reply from Frank Patek
Everyone,
as a follow-up to this thread, i am posting an un-edited letter from Frank Patek, the exec. director of BMWCCA
Scott,
Thank you for contacting me about the recent design and content changes to Roundel. At your suggestion, I took the time to read through the many comments on the E9 and 2002 forum groups. Their comments reflect the passion of our members for all things BMW—and for all things BMW CCA. While some are more passionate than others, I am grateful that our members have always had a concerned interest in the history and future of our Club. Both forums saw discussion of a wide range of issues, and I will do my best to address them here.
First, I want to correct the misconception that any changes were necessitated by cost-cutting, or so that the Club might build a facility “to house the cars of a few members.” Costs are always a concern, of course, and we closely monitor them in order to maintain the stability of the Club. Through careful management, we have managed to lower the overall production costs of Roundel by $2.40 per primary member per year from 2009 to 2012. In annual production costs, this has meant a savings of $163,000 annually. In the midst of a recessionary economy and shrinking ad revenues, these savings have been essential to our continued success.
Second, the Club is not contemplating the purchase of a building to “house the cars of a few members.” That statement was a gross misinterpretation of the facts, deliberate or otherwise. It is true that the BMW CCA Foundation—an entity entirely separate from and independent of the BMW CCA, with its own board of directors—is exploring the possibility of conducting a capital campaign to solicit donations for the construction of a museum and office space. It is also true that the Club would likely share office space in that new facility. But any suggestion that membership dollars are being spent on the study of this project, any future campaign, or any facility that might be purchased by the Foundation is entirely false.
More important is the notion that we are somehow turning our backs on the heritage of the Club, or the owners of the wonderful vintage cars we all love. No member of the BMW CCA Board, no member of the BMW CCA staff, and no member of the Roundel team has any intention of turning away from the 2002—the car that built the Club!—or the iconic E9 coupe—or the owners who preserve and maintain these cars. These members remain the heart and soul of the Club, and your home within Roundel and the BMW CCA is secure.
Five years ago, when we thought about creating a new event in the Greenville area, Bill Williams approached me support The Vintage instead—and we did. The following year, we began our support of two other significant national or regional vintage events, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix and the Legends of the Autobahn concours at Monterey, along with the BMW Festorics corral at the Monterey historic-car races. Since then, the Club has supported all of these events with staff time, event insurance, publicity, sponsorship dollars, and Spaten hospitality. National support of these vintage events exceeds $55,000 annually in dollars and services, and allows the organizers to provide a top-notch experience at little or no cost to our members.
As the executive director who pushed these local and national partnerships, I am particularly proud of our success. I believe that most of the local event organizers are part of these forums, and I welcome their comments here regarding our ability to partner with them and contribute to their success. Perhaps they will tell to what extent Bimmer, Classic Motosport, or any other publication has helped make their events possible with funding, and to what degree their events were covered by those magazines.
As for Roundel, in addition to stories on these and other events—even non-Club events with BMW presence, like the annual multi-marque event at the Zentrum—our March cover story takes us to Austria for the Ennstal Classic, featuring such notable vintage BMWs as a BMW 502 “Baroque Angel,” a 503, a couple of 507s, several wonderful 328 roadsters, and even a couple of Veritas post-war racers. Of particular note is a 2002ti that was one of six cars built and rallied by the BMW factory.
That issue also contains the story of a 2002 restoration that went right instead of wrong, and there are a couple of good E9 coupe stories coming down the pipeline. I’m sure you know of Roundel’s emphasis on the history of the marque; in the past year or so, the magazine has featured specific one-off cars like the Bugelfalte roadster acquired by Oscar Davis and featured in such shows as the Hilton Head Island Concours. There was Brian Morgan’s very well researched history of the 1940 Mille Miglia, won by the BMW 328 Touring coupe. We even featured a speculative story on a car built for a race that never happened: the Berlin-to-Rome race.
While that may not be enough vintage coverage for everyone, I believe it is a pretty darn good record. Within all of that coverage, have we ever made a mistake? Have we occasionally mislabeled a car? Of course; just as surely as we are human beings, we are certainly capable of error. Roundel’s policy has always been clear: When we make a mistake, we acknowledge and correct it at the first possible opportunity—and we try not to make the same mistake twice.
I know that the status of our writers is of great concern to our readers, for this really is a family. Most of us feel a close kinship for the friends we’ve come to know through their writing in Roundel, and although we do not discuss confidential personnel matters, I want to make it clear to everyone that Mike Self, Joseph Chamberlain, Rob Siegel, and Mark Jon Calabrese remain with us as Roundel columnists. Chamberlain, who was recently awarded the Friend of the Marque Award, will alternate with Dave Farnsworth; Siegel and Calabrese will also alternate columns.
A number of the posts I read expressed concern that the Club and its membership are different than they were in 1969. This may be true—but our Club founders established the BMW Car Club of America, not the ’02 Club of America. As the marque has grown and diversified, so has the BMW CCA, and we must have room in our tent for all passionate BMW fans, whether they drive 2002s, E9 coupes, M3s, or X5s—not to mention Minis.
Today we have 70,000 dues-paying members. It’s not unreasonable to believe that not all of them are passionate fans of history, or of vintage or classic BMW models. But clearly, they do not object to a mix of stories about people who are. However, we cannot focus solely on one model, to the exclusion of the others. Even Mike Self, in his 02 Cents column, found himself writing about everything from small French cars to his adventures with E30s; it’s time he be allowed to devote himself to a wider audience.
But while that monthly column is gone, we have no intention of losing the passionate voice of Mike Self; instead, we are expanding his role as a Roundel feature writer, and his topics are limited only by his interests. While his January story was a travel piece there is nothing stopping Mike from sharing his technical expertise in the future. And if he chooses to write a story on the restoration of a 1602 or a 2002, the feature-story format affords him the luxury of several pages of text and photos. Using our electronic editions, he can even include video.
In the past 44 years, BMW has transformed itself. There is a BMW for every demographic. To remain relevant, the Club must adapt and—as it has from the beginning—appeal to all BMW owners. Does that mean that we will forsake the 2002tii for the Electric E? Never. Will we ask vintage-BMW owners to share the Club experience with purchasers of the i8 and i3? Yes.
That said Roundel is just one of the significant benefits of BMW CCA membership. Your $48 is no mere magazine subscription; it also includes your local chapter dues, as $15.30 of that annual fee is rebated to your local chapter. Chapters provide newsletters, tech sessions, show-and-shines, concours, driving events, Club races, and other events; chapters often partner with the national Club to present regional events. I believe the best Club experience has us interacting with each other at these events, regardless of what anybody drives; it really is about the people, not the cars.
I look forward to meeting members, like you, at events throughout the country. Working together we can preserve our heritage while embracing our future. Please feel free to share my response with others as you see fit.
Thank you,
Frank
[FONT="]Frank Patek[/FONT][FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]| Executive Director[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
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[FONT="]BMW Car Club of America[/FONT] [/FONT]
[FONT="]| 640 South Main Street, Suite 201 | Greenville, SC 29601[/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]Office: 864.250.0022 | Direct: 864.438.0960 | Fax: 864.250.0038 | [email protected][/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
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