TR GOLD

[dpb]

It's a good idea.

[Dave Larnder]

Alec

 

Fish and chips always seemed to taste better out of newspaper wrapping, before those grease proof liners that looked like a military non-com hat.

 

Dave

[RogerH]

...would anything stick to a greasy fish and chip newspaper wrapper........

 

Roger

[Paul Harvey]

I'm pleased to see that the CONCEPT of TR GOLD is thought to have merit.

As you guy have observed, the COSTS of doing it on a large scale look daunting, but that is where the LAUNCH ideas play their part.

 

Initially, I looked at a list of regular advertisers in TR Action magazine, and graded them according to their annual expenditure with us.

Nor surprisingly, these are all people who sell TR PARTS, because the magazine is GUARANTEED to reach EVERY SINGLE MEMBER of the TR Register.

So that is over 6,000 spending money on TR parts, & 100% target market for those advertisers.

The 'Top 10' are:

 

Rimmer Bros

Moss Europe

TRGB

TR Shop

Manvers

Scenic Car

Revington

Robsport

TR Bitz

TR Enterprises

 

Of these, 2 in particular caught my eye:

 

MOSS are the largest specialist TR Parts supplier in the World, with a proper heritage in TR Register, and now with outlets in EUROPE and lots in USA where most TR Cars are to be found.

They are 'Heritage Approved Suppliers' which means they pay a licence fee to the very wealthy company set up by Ford to make money from the Trademarked brands they found in a bottom drawer one day.

http://www.bmh-ltd.com/trademarks.htm

Sadly, we all know that the body panels allegedly endorsed by the original manufacturer actually do not fit properly, and certainly those panels could not use the TR GOLD badge.

Imagine if MOSS decided to adopt TR GOLD as well as the other schemes and really got behind it?

 

Then we have TRGB, an independent specialist in exclusively TR Parts, and a company who bravely tried to establish their own range of PREMIUM parts for our cars.

Gary Bates spent a lot of his own money trying to make sure his customers could get OE quality, even if they had to pay a little more for it.

 

No we owe our advertisers some loyalty - the £40k per annum they all spend offsets the cost of producing TR action, which soaks up around 50% of our entire subscription income.

Upsetting them would be disastrous, but what if we could get more advertising revenue from them, help them make more money, get commission on part sales to TRR, AND get a better deal on parts for Members all at the same time?

 

So I made a list of the top decision makers in those companies, and 'pitched' TR GOLD over the phone.

They loved the concept, wanted to know more, and certainly didn't want to miss out if the scheme actually went ahead.

 

So I offered Moss first refusal in the scheme, and named an outrageous fee for signing on that basis.

I did the same to Gary Bates.

Guess what, they are first and second with the launch programme in TR Action, assuming it goes ahead.

 

And then I talked to Wayne Scott about the logisitIcs and reality of TR Action, and his plans to develop it in future.

I said, what if we took the last 4 pages in TR Action, including the back cover, and used those 4 pages each month to launch TR GOLD?

The back page would be by TRR, owners of TR GOLD, explaining how the scheme works and encouraging Members to try it.

The other 3 pages would be TR GOLD, TR PLATINUM & TR SILVER - with parts chosen by the supplier, discounts they want to offer, and prices they want to sell at.

The advertiser already has one page booked, so another 2 pages of revenue for us, and we have a platform to launch the scheme.

Wayne said he would be happy to give up a couple of pages of editorial in the short term, if all if this could be achieved.

 

Moss go first, because we want them to - they are largest supplier in the World so if they are doing it perhaps all the other suppliers should.

The offers are time limited to one month only - starting from the day that issue arrives on doorsteps.

Moss send us a list of parts in each category they want to sell, and all we have to do is agree they are actually in that category. 100 parts maximum, probably less depending on their artwork.

 

And for one issue, and one month, Moss and TR Register are launching TR GOLD.

Edited July 3, 2016 by Paul Harvey

[whatmore179]

Great idea. But whose checking the parts before they're given the Gold standard?

I would say the the majority of parts sold come from the same Chinese / Indian suppliers and are not fit for purpose.

Steve

[Pogo]

I think it sounds like a great idea.

