New AMOC Club Chairman
Discussion
Agree with GBox.
Have a 2002 Vanquish and the money saved knowing that parts can be souced off Jag & Ford etc rather than AM was huge, all thanks to the AMOC Fourm, which is much improved now, over when I joined 18 months ago.
I personally think the membership is cheap for either free or reduced price access to events, such as Silverstone Classic, Hampton Court Concours, AMOC Concours events.
Have a 2002 Vanquish and the money saved knowing that parts can be souced off Jag & Ford etc rather than AM was huge, all thanks to the AMOC Fourm, which is much improved now, over when I joined 18 months ago.
I personally think the membership is cheap for either free or reduced price access to events, such as Silverstone Classic, Hampton Court Concours, AMOC Concours events.
Gbox said:
.. not every section is as good but there are people there who really know their cars and can and will help...
Glad you pointed out the value of the forum. It's not a place for banter like Pistonheads (although there are some characters) but as you say one can get technical advice. I look after the Feltham section and I know that the most knowledgeable people concerning these cars are part of the group. Also, there's lots of people saying it's a closed frum, but it's like a closed group on Facebook, which I'm sure most people are familiar with. Simply ask for access and the webmaster will usually grant it. It suffered terribly just over a year ago when someone commissioned a so called "professional IT company" to implement a modern fancy looking forum. It was dreadful and most of the membership deserted the place. After a few months publicly available forum software app was implemented and it's much better. There's lots that can be done with it which is why I was interested in what made it look "low-rent" to some people. My 'low-rent' probably wasn't the right word, but i was referring to the lack of life on the forum, the general quality of the forums ability to inspire interaction, and the fact the website still hosts the 'old' (broken/failed) forum, so if anyone googles 'AMOC Forum' it'l take them to a page saying 'THIS FORUM IS CLOSED' (likewise if you open any of the 'guideline' threads that were clearly imported from that time, they also take you back to a forum that doesn't exist.. really it's basic webmaster work to fix this s
t).
I don't doubt it's a wealth of useful information - but if you look at the distribution of cars in existence, the layout/spread of forums is HEAVILY weighted towards classics. The most popular models ever have two tiny subforums yet make up 90% of the cars AML has ever produced.
Take a look in the DB9/V8+V12 Vantage forums? In the entire 'Gaydon' (the fact it separated like this is dumb but perhaps that's just IMO) section, there's been hardly any posts in the entire of 2017/18 - most forums having less than one page of threads if any at all.
These forums are prefaced with 'guidelines' that suggest people go out of their way to never post anything that could possibly have been posted before. You know what - if someone wants to post a request for 'Show me your V12 Vantage in XYZ Colour', they should be allowed to - they've paid £100+ for membership to a near-dead forum and perhaps it'l inspire some conversation.
t).I don't doubt it's a wealth of useful information - but if you look at the distribution of cars in existence, the layout/spread of forums is HEAVILY weighted towards classics. The most popular models ever have two tiny subforums yet make up 90% of the cars AML has ever produced.
Take a look in the DB9/V8+V12 Vantage forums? In the entire 'Gaydon' (the fact it separated like this is dumb but perhaps that's just IMO) section, there's been hardly any posts in the entire of 2017/18 - most forums having less than one page of threads if any at all.
These forums are prefaced with 'guidelines' that suggest people go out of their way to never post anything that could possibly have been posted before. You know what - if someone wants to post a request for 'Show me your V12 Vantage in XYZ Colour', they should be allowed to - they've paid £100+ for membership to a near-dead forum and perhaps it'l inspire some conversation.
MarkM3Evoplus said:
Agree with GBox.
Have a 2002 Vanquish and the money saved knowing that parts can be souced off Jag & Ford etc rather than AM was huge, all thanks to the AMOC Fourm, which is much improved now, over when I joined 18 months ago.
.
Agree totally with that. If you have a Newport Pagnell Vanquish then AMOC is a great resource, partly inspired by all the work GTJOEY et al have put into that section of the forum.Have a 2002 Vanquish and the money saved knowing that parts can be souced off Jag & Ford etc rather than AM was huge, all thanks to the AMOC Fourm, which is much improved now, over when I joined 18 months ago.
