TO: General Membership
FM: Membership Director

Subj: CT Z Car Club CALENDAR?

After viewing all those GREAT Z cars and Roadsters at the Annual Fall Picnic last Saturday, it occurs to me that we might want to create a CLUB CALENDAR to highlight our cars. I'd like to get your collective and individual thoughts on that idea.

We showed almost 70 cars at the picnic. I know some of them came from members living afar, so we might not be able to get all of them back to photograph them in time for a 2009 calendar. But let's say we got 30 or 40 of them ~ we could shoot them 3 or 4 to a page (month), and if we had too many cars, we could make a 14 or 15 month calendar.

I would suggest we chooZe several nice serene spots (like a park or hospital or college campus or golfcourse or a racetrack or something similar) in different areas of CT. We could schedule the members who lived closest to each spot to bring their car there on a certain day and shoot a dozen or so in each spot. Those members who missed their scheduled shoot would be given the chance to drive farther and catch the next shoot if they could.

Cars would be photographed without their owners. The only two exceptions would be Ross because he's our President, and Bob Sharp because he's.......well......BOB SHARP.

Club Photographer Phil Parent would be in charge of all picture set ups (angles, lighting, timing, etc). I guess I could schedule the individual gatherings of cars in selected sites around the state. Ross would keep in touch with us on his cellphone from the Caribbean Islands to make sure everything ran smoothly. (Or not).

Once we had 12 or 14 months of Photo-Ready car sets, we would deliver them to a printshop which would turn them into calendars. The suggestion has been made to use the picnic group photo as the cover ~ and I think you'll agree that's a great idea. The suggestion has also been made NOT to use the MEMBER RIDES photographs, since we urged you not to wait until your car looked its best or you had a professional background setting or the sun was "just right", etc. Your great car deserves to be in a calendar and deserves to be photographed looking its best.

Finished calendars would be sold to Club members (we don't have a license to sell commercially) for slightly above cost. The proceeds would go into the Club Kitty to help defray the expenses of future events. No individual profits would be allowed.

The only problems I foresee with this idea at this time are:

~ Your Club officers have never made a calendar before, so we don't know where to start, actually;

~ It's late in the year, so if we intend to produce a calendar for the year 2009 in time for 2009, we have to get moving;

~ Driving the cars a few miles in the Fall to a photoshoot might make you want to clean the car before Phil shoots it. We would have to invent some means for owners to wash their cars down when they arrive;

~ This Club's membership numbers have EXPLODED this year. If that trend continues, by this time next year we might simply have TOO MANY cars to fit into a calendar. So this might be the IDEAL (and only?) time we ever have to fit everyone who's interested, into a calendar.

NOW, what I need from y'all is this ~

a. DO WE EVEN WANT A CLUB CALENDAR?
b. Does anyone know anyone who can make us a calendar out of photo-ready picture sets?
c. If we went to all this trouble, would YOU come and get your car shot, and would YOU then buy a calendar?

**(I have generated a Sticky Poll at the top of this thread for your answer)

Please think this over. Give me comments as soon as you have them. I need advice on this. Good idea? Bad idea? Dumb idea? Do you know any calendar-making people?

Vote once on this question before 26Oct08. ("NO" Votes are important! If you don't want a calendar this year, PLEASE say so ~ it will prevent a lot of members from jumping thru fast hoops unnecessarily).

We will make our decision on 26October based upon your input.

Thanks!

YrFthflSrvnt,
Frank T

I think a club calender would be pretty cool, ya got my vote.

Good, Scotty ~ now press the button in the Poll above and register your desire. Thanks!

NEXT??!

27Oct08~ Due to an obvious lack of current interest, this idea is hereby shelved for the present. Feel free to re-evaluate it next year.
Thanks to those who took time to respond.

