[cougarguy]

I am just curious but this site isnt listed on the CCOA website. I think we have proved that this isnt a flash in the pan fluke that will disapeer in a few months ( if anything we keep getting stronger) so those of you involved directly with CCOA may want to suggest adding this link since the number of times i have had problems here over the yahoo group server is incomparable, MCN is always up and running OOORAHH! Anycase I have no pull there but jim or royce may have some influence. And i might add its not jims fault with the yahoo thing its just the yahoo groups server is the problem. And since i belong to like eight groups on it when one goes down they are ALL down so i dont get my daily dose of cougar or thunderbird or fairlane or ranchero.

 

[Logan]

Sure it is...

http://www.cougarclub.org/links/enthusiast.shtml

right hand side, 3rd down from the top...

 

[jimk351c]

CCOA even included this site, as well as other Cougar related sites, in an At The Sign of The Cat article a while back. Check your old ATSOTCs and see for yourself.

 

[Logan]

CCOA has been relatively kind to me and the site considering I'm technically not even a CCOA member GASP! (I've been meaning to fill out the paperwork but damn... I'm a busy guy.)

 

[cougarguy]

oh i know there im talking about the very first page when you first sign on for the new member.

 

[dark7068]

I bought a shirt from them last year maybe I should of joined, its about the same price as I payed for the shirt. I also bought the patriotic Cougar sticker

Rick

 

[Cougrrcj]

CCOA member here, been a member since 1983. AlphaCat even had its pic in their magazine/newsletter once back in the 80s.

Gee, that sounds like a subject for a new poll... How many of you MercuryCougar.net members are aslo members (or former members) of the CCOA?

 

[bclay1818]

this site is 10 times better than CCOA. A lot more information here, and you can't beat these forums. CCOA never updates or has any new info on it. Thanks to the guys who work so hard on this site and contribute.

 

[leonbray]

this site is 10 times better than CCOA. A lot more information here, and you can't beat these forums. CCOA never updates or has any new info on it. Thanks to the guys who work so hard on this site and contribute

The sites serve different purposes.

 

[Logan]

Like Leon said, completely different purposes for the site. If you're not a CCOA member, I encourage it. It can never hurt to have enough Cougar related stuff or resources at your disposal.

 

[Cougar Kitty]

CCOA

I am a member and I've been getting the magazine for years. I like this site better. More instant information here!

 

[Royce Peterson]

For sure the CCOA is important to the value and history of our cars. I first joined CCOA back in 1981 when Tom Jacobellis (sp) was president. Let my membership lapse from 1985 to 1991 and rejoined and got my old number back.

 

[Tim B]

I'm not a member either. But I did get three calendars and a T-shirt last year! IMHO if they had an exclusive product for "free" included in the membership fee I'd probably join. I really like their site, especially the "Cougars 101" section. It's a somewhat static site, more for reference than chit-chat.
I prefer local clubs as they are more social and do more things on a monthly basis.

 

[itow]

I'm a CCOA member for 3 months now! Its a shame the web site isnt a little better though.
Logan, have any of these sites (including TCCN) thought about creating a HUGE WONDERFUL website (and possibly Magazine!) that possibly has a charge like TCCN, but with more of a charge (for costs and all) and more info. If a few or all of the site got together it could be a powerful wonderful wealth of information, and who knows it could possibly find ways to make enough money to pay some wages to keep it running correctly???? I dont know much about this kind of thing but it sounds do-able and I think you could find LOTS of helpful people (from this site and others)... What does everyone think????
Scott

 

[cougarguy]