 

Roger

[Guest ntc]

90% off sale of the **** parts then?

[Alec Pringle]

" I would say the the majority of parts sold come from the same Chinese / Indian suppliers and are not fit for purpose. "

 

The kind of sweeping generalisation that doesn't exactly win friends and influence people in the trade.

 

Classic car or current production, if you want OE quality it comes at OE prices, as opposed to the plethora of aftermarket suppliers offering a lesser standard of product but at significantly lower prices.

 

TR parts in general are one heck of a lot cheaper in real price terms than they ever were back in the day, and equally cheap compared to many an equivalent part for a more modern sports car.

 

Commissioning component manufacture from Asian and Pacific Rim countries is a steep learning curve, nobody gets it right first time, and it can be a lengthy and tedious process working towards what the UK supplier wishes to offer his customers. During that process, the UK supplier is going to be lumbered with parts that are below his expectation . . . . but they've been bought and paid for, and Mr TR Specialist is not Henry Ford and simply can't afford to dump a few grands worth of less than perfect stock, simple as that.

 

For all the talk of '**** parts' I haven't found that many which are completely unacceptable, and the same goes for my local service garages with a modest throughput of classic cars. A certain irony recently, as the garage I use had a GT6 and an MGB, both in for major mechanical work, and both with boxes full of expensive nos component and expensively refurbished OE component. As the two young mechanics observed, "it all still needs fettling to fit, it's not BMW or Ford or VW parts, you can't just bolt it on and expect it to work perfectly . . . . . it's like repro stuff, just costs more . . . . . "

 

Well yes, nothing new there then.

 

Try finding parts for our trio of 1958 cars . . . . Humber Super Snipe, Peerless GT, Standard Pennant. Like as not it's a case of making do and mend, or bodging something from another application to fit and do the job, and even a **** part would be a sight better than no parts at all. The same goes for the mid-1980s Audi 80 and 90 quattros.

 

Too bloody easy to overlook just how good TR parts supply is in comparison.

 

Cheers

 

Alec

[Marc R]

Hi Paul,

 

I love the concept, I am also ready to present your approach to the Triumph Club de France (TCF to let them support the same (~ 500 Triumph and Club members + more than 1300 registered under the TCF Forum ) and will high light this TR GOLD idea to our Technical officer.

The same can be done with the other TR Clubs world wide recognized by the TRR.

 

Regards

[Paul Harvey]

Marc,

 

I have lots of ideas for TR GOLD to work overseas as it is brilliant in recruiting new Club Members too.

 

Moss have a new outlet in Paris they are very keen to promote.

 

No doubt they would like to offer special deals for your members from there and use your magazine to sell them?

 

I look forward to hearing from anyone who wants more information.

[Paul Harvey]

It is important to keep the administration simple to begin with so we don't make mistakes allowing the wrong parts to be promoted as TR GOLD

 

For the first year, we envisage there will be a 4 page TR GOLD section in all 8 issues of TR ACTION, and I would like that to be 8 different advertisers, all of whom would have to sign up to the scheme.

Their subscription price will be higher or lower based on the sales turnover of the company selling the parts, will be valid for one year and will be reviewed each year on a rolling basis depending on the success of the scheme.

 

PLATINUM for the biggest companies

GOLD for the medium sized independents

SILVER for the smaller companies, start ups etc.

We may even allow free BRONZE subscription to any company or individual who is making a special effort to produce TR GOLD quality parts and the Club wants to encourage.

 

I would expect every advertiser to cover the full price of the subscription AND the cost of the advertising in TR Action directly and immediately from the promotional sales during 'their month.'

Whether that happens will depend on how smart the advertiser is in choosing GOLD, SILVER AND PLATINUM parts to promote in their 3 pages.

If they choose high margin products they might be able to give TRR a decent % of commission AND give TR REGISTER members a decent and exclusive discount on the price of those parts.

Ideally, the same parts will feature on the TR GOLD website, which will be directly linked to the TR Register website.

That website could feature more parts from that supplier for that month as long as all the parts have been approved by us.

That advertiser can advertise those parts wherever they like on their own website, leaflets etc. so long as it is clear that the promotion that month is ONLY AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS OF THE TR REGISTER.