Frank T
Membership Director

Hey Frank, how about a little more time, I've been busy, I'm shure like others, and I just saw this today, and I voted YES. I think it's a great idea. Me and the wife make calanders for people in our family for Christmas time, and it's not hard. They do not look like the ones you buy in the store, but maybe they could with the right help. As far as the layout, not hard to do, well that's what she says, because I haven't a clue, I just chorograph the idea. There is even more than enough models to cover all 12 months, (for instance 1970 240 and a 72, or a 260 and then a 2+2 260, a 75 280z then a 78 280z,and so on, like a 84 300zx and a 89 turbo, ect.) Some could even take there own pics. if that helps. I also think a pic. of Paul Newman should be included, and this could be the first, and commorative calendar. Even a photo shoot in front of Castle Hill were he came to visit. Anything, the ideas are flowing, and Frank, don't give up on such a great idea. You got my support.

Hi Paul ~
Thank for your reply. You're always a motivator, and I'm glad we think alike. You're full of the same spirit many of us feel, which is EXACTLY what keeps these wonderful/horrible cars on the road after so many decades!

You're right ~ this IS a good idea, and one which I feel is a must for the Club. However, I got this idea too late in the year to be practical for 2009. The weather is already against us and some of the cars are already going up on blocks for winter hibernation. I feel the fall leaves would make a really cool background setting and if we shot 30-40 cars, our calendar will be an outstanding contribution to our Club.

But consider this: the roads are already wet, municipalities will soon be sanding them, not all the cars are available now, we don't even have 5 spots choZen for the pictures yet (let alone permission to shoot there), and the lead-time for professional calendars is 2-3 weeks IF we do the set-up. In order to have them ready for Christmas (my original intent) so they could be used for 2009, we would have to submit them not later than 05Dec08. That leaves us only a month to arrange everything, convince owners to take their cars back off the blocks and prep them to be shot, drive to the location nearest them and clean them again (and I know cars in this club which don't leave the garage after a rain), then fight against the dwindling daylight hours on weekdays or weekends, only to get pix taken against backdrops of bare trees and brown grass. Far better to wait for next year and do this at a controlled pace, so we can get every car interested in a clean, photogenic setting.

The cost of 200 calendars (how many I think we could sell among us) would be btwn $1200-1500, depending on binding and numbers of months. That includes the cover shot of the picnic and parking 3-4 cars together for each month. I can't front that much, so we'd have to collect payment in advance from everyone who wants a calendar. With a membership approaching 200, you can envision how hectic that could become on short notice. My hope was to make the calendars for about $8 each, sell them for $10-12 each, and make the Club a small profit to help fund next year's events.

I still want to do this, but I feel convinced that there is now NOT enough time left in 2008 to make it happen in a professional manner for 2009. Next year we can start early, shoot thru the spring, summer and early fall, include as many cars as possible and submit the photo-ready shots by the end of September/early October. The calendars could be ready for the Annual Fall Outing if we do it right, and we can sell them among Club members who want to see their cars hanging in the garage for years to come, or send them as Christmas presents to relatives, etc. We should be able to sell 200, don't you think?

If we keep the cost low, everyone should be able to afford one (or 2?) and the Club would still make a little money for events.

BEAR ANOTHER THING IN MIND ~ shooting 30-40 (or 50-60?) cars in five different settings within a brief period is one heck of a burden to place on our Club Photographer, who MIGHT have other things planned for his life as the holidays approach. It boarders on an unreasonable request and Uncle Phil might be tempted to toss his camera in the river and quit.

We want this to be a professional effort, not cost a lot, and not alienate anybody.

Do you agree it was a good idea, born too late for this year, and should be enthusiastically pursued for next year when the cars come back out?

Very interested in your input, and thoughts from anybody else.

Frank

Frank, I think it's a good idea and hofully it will work out in the spring . Some more incentive to get that Z of yours back on the road ! Jim

I agree with you Frank, so maybe we should get started for a 2010 calander. If we could get some pics. of cars this fall and winter to use for next year, so that way we have a jump on it. I forgot about the Z's going up on blocks, for I'm driving mine up until first snow fall, it may be getting cold but my Z is warm and snuggly inside, now that I don't have rain coming inside.