archeryshooter

Anyone here belong to the olds club of america? If so do you like it? and what does it do? just looking for feed back I got a app from someone and was wondering if it is worth joining.

cutlassgal

There are lots of members on here. I just sent in the application and $40 fee a couple weeks ago. I printed the membership form off the internet, and sent it to the Lansing MI address on it. They still haven't cashed my check, and I haven't heard anything, so I don't know what's going on with it.?? Yo have to join it first before you can join your local chapter.

BIGJERR

Iam more to the race side of Oldsmobiles but enjoy recieving the all Oldsmobile car mag once a month......My car even made it into the readers garage portion last August so that was cool and a real surprise also.........There is some polictics involved in the mag and operrations but it doesnt concern me as I dont show my car at the OCA events.........Jerr

Aron Nance

I've been a Member of OCA since 1994, and the benefits far outweigh the distractions that Jerry mentioned. National Events, local Zone Shows (all protected by the OCA umbrella $1 million insurance policy); advertising to buy/sell in the JWO. Beautiful photography of Member's cars. model year advisors; meeting great people that share your love of Oldsmobile's; tech articles; the list goes on and on. My humble opinion.

allyolds68

I'm a member. It's an antiquated club that, it seems, is to beginning to slowly get brought into the 21st century. I think they want to cater to a broader member base but they just don't seem to embrace the electronic media. They could probably save about $20 a year on dues if they made the monthly "Journey with Olds" electronic. If they combined with the "Wild About Cars" website they'd have just about everything they need.

They are more race friendly than they were 8 years ago when I first joined. I think that has gotten a lot of long time detractors on board.

edit:

I see that Aaron posted while I was typing........on a truly positive note...his articles are some great entertainment too.....

slantflat

Is there a very active chapter in Atlanta/Georgia/the south?


Mike

jaunty75

I wonder about this. The average age of a club member is over 50, I would guess, and these are people who still want to hold that paper magazine in their hands. The OCA could give a discount to those who took the newsletter electronically as the major cost is the printing and mailing, I'm sure.

jaunty75

There is a list of chapters on the OCA website. Here's the list of ones in the southeast. You could click on the links to see how up-to-date the websites are. Some chapters are very good at keeping their sites up to date. Others look like they haven't been updated in years. It all depends on the interest and dedication of the local members.

http://www.oldsclub.org/chapters.htm...UTHEAST%20ZONE

jaunty75

You realize, of course, that you are wasting your money.


The OCA has long had this two-tier membership thing where you pay, currently, $40 for First Class mail and $30 for Third Class Mail. These categories have almost nothing to do with how fast the mail gets to you. You will receive your JWO just as quickly in the mail if you give them $30 as you would if you gave them $40.

But to start off, just to show how out of date the OCA is on this, the term "Third Class Mail" has not been used by the post office in probably 15 years or more. There are now a variety of ways businesses can send mail in bulk. There are "standard mail," "media mail," "bound printed matter," and several others depending on the type of business or organization and what is being mailed.

These other, non-first class services can take longer to go through the mail, but not a lot longer, and often not any longer at all.

The difference, though, is in the cost and effort required to and of the SENDER. The OCA can get a discount from the post office by pre-sorting their mail by zip code themselves before delivering the magazines to the post office. So the post office gives the OCA a discount on the postage. This is what these discount mail services often require along with a minimum number of pieces being mailed. But whether or not the OCA pre-sorts the mail before taking it to the post office or has the post office do it, the time it takes to actually travel through the mail and get to you is 1-3 days First Class and 2 to usually 8 or 9 by these other services. In my experience, having paid the "Third Class" rate for all the years I've ever been a member of the OCA, I've never gotten my JWO any later than anyone else I know, and I've sometimes gotten it ahead of others who paid the first class rate. The most important thing, though, is that I've never gotten it late enough to justify a 33% higher price.

So, yes, do join the OCA as, like others, I highly recommend it. But, save your money, send the OCA the "third class" rate, and enjoy your magazine pretty much just as quickly as anyone else.

davebw31

OCA has or hopefully had to much politics. It is a who knows who club. With the new pres. and the new guy in charge of judging hopefully will change things. Currently if you want your car judged, over restore it and buy all your stuff from In-Line Tube cause one of the owners is a judge!. Most of the judges do not even know what to check for far as what is correct or not correct. Especially if your car is in the 68-72 model year classes. I heard one older judge ask a younger judge last year at Sturbridge, Mass. Nats., "what is that shinny thing under the air cleaner?". It was only put on every V-8 Olds engine sold in the USA in 1970, it is the TCS switch, geezzzzzzs and this guy is judging my 70' F-85. Then this year at the OCA Nats. in Reno, NV., he is the head judge ! WHAT? you kidding me. They still marked me down for almost the same items that are correct, they just don't know. I even have an assembly manual that has 80 more pages and have the proof. They do not allow you to talk to them during judgeing. I DID NOT over restore my car. I guess I did wrong considering all the awards I got at the recent Hot August Nights, 3 Best Of Show ribbons, Best Stock Restored Car, $2500 in cash and awards, and being awarded the "2011 Hemmings Muscle Machine of the Year". I messed up didn't I ?

BTW: Last year I earned 938 points and this year 968 points at the OCA Nats.

citcapp

I have been a member for several years and an active member for just 4 years and the president of the Puget Sound Chapter for the last 2 years. I have found that like any other organization you get out of it what you are willing to put into it. For me I have gained a lot of knowledge by meeting other Olds enthusiasts and going to car show and on cruises. By being an active member I along with other active club members can put the needed pressure on our Board reps to work for change at the national level some of what has occurred in the last year. Yes you can get burned out by trying to create change yourself, you have to work within the system. Just my two cents.

Remember we are an orphan breed and sharing with others also opens up access to hard to find parts.

TK-65

Ive had my car judged twice at the OCAs since Ive had it done. Both times I talked to the judging crew while they went over the car and they had no problem asking me questions and with me talking to them. I even talked to the head judge for my class during the process and I do not get along with him at all.

cutlassgal

Well Jaunty, I don't know anything about the 1st and 3rd class mail stuff, lol. I just printed the application off their website, and it said to fill it out, list my Oldsmobiles, and send it with $40 to Lansing. So I did. Now I'm waiting to get a member number (?) so I can put it on the application for the local chapter so I can send that in with $10, lol!! After all this, I better get a member sticker or something to put in one of my car windows.

mike's88

Why even send it in when they take paypal now?

jaunty75

Because not everybody likes to use online payment services. Some people are still a bit skittish about putting bank account or credit card information out there. It's understandable.

rcorrigan5

I've belonged to OCA since about 2005 and I like it. I'm not much of a participant in OCA activities and I just recently joint the local chapter, after belonging to just OCA for over 6 years. I went to my first national meet in July and, for me, I liked every aspect of the way that meet was planned and executed. I do like the monthly magazine Journey With Olds. It's a top notch publication and the people that put it together do a great job. OCA does spend the greatest portion of their annual revenue on JWO and that's a bit of a downside but maybe someday someone will figure out how to get JWO out to members in its current, or even better, quality and a lower cost. Remember that all the people who do this don't get paid - they do it on their own time.

This site is one of the best forums for Olds enthusiasts. I've learned so much from people here, both technical and non-technical. For instance, just tonight, on this thread, I learned that "davebw31" may have very well been a part of assembling my car as it came down the Lansing assembly line in the first week of April 1968. I think that kind of information is pretty neat!

Another great site, as mentioned before and as you found out, is www.wildaboutcars.com. That site is still growing in many ways and, paired with this site and and OCA membership, it's like being a trifecta winner, in my opinion.

Randy C.