Author: Kerch McConlogue

Regalia Update

Proposed: Print on demand companies that will produce and ship items with our artwork and pay the club a percentage.

Kerch looked into:

  • Printful.com and Teelaunch.com: These both require a store to be set up on our website. But production and fulfillment is handled by the company
  • Amazon is just too expensive with ~$40 a month plus a per product sale fee
  • Redbubble.com provides the best match for our needs.
  • Society6.com: Similar setup to RedBubble.com but more artsy and no car products

Advantages of RedBubble.com

  • Large number of products available Including: Mugs, coasters, T-shirts, sweatshirts, mouse pads, phone cases, aprons, duffle bags, tote bags
  • They do total fulfillment of the products
  • Large audience base (not just our club members)
  • No “store” is required on our site
  • Reasonable retail prices  ( tend to be between a couple of bucks and $35 or $40)
  • Proceeds are paid on schedule, paid out monthly as long as they owe you more than $20. Otherwise, they keep it until they owe you $20

See process below

Disadvantages:

  • All Redbubble products are screen printed not embroidered
  • If we want to provide higher quality embroidered jackets and hats, we would use a different company (perhaps Land’s End)
base cost + markupmarginretail price*Red bubble fee**Red bubble fee***Net to TEAE
t shirt$18.0025%$4.50$22.50$1.9011.6%$2.60
mug$14.7520%$2.95$17.77$1.309.3%$1.65

* Plus shipping/tax            
** From chart         
*** Calculated% of margin                  

Fee table: https://help.redbubble.com/hc/en-us/articles/202270799-How-is-my-payment-calculated

Sample product retail costs including sample markup: https://www.redbubble.com/account/pricing

Process

We would upload artwork and members (or other visitors) could decide upon what items the artwork would be printed, not just T-shirts and hats, but also sweatshirts and stickers mugs backpacks, duffel bags, buttons, zipper bags, etc.

 Redbubble requires 5 designs in each “store.” Obviously, each of our new logos would be represented but also we could add logos of the Rootes vehicles like Talbot and Hillman etc. These products would appeal to more than our own members.

TEAE is not a 501 (c) 3 organization

We are a 501 (c) 7: A social club … organized for pleasure, recreation, and other similar purposes.

Please may we put to bed the conversation about making TEAE into a 501 (C) 3.

We do not qualify according to the IRS rules.

The exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3) are charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and preventing cruelty to children or animals.

IRS: Exempt organization type

Further

To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), 

IRS: Exemption trequirements

We are none of these things.

Any other car club that is a 501(c)3 is so most likely because they have members able to support approved purposes, most likely educational – e.g. volunteering to teach British car maintenance at a local high school —  or because of some fund raising for a different cause.

Support for a local entity is not likely given  our widely dispersed group.

Most importantly, we are putting the cart before the horse!

If we are looking into this  so people can give us money, we are missing the purpose of a charitable organization.

Instead of looking for ways to make it easy for people to give us money, we need to look for ways to support charitable causes, or at the very least support young people getting into old cars. Then if we find that we are doing some good things, we can reconsider whether reclassifying our tax status makes sense.

Posted by Kerch McConlogue
2/7/2024

Please add comments below

Putting on a BASH

rootes-bash logo

TL;DR
Where ever two or more Rootes fanatics are gathered in the TEAE name, it counts as a BASH!

This is Appendix B supplied to Regional Reps about a BASH

Any gathering of Sunbeams/Rare Rootes can be termed a BASH in your promotions, and you should use this term.  Some events are limited to gathering of two or three cars at a meeting place, where the entertainment is limited to conversation; some can be more extensive including a prepared drive or rallye, meals, tech sessions like a carb rebuild, fix-ins where a member’s car in need is addressed.

Consider partnering with an already established event like a British Car or other type show. Ask their organization to promote the BASH concept. Ask them to promote the BASH, a gathering of Rootes vehicles. Giveaways like TEAE magnets, or water bottles, etc. are available at a nominal cost.  Each region has a TEAE banner to put on display. Updated brochures to hand out to prospective members will be distributed.  Contact the membership chairman.

