Consultations with Club President Norm Devitt suggested that it would be appropriate for the Club to have a good file of data on how much we drive our cars. We are all aware that there are periodic threats to our hobby when uninformed zealots start crusades to get 'all those old jalopies off the road'.
We are not aware of any specific current threats to our hobby. However, the local press has recently carried some articles in connection with the Kyoto Accord that have suggested the Kyoto objectives could be partially achieved by getting rid of old vehicles that pollute our atmosphere.
These musings seem casual at this point in time but they do suggest that we should be on guard as the Kyoto policies and regulations unfold. President Norm has suggested that rather than just get our defenses set organized, we could be aggressive and go on the offence in support of our hobby.
Thus, as a starting point it appears logical that we prepare a good database on how much we use our ModelAs and a perspective on how much of an influence we have on traffic volumes and vehicle pollution.
The exercise began with a study of the Club Roster to see who owned drivable Model A's. Contacts by phone and email were made to those members identified from the Roster information. Some minor changes to the Roster information were appropriate because of new members and sales and acquisitions since publication of the Roster. When the information provided by the Club members was summarized, it would appear that in late 2002 we have 52 members with one or more drivable Model As.
We were able to contact 50 members with one or more drivable cars. Both of the members we were not able to contact are known to put little or no mileage on their ModelAs. Thus, the mileage information obtained from the 50 drivers is suggestive of 96% of our membership that have drivable cars and close to 100% of the mileage accumulated by Club members.
In 2002 our members collectively drove an estimated 23, 300 miles. This is an average of about 465 miles each. The median mileage reported was 200. That is, there were as many members drove less than 200 miles as those that drove over 200.
Six of our Club members did not drive their cars at all during 2002 and 20 (40%) did not drive over 100 miles.
The drivers who accumulated the most miles and the distance each traveled is as follows:
-Rich Hardman…………………………….3500 miles
-Victor Rogalsky…………………………..2000
-Jim Rouse…………………………………1411
-Al Friesen…………………………………1253
-Gary Callander…………………………….1237
-Troy Dillabough…………………………..1200
-Jim Callander…………………………..…1114
-Dan Weibe………………………………...1000
-Grant Alger………………………………..1000
-Trevor Kemp………………………………895
The above 10 drivers accounted for about 63% of the total miles driven by Club members in 2002.
The above information is a highlight summary of the mileage data file provided by the Club members. It should be apparent that the file is quite thorough. If we can be active in carrying out our Model A Safety Check Program we should be in a position to ensure that we can continue to enjoy our hobby.
Please convey any thoughts or ideas you may have on the above to Norm or Jim.
Jim Rouse