.
jimmybell said:
...<clip> These forums are prefaced with 'guidelines' that suggest people go out of their way to never post anything that could possibly have been posted before. You know what - if someone wants to post a request for 'Show me your V12 Vantage in XYZ Colour', they should be allowed to - they've paid £100+ for membership to a near-dead forum and perhaps it'l inspire some conversation.
I had to search for these 'guidelines' because didn't think that my Feltham section contained such deterrents (it doesn't), I welcome all posts & chat, the more the merrier! I found them in the Newport Pagnell DB section and the DB7 section. I agree they are a bit 'heavy' so will suggest they are made more welcoming. Incidentally, there's no such 'guidelines' (that I could see) for the Gaydon section so if someone wants to post a thread about their red V12 Vantage then fire away! 
)Having bought a Vantage I then proceeded to join AMOC. I regularly attend the monthly meetings and have taken part in various events all of which have been enjoyable. There are are a few members with plumbs in there chops and think that there poop don't pong but by and large they are ok. I recently attended an area meeting and both candidates also attended, there was no canvassing or vote for me. I thought one candidate performed better than the other going round introducing themselves and chatting to every member in the room. Previously I don't think I would of bothered to vote but this candidate made a great first impression so that will do for me. You get out of life what you put into it.
Ps ain't got a pair of red trousers either.
Ps ain't got a pair of red trousers either.
DickyC said:
Our first contender this evening is DickyC, his specialist subject: The Bleedin' Obvious.
A reason for there being more information on the older cars is there has been longer for the wisdom to accrue.
To be fair it goes a bit beyond that A reason for there being more information on the older cars is there has been longer for the wisdom to accrue.
I think the problem is a bit chicken & egg. There aren’t enough posters in the Gaydon section because there’s little to attract people there.
It’s a tricky one to solve because anyone doing a random google search for “DB9 flat battery” (I made that one up) is more than likely going to stumble across the community here rather than AMOC first
DickyC said:
Our first contender this evening is DickyC, his specialist subject: The Bleedin' Obvious.
A reason for there being more information on the older cars is there has been longer for the wisdom to accrue.
Begs the question - does 1 person having one car for 10 years have more knowledge/experience that 10 persons having a car each for 1 year ? Then you could start to add in the mileage driven per driver per year ? Statistics, statistics and damn lies :-) :-)A reason for there being more information on the older cars is there has been longer for the wisdom to accrue.
DickyC said:
And I suppose the glory days of the club were before the internet. Interaction was either in person or through the publications.
The glory days should still be ahead for AMOC, Sales are rocketing so the potential membership is also shooting upThe question is how to capture that. If I read the numbers correctly on the "Membership" thread on the AMOC forum there are only 100 members with cars built in 2017-18. Maybe the data isn't logged correctly but if true, that would be just 6% of UK cars sold last year (and presumably some members are Overseas).
6%? For the official owners club.
So once again I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the new Chairperson looks to shake things up
Regarding potential new members I seem to remember a few years back that you received free membership to the club on purchasing an Aston Martin through the official dealer network.
The dealer would give you an envelope containing the necessary information to sign up to the club on hand over of the car be it used or new.
My question is, is that practice still going on as that was the way I first joined the club,however I can't remember being offered that opportunity with more recent new vehicle purchases.
Secondly, if it isn't still in practice might it be a worthwhile consideration for the new incoming chairperson of the club to try and put back in place as I'm sure many new owners would take up such an offer and remain members in the subsequent following years.
It would be then down to the club to provide sufficient interest and value for money to retain that membership at the on going sticker price which in todays market is with everything taken in good value if you like the literature and want to take part in the club activities.
Sales are booming currently and not every sale is to an existing AM owner so it might be worth both the club and the factory getting there heads together and initiating the practice again.
Lets face it with the increased list prices on the new cars the hundred odd quid for membership seems petty cash in the big picture.
I'm sure both candidates for the chair are watching this thread with interest so I'd like to ask whether either have any thoughts on that or indeed going forward how they intend to win back the membership of all those that have left the club such as myself.
I apologise if this is not the place to ask such questions but beings my membership has been left to lapse I wondered if any thought has gone in that direction and if indeed the club do actually want more members be it new or returning oldies………..I can no longer access the AMOC forum to ask directly it appears as a non member.
