A US Club?

[Al N.]

I like the future owners sentiment, but if that messes things up and created an "associate" members level that overcomplicates, then we use your verbiage above.

[JohnCh]

Seems to me that limiting membership to people who have an interest in a se7en/7/seven/LSiS (whew!) should be restrictive enough for the IRS.  After all, that is a pretty dams small percentage of the population. 

 

-John

[stevet]

I agree with Al, the 'future owners' sentiment (whatever the wordage)

is worth having - I remeber joining the UK club before I bought my

first Caterham so I could get a better impression of the likely

ownership experience, and the kinds of issues (and people!) I would be

dealing with.

 

[77R500]

 

Might I suggest simply "Description - A Front-Mid engined car that is, or is inspired by, Colin Chapmans Lotus 7 which itself was post WWII British hill climb special."  There could be verbage somewhere that if a car is in question the situation would be resolved on this website by a pole of the members. 

 

 

Funny thing is that Caterham is not Lotus 7 or a car inspired by Lotus 7.  Nearn bought the Lotus 7 tooling, parts, and the design rights from Chapman, and continued making, and evolving, the same car.

 

And really the only cars truely inspired by Lotus 7 are Birkin and Westfield, and they have the legal bills to prove it.

[Al N.]

Welcome 77R500 (are you the guy with the bona fide R500 in the Bay area?) If so, I think we've corresponded before.

 

 

 

I think there are some uber-purists who might argue that even Caterhams are not the genuine (and I own a Superlight myself) thing...that only cars breathed on by Colin C. himself are the real deal.

 

 

 

That said, the LSiS verbiage came from a kit car article from a while back, and seems to work for most folks. I mean, how could you not say that the "Rotus" was not inspired by the Lotus?

 

 

[77R500]

 

I think there are some uber-purists who might argue that even Caterhams are not the genuine (and I own a Superlight myself) thing...that only cars breathed on by Colin C. himself are the real deal.

 

That said, the LSiS verbiage came from a kit car article from a while back, and seems to work for most folks. I mean, how could you not say that the "Rotus" was not inspired by the Lotus?

 

Very true, a Caterham is not a Lotus, its a Caterham.

 

The name Rotus is obviously a play on Lotus, but that says nothing about the car itself.  The reality is that there are many, many, many front-mid-engined sports/racing car designs in the world, but very, very few, perhaps only four counting Lotus, that directly mimic the Lotus 7.  Others that claim linkage to the 7 claim that they've come up with a better way to do it.  Nothing wrong with that, but its not the same.

 

Don't think that's being "uber-purist", just accurate.

[locostv8]

 

 

K. Anyone have a problem with membership being limited

to "past and current owners", and immediate household?

 

I agree with Al, the 'future owners' sentiment (whatever

the wordage) is worth having - I remeber joining the UK club before I

bought my first Caterham so I could get a better impression of the

likely ownership experience, and the kinds of issues (and people!) I

would be dealing with.

 

 

 

Yes, LSiS, 1 dues = 1 Member = 1 vote.  Anything else creates a haves vs have nots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Corvette grey beards have nothing on the Cobra

faithful, look at http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/index.php sometime

(original vs real vs clone vs replica vs kit vs scratch build (makes

your head hurt))....

 

 

 

 

Might I suggest simply "Description - A Front-Mid engined car that is,

or is inspired by, Colin Chapmans Lotus 7 which itself was post WWII

British hill climb special."  There could be verbage somewhere

that if a car is in question the situation would be resolved on this

website by a pole of the members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny thing is that Caterham is not Lotus 7 or a car inspired by Lotus

7.  Nearn bought the Lotus 7 tooling, parts, and the design rights

from Chapman, and continued making, and evolving, the same car.

 

 

 

And really the only cars truely inspired by Lotus 7 are Birkin and Westfield, and they have the legal bills to prove it.

