I will throw in my 2 cents. 35+ year POCI Member #4199. First, the positive. The Smoke Signals Magazine. Look at one from 30 years ago, the Silver Streak news, and one from the last few years, nuff said. Could the content be improved? sure but the format and layout and overall quality is top notch. One feature I really like in Hemmings Muscle Machines that possibly could be incorporated is an occasional guest page from the movers and shakers in our hobby. How about Arnie Beswick, Rodney Butler, Don Johnson, Scott Tieman, many others? As far as getting young people in the Pontiac hobby? I have been working with young people from 18-30 years old in the automotive field for over 30 years. It will be VERY tough to recruit many into our hobby. That's just a fact we will have to live with. Pontiac going out of business is a devastating blow to getting new blood in the club regardless of what you thought of the product the last decade they were in business. I have been surveying my college level automotive classes the past two years about some of the orphan brands to just see if they know anything about them. You all would be SHOCKED and amazed how fast Pontiac had faded in the minds of the young.
In a class of 24 students mentioned above just over half knew the GTO was a Pontiac. Only 11 knew the GTO was built prior to 2004. 8 did not know the Trans AM was a Pontiac and Pontiac was a division of GM. 4 thought Firebirds/Trans Ams were built by Mitsubishi. Only 9 had ever heard of a Catalina, and only 4 knew they were Pontiacs. Pontiac just did a horrible job of nurturing young potential buyers the last 10 years of their existence. Those same total idiots I mention above can name every stupid engine family Honda makes, every HP and torque figure for every Subaru WRX engine combo, part numbers for every turbo kit and HP wing nut for all those rice grinders. Pontiac made themselves a brand for boring old people, or the lucky few with big bucks to spend on a G8 or GTO the last years of their life. If you are lucky enough to find a young person interested in Pontiac's, you really need to help them along anyway you can. I have one student with a Fiero in fair condition and I helped him up-grade from the iron duke to a v-6. Others in the class think it is cool. The only way I see POCI holding it's own or actually growing is to take some aggressive action to get the lower cost late model cars in the club. They will be the ones most likely owned by young people. FWD Grand Ams, Grand Prix, Sunfire's, Azteks. I don't particularly like any of them, but they are affordable to young drivers.
Young people have the attention span of a gnat. The POCI convention needs to have lots and lots of choices and many things to do. The more that contain ACTION, the better. An autocross, a slalom, a cruise, anything that has them DOING things with their cars will help with young members. Sitting around staring at a field of perfect restored cars is the highlight of the convention. I understand that. Many members have spent tens of thousands of dollars in restoration and want and expect recognition for their efforts. It would be nice if we could FORCE the young to appreciate our accomplishments, but that is not likely to happen. Think about how museums have changed over the past decade to include much more interactive activities that don't require long attention spans. Once we get some younger members to at least attend a convention, a target seminar for young new members might help get them into the history more, if it was well presented. I still visit 15-20 different vocational high schools every year with the Grocery Getter and Boss Bird race cars talking about the rich history of the Pontiac brand. In a matter of 15 minutes or so, even with a dynamic car like these in front of them, some begin to fade out. As soon as I mention that if they all pay attention and ask questions, at the end of the presentation, they will get to hear the car run, there are no more attention issues. ACTION works.
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