Monthly President's Message

[Bulletin Editor]

For some reason, my president's message was not included in the December issue of the monthly news bulletin. So, I'm inserting it here.

Jim ... it was not included because I never received it from you.

[Bulletin Editor]

For some reason, my president's message was not included in the December issue of the monthly news bulletin. So, I'm inserting it here.

Jim ... it was not included because I never received it from you.

UPDATE: Thanks to some detective work by Carl Hering, the issue of Jim's missing email has been solved: emails sent to bulletin@kfclub.com were not forwarded from the club website. Jim Lape & webmaster Chris Luecht were notified, the problem was found, and should now be resolved.  Thanks, Carl, for your help & keeping me informed. 

If anyone else sent an email to bulletin@kfclub.com in the last few weeks that was not acknowledged please resend.

[joefrazer]

Some time ago, I mentioned a joint meet that the Midwest Division of the KFOCI was planning with the Midwest Willys Reunion group. Within the last week, discussions between myself and the Willys team have resumed and more details are coming to light. So, I'd like to pass them along and encourage anyone who'd like to see "how the other half lives" and join us, even if you aren't in the club's Midwest Division.

The meet is tentatively planned for the second weekend in May of 2016 and will be held at the Holiday Inn in Effingham, Illinois. It's located just off Interstate 70 at N.Keller Drive. Many within the Willys group will be arriving on Thursday because for them, this is their national meet. Last year in Ohio there were about 100 registered attendees and their guests and I counted nearly 75 Willys built products.

At this year's show, we hope to have as many K-F built vehicles attend as possible and even if you can't bring a Kaiser or Frazer, attend and enjoy the opportunity to meet folks who are just as passionate about their favorite vehicle as we are with ours.

Discussions are ongoing about events at the show - the Willys group always has seminars that include restorations tips, the history of a particular model (I attended one about the history of the CJ3 models, very informative) as well as other things to do and together, we will be holding a banquet with the possibility of a speaker who I'm sure will appeal to everyone.

The meet will be commemorated with t-shirts and other collectibles and we will have a hospitality room open for folks to display their memorabilia. At a show several years ago, there was a room full of vintage toy Jeeps. I thought I had quite the collection - mine was nothing compared to what I saw there!

So, watch your club bulletin for more information. This will be your opportunity to show your support for not only the KFOCI but for the Willys group as well. Plan to attend, you will be glad you did!

More information will be posted here as well -> http://www.midwestwillysreunion.org/

[pnw_oldmags]

It would be great if this event could line up or back up to the Springfield Convention, I would love to attend both on the same plane ticket.

[Gordie]

Or how about a joint meet with them.  It would double the amount of people and cars there and cut the cost of the meet for us in half!

[pjkaiser]

It's worth a try for our President to call and see, I think it's a great idea

[joefrazer]

Gordie and Phil, give my entry another read...we ARE meeting with the Willys group. We're testing the water with the Midwest Division - if things go well there's always the possibility of a national meet tie-in.

[Gordie]

We are thinking of joint National meets.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

WHY! 

[joefrazer]

Why not? Willys and Kaiser-Frazer are related so why not explore the possibilities. Think of all the new potential members, the vehicles and the related memorabilia.

[pjkaiser]

So much for me missing the first paragraph.   I hope it works out, I believe all will benefit!!

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

and how will our club support all these potential new members with Willys or Jeep products (prewar or postwar)?.  At present I know of no way to provide the level of info we can offer K-F, Allstate and Darrin owners.

[Logan]

I assume people like this who wanted to join KF would already belong to the Willys Club, and would be joining KF for reasons other than technical support which they can get from their other club.  At any rate, we wouldn't want to discourage membership in KFOCI would we?

[dbalfisto]

I hav been a member about a year. The club, especially the CD provided with technical information has been very helpful.  I have seen some concern that the club is waning.  Shoot, I'm in my 60's and am just joining!  But when I bought my 54 Manhattan it was (in part) to replace the 51 Willys wagon I sold to my son-in law. He's in his 40's.  He also owns a Crosley which had been his grandfather's.  Joint meets, especially among enthusiasts of "orphan" makes seems a great idea to me.  I also have a Studebaker, and have owned Peugeots and Alfas.  Hats off to Joe for being the club ombudsman that he is.  He seems to be online constantly and always seems to encourage.  I for one think joint meets with a less parochial spirit would be good for the club and the old car hobby overall.  My car is not a pristine example, in fact I am fond of the patina of survival.  So on a showfield mine would not point out well, but my grandkids pile in it and enjoy the ride, I pick up friends and cruise to out of town eateries down quaint 2 lane roads.  Tours would be good stuff too.  As to newsletters, I wonder the value of the printing and postage.  Online communication about meets, items for sale and member updates would be just as effective.  A quarterly color missive with technical info or showcasing either survivors or quality restorations would be of interest.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Each year our demographics move to higher percentages of over 55; what is the club doing about trying to get younger members into the club?  All I see is trying to get willys and jeep owners to join, with the owners disappointed that we do nowhere near the level or technical support for their vehicles compared to KF.  It's not that we don't want to, the original factory materials have never been there the way Kaiser-Frazer paperwork (confidential bulletins, parts & accessories info, etc) is.  That's why the Handbook is Willys short.

Having been in the club for over 40 years and looking at what seems to work to build membership, we need to do the following as a group;

those with running cars should make every effort to take their K-F products to local or area car shows of a general nature.  Try to get as many owners as you can to attend & set up a meeting point so you get there as a group and make the effort to park as a group.  Make sure someone is always with the cars so that there is someone for the general public to talk to.  A lot of times, those possibly interested in ownership (especially younger people) get turned off because there are no cars.  To them (and I have talked to a lot of these kind of people) no cars means nobody has any and there are no parts available.  We know better and need to tell people, as well as show them pages from a PRINTED bulletin (mailed or pages printed off an email version) so they can see actual selling prices for cars and parts.  They'll usually find prices are a lot less than they expected.

If you see a new owner at a general show, invite them to come and visit to find out more about the club if they don't already know about it.


What do you think the muscle car clubs, mustang and camero clubs are doing, among other groups?

Of course, mentioning this here does little good; the last numbers I have seen indicated there are less than 200 people signed up for the forum, and a fair number of them know about the club but won't join for whatever reason.