Tucker Automobile Club of America merges with AACA Museum of Hershey, PA

[Milaca]

Read the article here:

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/12/29/tucker-club-merges-with-aaca-museum-clubs-are-not-what-they-used-to-be/?refer=hccweekly

[studegary]

Interesting!
It is amazing that they had 600 members with only 51 cars built.

[ddub]

Sobering quote from the article:

Breslow echoed Bliemeister’s assessment of the car club scene as a whole. “In my opinion, the car club model of the Seventies is dead and not coming back,” he said. “Clubs are not what they used to be. The next generation is not interested in joining old-school car clubs.”

[8E45E]

Its nice to see all the artifacts from both clubs being combined and preserved.

Craig

[DougHolverson]

So what defines the car club model of the '70s and why doesn't it fly today?

[DEEPNHOCK]

While sad to see one club's autonomy end....
It is good to see the entity continue on with a healthy organization.
The comment about one person having most all of the info/artifacts is telling.
We all, as individuals, need to be concerned, aware, and prepared to hand over our own legacy to a place where it might be continued.
Be it a simple car or truck, or a memorabilia collection..
It will be scattered to the winds of Ebay if the individual does nothing to prepare for the next journey.
(I, too am guilty of this).

[Buzzard]

Well stated Jeff. I too plead guilty to holding onto Studebaker parts which in reality, I know in my heart, I will never use. Perhaps this summer I'll catalog everything and see who needs what.
It's definitely time for introspection. (Boy, have we become philosophical).
Bill

[studegary]

While sad to see one club's autonomy end....
It is good to see the entity continue on with a healthy organization.
The comment about one person having most all of the info/artifacts is telling.
We all, as individuals, need to be concerned, aware, and prepared to hand over our own legacy to a place where it might be continued.
Be it a simple car or truck, or a memorabilia collection..
It will be scattered to the winds of Ebay if the individual does nothing to prepare for the next journey.
(I, too am guilty of this).

I figure that most of my books (many signed/numbered), literature, etc. will go to landfill, not eBay, even though someone could make a pretty penny off what I have (not just Studebaker related).
I have disposed of most all of my parts, most at 10 cents on the dollar, just to move them out.
I believe that my greatest automotive asset is what is in my brain. I try to "distribute" some of this on the SDC & AOAI Forums, in person, etc.
It won't be long before there isn't anyone around that was of age when Studebakers were sold new and were in regular usage.

[voxnut]

So what defines the car club model of the '70s and why doesn't it fly today?

I see it as a group with regular meetings, get-togethers, fellowship, and friendship with people volunteering to keep things running. At 50 years old, I am a Gen Xer and I think my generation is the first one that are just not big "joiners" for whatever reason. You look at other organizations like the Elks, VFW and so forth and they are all suffering from membership issues as well. I can't exactly explain it - part of it is long work hours, a lot of time commitments with family obligations, (youth sports, school functions, and so forth), also being a sandwich generation where we're both raising kids and taking care of elderly parents means that free time is infrequent and kinda precious. I am guilty of belonging to my local chapter, but not going to meetings and events.

For the generation younger than me, a lot of it is young people starting to not relate to, or value old cars that much - on the whole, unless folks in their 20's and probably early 30's grew up around old cars, or live in a part of the country where there is the space to store, work on, and enjoy old cars, they have a hard time envisioning old car ownership. They are off doing other things virtual and real - they'd rather go travel, or go out to a nice dinner, or have "experiences" than have the "burden" of owning something that needs constant care and feeding. Add in how expensive things like housing costs and a lot of the student debt young people carry, and owning things like old cars are viewed as a luxury they can't afford, even if they wanted one. Just a different generation, I suppose.

I know there will be a totally different landscape when both my baby boomer friends as well as my generation who are still into collecting "stuff" start passing on. The secondary markets and landfills will be flooded with things we valued and gave us sense of place, purpose, and well being as the younger generation sees it as a burden that weighs their lives down and that they don't relate to.

I don't doubt that there will always be some young people interested in old stuff, just probably not in the numbers that previous generations had. I guess that's why it is even more important to make sure there is a repository of information on how to keep these cars running. It is kinda sad to see the generational shift. I always envy folks who hit the sweet spot in a career or hobby where they were able to spend their whole career, or lifetime involved in a pastime with things basically staying the same. There is a paradigm shift going on that is uncomfortable for folks like me to live through.