ClassicCar

Browniepetersen

The first car show of the season here in Northern Utah is called the "Breakout Breakfast." We all join at a local "chug arama" and have breakfast and look at all the new entries to the show and tour season. Today was the big day and the English Hudson went into the shop on Saturday for interior (anyone got a big checkbook?) so I was left with my 60 ElCamino to check out the scene. Not a Hudson anywere in sight today with about 80 cars to choose from. There were three Durants, a Vele, a Northern and a Star but not a single Hudson to be seen and enjoyed? Go figure.

While there I had a soon to retire-new to the hobby, gentleman ask me the question: "Why should I join a car club? It gave me a moment for pause... Over the years I have been a member of several clubs. I have belonged to the oldest car club in Utah since 1959 (Bonnevills Rod and Custom) that other than put on a great car show each September, does nothing. I have been a member of a Chevy club (VCCA) for 35 plus years and a somewhat new member of the HET (10 years). It was a good thing that the HET Club came into my life because if not; I would have had nothing to tell him. There are the standard reasons: friends, resources, parts sources, research for knowledge and pride of ownership but other than that how do you answer this question?

Geoff C., N.Z.

It's about the same point as "Can I be a Christian without going to church", or "Can I play football without joning a team". Too many people join organisations for what they can get out of them rather than for what they can give to them. The benefits of joning far outweigh the meagre financial cost of membership. Who was it said "No man is an island"?

bobdriveshudson

Agreed, and add camaraderie, chances to find and swap parts, guess we're just repeating previous comments, sorry, good thread, thanks, Bob

RonS

Origin

This is a quotation from John Donne (1572-1631). It appears in Devotions upon emergent occasions and seuerall steps in my sicknes - Meditation XVII, 1624:

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

Browniepetersen

Good comment Ron, it has been way back in my college days that I read that quote. I forget what great comments have been made before we came along. I better understand why Hemmingway used that quote in what I consider his best novel.

MikeWA

I've looked at a couple of other car clubs in the past- one an old hot rod club from the 60's, the other the local antique car club. Both were completely living in the past, but in different ways.

The hot rod club seemed to want to keep the old membership intact, and talked "in code" (insider references, etc.) about past experiences, etc. in such a way that the newcomer got the distinct impression that he wasn't wanted.

The antique club was very welcoming and friendly, but they were all old guys and no one had actually worked on a car in years. When someone asked a question about an actual situation that he had encountered in his restoration, they were completely at a loss.

I'll have to admit I'm not very active in the Hudson club, but that's mostly because of other obligations and lack of time. If I can ever get myself retired (and get rid of most of my wife's blasted horses), I hope to do better.

7XPacemaker

I personally think that car clubs are more of a "clique". I really am not that type of person. I guess that I am kind of a loaner. I play with cars as a hobby, nothing more, nothing less. I can't stand going to car shows or cruises. I can't stand to sit around knowing that I have 1000 other things that I should be doing at home. I belong to the HET and two local chapters. I am not active in any of it. I have three kids and NO free time. If I did have free time, I would spend it in the garage, not at a club function. Just my two cents worth....

66patrick66

You do NOT have to be in a car club to enjoy any car, period. I've started clubs, been in clubs, quit clubs...hell, with the internet and forums like this, who really needs a club? Granted, being in a club can help network a bit for parts and such. I'll be perfectly honest, I'm in HET for the newsletter. Most of you guys are part of HET, too, but one need not be a member to enjoy your Hudson. I like the various forums I participate in, and I get my cars and drive them as often as possible. Some folks dig the social aspect of clubs. I do not. There are enough local get-togethers for cruising around, or getting food, or just driving aimlessly, that are not club-driven (pun intended).

I have fun as a lone wolf.

4Hud

I am a member of a local car club and participate in the organization of events. I have developed some great friendships with people out of my age group and perhaps social status. For me a big part of belonging to a club is to promote this great hobby, expose it to the general public and keep the enthusiasm going for new people entering into it.

