The Vintage Motor Car Club of America

An update from the Publications VP, Ray Maxfield

- posted June 12, 2025

I have mentioned in previous VMCCA Board of Governors meetings and have written in my Bulb Horn messages that the VMCCA is “invisible.” I will back off a bit to say we are not as visible as we should be. For a large number of our membership, our visibility is through our wonderful Bulb Horn magazine. Members and non-members see and know us from our website, Facebook, and The Touring Chronicle.

I can’t tell you how many hits the website gets or how many views our Facebook page gets. I can say that it is a public page with 2,300 members. Historically, there have been around 3,000 email addresses on The Touring Chronicle distribution list. Of those 3,000, about 1,200 are VMCCA members. That’s right—there are more non-members who receive The Touring Chronicle than members

There is a way to distribute The Touring Chronicle to show the “open rate.” Basically, open means that the email was clicked on or opened like any piece of physical mail is opened. Members open The Touring Chronicle more consistently than non-members. Thank you!

Would it surprise you to know that another large antique car club posts their membership drive flier on our VMCCA Facebook page? That’s correct—another car club uses our website to recruit members into their club. Before we get concerned about that, let’s look at it from this point of view: that is a bold move to gain visibility across a broader vintage car enthusiast marketplace. That club is speaking loudly about who they are.

The VMCCA is not very loud. We have a voice that needs to be heard. WE ARE THE TOURING CLUB; WE DRIVE OUR CARS! Generally, all capital letters and bold words can be interpreted as yelling. At the very least, I want it to be interpreted as being passionately loud.

Maybe we have not covered our media as well as we should. Maybe we have not covered the vast “other” media as well as we could. I still believe the most effective recruiting media we have is a bold, loud, passionate one-on-one invitation to join the VMCCA.

As this touring season starts to unfold, let’s commit to invite others to tour with us. Let’s encourage them to drive their cars and tell their stories. We are ambassadors for the VMCCA.

Please, speak passionately loud about who we are and what we do. WE ARE THE TOURING CLUB; WE DRIVE OUR CARS!

Ray Maxfield
Vice President of Publications