Motor Home Amendment Invalid - Page 2

**azflycaster** · 02-11-2007, 10:18 PM

Since there are so many possible ways that this issue could be turned around at the deligate meeting, it would be impossible for a deligate to know how the unit felt on each issue. I would instruct my deligate to vote no on this issue and no on any modified ammendments. We are talking about the future of the club. It deserves more then a last minute change and a quick vote.

AZstreamin · 02-11-2007, 10:32 PM

I'm not real big on the political side of this WBCCI club that I some how became a member of...

I can see both sides of the argument...

so work with me here...
and enter the shoes of OLD JOE WBCCIer

1.. Your friends..some new....many though are long timers...you've all been members of the same club for years....you play cards, dice or cribbage once a week....one day you rise from your bed and realize.... towing is a lot of work, hooking up that trailer hurts my back....it’s time to trade in the silver bullet ma, and buy a motor home....being brand loyal... you buy an airstream.......the thought process..You can still hang with your chums in the same club that you've been playing pinochle with for the last X number of years....then comes time to upgrade.....now you’re stuck…. Airstream has eliminated your options....so as a senior member of the club, you change the rules of engagement to accommodate your personal needs, this way you may continue to hang with your chums and play cribbage…. Seems logical.

Another Perspective….

I'm a youngin’ by WBCCI standards so this will serve as an alternative view point…again work with me here… this is the viewpoint of a NEW WBCCIer...

2... Wally made the first Airstream with his bare hands... from some cheap plans from the back of a magazine. The trailer stood the test of time...Nothing on the road looks like it... that's the reason I bought one.. I'm unique like many of the other people that own an Airstream.. The club is made up of people of all different temperaments talents and convictions but they all share the love for the silver bullet. Some have motors.. Most don't…. In the end 99% are shaped like a bullet...not a box.. Most are silver.... some with paint.. But there is some kind of unexplainable nostalgia with owning an Airstream new or old and that seems to be the bond........
The idea of letting other brands into Wally’s club is ridiculous.

So there you go both sides....

So what to do? What to do....what to do?

The middle ground and perhaps a solution to this problem....

Grandfather the old timers....if they must replace their motor home... let it be... They make up a minute portion of the club..... But moving forward… If you want to join today, tomorrow or ten years from now... you must have an Airstream…..that’s the only way to preserve the integrity of the Wally club.

65GT · 02-11-2007, 10:35 PM

The perfect example is what the class of '06 Delegates did with the Basecamp. Someone moved that the wording be changed to hard-sided instead of adding the word BaseCamp to our current requirements. That was done so the issue didn't have to be revisited the next time AS wants to make something off the wall.

This now leads to the possibility of Thor producing one of those hard-sided peak-roof pop-ups and as long as Airstream makes it -- it's in the club.

Personally I think we moved on the BaseCamp way too soon. But for delegates to take the lazy way out and just can a statement for the sake of convenience, well you're next neighbor could be a pop-up and I'm not so certain that's what this club wants or is even about. TBD...

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65GT · 02-11-2007, 10:44 PM

The club survived 40 years without MH's -- 1955-1995. That was ~20 years after Arogsy and AS started offering MH's.

The club grew to 25,000+ member families during the trailer-only years. So it's a model that works.

Personally I don't have a problem with Grandfathering. I think the actual number of members that will take advantage of that are less than 100. No big deal.

Changing membership requirements to allow SOBs in -- a very HUGE deal. It's a deal breaker in my mind but there are so many members that go whichever way the wind blows so it's unpredictable what will happen at the unit level.

Associate Member class is the way to solve this small problem. It's just unfortunate that SCCAM and the IBT ignored the common sense solution and instead went for the jugular. It grew like a patch of wild mushrooms and now its a brand new SOB membership campaign.

Some Koolaid huh?

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boblee5244 · 02-12-2007, 05:19 PM

I have a 2000 Land Yacht XC and I do support the addition of the Four Winds Motorhomes into the club. Most of the people that oppose this also oppose airstream motorhomes being in the club. Most motorhomes look alike and do not stand out like the traditional Airstream trailer does. With all of the negative comments on this issue, I do not see it passing. I believe that most Vintage and Classic members will say "good ridance" when motorhome owners leave the club because they cannot upgrade.

wkerfoot · 02-12-2007, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boblee5244

I have a 2000 Land Yacht XC and I do support the addition of the Four Winds Motorhomes into the club. Most of the people that oppose this also oppose airstream motorhomes being in the club. Most motorhomes look alike and do not stand out like the traditional Airstream trailer does. With all of the negative comments on this issue, I do not see it passing. I believe that most Vintage and Classic members will say "good ridance" when motorhome owners leave the club because they cannot upgrade.

Bob,

I respectfully disagree, the issue of whether or not motorhomes belong in WBCCI is "settled law". The issue is whether or not a single manufacturer RV club allows owners of RVs manufactured by another company as members.

Just my personal opinion.

Bill

65GT · 02-12-2007, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boblee5244

I believe that most Vintage and Classic members will say "good ridance" when motorhome owners leave the club because they cannot upgrade.

That's awfully harsh and unfair. Granted the square white box motor homes get no respect (the Rodney Dangerfield's of the club) but the MEMBERS are valued no less than any other member.

I think you're right though -- this motion won't pass. It doesn't have a hope in hell. This IS the same club that you joined and decided to lead -- a club of Airstream manufactured product - Class A's included. There's no reason for that to change and many Class A MoHo members wouldn't want it to change (as has been stated here and elsewhere).

Why should the club DICTATE to members what MoHo's they have to buy when they give up their Airstreams in order to remain members? I've yet to see anyone answer that question directly. Care to give it a shot?

