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Revitalizing the "Classic Car" Board!
Mr_Shiftright
Member Posts: 64,481
in General
Dear Classic Car Board Loyalists:
A number of you have expressed some concern over the dwindling topic list in Classic Cars and also that we don't seem to be getting too many new visitors.
Of course, the Classics Board never had the activity level of say SUVs, for obvious reasons. We are, after all, connoisseurs of the unusual, and as we do not run with the pack (or take breaks from it to come here), it is understandable that we live in a smaller world here.
I have TWO suggestions for revitalizing the Board. One I will do and the other hopefully I can ask you to do.
First, I will ask Edmunds Management if we can disable Auto Archive, so as to keep our topics active even if there isn't any posting for a while. In addition, I will re-activate some of the once-popular Archived topics.
YOUR PART:
If you meet anyone online here in other parts of Town Hall, or if you know of someone already who is interested in Classics, please invite them over AND....AND..remind them to add the Classics Board to their Subscription lists. In this way they will be more likely to visit us periodically. Just e-mail them and invite them in if you think they have the "right stuff".
The Classics Board is a very friendly and interesting place and I'd like to see it continue.
Thanks!
Yours for a better Town Hall,
Shifty
(comments welcome)
A number of you have expressed some concern over the dwindling topic list in Classic Cars and also that we don't seem to be getting too many new visitors.
Of course, the Classics Board never had the activity level of say SUVs, for obvious reasons. We are, after all, connoisseurs of the unusual, and as we do not run with the pack (or take breaks from it to come here), it is understandable that we live in a smaller world here.
I have TWO suggestions for revitalizing the Board. One I will do and the other hopefully I can ask you to do.
First, I will ask Edmunds Management if we can disable Auto Archive, so as to keep our topics active even if there isn't any posting for a while. In addition, I will re-activate some of the once-popular Archived topics.
YOUR PART:
If you meet anyone online here in other parts of Town Hall, or if you know of someone already who is interested in Classics, please invite them over AND....AND..remind them to add the Classics Board to their Subscription lists. In this way they will be more likely to visit us periodically. Just e-mail them and invite them in if you think they have the "right stuff".
The Classics Board is a very friendly and interesting place and I'd like to see it continue.
Thanks!
Yours for a better Town Hall,
Shifty
(comments welcome)
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Comments
This board will never have the broad appeal of the other boards. That's both its downside and its upside. The other boards are more lively and you can learn a lot but often it's about the falibility of human nature--always entertaining in a train wreck sort of way.
We need a guy like vero (be careful what you wish for ;-) or ndance, someone with lots of opinions and a compulsion to post, but I guess those guys burn out quickly.
I think we could pull in a lot of carguys out there from other message boards, if we could pull them away from agitating about Hyundais and Daewoos-well-maybe not.
I think I started over in News and Views around 4 years ago, and somehow didn't visit Classic Cars for months after, because I was caught up in exchanges over there and only had limited time.
Now, though, I always come here first, and rarely post over there.
I think we just need some recruiting. There are LOTS of car guys out there who just need to be jumpstarted to Classics. But first they need to either buy or get interested in an old car.
They're out there. I see them everyday.
All noise and no substance gets old after a bit. I'm sure you've all experienced this.
And, we as individuals could ask webmasters of some car club websites to put a link to the Edmunds Classic Car Townhall on their website.
Just a thought.
Also car clubs are often volunteer - built but Edmunds has to pay the rent, so I don't think we could offer them a two-way link. Of course, we could devote a topic just to car club links, that would be okay I think.
Andre?
I'll do the same.
We did turn off the Auto Archive, so our topics won't disappear if there are no posts for a while. That should help, too.
Shifty
I recognize some names from other forums today too. That's good.
No Smokin' Olds 442 though....
The poor Classics Board is so modest, it couldn't stand controversy. It needs a benevolent membership.
Nevermind...we know one that's well stocked!
Just because you didn't make any friends there doesn't mean others didn't. Don't presume to tell me what I did and did not get out of that discussion thread. Anyway, no sense, I guess, beating a dead horse. We've moved on.
Lance -- ah, yeah painful subject. But don't speak for me either please. I thought I had friends there but not all proved to be so. Still, if there's a burr under your saddle about it, you can e-mail, I'd be glad to talk to you about it. I'm done with it myself, no hard feelings, none whatsoever, to anyone.