The key to a successful event is in the planning.  Leave yourself enough time to get organized. For anything more ambitious than a cars and coffee, consider enlisting an accomplice. For planning purposes, you can use the roster sorted by region available on the website here: https://www.teae.org/downloadable-rosters/.  You can get an up-to-date list of members and their contact information for your region and contiguous regions by requesting it from the membership chairman.  Until your region has coalesced into a community, you may find that people ignore email communications. We encourage phone contact to establish a rapport.

You will be busy during the day of the event so enlisting help for some tasks is a good idea for a larger event:

  • Organizing parking
  • Registration (when participants pay a fee to enter)
  • Photographer (need not be a pro; your event report will be better with photos of people & cars – preferably action or candid shots, not portraits, and in)
  • Organizing food and drink (coffee for early arrivals – lunch later)

Connecting with a larger car show is a good way to get exposure for the Marque and an easy way to put on event.  For the more informal shows, just meeting together at the show will probably allow you to park together. For larger shows where cars are organized by Marque, you should contact the show promoter to ensure that there is an area designated for your group. And don’t forget the club banner.

Some of the more active car clubs sponsor events on a weekly or monthly basis, often a cars and coffee. During the off-season when our cars may be hibernating, a social get together for a meal or conversation at a member’s home or local restaurant.  For example, the UK Hillman group sponsors a monthly pub night.  This is another way to build community.

Newsletter Editor Duties

  • Ensure information contained in the newsletter is not objectionable to the general membership.
  • Takes care that the general theme and image projected supports the goals of the organization.
  • Style for RootesReview is one word and in italics
  • Generally, success as a newsletter editor is based on relationships built with the regional reps and editors of other publications (British Marque magazine and other Rootes based publications)
  • It is helpful to contact Regional Reps in mid month to request updates on activities.  Club events are encouraged. But interesting personal stories are welcome.
  • The newsletter is published monthly, or as set forth by the Board. Periodic bi-monthly issues may be required if there is inadequate content to justify publication.
  • Currently the RootesReview is built on Microsoft Publisher, always in a page number to be a multiple of four.
  • Article lengths should not in general be longer than about 750 words. If it’s supplied longer, then consider publishing in parts over two or more issues.
  • Regular features have been:
  • Member Spotlight,
  • Tom Patton’s racing reports,
  • President’s report,
  • For Sale,
  • Wanted.

The United registration form is published in one issue. Bios of people standing for election are included in one issue as well as a paper ballot for people who choose to do it. Bios should really not be longer than about 25 words!

  • Images should be supplied to the newsletter editor as full size images, 300 dpi is best.
  • Provide final pdf (standard view) file to Webmaster to upload to the website.
  • Distribute electronic versions to other clubs.  A current list of those are include on line t https://www.board.teae.org/2023/02/newsletter-editor/.
  • Compiles the newsletter  and sends to the printer (currently DRSPrinting) the press quality PDF file and a spreadsheet provided by the membership chairman (or managed by Newsletter Editor)  listing the names and addresses of appropriate members.
  • If the publication is longer than 12 pages, it is recommended that the file be uploaded to DropBox. Send the .csv file of members in an separate email and tell the Printer that the file has been uploaded.
  • The printer prepares the Post Office requirements and sends ten copies to the Membership Chair for distribution to new members or to people who have paid for extra copies.

Membership Meeting 2023

View pdf slides below or download them here

The TEAE Annual General Meeting for 2023 was held on 15 September 2023 during United 40, with approximately 100 Club members attending. The meeting was chaired by President Jim Lindner and commenced at 6:30pm.

The following notes summarize the main highlights and provide some additional information.

Tiger 60th Anniversary Video Production

A trailer for a video production being undertaken on the Tiger in celebration of its 60th anniversary​‌. Filming was shown. The production team is looking for additional funding of $31k to complete the editing and packaging of the film. The fundraising is being done on Kickstarter. TEAE members were urged to donate.

Rootes Archive Center

Roger Plaskett provided an update on RAC activities and solicited donations from TEAE members. He noted that the RAC has been rebranded at Rootes Heritage.

