FLATWATER,
WE ARE WHO WE ARE
John Ulrich - Membership Chair
It's New Years day, and cold as hell frozen over. I put Miles Davis' Kind of Blue on the CD player, and with my third cup of coffee sit here at the computer ready to give you a picture in statistics of just who and what "Flatwater" is.
First and foremost, we are a very successful and active British car club. Thanks goes out to the membership who participate in club activities, and those who go a step further to hold an office, do the Newsletter, or organize an event. We are also indebted and incestuously linked to HMRNP.
The combined forces of Flatwater and Her Majesty's has been beneficial to both organizations, (or lack of organization) and has the people at St. Joe and K.C. speaking in hushed tones about "That Nebraska, Iowa bunch."
Secondly, we might be the only Austin-Healey club in the country where MGs outnumber the club's namesake. Perhaps a short history lesson will help.
Several years ago, a very small group of people discovered they all owned Bugeye Sprites. With a push and shove from Jim Danielson, we drummed up enough members to form a local chapter of The Austin-Healey Club of America made up almost entirely of Sprites. As there was no local chapter prior to that, everyone who owned a "Big Healey" was either a national member at large, or part of a local far, far away. When membership time came around, they were assigned by the National to the Flatwater Chapter, and we were thrilled to have them. A couple of years later, our friends who owned LBCs other than Healeys were welcomed into the club as local members. And that is how it stands today.
We have looked at different options for affiliations, which more accurately represent the club's make up, but the fact of the matter is that we can't afford to give up the liability insurance that the A-HCA provides us at no cost. To drop national affiliation and become independent, would cost each member $17 for insurance alone, and that would only cover the Fall auto show and ONE moving event. (Tour, trip to fish, rally, drive to St. Joe etc.) With the cost of the newsletter and our other activities figured in, our dues would jump to about $30 per year for a local membership, and $75 for a national. The officers and members have been very united in the rejection of that amount of cash outlay, and keeping Flatwater as low key and low cost as possible.
OK, now here is the good stuff! At present, we have 70 memberships on the books. Remember that a membership can be a man and wife, wife and man, person and other, father and son, mother and daughter, man and dog, or any other combination of life forms. The mighty MG octagon still wins the battle of the marques with a minimum of 47 cars represented. By my records - which are only as accurate as what you send me, hint, hint - the oldest is a 48 TC, and the newest being the final year for the "B," 1980. Various types of Austin-Healey occupy second place with 33 cars. These range from first to last Sprite, and first to last Big Healey. I think the oldest being a 1953 or 54 BN-1, and the newest being a 1969 AN-9. The big cat from Coventry scored a surprise third place with 10 cars on the books. E-Types, XJS, and sedans are all represented. If there are any true XKs out there no one is talking!
Triumph shows a meager 7 cars. I know NTD members march to a little different beat than we do, and we wish them well, and enjoy all the inter-club events. From that point on, it becomes an interesting mix of Mini, Rover, Sterling, Lotus, Morris, Jensen-Healey, and Morgan.
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