Technical advisors

[Carl Eidsness]

In addition to my Kaiser I also own a couple of REO cars, so naturally enough I'm a member of the REO club.  There we have something I have found to be very helpful over the years, and I'm wondering if it might be something worth considering for our club as well.  "Technical Advisors".  These are club members who have volunteered to be the "go to guy" for a particular category of car.  There we have brass cars, the teens, Flying Clouds, Reo Royals, Reo Speedwagons etc.  Our history was not as long, the kinds of vehicles produced not as varied, but still there are significant differences.  Enough I think to justify having a different specialist for each.  We do have our forums of course which help in a similar way.

Just wondering if others think it might be something worth considering or implementing?
Carl Eidsness

[Gordie]

Many car clubs use technical advisers to help members gain information about the various models.  We never have but instead started this online forum to try to help members and K-F owners with questions about their cars and anyone with the knowledge is welcome to make helpful comments and suggestions and this system works quite well.  We all learn a lot about our cars from the information posted.

[joefrazer]

I like the idea of having go-to folks...those willing to help answer technical questions when other resources are unable to help. One of the tenets of this club - it's founding idea - was to make technical advice available to all owners of KF products. When the club first got rolling, Kaisers and Frazer were just used cars and finding those who could help keep a car on the road wasn't just a click away, as it is today. Our national convention was not only a social event, but also an opportunity to talk to other owners and share knowledge about the cars. Today, we've lost the personal interaction and, instead, replaced it with a faceless webpage (as I type this!).

Anyway, it might be worth exploring the possibility of forming a technical advisory group. This forum is good place to find answers, however, I'm certain there are others who don't frequent this site who have a lot to offer - if only they were asked.

[Gordie]

As I write this note we have had 44,716 posts on 7886 K-F-W topics by 2661 members of the forum and it has turned into the quick way to communicate with one another without having to wait a month or more for an answer.  Most of us today have computers and we certainly have experts in all phases of K-F-W restorations who regularly contribute their knowledge to all of us.  The one on one contact at the National Meets continues but this "faceless" forum really works for all who participate.  Some say that there is too much politics in the forum but that is any ones opinion and it always gets comments and is of interest to many.  There are topics in the forum that are not of interest to everyone but if you ask a question about your car you will certainly get a good quick answer unless you have us all stumped.  Hopefully as time goes by more members will use the forum and enjoy participating.  We will all benefit.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Because of the spread across the country (and in various parts of the world) membership wise, the idea of technical advisors is a good one and a lot of very successful car clubs have them.  Our challenge in getting this to work is that we've already lost a number of "technical experts" who knew certain make/model year/body type K-F and Willys vehicles inside and out.  Those who remain (and are coming up through the ranks) have to agree to be a go-to type person for their specialities and help others.   I am only the Historian and don't have the mechanics skills (as several members can attest) to answer such questions from new members who get frustrated that nobody can (or will) help them.

[Carl Eidsness]

I totally agree that this forum is very helpful, and does without a doubt, often accomplish the same thing a fixed technical advisor would.  But I still think there is something to be said for having a specific go to person for a particular year or car model.  And of course it wouldn't have to be, and in my opinion shouldn't be, an either or thing.  There is no reason why both could not exist side by side.  As they say in Hawaii, "mo bedda"

As to "loosing" experts, I'm sure that is happening in all clubs, but I see that more as a reason why we should have, and not should not have, technical advisors.

Carl Eidsness