Treasurer’s Report (Slide 5)

Treasurer Steve Murphy prepared a 5 year summary of the Club finances, demonstrating the Club’s finances are healthy. The main point to note is the membership fees still continue to only cover the mailing costs of the monthly newsletter – any operating profit is generated by the United gathering. (Slide 5 shows the current balance held by the club under 2023 Ending balance. This does not include the majority of the United 40 expenses which still need to be paid).

Membership Report (Slide 6)

Club membership remains steady at slightly over 500 members. Jim stated he had tried to recruit into TEAE the couple dozen members of the Colorado Association of Tiger Owners, to have them form the nucleus of the TEAE Rocky Mountain Region. They considered the proposal but ultimately declined it.

Members are reminded to ensure their e-mail address is current in the Club database.

Webmaster Report (Slide 12)

As part of the Webmaster report Kerch McConlogue stated the Club will now charge a small fee for fulfilling requests for newsletter back issues.

Facebook Report (Slide 13)

The Club’s Facebook presence continues to grow with over 1,000 active users – it is giving good, worldwide exposure to the Club. One disadvantage of the platform is that information and answers to questions become difficult to find after 24 hours.

Three Year Business Plan Committee (Slides 15-21)

A committee entitled the Three Year Business Plan Committee has been created to study and implement new procedures and activities for the Club to better support the Rootes marque in North America. The following updates were provided on several initiatives that have already been started:

Forums and Facebook – The Forum has been cleaned up, and Facebook has had additional administrators appointed. The Club leadership has been more active in monitoring both platforms to ensure any postings requiring a response are answered in a timely fashion.

Legacy Awards – Two of the three annual legacy awards require autocross participation. As autocross no longer appears to be a widely popular activity, the qualification criteria of these awards will be reviewed and potentially amended.

Bylaw Revisions and Procedures Manual – The intent of this initiative is to streamline the Bylaws to remove procedural/transactional – type information for Club operations and embody it in a procedures manual. This will streamline the management of transacting Club business as official deliberation and voting by the Club Board will not be required to change ‘how’ our business is transacted.

TAC Program Improvements – There are now several new qualified TAC inspectors in the Eastern US and Canada, but there are still improvements that could be made to the TAC program.

Club Regalia – Rather than stocking inventory of Club regalia (hats, t-shirts, etc), a vendor is being sought who can create and provide these items as they are ordered.

BASH (Bring A Sunbeam Here) Promotion – Regional reps will organize local events around the theme of ‘Bring A Sunbeam Here’. The intent is to bring a better focus to Rootes owners and what they are doing.

2024 Board Elections (Slide 22)

A new slate of officers needs to be elected for 2024. All the current incumbents have volunteered to continue in their positions and were nominated at the annual board meeting, but the position of President will require a new nominee, in accordance with the Club bylaws, since Jim has reached his term limit. A call for nominations was made for all officer positions and one board position. There was one nomination from the floor for a Board Director, Richard Fritz nominating Brian Baum. No nominations were received for any of the officer positions.

Jim reviewed the timeline for nominations and the election and advised that anyone wanting to run can still do so by contacting him or the Membership Chairperson.

United 41 (Slides 23-26) 

The next United is now set for West Lebanon, New Hampshire August 15-18, 2024. The main organizer is Robert Jaarsma and much has already been organized, including the host hotel, the concours site, the driving tour, and the autocross.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 7:30pm.

Submitted
Gary Corbett
Secretary

TEAE-General-Membership-Meeting-September-15-2023Download

Club President Extended Term

TEAE Board Record of Discussion – Nominees for Club President for 2024

The situation of nominees for Club President for 2024 was raised by current President Jim Lindner, and was discussed through a series of e-mails between the TEAE Leadership. This Record of Discussion summarizes those discussions and decisions taken.