J Spencer

I am a long time member of the Hudson club, past president of our chapter and currently secretary. I have met many good people as a result of belonging to the club. I am not a social butterfly, mostly a home body. but I do enjoy getting out with Hudson members, plus other friends I have met at local events.

I attend local cruise nights around here weekly. I enjoy them. Before my wife died five years ago I didn't go to these cruise nights so now it is my way of being with friends and passing the time. Hell, if she was still here I would be at home with her.

Another reason for belonging to a club is in the benifits or finding parts and information that one might not be able to obtain and therefore may lose interest in their car. For some it is easier to keep going if their is another person with the same interest as them to help them along.

Jim Spencer

ernie28

I have been an HET member in NZ for seven years and have done the club magazine for most of that time. What I have learned from other members is imeasurable.I get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction in doing the magazine which is one way I can contribute to the club that I have got so much out of. I also hope that my efforts can in some way help lift the level of activity and enthusiasm of other members.

I have also jut taken on the role as Chairman of our local branch of the Vintage Car Club for the same reasons as above - we will se how that goes!

Alistair

NZ HET

royer

I know why someone should join the HET Club. This past weekend I had an "emergency" piano rental to deliver to Phoenix. This resulted in a lot of downtime in a strange city. Last minute, I called HET Western Region Director Tom Conner and met him and his wife Lorinda for lunch. After lunch, Tom got on the phone and arranged for a whole group of HET'ers to meet at a cruise-in in Mesa, AZ. A big thank you to Tom and Lorinda Conner, Bill & Barb Beeson, Jerry & Vivian Crater, and Galen & Patricia Moon for a great evening in Arizona.

hudsontech

I've been a member of HET since October 1969!!! Guess that makes me an old phart, for sure.

Most of those 40 years I haven't had a Hudson to play with - contrary to belief enlisted military people do NOT make a whole hell of a lot of money. So kids and bills had to take precedence over having a Hudson. I started a chapter, the New England Chapter, back in 1971 and it's still going. I've been the chapter president, newsletter editor and general pain-in-the-neck.

I've not aspired to higher offices in the club, simply because I didn't have the financial means to do the job, say club director, properly.

I will say this: I have seen cases at local meets, and experienced it myself, where newbies were rather ignored. I've found it takes a few (local) meets before you feel like you're fully accepted as "one of the gang". I think that's a natural reaction among the "old timers." But it hasn't lessened my enthusiasm one bit. I'm still in the club - and one thing I can do at a local meet, or even a National meet, is to take the newbie in hand and introduce him around.

HET is a car club - but in my honest opinion it is much,much more. It is also a "people" club. I have, over the past 40 years, met many new people, made a lot of friends with people I otherwise would not have met. I didn't get to my first National until 1988, and I haven't really made all that many since. But I've had a blast at everyone of them. One great thing about a National is you get to finally put a face to that letter writer (or since the advent of the internet to the person who's emailed with a problem, suggestion or just to say hi).

Comes down to the bottom line it's what you make it. If you really want to be in the club you will, at the beginning, ignore those who ignore you if you are a newbie, and keep coming back. You'll find a niche, as I have with the computer and building an on-line library, of some sort. And in the end you'll have a lot of fun and company.

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

hetclub.org/burr

Browniepetersen

Good comments Alex. I left the Air Force after five years and got a job as an engineer and then went to school. I stayed active in the Air Force Reserves and retired in the mid 80's. My job as an engineer gave me enough money to live on and to raise five kids. I helped that income by building and selling cars. Bad cars I got to drive for a summer or two, good ones sold first or second time out. When I started collecting my Air Force Retirement I started using that money to build cars and stopped selling what I have.

My thoughts about national office are much the same as yours. When I was younger my activities were local. I'd hit a national now and then and would accept national offices if they did not include travel. I have been associated with a number of car clubs over the years and have started my fair share of local groups. I hold a few national offices that do not require travel with two different clubs (Vintage Chevrolet Club of America and HET) and have been thinking about running for Director of our HET Region. Plenty of time for that now that I am retired, but, right now I am enjoying a lot of shop time--and a few pet projects my wife has for me.....

SamJ

Personally, I look forward to getting my WTN...:rolleyes:

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