Thor screwed you guys, not the WBCCI. So maybe 90+% of the club doesn't want it open to SOBs. My honest belief (read opinion) is that if you were a loyal member you wouldn't want it open to SOBs either.

If the club is SO important to this group and the majority of the club bent over backwards to create an Associate Membership class what percentage of MoHo owners do you think would just move on and not REMAIN members in the WBCCI? (Regular Membership vs Associate Membership)

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wheel interested · 02-12-2007, 05:53 PM

Thanks Boblee for expressing your opinion. I hope more Airstream motorhome owners are heard from too.

And sorry not about your decision but about your feeling that the club does not fully embrace motorhome owners. I myself think it is just fine. That's the way it was when I joined and have never considered it less than desirable. I would love one myself. I think like Bill does that we are an Airstream club. My objections are not about motorhomes but about non-Airstreams. Don't want to pontificate over your opinion, glad you added it. I just feel badly that any WBCCI members would feel discriminated against, whether Argosy owners, motorhome owners, Squarestreams, fifthwheel, cstream, bvans, the Torpedo, BaseCamps or even MALs, vintage, classic or new. We all belong to our Airstream club together.

Nuvite-F · 02-12-2007, 06:15 PM

Bob,

Quote:

I have a 2000 Land Yacht XC and I do support the addition of the Four Winds Motorhomes into the club. Most of the people that oppose this also oppose airstream motorhomes being in the club.

Sorry if the actions of some have led you to believe this. I do not believe that is at all the case. Heck, we drag a vintage trailer, but some of our best WBCCI friends drive motor homes.

The problem is just as it's stated, no more and no less--WBCCI for RVs manufactured by Airstream. Opening up the club to other brand RVs is overkill. I appreciate the concerns of long-time members who want to buy a motor home in the future and have no problem with grandfathering existing WBCCI members to stay in the club with some other brand motor home.

Best regards,
Nuvi

till · 02-12-2007, 06:57 PM

The grandfather concept would make a good middle ground. I believe that this country was built on compromise??

The only question I have at this point is...
Has this kind of stuff been going on for the last 50 years, or has it just started since I joined?? If it has just started, I will quit so you can get back to a normal club.......

eubank · 02-12-2007, 07:51 PM

There might be another way to state the grandfathering idea: Folks who had an Airstream and joined under current rules can simply continue within WBCCI, regardless of their current ownership. This is, after all, more or less what's done with bunches of our elderly members, who have sold their rigs (=own no rig at all), but continue to attend functions, mainly luncheons and dinners.

What this would mean in turn is that we turn down the proposed amendment and leave well enough alone.

?
Lynn

boblee5244 · 02-13-2007, 09:50 AM

The bottom line is that Airstream is not going to make any more motorhomes. Those of us that have them will have to leave the club. If everyone is O.K. with this, then so be it. It has been said that there are many Airstream motorhomes on dealer's lots available for sale. The problem is that the ones available are over-priced and out-dated. The Mandalay is a better value and the quality is as good as the Airstream. As I said, I do not think the proposal will pass. If it did probaly no more than 10-15 would ever show up at a WBCCI function. My motorhome will last me as long as I will be around, but I hate to see good members leave because of this issue. We tried to get Thor to re-badge the Mandalay as an Airstream, but it would have upset their dealer network. I do not see the difference in that and and the "Airstream Edition". I'd bet that when Airstream opened the new factory in Ohio that people didn"t want them in either.

wkerfoot · 02-13-2007, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boblee5244

The bottom line is that Airstream is not going to make any more motorhomes. Those of us that have them will have to leave the club. If everyone is O.K. with this, then so be it. It has been said that there are many Airstream motorhomes on dealer's lots available for sale. The problem is that the ones available are over-priced and out-dated. The Mandalay is a better value and the quality is as good as the Airstream. As I said, I do not think the proposal will pass. If it did probaly no more than 10-15 would ever show up at a WBCCI function. My motorhome will last me as long as I will be around, but I hate to see good members leave because of this issue. We tried to get Thor to re-badge the Mandalay as an Airstream, but it would have upset their dealer network. I do not see the difference in that and and the "Airstream Edition". I'd bet that when Airstream opened the new factory in Ohio that people didn"t want them in either.

Bob,

The Jackson Center, Ohio plant was opened in 1952 and WBCCI was formed in 1955. I don't think that the Airstreams built in the Ohio plant was an issue then. The California plant closed in 1979.

Just my personal opinion.

Bill

**wahoonc** · 02-13-2007, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boblee5244

The bottom line is that Airstream is not going to make any more motorhomes. Those of us that have them will have to leave the club. If everyone is O.K. with this, then so be it. It has been said that there are many Airstream motorhomes on dealer's lots available for sale. The problem is that the ones available are over-priced and out-dated. The Mandalay is a better value and the quality is as good as the Airstream. As I said, I do not think the proposal will pass. If it did probaly no more than 10-15 would ever show up at a WBCCI function. My motorhome will last me as long as I will be around, but I hate to see good members leave because of this issue. We tried to get Thor to re-badge the Mandalay as an Airstream, but it would have upset their dealer network. I do not see the difference in that and and the "Airstream Edition". I'd bet that when Airstream opened the new factory in Ohio that people didn"t want them in either.

Maybe I misunderstood the initial proposal from the IBT, but I was under the impression that ANY Fourwinds motor home product could be re-badged not just the Mandalay. Anybody have any clarification on that? On a personal level I think that grandfathering or associate membership is the best choice, however what is to keep someone from coming up a few more years from now and deciding that they want to let something else in? Once you set a precedent it can become very dangerous in the future.

Aaron