Jim Lindner initiated the discussion by stating that despite his best efforts he was unable to secure a nominee for the role of President for the forthcoming elections for the Club Board for 2024. These efforts included a call for nominations at the Club’s Annual General Meeting at United 40 attended by over 100 Club members, via the Rootes Review and directly approaching several individuals. Jim stated he would be willing to run and if successful serve for another year, but to do so would require approval by the board.

Eric Gibeaut made a motion for a ONE TIME extension of one year to the term limit for President, and the motion was seconded by Tom Calvert. This motion was approved unanimously by the Board.

Barbara Geschke then nominated Jim Lindner as a candidate for TEAE President, and it was seconded by Joe Parlanti. Jim accepted the nomination and his name will be added to the ballot for the elections for 2024.

Submitted
Gary Corbett
TEAE Cub Secretary

Board of Directors Meeting:
August 20, 2023

A Video Conference Meeting was called to order by President Jim Lindner at 1:05 pm.              

Elected Officers Present: President Jim Lindner, Treasurer Steve Murphy, and Secretary Gary Corbett.

Board Members Present: Tom Calvert, Tom Ehrhart, Barb Geschke, Eric Gibeaut, Joe McConlogue, and Joe Parlanti.

Other Members Present: Bill Bulpitt, Tom Hillman, Kerch McConlogue, Joe Montecalvo, and Ron Stein.

Slides presented at the meeting are here.

TEAE Board Meeting August 2023Download

Approval of Minutes From Previous Meeting

The draft minutes from the last Board of Directors meeting on 5 February 2023 as posted on the Club website were approved.

Treasurer’s Report (Slides 4&5)

Steve Murphy presented a 5-year summary of the Club finances, showing the year-end balance for 2022. He will update this summary for the Annual General Meeting at United 40.

Membership Report (Slides 6-9)

 Joe McConlogue provided an update on Club membership data. The membership is basically steady at slightly more than 500 members. Mike Hartman has volunteered to help out with the membership database.

Stripe will be used to process credit card transactions versus PayPal, which provides a cost saving to the Club. Cheques are also still accepted.

Jim Lindner contacted the president of the Colorado Association of Tiger Owners about joining TEAE at a discounted rate and becoming part of the Rocky Mountain Region. They ultimately declined the offer.

Rootes Review/Web Presence (Slides 10-14)

Newsletters are staying close to 12 pages per month.

Kerch had previously suggested that we consider publishing the newsletter monthly but only printing it every other month. She presented a cost analysis showing the estimated yearly cost for this approach for a 16-page issue every month would be $10,800; we are currently on track to spend approx. $17,000 on mailing costs this year for mailing each month.

We get occasional requests for back issues, and often for multiple copies. As there is a small but not insignificant cost to provide these, Kerch proposed a fee structure (Slide 12) for providing these back issues. This was passed by consensus.

The Club’s Facebook presence is good – it is used regularly. Regarding the website, Kerch did not have any recent statistics as the Google functionality changed in July and detailed data is no longer available.

Old Business

Three Year Business Plan (Slides 17-23)

Tom Ehrhart provided an update on considerable activities to date undertaken by the 3-year business plan committee, and thanked the members of the committee for their efforts to date.

Slide 17

Identifies the committee’s Mission, Objectives, and Process. An initial report of recommendations was provided by the committee outlining specific initiatives and details of the discussions held about them (report can be found here https://www.board.teae.org/2023/07/3ypc-progress/) These initiatives are summarized on Slide 18.

Forum and on Facebook (Slide 19)

Advancements have been made on the Forum and on Facebook. Facebook now has three administrators – Jim Lindner, Kevin Klotzbach, and Steve Murphy. There are no further actions planned, although Joe McConlogue recommended maintaining focus on both. Jim Lindner stated that the newsletter is also an important communication product as well.

Legacy Awards (Slide 20)

Tiger Tom and Tom Calvert have been reviewing the Wally Swift Award nomination criteria. Tiger Tom will send a revised set of criteria to Board members for review and approval – they will propose removing the focus on autocross by substituting ‘competitive driving event’ which could then include a rally.
Action – Tiger Tom will send a revised set of nomination criteria to Board members.

Bylaw Amendments (Slide 20)

The committee recommends several specific amendments of the current Club by-laws to remove ‘Policy and Procedure’-type information – this type of information will be captured in a ‘Policies and Procedures Manual’ where changes can be more easily managed by the Board rather than requiring a bylaw amendment. Joe McConlogue provided an update – there will be a lot of changes to the Bylaws and the Procedure manual will be quite expansive. Kerch will post draft documents on the TEAE Board website to collect comments, Joe will organize a separate meeting before year-end to discuss this specific topic. Actions – Kerch to post draft documents on the TEAE Board website. Joe to organize a separate meeting to continue discussions.

TAC Program Within TEAE (Slide 20)

Tom Calvert and Bill Bulpitt are chairing the subcommittee working on this initiative – they have not made much progress to date but will work on it this winter. They want to recruit more inspectors to eliminate geographic areas where there are no inspectors as well as increase the number of senior inspectors. Tiger Tom noted the target audience for this program has expanded – not only do current owners/enthusiasts want it but now buyers and sellers as well.

Regalia Plan (Slide 20)

Jim Lindner stated he had tried to set up a supply arrangement with a specific vendor to provide different regalia items with the Club logo but had been unsuccessful. Kerch suggested a couple different vendors could do it (Redbubble or Amazon) – she will investigate.
Action – Kerch to investigate other vendors for the supply of regalia.

Technical Videos (Slide 21)

No action to date. Tiger Tom to solicit a lead for this initiative at the AGM.

BASH Concept (Slide 21)

Both Jim Lindner and Tiger Tom feel we have made positive progress already this year promoting the broader event concept of Bring A Sunbeam Here. A ‘BASH’ sign has been developed.

Expansion of Membership West of the Mississippi (Slide 21)

Jim Lindner articulated some ideas about building membership in the club west of the Mississippi. A western United is one idea, although there is a concern about how many eastern Club members would make the trip. He thought one option might be to be the lead organizer for the next SUNI in 2026 and run it as a psuedo-BASH/United. Tiger Tom thought we should focus on building from the bottom up by finding individual enthusiasts and recruiting them.

501 (c) 3 Tax Status (Slide 22)

Joe Montecalvo provided much background information regarding this initiative. It would require an educational piece with outreach action, something the Club does not have as its purpose is to support its members rather than a larger community. Conversely the Volvo Sparks club contributes scholarships to a community college local to them and it exposes their club to a younger audience. Tiger Tom will continue to investigate.

Club Name and Logo (Slides 22&23)

Kerch had a friend draw up four different concepts for a new Club logo (Slide 23). People liked the idea of the word ‘International’ being embodied in the logo. Some words are required to better describe the organization. Work will continue.

United 40 Update (Slides 24&25)

General – Jim Lindner provided an update on the planning for United 40 in Bowling Green, Kentucky 14-17 September 2023. Many details have already been finalized as outlined in the slides. There are currently 126 people and 59 cars registered. Kerch mentioned we had gained 3 new Club members at registration.

Volunteers are needed to assist with numerous activities – please contact Jim Lindner directly and let him know what you can contribute.

United 41 (Slide 26)

United 41 has now been set for West Lebanon, New Hampshire for 2024. The host hotel will be the Fireside Inn. A preliminary itinerary is listed on Slide 26.

New Business

Board Membership (Slide 27)

Current incumbents for the Secretary (Gary Corbett), Treasurer (Steve Murphy), and Membership Chairman (Joe McConlogue) volunteered to continue in their roles. Nominations are required for several positions, most importantly President as Jim Lindner has now reached his term limit. He will call for nominations at the AGM.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 2:55 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,
Gary Corbett
Secretary

DRAFT Wally J. Swift Award Criteria

Previously Proposed 2013

Ehrhart-Calvert Revision DRAFT
20 August\ 2023

The award is presented at each TEAE United to the owner of the car or cars that does the best in the combination of the Popular Vote and the Autocross or alternative driving event. .
(To be eligible for the award a person must participate in both a competitive driving event the Autocross and the Popular Vote.)

