• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Spring Zing 2014?

azbobbybooshay10 said:
How many people did you have for SZ Lite? Is it possible it lost its identity because the proportion was so heavily weighted towards Cougar's? If there were 20 Contiques there instead of 6, do you think it would regain some of that identity?
Click to expand...

We had 23 registered (granted 4 were my family) and even more showed up. We didn't have a huge Contour showing (hell I didn't even bring mine as I was bringing home too much stuff) which is fine. Yes, to your point, I think the low Contique turn out played a part in SZ loosing it's identity to me. And I'm not saying that the two events should NEVER again be combined, but maybe make it more of every 5 yrs we combine the events (just throwing out a number). Part of what hurt us last year if you remember was an extended forum outage right in the middle of SZ planning by CSVT#49 and he wasn't able to get concrete numbers to plan major events (track day etc).


I should have come for more of CF (it really did just feel like only CF to me when I was there), unfortunately last minute changes didn't allow it. I really wish I would have had more time to get around and meet more people that were there. I'm sure there were CEGers there I've never met and should have as well as some NECO folks.

Keep in mind, I'm not complaining or putting the event that we had this year down at all, just to me it was, well I'm not sure, it just didn't feel right.

I'm probably going to have re-read this tomorrow, because I'm sure only have 1/4 of what I typed actually makes any sense right now.
 
Last edited:
personally i think they should stay together. you get more, and different people showing up. Like i said on neco split the dates and do it nin june. should a track day be the be all end all of making your decision to come, no, there were some people that were only a couple hours away this year and didnt come because of that. And i think thats stupid. as long as you have car related things to do thats all you need. This year with the exception of a minor glitch in the instructions i think the 14 cars we had in the rally had a blast. We only had 8 cars participate in the autox on sat, and with the exception of one person, everyone was excited about it and enjoyed it (the one person almost puked lol)

if you want to keep a SZ in May ill prolly not make one again unless its local to me because im a teacher and thats the end of the school year, but a June or July i can do

One of the things that we take into consideration on neco is the opinions of the people that have been in the past and that will come again, there is always a ton of people that will jump on the "Ill be there bandwagon if this happens", and then a week before they all bail. I know this happened with a good number of people this year

what makes a SZ a SZ exactly? cause i dont think its all that different than what makes a CF a CF other than CF has half the number of doors
my 2¢
 
D.Acker said:
I should have come for more of CF (it really did just feel like only CF to me when I was there), unfortunately last minute changes didn't allow it. I really wish I would have had more time to get around and meet more people that were there. I'm sure there were CEGers there I've never met and should have as well as some NECO folks.

Keep in mind, I'm not complaining or putting the event that we had this year down at all, just to me it was, well I'm not sure, it just didn't feel right.
Click to expand...
I think you nailed it here. It didn't feel right to you because you were hardly there.
I'm confused that you'd compared it to SZ Lite too. That had hardly any events planned.
I'm thinking it didn't feel right to you because it wasn't the same members as in the past.
I'll admit a lot of times the groups were split CEG and NECO folks, but it wasn't on purpose. There was still a great deal of mingling. A lot of traditions shared and people having an absolute awesome time.
Best of all, hardly any us vs. them egos that we've seen between the groups in the past. I was VERY pleased by this.

jaged said:
what makes a SZ a SZ exactly? cause i dont think its all that different than what makes a CF a CF other than CF has half the number of doors
my 2¢
Click to expand...
They're aren't all that different at all.
The inside jokes are about all that is different. So when everyone is sitting around reminiscing about past events, those that weren't there may feel out of the loop.
That's about it. lol


To me, these events have always been about the members. I don't care what cars show up. I don't care of the ratio of Contour to troll or Contour to Cougar or whateverthehell isn't 1:1. It doesn't matter. The PEOPLE showed up, and had a damn good time.
The events are what matter. The things to keep the people together.

SZ used to have a road rally. I like that Cougarfest has kept that as part of their tradition.

Personally, I don't care if the two groups' events are continually combined, separate, whatever. I'm going to go where the people are. The people I've grown to love, regardless of how they arrive.

I'm really interested in Mike heading SZ14 if he can. It seems like year after year he's put a TON of effort into planning something, be it in MN or in KY, and unfortunately they didn't pan out.
I think a track day is definitely what helps bring CEGers out for an annual gathering. It gets people the opportunity to race, help run the race, or spectate.
And it seems whenever a track day doesn't fall through, membership falls dramatically (this year was a good example).