Finally I'm sure once the new website is fully bedded in it along with the forum will see an increase in traffic in all parts so well done to Gary U and helpers for bringing it back from the brink.
So essentially all the club needs now is a new chair with the vision,drive and enthusiasm to over haul bad habits and embrace all aspects of ownership be it the new era cars, which will be the future of the club, or the historic cars that have gone before and remain much cherished by all…...
The dealer would give you an envelope containing the necessary information to sign up to the club on hand over of the car be it used or new.
My question is, is that practice still going on as that was the way I first joined the club,however I can't remember being offered that opportunity with more recent new vehicle purchases.
Secondly, if it isn't still in practice might it be a worthwhile consideration for the new incoming chairperson of the club to try and put back in place as I'm sure many new owners would take up such an offer and remain members in the subsequent following years.
It would be then down to the club to provide sufficient interest and value for money to retain that membership at the on going sticker price which in todays market is with everything taken in good value if you like the literature and want to take part in the club activities.
Sales are booming currently and not every sale is to an existing AM owner so it might be worth both the club and the factory getting there heads together and initiating the practice again.
Lets face it with the increased list prices on the new cars the hundred odd quid for membership seems petty cash in the big picture.
I'm sure both candidates for the chair are watching this thread with interest so I'd like to ask whether either have any thoughts on that or indeed going forward how they intend to win back the membership of all those that have left the club such as myself.
I apologise if this is not the place to ask such questions but beings my membership has been left to lapse I wondered if any thought has gone in that direction and if indeed the club do actually want more members be it new or returning oldies………..I can no longer access the AMOC forum to ask directly it appears as a non member.
Finally I'm sure once the new website is fully bedded in it along with the forum will see an increase in traffic in all parts so well done to Gary U and helpers for bringing it back from the brink.
So essentially all the club needs now is a new chair with the vision,drive and enthusiasm to over haul bad habits and embrace all aspects of ownership be it the new era cars, which will be the future of the club, or the historic cars that have gone before and remain much cherished by all…...
Hi Ed, hope you’re well!
To follow your comment, I’ve never been offered Amoc membership (or even any literature on the club) when buying a car. I’ve always just put that down to the dealership (Stratstones) but maybe it’s a broader experience out there?
As you say would make sense though for AML to support this, the more they involve owners in the Marque more broadly surely the more likely it is that those owners will become repeat buyers?
To follow your comment, I’ve never been offered Amoc membership (or even any literature on the club) when buying a car. I’ve always just put that down to the dealership (Stratstones) but maybe it’s a broader experience out there?
As you say would make sense though for AML to support this, the more they involve owners in the Marque more broadly surely the more likely it is that those owners will become repeat buyers?
Morning Rob
Hope you and the family are all well.
I had the envelope originally going back many years from what was then Broughton's, I'm pretty sure on that.
Also Works used to do it, again I might be going senile but I think I'm right,my mate defo got his membership offer from there on purchasing
a previously owned Rapide.
Maybe others have come across this practice in years gone by,I don't think I was dreaming…….
honest.
Hope you and the family are all well.
I had the envelope originally going back many years from what was then Broughton's, I'm pretty sure on that.
Also Works used to do it, again I might be going senile but I think I'm right,my mate defo got his membership offer from there on purchasing
a previously owned Rapide.
Maybe others have come across this practice in years gone by,I don't think I was dreaming…….
honest.When I was Area Rep last year I got a few new members registered who came via the dealerships and believe the first year was free. I saw more last year than before and it is clear that the Bristol dealership brought the Club to new owners attention.
The Club has encouraged AR’s to build relationships with dealerships which to me was a no brainer to attract new members and I had a great relationship with Exeter when it was open and latterly with Bristol - perhaps helped by the fact I was a Gaydon owner.
The Club has encouraged AR’s to build relationships with dealerships which to me was a no brainer to attract new members and I had a great relationship with Exeter when it was open and latterly with Bristol - perhaps helped by the fact I was a Gaydon owner.
Is the sentiment changing? You can picture the buyers of rare handmade cars wishing to be involved in the heritage of the marque whereas the buyers of the more mass produced cars might not.
Hypothetically: "This isn't the realisation of all my material ambitions, it's a nice car. I don't need a club, thanks."
Hypothetically: "This isn't the realisation of all my material ambitions, it's a nice car. I don't need a club, thanks."
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