| Author | Message | ||
     RR Forums Administrator Board Administrator Username: admin Post Number: 84 Registered: 10-2002 |
It appears to have become necessary to remind everyone of a few basic facts about this forum.
For a reminder about the basis for the RR Forums, please review the manifesto and AU Terms and Conditions. Here are a few salient facts about AU forum usage by the RROCA:
Rather than post this to Administrative Announcements I have posted it as a thread so that it is more likely to be noticed. It also occurs to me that people might wish to discuss this. | ||
| Peter Talbot Frequent User Username: squerryes Post Number: 78 Registered: 7-2010 |
Firstly -may I congratulate you for posting this on a General Discussion Forum rather than as an Administative Announcement. In so doing you are reaching out to us: - the active Forum Members. It will indeed promote some discussion - what this will achieve is unclear but let's have an interactive discussion anyway. I'm going to start this off but, with my badly damaged hands I can only tyoe with one finger and a thumb and even then not for too long so it will have to be in Parts. Squerryes Part 1. I regard these Forums as a unique and valuable resource, the General Discussion Forum is enjoyed by many whilst the Technical Forums form both an Archived Record and a source of advice. Peter | ||
| Jan Forrest Prolific User Username: got_one Post Number: 261 Registered: 1-2008 |
Believe me when I say that I am very grateful to the RROCA and this forum. Without the information on here, along with the recommendations and suggestions of the forum members, I would be struggling to maintain and run The Old Girl. Even though I am an inverterate DIYer and tinkerer I would need to take her to a mechanic every time something went awry if it wasn't for the full workshop manual on the technical part of the site. "The Shadow Owners' Companion" is very useful, but there are often times when it just doesn't go far enough. However I find the tenuous link between the club and the forum somewhat puzzling. I am a member of 2 other car club/forums where the ratio of club members to forum users is either far smaller or far higher. The TEOC site has over 6,000 'forum users' internationally and only around 200 full club members excluding some honorary members who live well outside the UK and only pay a token membership fee. These members aren't expected to, but still welcome at, any of our club meets and occasionally one may turn up while on holiday in Blighty. With just one exception every member of the committe is a regular contributor to the forum. That one is our esteemed Club Chairman and peripatetic expert Toyota mechanic, Bob who rarely has much free time to chat although he will turn up at any meet he can even if it's just as a 'day visitor'. How our regular meets stack up against those of the RROCA I couldn't say, but our area representatives arrange long weekend meets at various venues around the mainland from March to November when we turn up with camping gear (tents, trailer tents, folding campers, caravans, etc) and enjoy a short break in each other's company. All meets are accompanied by much libation, barbies, camaraderie and games with the youngsters being catered for accordingly. Once per year we have an extra meet to hold the AGM which is paid for from club funds. Obviously these meets are far easier for us as we live in a country that's barely 500 kilometres wide and 600 kilometres long: About the size of an average outback sheep farm. The other club/forum is the Rover 200/400 Owners Club. I've not been a member long and I still don't have the Rover 216 Cabrio - next month, though. Nor have I been to any of the meets to date which seem to be all just one day events. I nearly did once when I was only a few miles away on the day, but I was tired and dirty from having just removed an almost new full exhaust system from a Shadow that was being broken and preferred to go home to shower. As far as I can tell most of the forum users are also full club members. I didn't want to tread on anyone's toes by suggesting a UK offshoot of the club, but just hoped to start up an ad hoc group of UK Rolls owners who appreciated the work of this forum and didn't already belong to any of the existing RR/B owners/drivers/enthusiasts clubs. As I've mentioned before these existing clubs may be good value for money, but they don't give away much information regarding what you get for the membership fee. That is the opposite of this forum where all the benefits are available to anyone who is sufficiently interested. I leave you with 2 salutations of good fortune ... "Lang may yur lum reek" - Scotland "May you be in heaven a good half hour before the devil knows you're dead" - Eire. | ||
| Peter Talbot Frequent User Username: squerryes Post Number: 79 Registered: 7-2010 |
Squerryes Part 2. Both the Manifesto and the AU Terms and Conditions hit us just right on the spot. OK, so we might include the odd derogatory remark in the General Discussion Forum (eg: Jan can't spell such a long word)but it's done in the spirit of good natured banter and accepted as such. Peter | ||
