Re: [CR]Ephgrave dating and joining the VCC

(Example: Framebuilding:Norris Lockley)

From: "P.C. Kohler" <kohl57@starpower.net>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <CATFOODPasSmz6UuEhj00002c6c@catfood.nt.phred.org> <003b01c3ed8d$cd940f30$a0bd28d5@Robbocomp>
Subject: Re: [CR]Ephgrave dating and joining the VCC
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 11:30:46 -0500



----- Original Message -----
From: brucerobbins
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org


> I had intended to join the VCC but, after speaking to a few ex-members,
> decided not to bother. I have my own reasons for this but I also wasn't too
> impressed by the idea that VCC marque enthusiasts are only supposed to pass
> on information to VCC members

Bruce... I joined the VCC less than a year ago. I can sympathise with your feelings. It's doubtless a valuable and well-established organisation with a wealth of knowledge among its members. And it publishes a rather nice professional magazine too.

Having said that, it strikes me as being very "clubby" and I sure wouldn't dare be bold or brazen enough to contribute what little I know to it. Then again, the journal seems to delight, as is the habit of so many specialised publications and groups, in the arcane and obscure. I am a philistine who'd rather read a nice glossy feature on Hercules Kestrels or Raleigh Dawns than on some obscure frame builder in Fancy-Lugwork-Under-Sutton-Banbury nr. Wooton or the history of cycle lamp wicks. It's all delightfully quirky and English, and Alec Guiness could have played a VCC member quite well.

Most the "marque" specialists demand, for good reason, self-addressed stamped envelopes for queries. Fine. But not user-friendly to those of us who don't reside in Britain. And VCC members must be unique in the tiny fraction of whom seem to have access to the internet or e-mail. I guess if you collect 1913 Sunbeams the worldwide web seems rather a rude imposition. Perhaps it is.

The nicest feature of the VCC alas is one in which I cannot participate: the club rides. It must be a wonderful thing to see 20-40 Clubmans, Gold Vases, Jaguars and RRAs gliding some leafy lane. And a pub lunch discussing cycle lamp wicks...

Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA