Author: Kerch McConlogue

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.

3 Year Planning Committee Progress Report

ALL,
Our president, Jim Linder, provided a progress update May 19, 2023 (attached) based on 3PC motions approved by the BOD and 3PC suggestions dated  21 Nov 2022. (attached).   My comments below are intended to supplement Jim’s status report. I recognize those who accepted ownership of tasks in parentheses.

Please consider this a general summary of progress and an appeal to address action items. We will address at the upcoming BOD meeting (date TBD) . Please send an Email or call me with any comments before July 31’st so we can prepare for the BOD meetng.

Regards
Tom Ehrhart
3PC facilitator
717-832-1116

1. Bylaws changes.  (Joe and Kerch McConlogue)
     A. Amend Article X & XIV
     B. Draft a separate “Policy & Procedures”  manual extracted from present bylaws.
     Status: Joe reports progress is being made. A goal of upcoming United presentation for BOD approval is a target and the beginning process to amend the bylaws.

2. $5 Discount incentive for first year electronic membership.
      Status: No new memberships benefited.

3.  Facebook/Forum  (  ? )
         Status: There is progress thanks to changes and increased attention by several individuals. We should recognize them, but honestly, I am not sure who all to recognize. We know Kerch and Joe McConlogue did a lot but so did Jim  L. and I believe others.
Would someone please clarify all those who helped rejuvenated our FB and orum links.  It appears these platforms may have plateaued based on present marque climate. We do have an obligation to keep them active and responsive.

4    Technical Committee for producing technical videos. .(Kevin Klotzbach)
     Status: I am not aware of any produced. My notes indicate Kevin would be willing to oversee if others contributed. I am not aware of any. Do we need to “activate” this initiative, i.e. recruit owners/projects to video?  Our 3PC suggestions recommend establishing addressing topics not yet done by others. Any suggestions?

5. Porter/Swift Legacy Awards (Tom Calvert)
     Tom Ehrhart and Tom Calvert in process of drafting new metrics in time for BOD approval before ’23 United.

6. Expansion of TAC (Tom Calvert)
     Tom reports there is some progress. Presently recruiting  East coast/Canada Senior inspectors to expand coverage area. Nationalizing TAC is an on going political process . Tom C. with Bill Bulpitt are making some progress.

7. Regalia (Eric Gibeaut)
     Status: No progress I am aware of. Jim Linder tried valiantly to broker a deal with a regalia provider wiling to sell items piecemeal. It was process and cost prohibitive.

8. 501(c) (3)  (Tom Ehrhart)
     Joe Montecalvo provided a general outline of process. . There is generally little support within our ranks to pursue. I’ll continue to explore justification. Coordination with impending bylaw changes compounds the challenges.

9. Club Logo (Jim Linder & Kerch leaders)
     The BOD agreed to a logo change that emphasizes;
     A. Our primary membership areas in North America,
     B. Demphasizing ” East” by  no longer referencing Tigers East and Alpines East in text but continuing use of TEAE letters.
     C. Represents the Rootes Group vehicles
Kerch has done a great job rebranding us in print and the website. But we desperately need a logo that represents our new mission objective.
Jim Linder has produced some concepts to start the process.  We need to establish a very small committee (4 or 5 MAX) to vet design concepts.
The committee should work with a graphics designer who can better translate our concepts into a simple functional logo. Our goal should be for BOD approval at or before the United 40.

10. BASH (All)
     The BASH term is used as a promotional term to suggest Rootes/Sunbeams are encouraged to participate in an event. All Representatives and event organizers are encouraged to work with local organizers to promote our marque’s participation. I am pleased to report that this marketing approach is showing signs of success. Our Rootes Review articles regularly indicate use of the term to promote events.

11. Other Leadership initiatives.
     A.  Target Western Membership: Establishing Reps in these areas is paramount for success.  Dave Renia’s periodic reminder for reports and Kerch’s proactive Rootes Review as shown good progress in this area.
     B. United’s in Mid-West & West: A plan should be developed for a 2025 United West of the Mississippi.
     C. Expand BOD: This will allow representation from the West and break a deadlock on “career” or “legacy” Board Members.

The following documents were distributed to the Board in advance of the November 21, 2022 Board Meeting. They were redistributed to the Board 7-3-2023 with the above report.

3YPC Motions for Board 11-21-22Download
3YPC Recommendations for Board 11-21-22Download

United 41 Proposal

At the February 2023 TEAE Board Meeting Robert Jaarsma suggested West Lebanon, New Hampshire as a potential location for United 41 in 2024. He had done some preliminary investigations into a site, and was requested to continue his planning by the Board.

Robert submitted the attached formal proposal to the Board, which was distributed by e-mail by President Jim Lindner on 26 May 2023 for review by Board members.

As no further comments or suggestions were received, on 30 May 2023 President Jim Lindner called for a Motion and second to APPROVE United 41 being held August 15-18, 2024 in West Lebanon, NH. Joe McConlogue moved (by email) to approve Robert Jaarsma’s proposal, and it was seconded by Eric Gibeaut. The proposal was approved unanimously by the remaining Board members Tom Calvert, Tom Ehrhart, Barb Geschke, Joe Parlanti, and David Reina.

Jim will update the board on planning progress at the annual board meeting this summer.

Respectfully Submitted,
Gary Corbett
TEAE Secretary

United-41-ProposalDownload

BASH Proposal

Guidelines for BASH initiative
Available here as SVG: https://teae.org/cars/assets/rootes-bash.svg

These are suggestions Tom Ehrhart made for a short one line banner statement.

Please pick one or make suggestion.
        A. Where Rootes Sunbeams meet   
        B. Your Rootes Sunbeam meeting place
        C. Preserving the Rootes Sunbeam legacy
        D. Preserving all things Rootes Sunbeam
        E. Your Rootes Sunbeam destination
        F. .The ROOTES BASH is on!,
        H. Your suggestion……….

TEAE Representatives BASH Guidelines

Objective:

Act as the TEAE liaison to promote participation of Rootes Sunbeam owners/vehicles to attend an existing or planned event by another organization.

We call this initiative, a BASH. This is intended to add value to the event organizers by attracting Rootes Sunbeam participation. Events can be a local Cars-N-Coffee or a larger event.

Pre-event: Reach out to event organizers

  • Offer or ask to have the TEAE BASH integrated into their promotional efforts and materials if time allows.
  •  Provide TEAE supported logos/info as needed to organizers
  • Use club provided logos/info
  • In general, TEAE club funding is not available as a sponsor. 
  •  TEAE officers should be consulted if support is needed.

Day of Event

  1. First, be the Ambassador for all things Rootes Sunbeam
  2. Prominently present BASH banner 
  3. Provide club handouts
  4. Interface with event organizers promoting

Post Event

Capture and send action photos of people, cars and activities and stories to the TEAE editor. (NOT just pictures of the cars!)

Trifold Flier and Regional Rep Business Cards

Print your own cards

Trifold club fliers were printed this year and 20 were supplied to each regional rep. Should you wish to print more of those, the pdf file is available here

trifold2022Download

Print your own cards

I recommend you buy a pack of Avery Printable Business Cards:  #5371
Amazon has 250 cards for $14.32  https://amzn.to/3YkRr3O (as of 3/3/2023)

Download your pdf from the website  (https://www.board.teae.org/wp-content/uploads/regionalreps/)  

Print these at FULL SIZE.. Do not shrink to fit.

Your screen could look like either of these two shots.. or maybe something different.. but you get the idea.

Click the image for a larger view