Why don't we start a "My Sandman' club?
Why don't we start a "My Sandman' club?
Vans.... This is the 2nd time round the block, 40 years later! talk about turning back the clock!
I had a word with a mate that has a lot of FB/FC's and he was having trouble finding an appropriate club, in that the FC clubs want standard cars and his are modified a bit, the hot rod clubs don't want anything that looks like a car, only old looking things (even if they were built yesterday and are fibreglass).
He heard that the various state registration departments were trying to get a standard type of rego for every state. Christ knows how long that would take though......
So I believe all we need is someone in Victoria to register us as a club and then we can join and form our own guidelines. We can appoint a number of vehicle inspectors and virtually run the club as a sub-group on this forum. I don't think it would be a real big job as long as we all share the work and keep formalities to a minimum. We can do this in a sensible way and not blatantly disregard the rules, or do things that draw the wrong type of attention to possible illegal modifications, and I think we can have our cake and eat it too.
I'd love to get my blown Torana on some sort of limited rego so I don't have to do other things (#%?!...) to drive it on the street and have my eyes on the mirrors all the time.
Who's interested?
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I had a word with a mate that has a lot of FB/FC's and he was having trouble finding an appropriate club, in that the FC clubs want standard cars and his are modified a bit, the hot rod clubs don't want anything that looks like a car, only old looking things (even if they were built yesterday and are fibreglass).
He heard that the various state registration departments were trying to get a standard type of rego for every state. Christ knows how long that would take though......
So I believe all we need is someone in Victoria to register us as a club and then we can join and form our own guidelines. We can appoint a number of vehicle inspectors and virtually run the club as a sub-group on this forum. I don't think it would be a real big job as long as we all share the work and keep formalities to a minimum. We can do this in a sensible way and not blatantly disregard the rules, or do things that draw the wrong type of attention to possible illegal modifications, and I think we can have our cake and eat it too.
I'd love to get my blown Torana on some sort of limited rego so I don't have to do other things (#%?!...) to drive it on the street and have my eyes on the mirrors all the time.
Who's interested?
Vans.... This is the 2nd time round the block, 40 years later! talk about turning back the clock!
I guess the only way to cover us all is to have a main body and have chapters under that. ie: mySandman car club of Australia....and have the Vic chapter, nsw chapter etc etc. All following the same rules, regulations and guidelines. I think one thing that will be a pain in the arse is how different states have different rules for modified cars. One rule wont fit all chapters.
I've often thought about this and was going to suggest getting in ouch with the guys that used to run the Sandman Owners Club. I think they are still about and frequent the forum seldomly? There ha been a bit of criticism about those joining clubs for the club permit and not being active members- my self included. However if their we're a club that I was passionate about I would be an active member.
There are other clubs that are national and have the state chapters as you have noted. One of the largest is ASRF of which I'm a member.
It would be interesting to note if their are other forum regulars that already have club memberships that would be interested in a Sandman club? Not that I would want to cause a defect from the other clubs.
There's a lot of research to find out what's required to establish a club and the arrangements with each state rego authority.
A lot to consider, a Mysandman club may change the current 'feel' of the forum and once you have paying members some may think they have an ownership. Perhaps it could work in a parallel to the forum, interlinked but separate. I'm very conscious of the effort and goodwill that has transpired from Blocker and respectful not to risk tarnishing what has been established already. Not that I think it would, should be very complimentary and feed of each other.
I'd be happy to be involved but I'm time starved like the majority of others. I deal with numerous clubs of varying scales being a Community Banker, some are effectively small businesses which is fine, but can push the realms of volunteerism. But as long as people are involved for the right reasons, and are passionate, personable and capable it could be a good thing.
I'd be happy to talk to the boss (Blocker) and others if you want to explore it a bit further??
Cheers,
Jez
"Interlinked, but seperate" is spot on. OK, the first step is we need to decide just what we want out of the club and our membership so that we can write an effective charter of membership.
Could I suggest the following to kick it off:
* A social family focus without onerous requirements of anything more than one attended function/run/show per year. A function/run/show could be as simple as a local branch organising a dinner get together for members and their friends/family to attend.
* Open to all with an interest (like the website), rather than just a plain "owners" club - however would be open to what the general feeling is in so far as vehicle registrations go.
Over to you folk...
Nunc est bibendum...
Need to do a lot of homework around some of what the other clubs do rather than 'recreate the wheel'.
I think that it would have to be a bit more specific to the Sandman series. Otherwise it's not really on topic as such. Not saying that it be necessarily has to be limited to geniune Sandmans (debatable topic), but perhaps HQ onward utes and vans? Could also have a allow 'other rides' of members. Club permits would have to comply with the varying state rules. Ive had a quick look at the Qld and NSW rules - they are much more restrictive than Vic. In Vic it's simply sign off by authorised club representative - the clubs generally insist on a RWC or inspection by their approved mechanic. A RWC is the safest option. The vehicle can then be used for any purpose accept commercial gain with each trip recorded in the log book.
