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I think it is fair to point out that the current Board of Directors had nothing to do with the attempt to trademark the Full Classic and Modified Classic terms. It was done before most of us were elected. <P>Speaking personally, I was much less than enthusiastic about those terms when I first heard about them. I was just a civilian member at the time. To put it bluntly I didn't like them then, and I don't like them now. At the time, I even wrote the Board a letter expressing my view that this idea was silly to pursue. Obviously, my advice was not taken. In the near future, I predict you will notice that these terms will be given a quick and (hopefully) silent burial.<P>Although the proposal for the name originated in a previous Board, I?m not sure you can even blame them. It seems they were mislead. They were told that the trademark process wouldn?t cost very much and would be relatively easy to do. Subsequent reports were that all was on track and it was just a matter of time before the trademarks would receive their official Registered status. In the mean time, we were instructed to keep using the ?TM? on all our publications. I did my part; you?ll note that ?TM?s are all over the Web Site.<P>It wasn?t until we recently started getting huge bills from the attorneys that a red flag was raised. I can?t tell you off hand the exact figure of this waste of money. I can tell you that you could buy an entry level Classic car with it. These funds would have been much better spent on activities, publications, or maybe better not spent at all. <P>The good news is we aren?t going to spend any more money on this.<BR> 
<BR>As for the Hickory Corners event, despite the confusion about registration, I think you have to say it was a great success. We will learn from our mistakes, and the registration hassle will not happen again. I can only apologize for other people who were not willing to be a little flexible when it became obvious that there was indeed a problem.<P>I was one of the guys who pushed very hard to get this event to happen, along with Dave Mitchell, Tom St. Martin, and the rest of the people who are part of the Club?s ?Long Range Planning Committee.? We are known as ?The Trouble Makers,? because we ask ?Why not?? We suggested this combined event some time ago, but were told that it would not work. ?We?ve never done that? or ?We?ve always done it that way,? are the usual answers. As the make up of the Board has changed in the last few years, we finally convinced them, as well as the CCCA Museum Trustees, (they are separate entities) that it was worth trying. Judging by the turn out, I?d say it was worthwhile. Most people had a great time. It was fun. It was also a lot of work. Anyone who has hosted any kind of car meet will testify that it is not easy. This was two meets in a row. For the most part, the labor force was your current National Board of Directors. No, we didn?t get the ?sit down? jobs like registration. We schlepped equipment, ran judging meetings, worked tabulation committees, drove stakes in the ground, moved tables, parked cars, played announcer, jumped dead batteries, unpacked and presented trophies, found fire extinguishers for those who forgot to bring one, and generally worked a couple of 18 hour days back to back. We then all drove to Chicago for two very long days of Board Meetings.<P>Our current Board is not perfect, but it is pretty darned good. We are all just a bunch of old car guys (and gals) who enjoy the hobby and want to put a little back into something that has given us so much enjoyment and pleasure. We care very much about the well being of this club and try very hard to make it the best it can be. Every now and then, we have to stand back and remember that this is a hobby. It?s supposed to be fun.
