Ideas to attract new young blood into the MMOC

Discuss anything Morris Minor related.
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mike.perry
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Post by mike.perry »

It was you that said he hadn't been on line for three months, implying that he had lost interest. I was just suggesting a course of action. I know that Rosie would then check with the registrar to find out what the situation was.
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Judge
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Post by Judge »

I wasn't implying anything Mike, just stating a fact. However I have sent Lee a PM, and will await his response.

Would you like me to send out some more emails and find another 350 Series MM's worldwide for the Register as I have done previously :wink: :lol:
Bill Hewlett

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stag36587
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Post by stag36587 »

I think best way to promote the minor is to write a few children's novels with a moggie as a central character, or maybe just petition for repeats of Lovejoy (did I just say that?) :roll:
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Judge
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Post by Judge »

stag36587 wrote:I think best way to promote the minor is to write a few children's novels with a moggie as a central character, ....
I think that someone planned to do that, and I seem to remember it being promoted at a National Rally. Unfortunately I've not heard anything about it since.
Bill Hewlett

Oxon & Berks Branch Chairman - MOT-UK Organiser (see http://www.blurb.com/books/1518384 and http://www.blurb.com/books/2422813)
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Judge
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Post by Judge »

Judge wrote: However I have sent Lee a PM, and will await his response.
You'll be pleased to hear that Lee now has the matter in hand, and will be updating us all in good time,
Bill Hewlett

Oxon & Berks Branch Chairman - MOT-UK Organiser (see http://www.blurb.com/books/1518384 and http://www.blurb.com/books/2422813)
Oxon & Berks Website: http://www.bucksinfo.net/mogbox/
Robins
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Post by Robins »

In regards to the childrens book. It has been done and was called 'Meet the Moggies' I have a copy bought through minor monthly I believe back in 2000. Ment to be a series I think, but suppose due to lack of interest it never took off.
cheers, Daniel
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Will_van_Es
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Post by Will_van_Es »

Been coming on here for a month or two - since my dad bought a Traveller; some of you may know of it, it's the first car JLH ever made (NNA 137W).

And actually, i'm very interested in Minors. The only problem for me is deciding what sort of car to buy, if i do buy one in the end. I think i've settled on a 2dr Saloon, but then i don't feel the 1098 is suitable for everyday driving, so a 1275 it'd have to be. But then i'm not sure whether the insurers would class that as a major modification and raise the premium?

And then i start to doubt whether i'd be able to weld or even afford the whole project and run out of money halfway through. Problem is, i'd like a good condition car, with no chassis rust etc. I feel that i'd be able to tackle any bodywork issues and most mechanical with the help of my dad.

And then there's the problem of where to store the car. My dad has a Traveller and a TR8 (alot like Bmcecosse) so the garages are full, and the driveway has two cars on.

Anyway, i don't know why i wrote that as it has nothing to do with the original post, but hey.

I have looked at Ford's as well: 100e, 105e, Cortina MkI/II... But decided that the Minor was the better looking, and from what i've read very easy to work on.

Answer is - i don't have any idea why youngsters aren't interested in the Minor, in my mind it's the best classic car out there!
alex_holden
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Post by alex_holden »

Will_van_Es wrote:i don't feel the 1098 is suitable for everyday driving
IMO a healthy 1098 is perfectly adequate for a daily driver.
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jonathon
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Post by jonathon »

Hi Will,welcome to the forum, great to have more young blood on here,and I hope NNA is behaving itself.(It was our first K series) rather than our first build :D :wink:
I think the reason for the lack of interest from the younger generations might be that both the Mini and Beetle have such a great image. There are afterall only a small percetage of people your age that are even remotely interested in classics and if they are than the other two marques mentioned do such a good job in attracting them.
The Minor does not have this image yet and I fear might never have it as more modern cars are cheaper, more reliable and offer all of the goodies that most younger drivers seem to want.
The Minor can however be exciting, as I'm sure you are aware of with NNA, there are plenty of saloon racers or track/sprint cars out there to generate a modified interest, however row of parked Minors at rallies leave even the most enthusiastic Minor owners cold and wanting more.
I hope you decide to buy yourself a saloon and enjoy every moment of its ownership :D :wink:

simmitc
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Post by simmitc »

I second Alex's point, a 1098 is fine for daily driving. I use mine to commute to work and have driven from Essex to Plymouth and Inverness on holiday. A 2 door saloon is perfectly happy to live outside. So, please Will_Van_Es go ahead and buy the car. You'll be welcomed with open arms, and will find the car and fellow owners to be very friendly. 8)
moggyminor16
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Post by moggyminor16 »

hi all can i put a word in well going to lol
there is all ready a BMC/BL day at Petergough in Aug i been each year for about 5 year the is alway a big slot for the owners club and normaly im the only one parked in there why dont know ?
my son has a minor all the kids at his school think its grate they lov mine lol
why not try and join in with the east cost truckers and join in on the kids day were they take disabled kids out for the day to the Amercan theam park them in convoy all the way in to Gt yarmoth and the roads are lined with people waving etc and the young ones are there as well waving
only a idear but may work never know do ya
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Will_van_Es
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Post by Will_van_Es »

jonathon wrote:(It was our first K series) rather than our first build :D :wink:
My bad :D And yeah, it's going great. Just a shame we can't take it out much at the moment, with the weather and all. Man how i'd love a Zetec Minor... :P

And Alex, i'm sure a 1098 is okay, i think i'd enjoy being able to cruise at 70 without having to shout to hear myself though! 1275, 5 speed. Or Zetec 5 speed. Or... There's too many options. :D
FrankM83
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Post by FrankM83 »

OK first of all welcome WIll :D as to why youngsters don't drive Morris Minors I think it's due to the point that not many youngsters see Morris Minors! so I think the club ha sto promote the Morris Minor in some way!