Scott
I can speak a little on this but the problem was that with TCCN when it was a free site we were at almost 2000 members or so as i recall but when it went to a pay site we dropped to around 600 now my numbers are just for demostration purposes so dont hold me to them i dont have the actual numbers steve would or gary but you get the picture. Yes it would be wonderfull but unfourtanatly it would not be supported i feel. I think you would find the same thing here if it became a pay site only as many people wont utilize things even if the price is as miniscule as 12.00 a year which was all TCCN was charging. think about it that isnt even half a tank of gas, yet we didnt have more subscribers! It was a shame really. Many people will enjoy the fruits but dont want to pick it off the tree if you get my drift. Many of us worked very hard on TCCN trying to come up with new articles month to month and it is allot harder than you may think. Try and be origanal every month and not repeat yourself for four years which was my stint with the magazine, especially when some of the things you attend are the exact same event year after year. I would love to keep working and doing what i did but i understand to put out a good magazine such as TCCN Steve was putting more hours a month of work than i put into my real job which takes its toll on you and last time i saw him he looked wooped. Doing both his real job and TCCN plus family life takes an incredible amount of dedication. So by more of a cost, when many people wouldnt fess up 12 bucks i think subcriptions would be even less. Think about it at 12 dollars time 600 that is only 7200.00 a year! that aint a whole lot even double the price would only be 14400.00 and that is before taxes! i doubt many here would want to work so cheap, now spread that around to the many diffrent reporters and you see the pot grows thin really quick (not that any of us were paid for TCCN as it was all a volunteer force) but to dramatize your point. Magazines make very little on subscriptions most of the revenue is off of advertising and many of the cougar vendors are to small to pay for any advertising since they are working on a shoe string as it is. so now we have a delema no advertising not enough subscribers and bandwidth as logan can attest aint cheap thats why he went to the donation route which i think is a great idea but you really cant do a magazine and put it together for what your talking about with out some major duckets and putting a one stop all source would be great but i dont see it as a reality with a marque like the cougar which has (lets face reality people) a very small if not fantatical fan base. we are no where near as large as say mustangs or torinos or the bowtie side of the car spectrum. but it is a beautiful dream.

 

[ZeroTolerance]

At the Jersey Cougar Club meeting, I was told that (possibly) you have to have a CCOA number to be in the show...I'm gonna try and get around that, if I can.

 

[Cougrrcj]

Zero,

That's because there's strength in numbers! My wife's Mustang Club of America membership costs the same as my CCOA membership, and instead of the quarterly CCOA 'magazine', they have a nice professional glossy monthly magazine. The reason? Numbers. They have some 100-200 new members a month! That's a bunch on new money flowing in. The Mustang vendors are a big business. Just look at how many of them there are! Most buy advertizing in the magazine.

Face it, the enthusiast base for our Classic Cats can't come close to the numbers for Mustangs. I like to throw out the fact that they made more Mach 1 Mustangs in 1973 than they made all '73 Cougars combined! We're the red-headed stepchild of the classic car community. About the only thing worse would be an AMC! What do you really think the market is for Cougar parts?

Milo

 

[ZeroTolerance]

Yes, but when I barely have enough dough to do what I want with my Cat, and continue to keep a roof over our heads, the membership fees do make a difference!

Maybe I'll give it a try. If I don't, and they won't let me be in the show, then so be it.

 

[itow]

Ok Greg, i see and understand. Then what about say partnering up with a Mustang site/magazine in some way. That way the tech, articles, info and Advertisers could go hand in hand (Cougar and Mustang)? I'm sure everyone involved has thought of this but thinking out loud cant hurt! I can say for sure if there was a specific (even shared with Mustangs) Cougar site/magazine publication, that I had to pay to join, BUT it had lots of info and pics, I would drop some of my magazine subscriptions if I had to, to be a part of it. As far as TCCN goes, if you had a way to give people a free trial of say 2 or 3 days I think membership wouldve been easier to gain (I visited it 3 times and went throught the tour [which really showed nothing] every time to try to get a taste of if it was worth it or not before I tried to sign up)
You know sort of piggy back onto a Mustang Club/site/magazine and bring all our info/tech and members along then we could benifit from a publication that was shared also?

 

[jimk351c]

Zero,
CCOA membership has NEVER been required to participate at any CCOA national event.