| Peter Talbot Frequent User Username: squerryes Post Number: 80 Registered: 7-2010 |
We are in danger of 2 Threads overlapping but not forming a continuum so I'm going to shift my input back to the original Thread. Peter | ||
| Robert Howlett New User Username: bobhowlett Post Number: 8 Registered: 9-2010 |
quite frankly if it wasn't for this forum I wouldn't even own a Roll Royce.I went in glassy eyed and looked at all the nice things like the wood and leather but had no comprehension of the mechanics of these cars.I am so grateful for this forum and the advice i have revived that I have kept the faith and understood the workings of this eccentric motor cars.I hope to become a full member of the RROC asap, but my silver shadow is somewhat of a embarrassment at the moment.It shakes and blows smoke,ticks its head off,and is so unreliable overheating etc, but if not for the people in the know, such as Rob Chapman and Bill with his teeone 1 would have given up long ago.I have always wanted one of these cars since l was 16 and when l got one and it came off the car carrier and left a pool of coolant and overheated 2ks up the road l thought I have wasted 1 years pay on some pile of junk..but that was 2 years ago she doesn't blow smoke now and no over heating concerns that was 2 years ago.Now I am confident i could drive this old girl anywhere now.She;s getting better with each passing month thanks to this forum and the advice I have recived cheers rob | ||
| Robert Howlett New User Username: bobhowlett Post Number: 9 Registered: 9-2010 |
PS I forgot to mention all the contributors have helped me immensely | ||
| Jan Forrest Prolific User Username: got_one Post Number: 266 Registered: 1-2008 |
I was never in any doubt about my abilities to maintain The Old Girl (big-headed? moi?). With the technology being purely based on nothing more than what was available at the time (although only the best and fully proven) and eschewing anything that was merely new, it's mostly down to doing things 'The Rolls Royce Way'. However without the help, assistance and resources of this forum I would have been struggling to a great degree and might have had to sell her at some time due to excessive repair costs. Like you Robert I've lusted after a RR/B for almost as long as I can remember knowing just what kind of car they are. Fortunately I was never swayed by the urban myth that it's impossible for an owner to work on them or that the engine compartment is sealed to prevent grubby fingers fouling up something extremely delicate and vital for correct ... ability to proceed ... as we say. It's only the high price of OEM parts that limits the amount of work I can do. I know there are a lot of them, but £1K for a set of piston rings and big end shells is just taking the 'used single malt'. Fortunately our Niponese cousins make some parts that are superior quality, cheaper, lighter and with longer useful lives: As they should considering that 4 decades or more have passed since many of our cars rolled out of the gates at the Crewe factory. The other side of this coin is that such a high %age of RR/B's have survived so long compared to other (lesser?) marques of the same era that parts availability is so much better than, for example, a Rover, Jaguar or Ford. Even by numbers alone, there are probably more Series 1 Shadows on the road today than any other make/model of 60's or 70's car and quite possibly even more for the Clouds and earlier models. So, when will I part with her? Unless I win the lottery in the meantime (must remember to buy a ticket at some point), I'll likely hang on to her until the licensing authority prise my license from my hands at gunpoint. Even then I may keep her just to look at and fire up from time to time while revelling in her sumptuous interior. | ||
| Mark Aldridge Experienced User Username: mark_aldridge Post Number: 45 Registered: 10-2008 |
I too find this forum invaluable. I am a Chartered Accountant with no formal engineering training but brought up on the family farm where you learned to fix broken kit asap! and had a tired Austin7 to play with on the farm. A lifelong enthusiasm for cars and amateur motorsport has followed, with Crewe cars as the ultimate achievement;all on a DIY basis mechanical and most bodywork. How is this invaluable site funded; I assumed ,wrongly, from the RROCA.and I feel guilty that the resource is used regularly with no contribution.It is without doubt the best info. source I have used from all car clubs etc.Indeed it is sad that other RR clubs do not contribute as far as I am aware to this resource. My enthusiasm has passed to my son who has trained as a Vintage Car mechanic andis employed by a leading Pre War Aston Martin Specialist here in the UK. He recently purchase a down at heel RR Spirit and is grateful for this message board support, when prblems have arisen ( regularly !!!) Mark |