 

What that advertiser will NOT be allowed to do is to run those one month promotional offers in other publications and magazines.

We want to make this a special deal for TR Register members.

We want to recruit more TR Register Members,

And we want to promote the fact that every Member of the TR Register ALREADY and AUTOMATICALLY gets a copy of the superb, perfect bound and increasingly interesting magazine where these special parts are on special promotion for one month only.

Edited July 4, 2016 by Paul Harvey

[Paul Harvey]

To 'vet' the parts that each advertiser wants to promote, we propose to use the power of this Forum as well as a small team of specialists.

Each month, in advance, a list of parts will be presented in each of the GOLD, SILVER and PLATINUM categories, in a new special Members Only section of the Forum called TR GOLD.

The advertiser will be smart, they don't want any arguments before the scheme has got going so they will choose parts that TR Register experts on this Forum already know and love.

Don't forget this is not about price, this is about quality, so we don't need to know or care what the deal will be or how much those parts are going to cost.

If the advertiser wants to promote their sooper, dooper, coated in ceramic unobtanium, go faster, cannot be replicated TR PLATINUM thingamybobs at £3,000 each that is up to them.

 

They will list those parts for us with part numbers and links to their own websites where those parts are already for sale.

Anybody who wants to can look through those parts and shout out if they think an error has been made.
This is a collaboration - there is no need for it to get messy - everyone wants the scheme to succeed so everybody is thinking positive and using their years of knowledge and expertise to help, not hinder the idea.

Month one would be a topic entitled MOSS TR GOLD PARTS

 

Silence from the Forum will be sufficient to know that those parts are all 'good to go.'

I know we can rely on all you guys to help make sure no rogue parts sneak through.

 

That same list will be emailed automatically to a group of people who have offered to join the new TR GOLD technical team.

There won't need to be any meetings, any special rules, or any management structures in that team.

The guys on that team will simply be TR REGISTER members with no business connections or conflicts of interest with any of the advertisers who have signed up to TR GOLD.

No offence, but TR GOLD must be owned and policed by the TR REGISTER, without fear or favour to any business wanting to sell TR GOLD parts.

Mind you, with 6,000 people qualified to be on that team there shouldn't be too much difficulty getting 5 or so to look though a list of maybe 100 parts each month should there?

I don't mind who is on that team providing they understand the role, and understand they are only there to point out parts that are DEFINITELY or POSSIBLY not what it says on the tin.

 

Again, silence from that team means the parts ore OK.

As long as nobody on the technical team says there is a problem, then there can't be a problem with those parts.

Any doubts, any previous history of problems with that part, and the advertiser will be immediately informed that the part concerned CANNOT (YET) be allowed to carry the TR GOLD badges.

If the advertiser does not agree, we will develop a process by which that part can be specially assessed, especially if it is a new part we would all like to use, but has not been available long enough to prove itself in actual use.

We can imagine a 'waiting list' of parts we would all like to succeed - and a focussed, positive and fast track method by which the largest group of TR experts in the world do what they are best at.

 

Again, win win for everybody involved.

And closed doors for any cowboys.

Edited July 4, 2016 by Paul Harvey

[Paul Harvey]

And the final part of the TR GOLD circle will be how we administrate all this business going on, how we make sure everyone is getting paid the correct amount of money, and how we make sure that only fully paid up Members of the TR Register can benefit from the special deals on offer that month.

 

Again, this need not be difficult, and we have plenty of time to develop the powerful tracking software that will ultimately be required when tens of thousands of TR GOLD parts are being sold all over the world.

 

All we have to do is ask each advertiser, each month, to track sales of the parts in that month's promotion.

Their own systems will already be set up to do this anyway - because they run time limited and price reduced promotions already.
All they have to do as part of their first year subscription is agree to have an 'open book' with TR Register on ALL the TR GOLD, PLATINUM and SILVER parts sold during the promotion.

 

Since those TR GOLD special deals are only available to TR Register members, the advertiser will probably ask the buyer for their TRR membership number, and they may already know that from their own database.

We don't mind who they sell the parts to, as we will be asking for our COMMISSION on every single one of those parts sold during the promotional period.

We may be asking the advertiser to give us a list of names and postcodes for buyers of those parts, and we may have systems in place to check their membership.

