National B clubs

[Dennis P]

Does anyone have any experience with AMMGBR or NAMGBR? Which mags are best, which club offers more , etc?

 

[Guest]

you don't want to know about my recent experiences with NAMBGR, I'm hoping I finally got it straightened out after 7 months. We'll see

 

[aerog]

I joined the American MGB Association (AMGBA) a few years ago. Small friendly group - their technical manuals (two of them) are outtakes from their newsletters over the years and have some decent information in them, but nothing overwhelming. Their national (yearly) meet moves to a different part of the country every year so people don't always have to travel forever to attend - next year's is in Cape Cod, MA.

[ 10-25-2003: Message edited by: aerog ]</p>

 

[Kim de B]

I have belonged to both the AMGBA and the NAMGBR for a number of years. I recently let my AMGBA membership lapse, for two reasons:

1) The Octagon, the AMGBA publication, isn't very good, in my opinion. Stories are primarily brag pieces by members, with just OK tech tips that are brief Q&As, rather than lengthier, and more useful articles.

2) I've never gotten a sense from the Octagon that any real MG people are really behind the AMGBA. I've never gone to an AMGBA event, or met anyone, so maybe that's not a fair assessment. I'm just relaying the sense of it I get from the publication.

It is also my understanding that the AMGBA operates as a business, not a club. There's a president/editor, a vice president and a secretary, but those are positions in a company that publishes the Octagon, not elected officers of an organization.

And, the biggest reason I dropped my AMGBA membership is that two years ago I got to meet a lot of the NAMGBR folks when I went to MG2002 in Dallas. (Caravanned out there with the chairman, not having met him before, and got to really get to know a lot of great people.)

In a nutshell, NAMGBR is a national club, with volunteer officers who are elected every two years by members of the affiliated local clubs. It's a "member owned-and-operated" organization, not a business, and that makes a big difference.

NAMGBR's publication, The MGB Driver, is also a far superior publication. Although it only comes out 6 times a year, compared to the Octagon's 12, it is far beefier, printed professionally, and a much better resource. NAMGBR has some problems keeping The Driver on schedule, but they hope to get it on a regular publishing schedule this year.

Since I'm in a real position to compare, I can recommend unequivocably that you'll get more for your money joining the North American MGB Register.

(Chuck had a real problem getting them to grant him membership, but they're not usually that picky!

Oh, and by the way, NAMGBR's national convention (MG2004) will be in Parsippanny, NJ, on June 24-27, 2004. Since you're in New York state, you can come on down and check it out. There will be four and half full days of activities. (Tech sessions, rallies, picnics, valve cover races, funkhana, ending with the big show on Saturday.) They are expecting 400 to 450 cars from all over the east.

[ 10-26-2003: Message edited by: Kim de B ]</p>

 

[tony barnhill]

I've been messing with MG's since I was a teenager (I'm 57 now) & have never seen any benefit from joining either organization...I won't say anything bad about them or their attitude to those of us who like to improve & drive our cars or those of us who aren't heavily into showing our cars....I'll just say that I have the largest, most complete collection of post war MG's in the country - probably the world - & I'm not interested in either of them!

 

[Guest]

I'm surprised Tony didn't mention another international MG club, tha MG List. Lifetime membership for the cost of an email. more info on this fantastic organization can be found here. and Kim, you must excuse me if I say I'll believe it when I see it

[ 10-26-2003: Message edited by: Chuck Cougill ]</p>

 

[Kim de B]

My two cents (OK, maybe more) is that clubs -- local and national -- serve an important purpose to help new owners, especially, find information and meet people to hang out with who like MGs. They also generally help support the marque, and give vendors the sense of a community that needs to be served.

The internet, this site and others, including The List, have become fantastic ways to "meet" an exchange information, no doubt about it. I've gotten a tremendous amount of help with my car through the computer, and met some wonderful friends. And, it's free.

But . . . I still think it's important to maintain a national organization that helps keep the interest level high and provides structure and continuity in the effort to track how many MGs are still out there on the road. Tony's "The List" is outstanding, the British Car Forum and the MG Experience are just great. But they are all operated by individuals -- great, dedicated individuals -- and any one of them could close up shop tomorrow and pull the plug on their sites.

An organization like a local or national club perpetuates itself, because it has structured continuity and support from many people.

Do you, as an MG owner, NEED a national organization? Nah, you can get along quite well without belonging to one. But I think the minimal dues you pay helps keep MGs going.

And, I've only been actively involved (gotten to know some people) with NAMGBR for two years, so I don't know what experiences anyone may have had before that. But almost without exception, the people I've met are anything but snooty MG "purists" who trailer their cars and turn noses up at modifications. I've driven to Dallas and St. Louis with some of these people, and believe me, these people drive their cars.