I like the linking idea. Can you guys suggest (in your wanderings around TH) topics we might link to this Board. I was thinking the one in News and Views on "Cars That Wouldn't Die" might attract interesting comments on cars that, if not classic, are at least old.
Any others come to mind that you've actually read and perhaps posted in? (good to know who you are associating with
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
The right crowd and no crowding.
But Andy is probably right. Some people might think we are snooty over here, but we're not.
You could link Alfa Romeo to the Sports Car board.
One of the two "Interesting cars I saw today" topics to just about any other vehicle boards (except SUVs, those guys are a little nuts ).
Hey...I got one of those! Its an old toyota pickup truck, with a whole bunch of cool stickers plastered all over it, and my redhead girlfriend rides shotgun all the time!!
So I personally have no problem with assigning the word Classic to extremely noteworthy, uncommon, special, spectacular cars. I do have a problem with calling everyday mass production cars "classics", and would rather use the word "collectible" or "special interest". Surely it's not a put-down.
If you don't, then Deusenbergs, Ferrari GTOs, Cadillac V-16s and an '81 Camaro are called "Classics" and that's just silly.
If we allowed everybody to make up their own definitions we are sort of doomed about making any sense.
Truth may indeed be "relative", but there are DEGREES of truth, we know that much.
Nope. I have a can of "Troll No More" right here on my desk.
But yeah-do keep that can on your desk...
No posts.
In deed, a '67 Barracuda Coupe or "Notchback". I bought this one for a friend in Germany, and took it to Charleston, SC harbor for shipping last Friday. Hopefully he will have it under the Christmas tree with a red bow (or does red not go well with the magenta...?).
It is a 273 car with a 340 implant, and original (and functional) a/c! Cool, fast, and loud (!) ride, a lot more responsive than my '70 'Cuda with the same engine, wonder why...
Anyway, here's the entire car:
Tarik
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Just out of curiosity, what's it cost to ship one of those overseas?
speedshift, yup, the growing body mass and all these convenience features kill my performance. Recently, I got to ride in a '68 Dart with a 440 - that thing should be outlawed right away...
andré, shipping costs have become ridiculous, I paid $1,300 from port Charleston to Bremerhaven, Germany (that's Roll-on/Roll-off, the container would have been $2,300!). This is still 500 miles from my friend's (Southern!!!) home. We'll probably pick up together while I'm there for the Christmas holidays. If my wife lets me. Maybe not...
Actually, there are two more of this kind, but in lesser shape. Projects the best.
don, that guy should hold on to the hatch, it's still cool...
Tarik
Some sense of humor those Mercury dealers have!
Basically, it's not really the factory or an expert or a book that determines if a car is a "collectible".
It is determined first by the exceptional nature of the car itself (if it has anything exceptional going for it)and then by the supply and the demand, which then drives the price up. A car is worth what a majority of shoppers are willing to pay for it. The rarity of a car has nothing to do with value "on its own". There are many rare cars that are worth very little, because---nobody cares about them. They are "rare" because nobody bought them originally.
If, truly, someone offered you $5,000 for this car, they are being spectacularly generous and I would accept the offer immediately, no question. If they want more of these cars for $5,000, please post their names here!
Probably the car is worth what you paid for it, and the chances of it becoming collectible or a classic are unfortunately practically hopeless. This is due to a number of factors: a) it is a sedan, b) it is a Mercury, c) it isn't old enough anyway and d) there is little demand for the car.
Until one or more of those factors change, there's no reason to suggest it will be a collectible car.
Best to just drive it and enjoy it and not listen to people who are telling you fairytales. They do you no service because then you might make bad decisions based on their bad advice.
The story would have quickly changed!
If simple rarity was the main factor, car collectors would be a lot more mad for stuff like Kaiser Manhattans and Studebaker Hawks. But while there are certainly people interested in those cars, they don't command the kind of mania -- and prices -- of Chevy Impalas and Ford Mustangs, of which there are hundreds of thousands.
If you like it and enjoy it, mazel tov, and you can take solace in knowing that because your interest is relatively rarified you didn't pay the kind of ridiculous inflated premiums that some hotter items command.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93