Lets revive the CSK site... make a CSK club

[inethercott]

I agree - either that or merge with the 2 door club. I live in NZ but am working in London for the foreseeable future. I also own a 2 door Suffix A registered 1972 in NZ.

Ian CSK 004

[Gareth]

A club sounds great but I agree that to help share admin and the associated headaches that can come with it a team effort with another club would be helpful.
And the idea of small scale manufacture of spares sound good. :D

[rangyv8]

Hi
All the ideas posted make good sense, especially those about loosely joining forces with another club, perhaps the 2 door club.
Pooling knowledge and help in obtaining rare items for the CSK would be great, especially having some remanufactured.
I cannot take the lead due to work commitments but can offer help.
Would a meeting of cars and owners get things of the ground, somewhere reasonably central to try and avoid to much travelling.

[Simon CSK]

With a concerted effort it should be possible to pull together all current owner of CSK's and get them chatting.
I am certain that the love for the marque is still there and the current batch of high value sales certainly makes interesting reading.
I have not been here for about 6 years and my CSK is now worse than it was 6 years ago but the will to restore him is growing again.

[John.Reddie]

I've been the most "deathly quiet" around here for some time, and since I built and allegedly run the site that's hardly helped.

But this is about to change...

The site needs an overhaul and I'm up for ideas. Making it more interactive so people can write up their own "blogs" etc. is definitely a good idea. My biggest bugbear is changing this now defunct (and easily hacked) forum over to something more modern and the decision is probably between a full WordPress site or just a newer (more secure) forum system. There are pros and cons with both approaches and while I now have some time again, it's not unlimited.

Then there's our register - "200 CSKs". I've seen a fair few "duplicates" over the years in the emails that have come in, and it seems simple enough to ask people to supply full owner's name, email (can be private or public as desired), CSK number (with any verification (eg photo!), registration plate, approx location, condition and basic features (auto/manual etc.) but hardly any request for inclusion on the 200 CSKs list comes with all of this, let alone photos of the vehicle. As values increase it obviously becomes more tempting to try and "pass off" a CSK clone, and so I think it pays to be cautious!

That said, there are clearly many omissions to our "200 CSKs" page so here's an appeal to anyone who's got a car that's been left out, and who can supply the above details, to get in touch with me and I WILL put these online. Yes, even if you've done so in the past and got nowhere. (Sorry!).

If you're missing any of the above (eg the CSK plaque and hence number) then please contact me anyway and we'll try and establish provenance some other way. I don't want to become Judge and Jury here, I have no right to do so, but I think there is a duty of care to be exercised before publication! So input from everyone is much appreciated - especially previous owners and or those in touch with the other official registers etc. etc. In future I propose to publish details of "proposed" inclusions which are incomplete and let the members of this site decide what we'll include - it can't be any fairer than that.

If people could notify me if/when they sell a vehicle on then on course it's easy to update the details and keep the list accurate. I think that might have happened once, but clearly these cars are changing hands between active users of the site so please help me update the register as this takes place!

Lastly, when I started the site (years ago now) I attempted to organise a CSK rally. The idea was to come up with a route around "middle England" which should pass close enough to entice everyone with a running CSK in the UK to come out and join at least part of the route. Interest was scant, to be polite. Although some were prepared to come from abroad support from the UK wasn't great. So it never happened. Now I know we have thirsty beasts, but if we're to form a club, surely the idea is to get the cars (and us) together - so perhaps we could try again, maybe organising something off the back of another RR event which some CSKs might be attending already? If anyone wants to post some ideas then maybe we can make this happen?

My CSK is in pieces and likely to be that way for quite some time as we search for good metal to weld to! So owners whose vehicles are off the road should also be able to attend and perhaps a ride in someone else's pride and joy might encourage those of us whose restoration projects have lost momentum!

John

[PeteB]

I would be happy to attend some kind of rally, I already display my CSK through the RRR. Last year it was placed on the RRR stand at the NEC in Birmingham and got a lot of interest.

As for driving it, I drove mine to the south of Romania and back in 2.5 weeks, over 4000 miles in 30+deg heat at times. An amazing trip!

Here's a photo from the top of the Transfagarasan;

[img]http://sector19.org/gallery/var/resizes/Romania-2013/DSCN1732.JPG[/img]

[Gareth]

Could we attend at the LRO show in Peterborough with the RRR? Like John my CSK is in bits at the moment (engine etc are 20ft away from where they should be and body is 5ft above the chassis) but can sort some pics etc. might help those who (like me) get a bit low about having a (very) long term project!

[John.Reddie]

Hi all

As people might have noticed, I'm finding a little more time on my hands to play with the site and have already made a few minor improvements.

Two things are much on my mind - first, we really should get more pro-active. Periodically we discuss the idea of a rally, or attending an event together, but nothing actually happens! Yes, I'm writing this post with shameless hypocrisy, because my track record on this site is worse than most (all ?). But it is nevertheless true - our vehicles are shooting up in value as they become more collectable, and indeed rarer. We should show them off.

Second is rebuilding the site. If I'm going to do that justice then I need a ton of photos of CSKs in interesting places / situations etc. And some group shots (see point one!). There's a limit to what one can do visually when all the cars look the same (or should do!) so this is also a bit of a challenge.

But, if we are to rise above the riff-raff (and before anyone complains I am merely quoting LR publicity material!) we need to get out more. With our CSKs. Unless they are indeed in mid-restoration. But I'd love to see others' vehicles and it would inspire me!

[buzzer]

[color=]John,

It is an interesting dilemma on how to use this site, with so few potential members and even fewer actual. Mind you I have not yet found the right range rover site to use for the general practical advice. The ones I have looked at so far to be honest did not seem very good. I think the things is to keep this going even as a contact site for active members. I guess the alternative is to talk to the right range rover forum and set up a CSK section as part of a bigger site. I will try and post my activities on 80 as the work in ernest has now started. And I welcome comments on the right way to progress. My challenge is I am half way through restoring a JPS lotus europa. (The CSK and the Europa will make a great pair, both limited number cars and black at the extreme ends of the construction ethos)

Dave no 80

[rangyv8]

All the ideas posted seem to be good and will help promote the CSK in the classic R.R world.
I attended the Peterborough show last year with my CSK on the R.R.R stand for Lincolnshire. I was thinking of attending again, but a seperate stand would be great, but not if it was only my car. who would be interested in attending. I can organise it to a degree but have no previous experience. Whats the general feeling to this idea.
I have also put forward the idea of a CSK group within the Range Rover Register. I know it is duplicating a lot of the work already done by John, but we need to get the CSK message far and wide.
Any suggestions or comments greatly received

Chris