, their original policy was that Oldsmobiles only through 1960 would be recognized by the club and allowed to enter shows. Why? Because 1961 was the first year for the Cutlass, and the founders were tired of seeing Oldsmobile shows dominated by the Cutlasses and 442s while their '30s, '40s, and '50s cars were relegated to some side row at the edge of the show field.

It would be interesting to know why. My guess is that the membership grew older, and no new members were coming along. Why? For basically the same reason that I've been saying since the beginning of this thread. The Oldsmobile hobby in particular and the old car hobby in general haven't advanced much beyond the heyday of muscle cars in the '60s. Watch any Mecum auction. Yes, you see all sorts of cars, of course, and many are recent (last 20 years) models. But more than anything else, you see late '60s Chevelle after late '60s Chevelle after mid-'60s Corvette after late '60s Challenger or Charger or Hemi-Barracuda over and over and over again. This tells us something.

While they're still quite popular, of course, one possible reason for the decline in popularity is that, after 100 years, there probably aren't very many more restorable Model A's and or at least Model T's out there. The people who grew up with these are quite old now or no longer with us. Thirdly, other, equally popular cars came along in the '50s and '60s, and the hobby grew stronger and prospered. But nothing has come along SINCE those '60s cars that equals the popularity of those cars and the popularity of the A's and T's before them to give the younger people of today something to collect now and in the coming decades.

jaunty75

No, I expect an intelligent conversation. I expect people to understand the concept of a metaphor.

car_designer

I'm normally not sitting right around my car either. I often attend shows with a group of people and am normally sitting with them behind one of their cars, with mine normally a distance away. And like you said, it is interesting to watch people's interest in each car.

Redog

I believe that was directed at me, which considering the very next statement, I found it very very very funny

You're too nice, here that's an automatic fight, car show or not.

Was at a g/f's house back in the late 90's and some punk kids were all leaning on my car with a 40 and a few water bottles on the roof. Her father and brother came in from outside and told me that they were leaning on my car and wanted me to set off the alarm to scare them. I went outside and said "Yo, get off my car!" they looked at me like I was nuts, but got off. "And your **** too!" One of the water bottles ended up being thrown at the house.

Redog

It's so werid. I get so many compelments on my Delta it's unreal and the paint looks like total ****. The Alero all I get is "Yo! let's race!"

car_designer

When I do get to talk to people, around here I get "nice car", but often no real conversations. When I take it down to shows in the US, I get into good discussions with people. I guess we could get lower optioned cars up here than were available in the US.

Boldsmobile

If you expect an intelligent conversation, why are you name calling?

Oldsman71

Well this thread has been interesting and lots of the back and forth is part of the reason why Olds is dead and why the OCA has some of it's issues.

We should all be happy that we own an OLDSMOBILE no matter what year it is. We should also be happy when you see any OLDSMOBILE at a show or cruise-in because that is another one saved and will help the name live on.


Back on the topic, as for the Alero Chapter, we didn't have enough members to keep our charter. Whether it was the younger guys or the older guys trying to get members to join was like asking someone to go to the dentist.

We at the Alero chapter are working on staying alive so don't count us out.

jaunty75

You mean you didn't have enough members of your chapter who were willing to also join the OCA, correct? I think the minimum is 85% to be in compliance.

I don't know if there is a minimum number of members, period, to form an official chapter. In other words, could a chapter that had only, say, five members be recognized by the OCA if all five were also OCA members? If not, what is the minimum?

When I was involved with the Mid-Ohio Chapter of the OCA and we would fall below the 85% number, we would first contact those chapter members who hadn't yet renewed their OCA membership and ask them to renew. After a couple of months, anyone who hadn't renewed would be dropped from the chapter rolls, and they were informed of this.

It's kind of a blunt instrument approach, but we had to do it if we didn't want to lose our OCA affiliation. If we lose that, we lose the insurance provided by the OCA so that we could hold our annual car show, and it would be a pretty big deal if we lost that as the annual show was by far the chapter's biggest activity of the year. If the show went away, the chapter might as well fold.

Oldsman71

It is 85% compliance but you have to have 10 members that are OCA members.

jaunty75

Ah, I didn't know what the number was. Thanks.