lude gen rolling road?

[honda-hardy]

Also and something I have been thinking about for a bit an online/actual magazine we all love reading about builds we all love seeing pics we all love learning new stuff/ how to's and new tech gossip.

and the first would be an online/actual magazine novel by nafemannathan. 50 shades of any colour imaginable.


great ideas merc. im currently in talks with an engineering company to make vtec solenoid covers from stainless steel and brushe ally. id happily donate

[wurlycorner]

Been thinking about this and I think you've identified the main problem merc. There is undoubtedly enough talent within the club to make these things happen, but I think the main difference between something like the mg club and us is that there are a lot of old gits in the mg club, retired with plenty of time on their hands. We're (generally) a much younger age demographic, with everyone in full time jobs. Therein probably lies the main stumbling block?

[lewd lude lover]

if we found a decent company ------- the profit going back into the club for either more stock or a new range of stuff

Yes that would be a very decent company, one that trades with no chance of profit? I'm sorry merc i really am but I honestly dont think there are enough prelude people in the country to support this kind of stuff let alone in one region.

I'll tell you of the laugh the polish guys had when i told them we were holding the NATIONAL meet in a few weeks and expected to get A WHOLE 20 cars. They were looking at me like I was a country bumpkin mate. They have three meets a year, not even dubbed 'National' and they get between 60-70 cars at each one. Each one.... now thats an active and enthusiastic club. 20 cars is a bit rubbish when you think about it but even that was maybe 30-40% of the active members on our site.

the problem comes with the age and cheapness of the lude. In a country like the UK the position of the lude is taken up with newer more expensive cars. We drive ludes because they are cheap and fun. cheap always coming first.

2p not happy about it but this is how i feel the dynamic runs. Anyone putting money into a business or lots of stock that depends on prelude enthusiasts in the UK is going to end up with a debt nowadays. things were different when oldgit had his shop open.

[mercutio]

Been thinking about this and I think you've identified the main problem merc. There is undoubtedly enough talent within the club to make these things happen, but I think the main difference between something like the mg club and us is that there are a lot of old gits in the mg club, retired with plenty of time on their hands. We're (generally) a much younger age demographic, with everyone in full time jobs. Therein probably lies the main stumbling block?

But that's my point the guys with contacts may not have the time the guys with the time may not have the contacts until we get organised and focused on where we are going as a club?

[mercutio]

if we found a decent company ------- the profit going back into the club for either more stock or a new range of stuff

Yes that would be a very decent company, one that trades with no chance of profit? I'm sorry merc i really am but I honestly dont think there are enough prelude people in the country to support this kind of stuff let alone in one region.

I'll tell you of the laugh the polish guys had when i told them we were holding the NATIONAL meet in a few weeks and expected to get A WHOLE 20 cars. They were looking at me like I was a country bumpkin mate. They have three meets a year, not even dubbed 'National' and they get between 60-70 cars at each one. Each one.... now thats an active and enthusiastic club. 20 cars is a bit rubbish when you think about it but even that was maybe 30-40% of the active members on our site.

the problem comes with the age and cheapness of the lude. In a country like the UK the position of the lude is taken up with newer more expensive cars. We drive ludes because they are cheap and fun. cheap always coming first.

2p not happy about it but this is how i feel the dynamic runs. Anyone putting money into a business or lots of stock that depends on prelude enthusiasts in the UK is going to end up with a debt nowadays. things were different when oldgit had his shop open.

20 people now and who is to say if more people were invested in the club instead of lurking we have hundreds of members if they were advised at sign up that they can contribute we may get more donations if we had a site shop we may sell more merchandise and I don't just mean t shirts or hoodies I mean parts as well I needed a rear wheel bearing it was droning I phoned round cheapest I could get was 120.00 for one I bought 2 from the US for 45.00 about 10.00 postage cant remember now not a lot car is amazing now mpg gone right up anyway we could stock parts not obscure stuff but regularly used bits.
I didn't mean a company that doesn't take a profit I meant buy wholesale sell at a small profit instead of cost the profit we make goes to the club or back into stock.
If you do a group buy on something like clothing you buy only what you need and therefore get very little discount if you buy 100 logo'd t shirts or polo's in the most popular sizes you get a bigger discount therefore make more profit at sale without overinflating the price to the enduser.

[lewd lude lover]

I'm behind you 100% merc. Any serious attempts at organising the club will be met with open arms and any help i can give.

We have a grand total of 154 registered users. 40% of those are names I have never read past a welcome page or two, 20% only come on when the car breaks and 10% cruise but rarely post. We have about 50-60 active members imho and we all drive a car that rarely breaks. I can see why the MG owners club would have a strong support network, their cars are built like lego and fall to bits in a year. They bloody well need it

My time is short and my life complicated though so I cant take the lead. I fear most of us are in the same boat.

If we were talking about a car produced in the last 8 years with a resale value over 16k for the latest model (RX8 or something?) I would even think about looking into a parts and breaking service myself but the lude is too far gone for this kind of enthusiasm/hard cash investment, imho. If only it were still in production or was made by a company that had some more fashionable status right now (not knocking honda but they are making bloody boring cars atm) then it might fly. But the prelude was ever designed for the gentleman driver and as such is quietly slipping into the history books.

I wish it were any other way but thats what I feel.

[bb1boy]

..is quietly slipping into the history books.

I think the Prelude is quietly slipping in to classic car status...

[bristol_bb4]

We drive ludes because they are cheap and fun. cheap always coming first.

On the whole I generally agree with every word you ever say, but this I don't. I think merc has a petty good idea going. Even if its just for the benefit of the couple of dozen reulars, ontop of that it could work as a carrot to get more people active on here

[lewd lude lover]

Fair enough and accepted. I suppose to quantify that a little further I would say look at the S2K owners club. They are organised and active. they have many hundreds of members, organise a huge stand at JAE and have a £200 per head entry fee for their national meet as its at some swanky hotel with a spa.
They are basically operating on a different level to our car club. Much more how I imagine Merc would like to see ours, give or take. Why is that? the prelude was the ''coupe before the S2000'' and our newest cars are the same age as their oldest. Both hondas and both of the sporty style. so why so much disparity between the general way in which the clubs go about things?

None of us can 'really' afford an S2k as a second car and they are not useful enough as a daily for most of us. the lude is for most of us the best bang for buck coupled with a bit of boot space and some rear seats we can afford to run.
So I say again, the amount of enthusiasm/money you are going to get into a club from its members directly relates to the age and popularity of that car. The prelude is not current and never was very popular in the grand scheme of things, crazy as it seems, so it will never get the kind of club energy that the S2k enjoys right now. Maybe 12 years ago when it was in the same frame as the S2k is now but not now and not in the future.. imho.

I also repeat that I am 100% behind any move to make the club more active/inclusive/energetic and feel its only the age and cost of the car we love that lets it down Any more additions to the club banner would be great but if we can just get lanyards sorted on the current club funds I would be more inclined to feel something more substantial could happen.
Until we are able to at least identify each other at events this is an academic conversation


Look at the FTO forum for a place full of nothing that asks for a membership fee.

[bb1boy]

I think we could ask for a nominal membership fee to help push the club forward with a view to bulk buying LG merchandise.. although I feel (I don't know about anyone else) that if we had to pay to be part of this club, it should be private so that non-paying members don't have access to our info/knowledge/photo's etc.

A friend of mine has an embroidery/vinyl printing company, I'm sure he would do us a deal on bulk shirts or whatever.

I like the idea of an LG lanyard, we could have VIP ID/music festival style membership cards too