 

 

 

>Brent Mills[/url] 

 

 

 

vbmenu_register("postmenu_420565", true);

 

 

 

 

 

 

CC Admin/Member

 

 

http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48363 ]

>http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/imageu=9454&ampdateline=1097425859

>Brent Mills http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/images/statusicon/user_offline.gif vbmenu_register("postmenu_420565", true); CC Admin/Member >http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/images/statusicon/journal_new.gif" height="30" width="29 >http://www.clubcobra.com/stuff/camera.gif" height="16" width="22

Join Date: Jan 1999 Location: Duvall, Wa Cobra Make & Engine: KMP286, 390FE Posts: 2,285 >http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/images/misc/im_yahoo.gif

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif

Respect, Respect, Respect!!!

 

 

---

 

 

 

We

must respect each other around here, and many are simply sick of the

bickering which seems to revolve around Shelby, is it real, is it a

kit, and on and on and on…..Its BS. People should be able to ask

legitimate questions around h

[slngsht]

K. We all know what a Seven looks like - we're getting wrapped up in trying to put it down in words. I think LocostV8's "Inspired by Collin Chapman's Lotus 7" is very good, without getting into specifics of heritage, which I want to avoid. Any of us can look at a car from a block away, and tell if the criteria is met.

 

 

 

I'll comment on the rest later... gotta make a parts run.

[anthonyseven]

Another car club I am a member of answered the "limited membership" question in a very useful and clever way...

 

Instead of setting the requirements for membership around car ownership, we set the requirements around behavior. This has worked quite well.

 

The requirements are:

 

    * Age 18 years or older

    * pay your dues

    * follow the rules (ie remain in "good standing")

 

The rules are simple: don't do anything that undermines the purpose of the club, and follow the rules set forth for each event by the folks designated as in charge of the event.

 

This makes the club much more inviting to non-owners (wanabees) while still meeting the legal requirements and giving the club control over events. Members who don't comply can be terminated by a process defined in the by-laws.

 

[77R500]

Its helpful to distinguish between car marketing vs. club functions.

 

Particular car ownership shouldn't be a requirement for a club intended to provide for social interaction among Lotus 7 fans.  And there's no need to describe any car, beyond saying its the Lotus 7 Fan Club.

 

On the other hand, ownership of a particular car is important in a club intended to provide mutual technical assistance among its members.  So a club intending, for example, to foster Lotus 7 technical support needs Lotus 7 owners as members.  But here again, there's no need to describe anything beyond saying its the Lotus 7 Owners Club.

 

Trying to describe cars in a way that links them to a recognized legend like the Lotus 7 is just car marketing.  And why does a club want to bother with that?

 

 

 

 

[stevet]

I think Tony has a point. - base membership around behavior rather than

ownership (current or future). The fact is most people who join will

have a seven of some sort  - common sense really - those that

don't are obviously interested or they wouldn't be here, and that's

fine by me.

 

[locostv8]

A thought about boards/etc.  Would it not be appropriate that the

Founding members (the 6 to 9 members mentioned) be named in the club

charter as the founding members who will comprise the Board for at

least the first period.  Charter members would be those who joined

after the founding members had created the club up to and including

7/7/7.

 

[locostv8]

 

Its helpful to distinguish between car marketing vs. club functions.

 

Particular car ownership shouldn't be a requirement for a club

intended to provide for social interaction among Lotus 7

fans.  And there's no need to describe any car, beyond saying

its the Lotus 7 Fan Club.

 

On the other hand, ownership of a particular car is

important in a club intended to provide mutual technical assistance

among its members.  So a club intending, for example, to

foster Lotus 7 technical support needs Lotus 7 owners as

members.  But here again, there's no need to describe anything

beyond saying its the Lotus 7 Owners Club.

 

Trying to describe cars in a way that links them to a recognized

legend like the Lotus 7 is just car marketing.  And why does a

club want to bother with that?

 

 

 

I do think that is important to define what we are fans of LSiS or later you will get into the Cobra thing.

 

 

[slngsht]

All, alot of good points being discussed. I'm monitoring, but tomorrow is both my sons' b-days, so I'll have limited time on until Sunday.

 

 

 

LocostV8, we're thinking along those lines (maybe the names are not quite the same)

[Al N.]

I'm still catching up, but wanted to thank everyone for their input so far. Don't be shy!

[slngsht]

I've been pretty quiet on this topic for a couple of days, but work has continued.

 

 

 

Here's an update:

 

 

 

1- Al and I approached several members to become "founding members". These members were approached based on their involvement in the Seven community and/or usa7s, their belief in the inclusive nature of this club, experience in running a club, and their willingness to put in time and money required for all the upfront work in forming the club and covering the first year of insurance for club activities. These individuals are as follows (in no particular order):

 

 

 

stevet

 

JohnCh

 

Al Navarro

 

powderbrake

 

snettleship

 

tvacc

 

951n914

 

MichaelD

 

slngsht

 

 

 

2- Founding members will get 10 votes each - for the first 2 years only. Following the two year period, they will each get 1 vote, just like any other member. This plan will help launch the club and get its operations in order, while allowing pretty low membership dues for general membership.

 

 

 

3- The concensus on membership requirements is that LSiS ownership is NOT a requirement.

 

 

 

4- The current wording for the purpose of the club is:

 

The purpose of [name] is to enhance LSiS ownership experience, promote camaraderie through regional and national activities and events, create awareness, and encourage favorable interest in LSiS and the club.

 

 

 

We're only a couple of steps away from filing the paperwork http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif

 

 

 

Finally, thought contributions in this thread has helped guide where we are going - please keep it up.

[locostv8]

 

 

Some thoughts:

 

 

 

9 board members is a nice size for the board in an ongoing manner

 

 

 

The board at an annual meeting elects from the board members a chairman of the

board.

 

 

 

The board conducts all club business.

 

 

 

A private forum is set up for "Members Only" on which the minutes of

the board are published.  The minutes are considered accepted at the end

of 7 days after posting if no challenge.

 

 

 

Any member may propose an action item for the board and if seconded by a second

member then the board takes timely action, the action may be to either accept,

decline, or study for action at the next board meeting.

 

 

 

Any member may challenge a board action and if seconded will be polled on

"Members Only" a 2/3 majority of those responding to the poll within

a 14 day period wins.

 

 

 

The board "May" post questions to the membership on "Members

Only" for comments or a poll.

 

 

 

[Boxologist]

since the club is 7 inspired, it should be 7 board members. and i would expect 7 bored members once everything is ironed out http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/willy_nilly.gif

 

 

 

the rationale for desiring a 7 is whats at the crux of owning one. Its a sense of minimalism, performance, heritage, and individuality.

[Al N.]

DEAD HORSES BEATEN HERE.

 

 

 

Folks. I wanted to do one last check that people would rather not incorp as a North American Chapter of the L7C which is based in the UK.

 

 

 

From what I recall, the reasons against were:

 

 

 

• Dues high for what is essentially a UK club (majority of events are over there, with a few on the continent and other former outposts of the empire)

 

 

 

• Part of dues pays for insurance, which may not travel across the sea (they may be willing to fund domestic insurance for us)

 

 

 

• Club mag (Low Flying, which I happen to love) is UK centric

 

 

 

• Club seems overly Lotus/Caterham-centric (they have been adamant that they are very marque friendly)

 

 

 

Apparently in the latest Low Flying (not yet arrived on our shores), there is some great article that supports the notion that "We'd much rather be the L7 Club international than be known as a purely a UK club."

 

 

 

The dues for the UK club are about $70 per year...our USA club intends to have minimal dues and fund itself primarily with events. Again, I'm a member of the L7C and intend to keep up that afiliation.

 

 

 

Please chime in.

 

 

[slngsht]

Update on club formation:

 

 

 

I finally managed to file the paperwork today. It will take a few weeks for formation to finalize since I didn't want to pay any expedite fees.

 

 

 

Between the day job and the kids' school work (and the dreaded commute) time seems to be very limited, but we're plugging ahead.