“Under 40,” you bring up some really good points. I am a second-generation old car guy. My earliest recollections revolve around riding in my father’s 1918 Cadillac. When I was six, he and I went to unearth a 1912 Buick from the inside of a collapsed chicken coup. The car had been stored there since 1921. I still have the it. That Buick is probably why I am so involved in this hobby. Stamp collecting would have been much more sensible. For me, getting kids involved in the hobby is a sure fire way to insure that there will be future generations of old car enthusiasts.<P>Several clubs have some sort of Junior Membership program. Doug Drake, Past President of AACA, runs one of he most inventive I’ve seen. At their National Meets, he organizes a group of kids together and engages them in an inspection tour of some of the cars. Of course, he gets the car owner’s permission before attacking the car with a gaggle of children, but the kids respond very well to learning about the history and features of old cars. They always seem eager to learn and are quite polite and well behaved. I've never heard of a problem. Doug usually arranges for them to ride in a car, which is always a highlight. <P>Doug’s approach works well on a couple of levels. The kids have a good time, and their parents get a little time off from their offspring. Everyone is happy. I'll bet we will see some of those kids involved in this hobby in their future.<P>There has been some talk about establishing a Junior Membership in CCCA. I think there are some reservations about enough interest to make it worthwhile. My guess is that participation might be pretty slim, but we’ll never find that out if we don’t try it. I’m for trying it. The worst that could happen is nobody participates, and we end the program.<P>I think the main hang up at the moment is finding someone who wants to take the project and run with it. If someone came through with a good plan and presented it to the Board, I believe they would get the support they need. I doubt it would be necessary that the person running the project be an elected Board Member.<P>You also mention that we ought to be able to accommodate people who have made a mistake in their registration. I agree, but there are several perils that are not immediately obvious, which I will discuss in a minute.<P>At Hickory Corners, there were two applications for the event. One was for the Experience, and one was for the Grand Classic. Several people thought if they filled out one, there was no reason to fill out the other. The problem was they were two separate events, sponsored by different entities. Of course, since the organizations in question had a lot of the same people working both events, we should have noticed there was a problem. Unfortunately, the thought just really never occurred to anyone. The fact that people would register for one event and not the other didn’t seem very unusual, since some of the cars in question did not qualify for both meets. To further compound the problem, the people who could have made a difference did not find out about it until much later in the day. That was just bad communications on our part, probably in caused in part because many of us were spread a little thin. <P>At our last Board meeting, we discussed ways to empower an “Exception Committee” to attempt to fix these problems as they occur. Each GC will have its own committee, comprised of local and national officials. We hope it works.<P>Now to the previously mentioned perils: When somebody doesn’t pre-register and just shows up, the standard practice at a Grand Classic is to allow them to put their car on the field as an “Exhibition” vehicle. It is difficult to judge them on short notice for a variety of reasons. Usually, we have a finite number of trophies ordered for the event, based on pre registration figures. It’s not a big deal to mail one to a late registrant after the event, so we could easily overcome that problem. Judging might be a different story. We are usually short of qualified judges. The Area Head Judge usually makes his judging team assignments well in advance. This is a job that looks easy, but it is not. Insuring that nobody judges his own car and organizing well-balanced teams takes more time than you’d think. When extra cars show up at the last minute (usually well after the Judges Breakfast & Meeting) it really throws a monkey wrench in the works. Even so, that relatively speaking, is a minor annoyance. The number one reason the Club doesn’t like to accept last minute arrivals is much more sinister. It seems there are people who try to pass off a “cobbled up” car as a Full Classic. I’m talking about cars that did not originally exist. If history is a teacher, the standard way to do this is to register the car as late as possible for a meet. This way the Club does not have any time to do some research to see if that boat-tail speedster Packard started out life as a hearse. I used to be naïve enough to think that nobody would pull that kind of thing. We are supposed to be a club of ladies and gentlemen. Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed this happen several times now. As a result, my viewpoint is shifting a bit. We’re all pretty sure that CCCA Senior Badges really do mean something. I like to think it means it’s a great car. Unfortunately, as my friend Peter points out, it seems even more significant when the car is being sold. <P>The “good guy” in me wants to accommodate any and all, especially if a simple and honest mistake has happened. The National Awards Chairman in me has more problems with last minute walk up registrations. Currently, there is a little time for us to screen late registrations. Bogus cars still get through. If we accepted any and all latecomers at the gate, I’m afraid we would open our judging system to all kinds of abuse. I’d like to be proven wrong on that count. I always expect the best out of people. Unfortunately, I am sometimes disappointed.<P>Perhaps a reasonable compromise would be to accept late arrivals from cars that have already received a Senior. Unfortunately, in the case of a recent possible example, that wouldn’t have worked. The car had been judged (and won) before. Sometimes they slip under the radar screen.<P>Well, if you made it this far through my rather long post, it should certainly give you something to talk about.<BR> 
<p>[ 07-19-2002: Message edited by: Chuck Conrad ]
There are no "Silver Bullets" to solve the problems. Just a slow and reasonable approach. The Club will be fine. 