 

Actually, TR Register would prefer to sign up new Members rather than receive the same cash in commission, so we might develop systems where that buyer automatically becomes a member free of charge if the commission on those parts on that order justifies it.

Click to buy, and the system identifies a non-member who then gets trial membership instantly and automatically for a year - immediately triggering a welcome pack with free copies of the latest issues of TR Action as part of the pack.

With any luck those new members might sign up long term, so that one promotion gets us new members for life, with recurring income growing all the time.

After all, why would you NOT want to be in the TR Register, if that gets you a free magazine with special parts offers every month with parts you want, and discounts that more than cover your subscription?

 

Advertisers are going to love us for doing it - the more members in the TR Register, the more people seeing their special TR GOLD promotions, and the more people buying their lovely fit for purpose TR GOLD parts.

 

And the only sellers who can benefit from all this are those signed up and paying subscriptions to TR GOLD.

[Nigel Triumph]

Paul,

 

This looks to be an excellent initiative, well done.

 

As we all know, the devil is always in the detail, so I have a few suggestions or comments to make.

 

1. Good see there's already a positive response to TR Gold from key contacts among parts suppliers. Clearly the concept can only ever work with their involvement.

 

2. Getting this off the ground will be a big task. I would suggest focusing all efforts on getting TR Gold running with a handful of suppliers before implementing Silver or Platinum. They will be easier to introduce later on the back of a successful and established TR Gold standard, and could be a distraction in the early stages.

 

3. I'm not clear how parts will be approved for the Gold standard - apologies if I've missed the details in your posts. Approving the right parts and then ensuring their quality is maintained are the cornerstones of the concept to my mind. The TR Register surely can't provide the resources to do this either directly or through a third party.

 

Will approval be based on members' experiences of specific parts? If so, I wonder how many members have covered sufficient miles with a specific component to prove it's at least as durable as was the OE part back in the day. As an example, the Distributor Doctor's red rotor arms have been around long enough and used widely enough that members' experience would be valid for approval. However this won't be the case for many parts I would imagine.

 

Alternatively, perhaps suppliers can self-certify for TR Gold, based their sales experience, or on design and QC data from the parts manufacturers. Policing then becomes the issue but this could perhaps be done by a task force of TR Register volunteers.

 

I'm really interested in the concept of TR Gold and look forward to hearing more views on how approvals can be granted and maintained.

 

 

Nigel

[Peter Cobbold]

Testing even a fraction of TR parts, from all suppliers and manufacturing batches, would be a monumental task. I suggest impossible.

 

Testing the parts that TRR buyers have found to be cr*p would be achievable.

With TRR acting as tester and mediator GOLD suppliers would then reimburse the purchaser a multiple of the purchase cost. This financial compensation should also reflect the effort/cost needed to replace the faulty part, and the risk run in driving with it fitted.

 

Peter

Edited July 4, 2016 by Peter Cobbold

[Paul Harvey]

Keep it simple guys - and please read the thread in full before commenting if you really want to help.

[Paul Harvey]

There are large numbers of parts which everyone 'in the know' will already be happy with.

There is currently no way an ordinary TR owner can find out which ones they should buy.

 

Over time, TR GOLD will fix that problem, but only if we keep it simple and fuss free along the way.

 

Maybe, just maybe, TR GOLD will eventually be able to afford to pay serious engineers to do proper benchmark testing against OE quality.

Meanwhile I am convinced there is enough solid knowledge in the Club to get this kickstarted without any difficulty.

 

Like all ideas, it needs some very modest funds to get it off the ground, but TR GOLD ensures it is in the SUPPLIERS' own interests to do most of the funding for us.

 

We just need to remember we are a Club, and we already have large numbers of great TR people willing to donate their time for free to a worthwhile TR cause.

[Nigel Triumph]

Keep it simple guys - and please read the thread in full before commenting if you really want to help.

 

Paul,

 

I don't know if this comment was made in response to my recent post but if it was...

 

I have read the whole thread and cannot see how the quality of parts in the scheme is verified. In post #7 you said 'Every single part they wish to sell under the scheme will have to be approved by us'. My suggestion is that the TR Register will not have the resources to approve dozens of different parts.

