Introduction

For the last several years, the Club’s Board of Directors has had discussions with representatives of the BMW Car Club of America (BMW CCA) and BMW of North America (BMW NA). For the remainder of this discussion we will refer to our club, the BMW Automobile Club of America, as ACA. We will refer to BMW CCA as simply CCA and to BMW NA as NA. The magazine you are reading, Zundfolge, is published by ACA. If you get Roundel, it is published by CCA.

CCA and NA would like to have our Club become a chapter of CCA. In fact, offers have been made by CCA to the ACA to become a CCA chapter since 1976. When this topic has been considered in the past, the ACA has felt that the members are better served as members of an independent Club.

This issue has been raised again. The ACA Board feels that it is appropriate that this issue be discussed and decided by the Club’s entire membership.

The intention is to open a discussion of the issues for consideration of the membership. Members’ letters will be published in future issues of Zundfolge. A timeline for consideration of this issue is presented adjacent to this article.

The History

BMW Clubs have existed in Europe for decades. But the formation of BMW Clubs in North America occurred in response to the 2002. In 1969 the CCA was formed in Boston. Leif Anderberg was a BMW enthusiast in Los Angeles. He joined the CCA as member #154, but also formed the ACA. The ACA was formed because Leif didn’t think the Boston-based organization could be responsive to his needs on the West Coast. Additionally, Max Hoffman, the BMW importer at the time, urged Leif to affiliate with the European BMW Clubs, rather than the CCA. At about the same time, the BMW Enthusiasts of Puget Sound (BEPS) was formed. The name was later changed to BMW ACA, Puget Sound Region.

Historically, the ACA enjoyed a close affiliation with the Clubs in Europe and with the factory, BMW AG. With time, the CCA grew and became a truly nationwide organization with local chapters all across the U.S. The ACA had four chapters fifteen years ago. When the Kansas City chapter folded, the ACA became a West Coast phenomena with the three remaining chapters being in LA, Portland and the Puget Sound area. There was never a national ACA organization; it was a loose affiliation and a common name. In the meantime, Max Hoffman gave way to NA, a subsidiary of the BMW parent company. And the relationship between CCA and the company has gone from adversarial, to accommodating, to very cordial. Two years ago, the LA ACA chapter became a chapter of CCA. At the present, there are two ACA chapters left: Portland and us.

In 1989, an agreement was made between the Inland Empire (Spokane) chapter of CCA and the Puget Sound Region ACA. (The Spokane chapter is involved because Puget Sound area CCA members are assigned to the Inland Empire chapter since it is the closest chapter.) This agreement stipulated that the two clubs would not start chapters in one another’s areas. This agreement has been observed and reaffirmed many times over the last ten years.

Recent History

The ACA, Puget Sound Region now has over 1,000 members. The CCA claims about 700 members in Western Washington. Of course, many of these BMW enthusiasts overlap, that is, they are members of both clubs. The two organizations are currently trying to determine how many people are ACA-only, how many are CCA-only and how many are dual members.

There has been a recent effort by a group of individuals to establish a CCA chapter in the Puget Sound area. While this is contrary to past agreements, the CCA Board now considers the above referenced agreement to be non-binding.

Four ACA Board members recently attended the CCA national Board meeting to discuss the relationship between the two Clubs. The CCA Board is deferring consideration of a charter for a CCA chapter in the Puget Sound area while the ACA membership considers joining the CCA as a chapter or remaining independent. To quote CCA Pacific Regional Vice-President Keith Wollenberg, “The CCA Board simply decided not to take any position on a CCA chapter in the Northwest at this time.”

The Issues

There are a lot of issues to be considered in this larger discussion. Some of them are philosophical, others are practical, still others are economic, and some are emotional. Below is an introduction to some of these issues.

Economics

Currently our members pay $25 per year. This is for a family membership. The club is financially sound. All of the $25 stays at the local level as there is no national organization. This $25 per member, as well as all other club revenues, is administered by the local Club Board of Directors. All Board members, Zundfolge contributors and event organizers are volunteers. By far the largest expenditure for the club is Zundfolge. The Board’s feeling is that the Club magazine benefits every member, is our means of communication, and is the main benefit of Club membership. Events generally are expected to carry themselves through charges to participants.

BMW CCA’s headquarters remains in Boston. There is a full-time paid staff and an executive director. Annual dues are $35 per member. Of this, $21.50 stays with the national organization and $13.50 is sent back to the chapter level. There is an incentive program for chapters that exceed CCA’s minimum standards for publishing newsletters and holding events. Associate memberships, usually for a spouse, are $5 per year.

If we decided to become a CCA chapter, clearly we would have less money per member to work with at the local level. However, the chapter would likely be considerably larger. Also, while the ACA currently receives the $25 up front, CCA chapters receive one-twelfth of the annual amount per member ($13.50) each month. In other words, $1.13 per member per month.

The overall economic impact is currently being analyzed. This is complicated but we hope to present this analysis in a future Zundfolge.

Activities

The ACA Board is currently studying the impacts that joining the CCA would have on the various activities of the Club. For example, CCA has rules for track events that differ from those currently used by ACA. ACA has presented CCA with a number of questions which will enable us to determine these impacts. These impacts will be presented in a future Zundfolge.

Publications

As a CCA chapter, all chapter members would receive the CCA national magazine, Roundel. Roundel is published monthly and is about 140 pages each issue.

With less money at the local level, it is likely that the Zundfolge would need to be changed. Decreases in quality, size, frequency or a combination are all being considered.

Local vs. National

The ACA has always existed as an independent club. This has allowed for local control and minimal bureaucracy. Joining CCA would mean being part of a 50,000-member organization. As with most big organizations, there is a loss of local control.

Being part of a big, national organization also provides access to national events and benefits that NA provides to CCA members, such as discounts on purchases of new BMWs.

Feedback Wanted

The purpose of this article is to open a public discussion of the issues related to joining CCA or remaining an independent Club. In future Zundfolges, an Impacts Analysis and Economic Analysis will be published. We are especially interested in questions members may have. An appropriate party, which may be a representative of CCA, will answer these questions. In coming issues of Zundfolge, we will publish letters we receive related to these issues.

Editorial Guidelines

We ask that all letters address the issues. We will not publish anything which defames any individual. As we anticipate considerable letter volume, please keep your submissions to less than 250 words. Letters over the word limit will be returned to the writer for editing. We intend to publish all submissions, space permitting.

All responses must be signed and include the member’s ACA membership number and a phone number. (We may call you to verify your statement.) Finally, to help the volunteer Zundfolge staff, we would prefer letters that are emailed with the letter attached as a Word 95 or Text document. Send them to litefeet@foxinternet.net. You may also provide your response on disk or typewritten on paper. Mail your letter to David or Lucetta Lightfoot, Zundfolge Editors, 2641 39^th Avenue West, Seattle, WA 98199.

Voting Guidelines

This issue will be put to a vote of the membership as of December 1, 1999. This is to be sure that all members who vote on this important issue are involved in the discussion from the beginning. The vote will take place in early April 2000.

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