I'd be surprised if the registration authorities would approve a club for the historical rego schemes if that was their only aim. So independent of the club permit the club would also have its terms of reference and rules, as suggested above - club aimed at owners and interested people of Sandmans, family orientated etc...
I think the club reg is a huge bonus of being a car club member, but I'm unsure whether state restrictions would get anybody too excited outside of Victoria? I reckon the Vic requirements were loosen a few years ago, perhaps the same will happen elsewhere if there aren't too many bad examples practiced here.
I think you bring up an important point; is potential club membership potentially available to be abused, and thus potentially able to be used to override the current established (revenue raising for govt) system? As you suggest, it needs to be approached in such a way that govt(s) can see there is no intent, nor even possibility of this happening for such a thing to be a success, (in my opinion at least).
Words MP's like : Safe, cheap, efficient, simple, regulated, controllable, reversible. trial period, improvement, crime prevention, profitable.
Words MP's hate : Blown, hoon, Torana, dragway, V8, turbocharged, crowds and gatherings, legal precedent, non reversible, endangerment, costly, administration, public risk, reduced profit, waste. (and just a few others....).
Anyways,
.....
Perhaps a constructive initial approach would be a decent study of the RTA rules for each state, work out which existing frameworks allow some form of vintage/club registration - state by state/territory that is, and whether these rules can be utilised for the desired effect of National Club/Vintage/Special registation, through, or affiliated to this site.
It may be possible the groundwork is already just sitting there, already legislated in some form, close to desired as discussed in this thread, but not matching up nationally, just hidden in the RTA legislaion(s) - I imagine its possible, just maybe perhaps - all states need to have a way to handle vintage cars it strikes me.
Of course the RTA legislation will probably be around 300 pages for each State and Territory, sure, but you gotta know your stuff before you go to government anyway or its usually a waste of time - unless you have a big issue and are prepared to play roulette with the govt (and it takes heaps of work as well - like heaps for years!). Seems better to go along with something the government was maybe considering doing anyway and assist that function?
....
On club membership fees for members with club registered vehicles, if paid up membership to a registered club is necessary to do something like this, and it is deemed desirable, it is quite possible this would only require (legislatively) a minimum of 1 dollar or something, .. but this draws me to other ideas presented in this thread
If this site was restructured with a paid up section whether it was 1 dollar, or, if it was say 15- 20 dollars per year, (or more), how would that really change the forum in actuality? - it's ranked anyway, so a simple idea would be that paid up members could just become ‘driving members’ underneath of their current site rank for instance.. But I would also understand people having concerns, I can see a number of areas at a glance where this could cause some issues.
Community groups can get really messed around when legal charters get placed over them, so this would need to be carefully considered I imagine.
How would the moderators (or club president/secretary/board/) decide the cost of membership, and would they be paid for their work?.... would there then need to be a vote on who is on the board?.... Would it need to be 'democratic'? is there a danger this could this outrank the current moderators..? What if a member gets elected to a position and it turns out they are real slack at forfilling their elected role? How would all this sort of thing be handled ? etc
It might be (perhaps) more productive to investigate first whether there is a way to come up with a way to do club or 'weekender' reg under current RTA regs anyway, at a stretch, maybe theres a way of doing this without formalising a club structure?
I would imagine that it is possible to truthfully submit to government that allowing club/weekender registration would be profitable to government; There would be heaps of roadworthy vintage, collectable and historic cars sitting in sheds around the country, many would be usually or indefinately unregistered, that owners would love to have 'weekender' rego on. So its arguably a revenue raiser, thats an angle to remember i reckon.
So not against the idea at all, but maybe there's another way to do it.
(Um.. No, I did not just put my hand up to read 2400 pages of State and Territory legislation... by the end of the week, ... or month !!) lol
Last edited by SLR_dave; 13-05-2014 at 09:05 AM. Reason: adjusted emoticon
Just to chime in, I have been trying to get started on a "car club" for a little while now (Vic) and have been getting the run around by Vic roads they only give me an email address that doesn't respond to me, Google don't help much either.. It's a bit like,You need this before you can do that, but you can't do that untill you have this
The only bloke I know personally that is a member of a Club tells me the club officials keep there cards close to there chest :( But one thing he assures me is that the 90 day thing is either 1x90 or 2x45 days "straight" meaning Not 90 selected days. hope i'm wrong but i are saying if you started 90 days from Jan 1st it would be done and dusted on March 31st and not eligible to re-new until the next calender year.
If any one can put me on the right track to starting a Vic Car club I would be very greatfull
It may be worth having a look at other clubs. I'm with the ASRF which costs $88 for two years. Initially there was the requirement of getting a RWC but not annually, no different to registering other other car for the first time. After the initial RWC cost, it works out to be <$200 per year including the 90 day permit and the ASRF member fees. No club requirements (attending meetings, runs) either, just got to be a financial member. Works for me
http://www.asrf.org.au/?page_id=9
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