 

In post #29 you said 'Moss send us a list of the parts in each category they wish to sell'. It reads to me that Moss would then be in the position of self-policing when it comes to the quality of the parts they aim to sell under the TRR scheme.

 

Forgive me if my powers of comprehension aren't up to the job, but I can't see how the quality of parts within the scheme is assured. What have I missed?

 

My few comments have been made in the spirit of offering constructive feedback, as requested in post #1.

 

The concept is great, it gets the thumbs up from me but the devil remains in the detail IMHO.

 

 

Nigel

[oldtuckunder]

TR GOLD Community Initiative

This seems to be a Brilliant Idea

Elected unpaid Committee voted for by the individual members to do the Concept and agree the Aims.

An un-elected but paid body of the TR-Register Staff to do the admin.

Have a plan to get together the 12 largest suppliers as members of the scheme, but start with the biggest two.

Get those members to pay fees into the scheme to cover the running cost so that they can derive the trade benefits.

Come up with a mark that shows that parts meet a particular standard, so that there is instant recognition by the consumer that the item meets that standard.

Hopefully expand the community to include smaller suppliers who will see the benefits that the larger members are getting from the scheme.

Probably recognise that some of the smaller suppliers who make/supply some quality items may find it difficult to justify the initial cost, so find a mechanism whereby either the larger members (who derive the bulk of the benefits) pay more, or encourage them to help smaller potential members get their products accepted.

Big member suppliers are very happy, as there is now a barrier to market entry from other external suppliers, as their parts won't carry the approved mark, and they won't have easy access to the end consumer.

To keep on top of the scheme and all the parts being traded and to ensure quality, a tracking system is created so that supplier members have to accurately record everything they sell as part of the scheme so that they pay the correct fees back to community.

And the community sets up and administers a policing scheme so that non members can't use the mark and access the market for free.

Consumers end up paying more, but they are getting quality products.

The Committee is happy as its community is growing, the revenues are increasing, and it can afford to fund a bigger full time staff to provide more services to the community.

Then the community starts to notice that all the parts available now seem to be coming from a few limited suppliers, and the prices seem to be higher.

It becomes increasingly more difficult to build/restore something unless they have used parts that all carry the approved mark, as within the community there is now a lot of pressure that the only those things recorded as being built from approved parts now meet the required standard.

Then the community starts to complain a bit, maybe it votes in/out a few members of the committee who are supposed to be directing the entire project. But they can't do much as by now the whole scheme is actually being administered by the un-elected staff, to the benefit of the un-elected supplier members, and the revenue being generated out of the scheme is actually required to support the expansion that has occurred.

So then the choice becomes,

do we try and make this scheme better,

or maybe despite all the warnings of how difficult it would be, a group of individual members decide to leave and set up their own new community with different rules and standards, because they will be free of the burden of all regulations and requirements administered by the un-elected, and things will be much better as they can buy things from anybody, and of course the member suppliers will be happy to see the original scheme fall apart and support the new breakaway community, as they sell far more to the new community than that community sells to them.

Now somewhere rattling around in my head I seem to recall something of a similar nature being started, I wonder how it worked out?

Alan

 

TR GOLD is about quality not price, and about the part itself, not the supplier who sells it.

 

In order to use the badges any supplier of parts will have to sign an agreement with TRR.

 

But remember:

 

No supplier can use the badges unless they have signed an Agreement with TRR.

 

 

What is for certain is that nobody will be selling TR GOLD, SILVER OR PLATINUM parts who is not signed up to the TR GOLD scheme with TRR.

 

 

 

As you guy have observed, the COSTS of doing it on a large scale look daunting, but that is where the LAUNCH ideas play their part.

 

Of these, 2 in particular caught my eye:

 

MOSS are the largest specialist TR Parts supplier in the World,

Then we have TRGB, an independent specialist in exclusively TR Parts, and a company who bravely tried to establish their own range of PREMIUM parts for our cars.

 

No we owe our advertisers some loyalty - the £40k per annum they all spend offsets the cost of producing TR action, which soaks up around 50% of our entire subscription income.