BMC/BL day yes forgot that exists, that's a good opportunity for the Morris Minor

Also we need ideas how to promote Morris Minors, one thing I remember is a jeans company once used a Triumph for one of their ads! suddenly all my friends wanted a Triumph!! but they' couldn't find one as except for the HErald we don't have much else from Triumph in Malta but the point is a good advert for something related to youngsters would be a good promotion for Morris Minors

FrankM83
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Post by FrankM83 »

Oh and andy my bad when sayinf a modified car show, I too anjoy standard classics! but have to admit many youngsters attend modifed car shows! and as I said before I was attracted to Morries first from a V8 Minor then when I started learning more and driving one of them I started appreciating every type of Minor

mrmorrisminor
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Post by mrmorrisminor »

I'm probably not classed as a young member any more, having just turned 30 but I have been using my trusty almond green 2 dr saloon for daily transport for the past 11 and ½ years and my 19 yr old brother has been driving his 4dr for just over a year now and we both have come across many of their issues raised so far.

The cars seem to have the Miss Daisy/Marple image. I have barely been able to drive my traveller (almond green) with pride since Roy and Haley Cropper attempted to hang curtains in the back of theirs in Coronation street, not to mention Dot Cotton also owning one!!

On a more serious note, I feel sympathetic modification should be more actively encouraged. I can remember proudly taking my car to a minor specialist for a valuation after months of restoration back when I was a teenager, only to be criticised for using the wrong shade of white on the wheels......I was somewhat disheartened!

If we could find ways of showing that our cars can maintain the charm of their simplicity and links to those good old days but be tweaked to bring them up with modern standards I think more youngsters would be interested. (I have an electric front screen which is the envy of all my neighbours....no scrapers here!!) By driving the cars and getting them seen is the only way, in my view, to keep them going and get new people interested. My brother's friends all love his now and my mates still call on the trusty green 2 dr for jumpstarts when thier bits of mofern plastic wont go! My saloon is somewhat of a celebrity in my street, and at school (I’m a teacher). I can proudly say that all children in my school (400 in all) can recognise a Morris Minor!! They have regular updates on the latest resto projects, complete with photos…. I’ve found that loading them as a screen saver on my laptop provides excellent subliminal learning!

Events like the London to Brighton run were quite high profile and on the ones that we attended, there were people of all ages looking with keen eyes at our cars. I realise that this must have been an absolute pain to organise but the sight of over 200 Mogs on Medera drive in Brighton was something to behold! (and what a 'trendy' venue if that's what we are aiming at promoting??) It seemed a shame that in our 60th year we did not have an event like this to look forward to.

I feel that the club has to become a little more open minded about things and I'm glad to see debates like this as it shows that it has gone quite a distance to achieving this. I realise that my brother and I are probably the worst members for not attending our local meets, but I figure we do our bit with driving the things every day! :oops:
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http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=54234
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FrankM83
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Post by FrankM83 »

well what can I say!! a big hurrah to u then!! that's a very good way of promoting the Morris Minor, as you say it's no good dishearening people about modifications! In my opinion the fact that someone is keeping a Morris Minor on the road in anyway is a good thing for the future!

dalebrignall
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Post by dalebrignall »

there is an image of old car old driver,if we can show that minors are a livley car to drive i think that could help. think about cheap to maintain run and ensure.thats what kids need a car they can afford to run.i use my mog a lot and prefere it to my modern car,because you have to drive it.the car has great personality lets show people.standuard engine is fine for daily use with all the traffic jams you still meet the person that overtakes you at 90 in the jam.
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aupickup
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Post by aupickup »

young at heart drivers you mean, old indeed :D :D
Jefftav
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Post by Jefftav »

I think Will sums it up as a new driver interested in Morris Minor but wants more performance - like you can buy in a Saxo/Corsa etc - and lets face it most 17yr olds don't want to spend time converting a Morris for this kind of performance.

I found the intial comments very heavy as the idea of a club is to promote something of similar interest and the people running it are probably volunteers with limited time/resource. They can't do everything but in general MMOC should have an open doors policy and endeavour to keep insurance premiums and parts prices low so that they are as affordable as possible.

I am 41 now but have been driving Minors for 20+ years mainly cause my GDad, Dad & Brother were all into them and it was a cheap car that I could usually fix on my own. I also like the friendly banter and the amount of times a friendly face has come and spoken to me about my car is amazing. Times however have changed and to attract the young 20somethings is alway going to be difficult as generally they don't grow up with classic cars unless a family member has an interest and I don't think a breakaway club will make any difference to this.

My solution (tongue firmly in cheek) Woolworths and Honda are being sold of at the mo. Put club funds into Woolies to promote regalia, parts, car sales and restoration (restorations on every High Street in Britain). As long as we keep selling Pick & Mix I will help. Buy Honda to advertise MMOC worldwide and young folk will see it on the grid. Just think no overheads as we can all change tyres and put fuel in and even change an engine if we have to. Personally I could cope with a few weekends in the Sun changing the odd tyre and it beats your average car rally hands down.

Keep up the good work and enjoy the MMOC our strength is in numbers and the committee need to work to keep our car to the fore so we can all afford to keep them on the road so that young folk see them and in hard times maybe a Moggy will make some sense.

Cheers and thanks for chance to put in a piece, Jeff
aupickup
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Post by aupickup »

when i was 20 the minor was a pretty good IN car and van at the time
yes a few had VW , and triumph

any case i think the image can be lifted, if enough yougsters take over

how about if a couple of the younger ones opt for the committee next year, just a thought, then this would bring in new and young blood at committee level
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