In fact, NAMGBR has two subgroups, the 100,000- and 200,000-mile registers, for people keeping their high mileage cars going, and "Hammer and Tongs," a group for drivers who do endurance rallies -- 1,000-miles in 24 hours -- and otherwise believe in driving the heck out of their cars.

The group I know is always interested in looking at modified Bs, and believes MG owners should do whatever they want to with their cars, as long as they're driving them.

Like I said, that's more than my two cents worth ...

[ 10-27-2003: Message edited by: Kim de B ]</p>

 

[Dennis P]

Thanks for the info and advice. Kim, we may meet you in NJ next year, BGT just about ready to go!

 

[aeronca65t]

Here's the schedule for the national MGB Meet in NJ that Kim mentioned (right in my backyard, in fact).The sponsoring club (Central Jersey MG) is an excellent group...they also put on the Moss BritFest show.

https://www.mg2004.com/home.html

 

[Kim de B]

And, I forgot to mention that NAMGBR has another subgroup who are devoted to modifying and enhancing their Bs. (Although actually, anyone who is slightly crazed is welcome to join.)

It's called the Spurious V8 & MG Car Club

So if anyone thinks this is a stuffy concours-crazed national club, check out some of the cars on the Spurious V8 site.

 

[gene johnston]

Thanks for the observations Kim. I'm not a political or anything but there are several forces out there that would like to take our hobby away. The government and enviromentalist would just as soon see our cars crushed, see California. The other is age the cars and for the most part ours. At the next get together see how many youth are involved, not many I bet. I'm being asked to head our club next year and although hesitant and again apolitical feel some need to prepetuate and dis-spell some of the myths about the cars. The national and local organizations are a place to invite new joiners to get involved in a great hobby that can mean many things to many folks but most of all to extend the life and excitement of this endeavor.
Without us somefolks might as well have a field of old washing machines.

 

[tony barnhill]

Then those national clubs have to embrace those young neophytes, not turn away from them because they're inexperienced or think differently about what they want to do with their cars....they've gotta get away from their 'herd' mentality & 'better than thou because I've been around forever' (thinking like SCCA will kill them & the hobby)!

 

[Baxter]

Well said, Tony. Even the SCCA has realized over the past few years they couldn't continue thinking like the SCCA.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Baxter:
Well said, Tony. Even the SCCA has realized over the past few years they couldn't continue thinking like the SCCA.<hr></blockquote>

they have? not around here

 

[tony barnhill]

Not around here either!

 

[JFC]

I belong to the NAMGBR and although I'm not active in the organization, I feel it's important to belong. These organizations give a voice to the MG hobbiest/driver, visibility through the National Convention and a point of contact for supporting organizations and vendors. I certainly would like to see some of the regular posters here join as you could be great assets to the organization. There is certain safety in numbers as there are political groups that are trying to get our cars off the road. I get e-mail updates from my classic car insurance company informing me of exactly what is happening in this arena.

 

[aeronca65t]

Actually, the most active clubs here in NJ (for protecting old and classic cars) are the hot rod guys. They are the ones that brought around the "Historic" motor vehicle inspection exemption that allows me to drive my race-Spridget on the street. Some of the classic American marque-clubs (such as the National Model A Ford Club) have also done a lot of work.
Most sports car and foreign-marque clubs are too small to have much clout. The SCCA (I'm a former member) hasn't seemed to have done much in this area (as far as I can see), but I'm not sure they see it as their "mission".....the majority of current SCCA members are driving modern sport-imports.

 

[JFC]

No question. I certainly wasn't implying that our small club has clout on it's own. Rather that makes the point. By lobbying with the Hot Rod Association, the Mustang Clubs, Corvette Clubs and Classic car associations we have a voice. By lobbying as an individual I have no voice; however, as an organization of 400 or whatever the number is, we can lobby with the other organizations.
I recently helped complete lobbying in congress for tax changes that people in my business have been wanting for some time. Our organization is fairly small on it's own, but by allying ourselves with other organizations with the same interests we managed to help get legislation passed over a period of 4 yours of lobbying. The alliance was very diverse, but we lobbied twice a year and the pols got the message. This is just one instance of what an organization can do. Now to be honest, I don't know what the position of NAMGBR is and how active they have been. But they have the potential to have a voice.

 

[Baxter]

Tony & Chuck: At least at the top they seem to have realized the need to change their ways. They've been might exclusionary for a long time.

 

[Guest]

yeah but locally if your not autocrossing a formula car, you don't count. and participation in their monthly rallys has dropped to where they are considering canceling them