Upsetting them would be disastrous, but what if we could get more advertising revenue from them, help them make more money, get commission on part sales to TRR,

 

They loved the concept, wanted to know more, and certainly didn't want to miss out if the scheme actually went ahead.

 

So I offered Moss first refusal in the scheme, and named an outrageous fee for signing on that basis.

I did the same to Gary Bates.

Guess what, they are first and second with the launch programme in TR Action, assuming it goes ahead.

 

Moss go first, because we want them to - they are largest supplier in the World so if they are doing it perhaps all the other suppliers should.

 

 

For the first year, I would like that to be 8 different advertisers, all of whom would have to sign up to the scheme.

Their subscription price will be higher or lower based on the sales turnover of the company selling the parts,

We may even allow free BRONZE subscription to any company or individual who is making a special effort to produce TR GOLD quality parts and the Club wants to encourage.

 

 

To 'vet' the parts that each advertiser wants to promote, we propose to use the power of this Forum as well as a small team of specialists.

 

Don't forget this is not about price, this is about quality, so we don't need to know or care what the deal will be or how much those parts are going to cost.

 

As long as nobody on the technical team says there is a problem, then there can't be a problem with those parts.

 

 

And the final part of the TR GOLD circle will be how we administrate all this business going on, how we make sure everyone is getting paid the correct amount of money, and how we make sure that only fully paid up Members of the TR Register can benefit from the special deals on offer that month.

 

Again, this need not be difficult, and we have plenty of time to develop the powerful tracking software that will ultimately be required when tens of thousands of TR GOLD parts are being sold all over the world.

 

All we have to do is ask each advertiser, each month, to track sales of the parts in that month's promotion.

 

We don't mind who they sell the parts to, as we will be asking for our COMMISSION on every single one of those parts sold during the promotional period.

We may be asking the advertiser to give us a list of names and postcodes for buyers of those parts, and we may have systems in place to check their membership.

 

Advertisers are going to love us for doing it - the more members in the TR Register, the more people seeing their special TR GOLD promotions, and the more people buying their lovely fit for purpose TR GOLD parts.

 

And the only sellers who can benefit from all this are those signed up and paying subscriptions to TR GOLD.

 

 

Maybe, just maybe, TR GOLD will eventually be able to afford to pay serious engineers to do proper benchmark testing against OE quality.

 

Like all ideas, it needs some very modest funds to get it off the ground, but TR GOLD ensures it is in the SUPPLIERS' own interests to do most of the funding for us.

 

 

Yes thought I'd seen a structure like it somewhere before, we already have the flag, now all we need is an anthem

[whatmore179]

As I said before great idea, but I agree with Nigel # 43

 

Steve

[Paul Harvey]

@Nigel Triumph

I never doubted your comments were intended to be positive and I read them that way.

The parts are 'signed off' by volunteer members who know their stuff - I already have volunteers who know more than anyone else in this industry which parts are what and where they really come from

 

@Oldtuckunder

You clearly 'get' the concept all the way except for the end when you go off on a conspiracy theory.

In this case, TR GOLD is wholly owned by TR Register, and that company is run by a wholly democratically elected Board of Directors who can be booted off ONLY by the Members of the Club.

Proxy voting ensures ALL 6,000 members will ensure fair play.

 

If anybody doesn't like it, they can go off and do whatever they do like.

But the TR Register will own the whole rights and IP to the whole shooting match, and the TR Register will be the largest one-make car club in the world if they support the scheme like I am confident they will.

 

The whole purpose of this thread is to find out if there are any real weaknesses or flaws in both the concept and the proposed launch of it and I am delighted to find experienced individuals able to speak freely on that subject.

[Paul Harvey]

To be clear, as envisaged there will be a tiny number of parts allowed to carry the TR GOLD badges when it is first launched.

Every single one of those parts will have been proposed by the first advertiser, and completely vetted by a Members Only thread on Forum and a team of independently respected TRR Member experts who make themselves known to me and the board of directors.

No parts will be advertised unless they are certain to meet the GOLD, SILVER & PLATINUM standards of the TRR scheme.

 

If any part subsequently bought by a Member is found by that Member NOT to be what was described, the TRR scheme will GUARANTEE immediate full refund PLUS COMPENSATION.