He/She must own the car that is in the Popular Vote and must own and drive the car in the autocross driving competitive driving event. The car receiving the Popular Votes and car being Autocrossed in the competitive driving event does not have to be the same car.

The person must have been a member of TEAE prior to the participation in the events. Autocross or the Popular Vote, whichever is held first.

The award is open to the owners of Tigers and Alpines only. Tigers must have a Ford engine based on the 260-289-302 small block V8 and Alpines must have an Alpine (Rootes 1600 cc or 1700 cc series four cylinder) engine. No cars with engine conversions are eligible. Engine modifications are acceptable.

The award is based on the combined finishing positions in the Popular Vote and Autocross driving events, using the finishing position (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4…) as the points assigned. The award goes to the owner of the car(s) with the lowest total points. In the Popular Vote, the points will be determined by where the car ranks in the Most Popular Alpine or Most Popular Tiger vote. In the Autocross driving event, it will be based on the overall finishing position of the car in the Autocross driving event (by class).

Example: An Alpine that the person owns gets third place in the Most Popular Alpine vote. This would be three points. The person drives a Tiger that he they owns to the fourth fastest overall time in his the class in the Autocross driving event This would be four points. His point total for the Wally Swift Award would be 7 points.

If there is a tie in points, the award goes to the fastest autocross time next best driving driver with the best driving event finish. If there is no one meeting these criteria, the award is not made for that year.

There will be a perpetual trophy and a personal trophy given to the winner. There will be one perpetual trophy that has a plaque containing all previous winners’ names and will pass from winner-to-winner at each United. The personal trophy will remain with the winner.

If there is no Autocross driving event at a United, no award will be made for that year.

Award Background

Wally Swift was one of the founders of Tigers East/Alpines East. He owned an Autocross prepared Alpine and was the original owner of a concourse award winning Tiger. His prowess on the autocross circuits at regional and Sunbeam club events was always best in class and better than Tigers in most events. His red Tiger was a standard bearer for the marque and almost always won best in class and best in show at club and regional shows.

As a result of his employment with Chrysler Corporation, Wally was a wealth of Sunbeam knowledge. Wally had an ongoing personal passion for all things Sunbeam including his Sunbeam friends. This award is intended to reflect that Sunbeam spirit by recognizing an owner who drives and shows a car that is a prime representative of the marque in appearance and performance.

DRAFT Keith Porter Award Criteria

(Approved: March, 2013)

Ehrhart-Calvert Revision DRAFT

20 August, 2023



Objective


To recognize a United attendee who drives completes with in a competitive driving event  the Autocross runs with enthusiasm, goodwill, team spirit and a top percentile finish in class.  The award is presented to both an Alpine owner/driver and a Tiger owner/driver.

Criteria

  1. Individual should exhibit ability to drive the vehicle to its limits.
  2. Individual shall exhibit genuine sportsman conduct that sets examples for others to emulate.
  3.  Individual should display a genuine excitement at accomplishments.
  4. Individual’s conduct is professional.
  5.  Individual finishes in the top 20 percent of class scores.
  6. Eligible Alpines and Tigers must have a naturally aspirated engine of the type installed in the car when new.  Alpines shall be powered by a Sunbeam “1600” or “1700”cc series engine, Tigers shall be powered by a “small block” Ford engine. 
  7. Eligible drivers must drive their own car.
  8.  Award shall be determined by a majority vote of Autocross chairperson and workers.
  9.  If an Autocross  competitive driving event is not held at a United, then no award will be made for that year.
  10. There will be a perpetual trophy and a personal trophy given to the winner. There will be one perpetual trophy that has a plaque containing all previous winners’ names and will pass from winner-to-winner at each United. The personal trophy will remain with the winner.

Award Background

The award is to honor the legacy of Keith Porter.  Keith nurtured the newly founded Tigers East/Alpines East club.  He was responsible for initiating and assuring the success of the first TE/AE United’s. His spirit, professional conduct and enthusiasm was an inspiration to all around him. Keith was more interested in “go” than in “show”.  He drove his Tiger everywhere and enjoyed autocrossing regardless of how he finished.