Where are all the Minors?

[Ian Grace]

I was just talking to John Nagle about the Hatchgate meet for the spring and discovered that it was ten years ago this spring that we met at the Shoulder of Mutton (where we used to meet before we moved to the nearby Hatchgate) and then took a short run out to the Police College at Hazeley for a photo op.

Here's our gathering on that spring day:



Twelve Minors, and all but two were OHC!

Ten years on, and with membership roughly quadrupled, it seems unlikely that we could gather a dozen Minors of any camshaft orientation. Indeed, we were well short of this number even at our national summer rally last year. Why is this?

Answers could be:

1 Initial enthusiasm for the Register has waned because it is no longer a novelty.

2 Driving conditions have changed so much in ten years, that owners these days are far more reluctant to drive their cars anywhere.

3 Many of the new membership own SV cars, and they generally don't drive their cars as much as OHC Minor owners do. Or a far greater proportion of SV Minors are in pieces than OHC Minors.

4 Owners now spend most of their spare time glued to the Internet and have forgotten they own a car!

5 Fuel costs and the recession have left owners unable to afford the fuel to use their cars.

6 Original vintage Minor members lost interest in the Register when the club opened up to SV Minors.

6 Some combination of the above.

I am not aware that other clubs have seen a similar fall-off in drivership among their members. Last year, a feedback form was circulated, and from the feedback received, it seems that enthusiasm has certainly not waned in the least, in fact the opposite is the case, so where are all the Minors???

[plj]

Ian,
Your points in order:-
1) Can't really comment on this one (novelty factor) as I have only recently acquired my minor and joined the register.
2) Driving conditions could well play a part, perhaps it's an age thing but I feel increasingly vulnerable when driving a small old car. Is it my imagination or are other drivers more aggressive these days when behind a vehicle they perceive as "holding them up"? Got a bit lost in Leatherhead last year on my way to Brooklands in my M8 Tourer and ended up on the M25!! Not a good experience.
3) I can't see why having a s.v. car should change ones driving habits versus an o.h.c. surely if one bought a s.v. a conscious decision was made that was the right car, or are all us s.v. owners just frustrated o.h.c. owners? I can also not see an argument for more s.v. cars being in bits indeed looking at the design of the o.h.c. engine it surprises me that they go at all, (tongue in cheek remark, don't lynch me).
4) Internet? I must admit to using it quite a lot but mainly when "she who controls the remote" is watching the goings on in Albert Square or some northern street.
5) Finance. Well none of us are doing too well at the moment, unless we happen to be investment bankers, and if we all were I would probably be writing this on a Bentley or Ferrari forum. Seriously though I think if choices had to be made the car(s) would be the last hobby I would abandon.
6) This is the one that disturbs me. Having avoided membership of the V.S.C.C. due to their habit of looking at the back of their tonsils from the lowest possible point, I would hate to think I had joined an organisation with an elitist bias, I hope this is not the case.
7) Ten years, this I think might hold a clue. Can we all do as much as we could ten years ago? I certainly can't, and as each year creeps on that ten years has more bearing on ones abilities, 20-30 you probably get better but 70-80 certainly not, although Joan Collins would probably not agree.
Happy New Year,
Philip