I am minded to suggest the supplier will be bound to refund TWICE the cost of the part concerned.

 

In the first year only 8 suppliers will be able to use the 4 pages to promote their parts.

Those advertisers are likely to be those who already do so in TR Action, and TRR will know them well.

Those advertisers may or may not be minded to ask that other parts are validated under their agreement with TRR, and TRR will do everything we can to validate as requested.

We will NOT be under any pressure or force to do that - the scheme can run for 12 months on a very limited basis only.

Only if those suppliers want to validate more parts, and TRR want to find the resources, will the scheme get bigger of its own accord.

 

No other parts supplier in the world will be allowed to use our TRR badges unless they sign up to the rules and abide by them, paying whatever fee TRR decide for those rights.

No other part in the world will be able to make any claims, because unless it is sold through our signed up TRR registered suppliers it IS NOT AND NEVER CAN BE TR GOLD.

 

TR GOLD is not about price, but it is about quality.

TRR will decide about quality, and TRR will decide who is allowed to sell TR GOLD parts.

 

TRR WILL launch with TR PLATINUM and TR SILVER parts in the promotions as long as the suppliers want to do so.

This will allow them to sell premium priced and more profitable parts if that appeals to them.

It will also allow them to sell lower priced parts if they choose to, so long as TRR agree they are fit for purpose.

 

There is really no need to 'go off on one' about parts certification and all the problems in the industry, because GOOD SUPPLIERS will work with TRR to make it all work without any arguments or conflict.

Edited July 4, 2016 by Paul Harvey

[Paul Harvey]

And as a purely personal comment, the only similarity between TR Gold and Brexit is the overstated claims of all the politicians involved.

All our Club needs to do is get rid of the politicians, and rely on proper Club members with proper Club interests to keep the new ideas flowing and the community happy.

TR GOLD is a money making idea for car Clubs, but it is only the good car clubs run by good members that will be successful using it.

If those clubs get much larger on the back of the money, all that is required is more good ideas about what all those new members want to do.

Because it is the New Members that are the real future of ANY Club, and this could allow TRR to fund stuff we can only now dream about.

[Paul Harvey]

There is only one organisation in the world which might also be allowed to sell TR GOLD parts and that is the TR REGISTER itself.
With sufficient funds TRR might decide to make some parts that the industry has decided are not commercial.
In that event the same procedure would be used to vet those parts PLUS it would be a condition that EVERY supplier in the scheme agreed to allow TRR to do so.

Edited July 4, 2016 by Paul Harvey

[Nigel Triumph]

@Nigel Triumph

I never doubted your comments were intended to be positive and I read them that way.

The parts are 'signed off' by volunteer members who know their stuff - I already have volunteers who know more than anyone else in this industry which parts are what and where they really come from

 

@Oldtuckunder

You clearly 'get' the concept all the way except for the end when you go off on a conspiracy theory.

In this case, TR GOLD is wholly owned by TR Register, and that company is run by a wholly democratically elected Board of Directors who can be booted off ONLY by the Members of the Club.

Proxy voting ensures ALL 6,000 members will ensure fair play.

 

If anybody doesn't like it, they can go off and do whatever they do like.

But the TR Register will own the whole rights and IP to the whole shooting match, and the TR Register will be the largest one-make car club in the world if they support the scheme like I am confident they will.

 

The whole purpose of this thread is to find out if there are any real weaknesses or flaws in both the concept and the proposed launch of it and I am delighted to find experienced individuals able to speak freely on that subject.

 

Thank you, Paul.

 

And thank you also for the clarification in post #47.

 

I can see how experienced members could verify the quality of some parts, particularly members who have been engaged in big restorations. Body panels wouldn't be difficult - it either fits acceptably or it doesn't. There's an immediate yes/no answer. But many other parts can't be judged until they have successfully completed a service life of reasonable duration. Pretty well any bearing can't be judged until it's completed an acceptable length of service without failure. Springs, shocks and bushes the same.

 

As a commercial idea I think TR Gold is genius, a win-win-win for the suppliers who engage, for funding it brings the Register and for the peace of mind it should bring members who buy parts under the scheme. But all this can only happen with the right framework to assure quality.

 

 

Nigel