So the best way to plan is to nail that track date, and the rest can be planned around it.
I realize this is easier said than done, but for those that want it to happen, that's my 2 pennies on how to make it happen.
Look there first if you're interested in hosting.

Oh and thick skin. You need some serious thick skin for all the opinions and whines that come your way. ;)
Again, I think CSVT49 may have what it takes to make this happen for us in 2014. THAT is the biggest key to any of these events ever happening. Someone stepping up to the plate to host.
 
frenchblueC2 said:
I think you nailed it here. It didn't feel right to you because you were hardly there.
I'm confused that you'd compared it to SZ Lite too. That had hardly any events planned.
I'm thinking it didn't feel right to you because it wasn't the same members as in the past.
Click to expand...

Agree entirely.

I chalk Dave's feelings up to the fact that this was a first-time affair, and the people he actually knew personally made up about 15% of those in attendance - unlike the old CEG events, where you know almost everyone and it's like a big family reunion. Too many strangers around to make it feel "like home".

Regardless, I'll wager that everyone made some new acquaintances that weekend (and maybe even some new friends), so as time passes, faces become familiar, the "not right" aspects just kind of fall away. SO MANY of the NECO members who were there are fairly active on CEG as well; it makes sense.
 
Josh your race car don't even run ;) neither does mine :( we aren't going anywhere.

In regards to the track day thing I agree with that fact I was so close to canceling the trip bc of it. But in all good thing it did bc my car blew up 6 miles from home lol next year though it'll have a 12k mile engine in it so track day better happen and I bet attendance will be better too :).
 
I've been doing some talking with Luca about SZ. I feel we should spring zing held alone. I'm waiting for prices and some answers about having it where I'm located. I live in Blacksburg, va which is in southwest va. I'm talking with this track.

http://motormilespeedway.com/

There is a major Ford dealership associated with this track so there could also be a show hosted there.

Head up to the Roanoke star.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Star

I'm gonna put something together this next week and post more of an organized itinerary or possible plans.
 
regardless of how its done its all about the organization, and finding someone thats willing to do it. I think that that is one of the things that NECO has been very good about in the past. This is how weve done it for the past 5-6 years, and it might be something that yous guys might want to look at
 
squeek said:
Why not? Can't this forum be brought back to its original glory. The svt being recognized for unique limited build. That's why there is NECO and CEG. I know somethings are shared but spring zing should be brought back for what it was ment for Contour SVT.


http://www.musclemustangfastfords.com/events/mmfp_0706_ford_svt_contours/
Click to expand...

that article is 6 years old, thats longer than a good chunk of both ceg and neco have been legal to drive. so if spring zing was meant for svt contours, all the other tours and mystics arent allowed?

combining events is something that weve talked about for a long time. why have 2 meets that are going to be smaller when one can be larger and bring more to the table
 
Wow if we're going forget about articles that are over six years old then we're in trouble. So should the archives just be deleted if there outdated? I personally enjoy reading some of them. Didn't bring up the idea to cause a up roar. Just posted what I would like to see happen, and what I could possibly offer in the area I live in.

Ok sz was intended for ceg members.

Ceg took a bad hit when the outage occurred in 2012 sz preperation time. And she's still hurting cause of the Facebook addiction. Maybe sz could bring the members back together.

Is this article more up to date.


http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130201/carnews01/130209993&template=mobileart
 
Last edited:
never said anything about forgetting the article, or the archives, simply pointing it out
 
Here's the problem. With the outage, people have been turned away, thus the Facebook group. There are hardly any old school members left. And with the influx of all these newbies, they're all here for the problems their cars bring. There's no passion in building what the car really is. And this is why the group is dwindling, and why Spring Zing will never become even close to what it used to be. It sucks because I haven't even been to a SZ event yet, and there were a ton of old school members that I wanted to meet, but they're no longer around. The non existent passion just makes it a poor attendance, because let's face it, there are more people who drive the car because its fun for transportation that they got for the cheap than those of us who mod it and try to make it our own and post on CEG

And on top of it, a lot of CEG is stingy with taking their car long distances due to their high expectations. (Kinda like me) I just don't wanna show up with 7 other contours.


Ramble over, my allergies are kicking in from this stupid cat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top