VTR.org...Need Membership

I was just on the vtr.org website, and noticed that you now need a membership to get to the maintenance section. I suppose the $30 a year won't break the bank, but I'm alittle disappointed, as that is the section that holds the most interest for me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I guess if I want to play, I have to pay. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Membership has it's privileges

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Membership has it's privileges

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Yes, yes it does. For example, membership provides the following:

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VTR publishes a quarterly magazine, The Vintage Triumph, which is filled with valuable historical and technical articles and industry news. In addition to the magazine, membership in VTR also includes:

* free classified advertising in "The English Channel" section of The Vintage Triumph ,
* access to VTR's staff of volunteer vehicle consultants,
* various VTR Triumph car club regalia,
* low-cost collector car liability insurance to members at costs far below regular insurance rates,
* an annual convention, hosted each year by one of VTR's many local chapters.


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[RANT on]
I don't see access to a host of technical articles of use to more than just Triumph owners there. Honestly, I would consider paying a small fee for technical articles without full membership (I already pay for membership in TVRCCNA) but that's not offered. The benefits of membership aren't really useful to me or other non-triumph owners in my mind because:

*I get the TVR Times 5 times a year plus have the wonderful people of BCF for stories and technical help
*Don't have a triumph of my own so parts aren't needed from classifieds
*VTR doesn't have TVR consultants
*Regalia for a club not about my car?
*Already have insurance, thanks. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
*Looked at the website for VTR Convention (since it's near me) and it seems to me that non-Triumphs are not welcome from the lack of mention of open classes or the presence of a "Make" on the registration form. Hey, at least there's Out of the Woodwork TVRCCNA's annual event which is open to all makes & models. Correct me if I'm wrong on this of course, maybe I missed the "Open to All Makes and Models" somewhere.

Of course, if I were paying a fee I would hope to see new articles as well, which the Wayback Machine seems to show isn't the case, since this list from 2003 doesn't look like its missing any of the articles listed here, and it even has a few more. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[RANT off]

P.S. Sorry if this is long-winded and feel free to disagree completely. Of course VTR can do what they want with their site, I just don't see the point of this. A lot of the information was useful to more than just Triumph owners. I will mourn the loss of useful pieces of it but won't be paying $30 to join a club that is not about my car just for access to one or two articles.