Ken,
Thank you for the status update and all that you do for NECOA. Having served in volunteer leadership positions in car and motorcycle clubs as well as my church, I can really appreciate all the work that goes on behind the scenes.
Although I have been an El Camino owner since 1972 (1 2nd Gen & 7 3rd Gens), I did not do a ground up restoration until I retired from the Army in 1997 when I found a documented #s matching 1970 El Camino SS 396. Like many NECOA members, I quickly became overwhelmed with the magnitude of the project and turned to ACES/Team Chevelle where I found an abundance of technical information as well as moral support on the TC forums.
Ironically, I did not join NECOA until a couple years ago when I was looking for a place to post a for sale ad for the '72 El Camino I brought to Belton last year. Needless to say, I was very disappointed when I found out I had to have 50 posts just to list the vehicle but I joined anyway. Although I do not use NECOA for technical information & rarely post to any of the forums, I do enjoy keeping up with banter on the forums (especially Region 13-DDD always cracks me up!)
All this is to say that there are a lot of El Camino owners out there (some like Rushgator who are fortunate enough to own both chevelles & caminos) who belong to ACES and would probably enjoy belonging to NECOA if presented the opportunity. Although I have never been to Chevellebration (hopefully next year if I sell my 72 SS) and do not know ACES president, Chuck Hansen personally, I believe there is a great deal of potential synergy to be gained by affiliation between the two organizations. When I finally made it to the ACES Midwest Regional last year in Kansas City, I was somewhat disppointed to find about a 120 Chevelles but only about 15 El Caminos. I am also surprised that Team Chevelle does not have a link to the NECOA website and vice-versa. With a little collaboration between you & Chuck, maybe we can increase the participation by Camino owners in Chevellebration & regional ACES events while simultaneously increasing NECOA membership and event participation.
This is just food for thought, Ken. Please feel free to PM me if you want additional info on ACES/Team Chevelle or contact info for ACES Pres, Chuck Hansen. Regardless of whether you decide to follow up my suggestion, thanks for stepping up as National Director & keep up the good work!
Respectfully, Fred