MTFCA Forum

I am interested in starting a new, or reviving an old, chapter in Louisiana.

I’m having trouble finding out who to contact and how to proceed.

Any suggestions?

As I understand it, you’ll need at least 5 members willing to join the National ( MTFCA) then contact the business office and they’ll send you a charter...Go for it !!! Good job !

I would suggest that you click on the "Home " button at the top right of this page and when on the "Home" page click the "Contact" button and send a message with your request to start a chapter and they will give you the information you're looking for.

George types faster

And everyone types faster than me... and yes, all good advice above.

Bill,

That’s great!

Some reading that will give you some helpful information is located at page 11 of “The MTFCA Operations Manual / Jan 2017” located at: https://www.mtfca.com/Manual.pdf

The first 2 paragraphs are pasted in below:

Any group of Model T Ford enthusiasts may affiliate with the Model T Ford Club of America. Becoming a Chapter or an Affiliate of the MTFCA requires no payments to the MTFCA by the affiliating club, and the MTFCA in no way dictates how the chapter or affiliate runs its own affairs. Existing clubs, whether affiliated with another national club or not, may become MTFCA Chapters or affiliates upon application, and need not renounce their existing affiliation. Affiliates need not meet any of the requirements for Chapter status. In essence, affiliation amounts to a mutual agreement for one to support the other.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR CHAPTER STATUS

1. A minimum of five (5) members of the MTFCA are required for active Chapter status.
And it continues with other details, hints. Etc. after that. My “layman’s summary” is – it is good to have a chapter to promote the club and hobby. The chapter does NOT have to pay anything to the club and the club does NOT dictate what the chapter can or cannot do. (A few minor rules to remain a chapter.) The MTFCA provides liability insurance for certain events for free to the chapter (in today’s world that is a good thing to have). And they will advertise the chapter in “The Vintage Ford.”

You can contact Rachel Hughes our club’s new Executive Director and she can work with you to provide the contact information for folks that are members of the MTFCA in Louisiana. Since you are not far from Baton Rouge, LA it looks like some parts of Mississippi are closer to you than New Orleans so recommend you ask for those folks that are members also. You can contact Rachel by calling the business office (765) 373-three one zero six (remember it is the holiday season so you may not get a quick answer to the phone.) You can also fill out the contact information at: https://www.mtfca.com/contact/ scroll down to the fill in the blank form. Remember Rachel recently started so you may be her first person to ask about starting a chapter.

Note The Magnolia State Model T Ford Club
c/o Ron Baldwin, President
5248 Moran Road
Saucier, MS 39574-9365
228-297-four three three one
It is about 2 ½ hours away from you (modern car or really fast speedster). You could contact them and visit them to get some ideas.

COVID is not only impacting the world, but it makes it more difficult to get things started that would normally involve getting together, displaying and/or working on cars, talking about cars etc. But it isn’t impossible. And there are several virtual options (Zoom, Facebook, even snail mail). What turned out to become the 1903-1909 Early Ford Registry was a restart of the 1906-1908 Model N,R, & S Chapter. A guy contacted the MTFCA office with the desire to restart the chapter. He started mailing out a very irregular short news letter to those folks. And those who were interested started getting back involved and joining (for free the first few years) and now a very minimal yearly membership fee.

Note the Model T Ford Club International does list a chapter in New Orleans. The contact information they have for a chapter is from: https://www.modelt.org/chapter-listings.html
New Orleans
Ted Munch
611 Chipley Street
Westwego, LA 70094
I would recommend you try to contact Ted also. Several of the Model T chapters are actually chapters of both the MTFCA & the MTFCI.

If you have a drivable T – driving it around and having some flyers to hand out to interest folks is another way to make contact.

If you have a garage that has room for doing workshops and demonstrations – offering a technical session on how to repair something can generate interest. Again – Covid makes that harder. And when it warms up and hopefully Covid is more under control – an ice cream social with a mini-car show might work.
You can also place an announcement in various old car sites. You just did on the MTFCA forum. But you can even be more specific and say “If you are interested in joining a Model T Chapter near Baton Rouge, LA or something like that.

Good luck and don’t get discouraged. Henry Ford went bankrupt or was kicked out of the first two automobile companies he started. If he had quit then, we wouldn’t even have Model Ts.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off

Once upon a time...

I had same thoughts when I wound up in a chapter-less area.

The General Secretary/Director..whatever it was called then sent me a listing of all the member “orphans” who were within 15 miles of my zip.

If you form a chapter a percentage of member need to also be members of the MTFCA (or MTFCI if you went with them), if Affiliate they don't. The club I am in, Rose City Model T Club, is affiliated with both national clubs but no longer a chapter of ether. We are one of several clubs involved with the Portland Swap Meet, that is separate from our club so do not need the event insurance from the national organizations. As a club we carry our own insurance and are a LLC to protect the members of the club. So from the insurance angle, forming a chapter, you could get coverage for tours or events, as an affiliate you would need to look into that. If something were to happen on a tour or event, each member of the club would need insurance as required by the state and would be under the insurance of the national club as a chapter. As an affiliate club, the club might need coverage for tours or events, even if it were a bake sale.

Private message sent. Please check it out. There’s also a young lady in LA that’s talked with me about standing up a MTFCA Chapter. I stand ready to help you in any way I can.
Kathy Tagert

Thanks all.

I will begin my tasks next week.

BTW, I’m already a member of Mississippi Magnolia Model Ts.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

Maybe it's time to make the Danish Model T club a chapter of this club as well.....
I'll read the Manual.

Which made me think - does this club have a set of bylaws? If yes, where do I find them?
Edit: In above manual!

We’ve begun the same discussion in Georgia and we have received more than sufficient interest.

Any persons in Georgia interested in participating in this journey, or wanting to possibly join in the future, please message me if you haven’t already received an email about the matter. We are attempting to identify any additional persons who may wish to join a new MTFCA chapter in Georgia.

Michael and Bill - If you message me, I can send you a copy of the new chapter application, new chapter bylaws, and a portion of the MTFCA Ops manual which covers MTFCA chapters & affiliates. I received these from Susan before she retired. Initially Susan, and now Rachel, have been extremely helpful in facilitating guidance and resources to encourage the formation of new MTFCA chapters.

Darin

Michael,

The Model T Ford Club of America BYLAWS are located on the last 10 pages of the MTFCA Operations Manual that is located at: https://www.mtfca.com/wp-content/upload ... Manual.pdf

It can be found from the MTFCA homepage by clicking on "Resources" and then selecting "Operations Manual".
Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off