Talk about anything regarding the TSSC

Hi,
I posted an IVR for my Spitfire 1500 back in January, as yet I have heard nothing. Is this the norm?

Chris.

I posted mine in January too, and I haven't heard anything either...

Chris.

I never got anything back from mine last year and am guessing that there's nothing to report, although I'm not sure what to expect if anything!

Cheers,

Same here, posted mine months and months ago, but not really too bothered, doubt they will be able to tell me anything I dont already know

Ben

I can't speak for any of the other register secretaries, but I have a backlog of 948 & 1200 IVR's to get through, plus I recently found some rather old ones which had been mislaid before they got replied to.
When replies are requested, I send out a vehicle specific copy of Dick Plumridge's guide to researching your vehicle's history, with a few additions of my own since the original was compiled. I also include an itroductory guide to the specific model owned which details mechanical specifications and some information on detail changes during production. The problem is this all takes time, just not enough hours in the day.
Cheers,
Bill.

Ian Osprey kindly emailed me over the recent messageboard "IVR" traffic, and asked how Members might be able to help. That's much appreciated Ian, thanks. That's the same question I'd already put to myself, trying to explore every possible avenue for Vitesse IVRs: how to harness the efforts of 10,000+ Members up and down the country, to help? The answer was that I ought to publish a "hit-list" of wanted cars, cars that are out there but aren't IVR'd. And ask for the help of Members everywhere, to try to spark the Owners of these (300+) Mk2 Vitesses, into sending me an IVR! This hit list is now called the "ivrwanted" page, and it's been up on the site since December. Most of these cars still survive. If I got IVRs in on even half of them, through the combined ankle-nipping potential of Members like Ian, I'd be very happy (not satisfied, but very happy!). It'd justify the work it took to pull this together, and more important - it'd help me feed better info still, back to Vitesse Owners in response to their IVRs. (In my own Vitesse IVR replies, as well as history sources, I concentrate on finding "matches" or special points on that particular car, in the context of the whole Register. So every single IVR really helps that picture.) I'd ask individual Members and Areas everywhere, please, to try to help me get these Mk2s IVRs in. And really, this is needed soon.

I also wrote two sets of FAQ - one general lot, and one specific to the ivrwanted list. They (obviously) answer all the most popular questions I've met on the subject in the past 10 yrs or so. It's very easy to delve into - do have a look.

Re. the IVRs that didn't get answers: for the late Spits, which I see some of these are, John's running an independent scheme of his own, so like Bill I can't add much; but I do know John planned to try to get to a "critical mass" of IVRs before sending out his replies - see his May 2003 Courier feature (p.39) if you have it. I know when I launched the Vitesse scheme myself in July 1996, I didn't send out my first replies till December; and John's obviously dealing with larger numbers of IVRs! Vitesses, I can speak for, and these are up to date, which just shows - I need those 300 ivrwanted-list IVRs in!

For reference, here's some direct links to the pages mentioned.

Wanted list;
http://www.tssc.org.uk/ivrwanted.asp

IVR Wanted FAQ
http://www.tssc.org.uk/ivr.asp?article=faqwanted

General FAQ;
http://www.tssc.org.uk/ivr.asp?article=faq

Don't mention the IVRs... some of mine are still sitting from last November... ran out of BMIHT application forms which the BMIHT haven't got any more of, until the new lot gets through. Also ran out of club notepaper too...
I reply to all mine, whether with an SAE or not, but as Bill says it does take a lot of time and I must have over 40 sitting here waiting replies. I like to do a proper job on them, I suppose rushing them through would improve turnaround times but that's not really what I want! The unfortunate thing is that many members believe I can tell them everything about their cars from purchase price down to who every owner was and I hate letting anyone down...
Anyone recommend a good database for putting them in order on my PC for easy reference?

MS Access will allow you to sort by all fields and produce graphs or tables for possible Courier articles, I used Access on the clubs questionaire database of a couple of years ago.

BTW, no excuse on lack of club headed paper, ring JM and he'll send you some.

Hi Colin,

Saw your message last night and I've put 50 BMIHT Forms in the post today. Alright, 48 actually. Despite best efforts with Vitesses I just can't get enough IVRs in! Sadly, my remaining Forms will do for now!

Database formats. Very important, please, to keep the data in the original Excel format so we can always common-up the info from the different Registers. That was all part of the thinking. But a couple of points: 1, you can ask Excel to Sort (under the 'Data' menu) by any column(s) to display in Commission or Registration order, etc. Do SAVE it first while playing, though - it's all too easy, accidentally to re-sort just the one column, completely wrecking the data!

and 2, Access if you know it, is good, and it talks to Excel well. I believe Suzie and I both keep data in Excel but feed it into Access to use Access's 'Form Letter' facility. (Takes a lot of careful set-up, but helps write letters derived straight from your already-entered data.) Saves human error which is such a hazard with all these numbers and telephone numbers. Then you can concentrate on all the tricky bits, not the routine. But we do need to stick to data in Excel as the common format. It's not just to accommodate us, now - it'll need to suit every time there's any new Register Sec, or a completely new Register. (More on the new Registers anon, by the way!)

Cheers,
Dick

Hi Dick,
I guess it's something I should have brought up before, but the current Excel format has a problem in that there's no defined column in which to record changed registrations - am I the only one who sees this as a problem? When recording vehicles which have had numberplate transfers (a very large percentage of 948s and substantial for the 1200s), I have been adding a note to the numberplate column in each case. The problem here is that searching through the document won't pick up the notes, so finding whether a vehicle is currently on the register can be a hit and miss afair.
Cheers,
Bill.

Thanks Bill,

Funnily enough I thought about this but felt it'd start to get very complicated when we didn't know if a Reg was original or not (often the Owner doesn't know); also, it'd mean we'd have to search in 2 places instead of 1 to see if a Reg was already on. We can certainly make a change if it is needed but I'd hope our "&163;" system in Notes could be effective in flagging-up changed Registrations?

This is something we'll want to talk about some more but sometimes it's many days between my messageboard visits! - so do please email me direct anytime over ideas that come up - I'm always pleased to get new thoughts. Cheers for now,

Dick

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