Cobra Car Club of Victoria

[Trevor Portelli]

To the Cobra Club of Victoria,

I, Trevor Portelli, have been a paying member of the Cobra Car Club of Victoria for the last three years. I wish to raise my concern about, changes within the Club. I have had my kit for 11 years. A lot of hard work has been put into building my cobra. When building a car like this the whole family gets involved, so you look forward to cruising to a lot of events with the club for social gathering and to share ideas.

We did have a couple of runs within the club about 2 years ago, but now the club is only concerned about 2 events in the year. The committee spends their time and our money talking about racing at Winton/Wakefield , instead of organizing 2 or 3 cruises for other paying members.

We have about 100 members on the books, of which only about 60 are paid up. About 10 members seem to run the club the way they want. This year the fees jumped up to $80-00 so I called Tony Cram, the club president, to let him know how I felt about the way the club is organised. I told Tony that our news letter was about 2 months behind. His reply was to check on line. I said l didn't have the internet. I was also told to come to meetings. However, for me and others, its too far away. Also, at the new meeting place you can't see your car from inside and I wouldn't get home till midnight.

I then suggested about more family runs as they like to get involved & his reply was to join another club if l want my family involved. If that is his attitude toward a paying member the same attitude also goes to 60 other paying members that I will not name.

Just to let you all know I have taken Tony Cram’s advice and joined another club. In two months we have been on 4 runs. We pay $45-00 a year. There are about 40 members and we have club shirts, sponsors, club banner and club BBQ. Families are encouraged to be involved. Best of all it’s a very friendly club where people make and effort to get to know one another. The same cannot be said for the Cobra Car Club of Victoria. I have seen too much dim-witted behavior from a clique within the cobra club.

The Cobra Car Club of Victoria should listen to members input before they don't have any members left. However, even if you have your say, you are told politely to get lost.