Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Oom Mac ek stem saam met Oom .Dit gaan nie om nissan dit gaan om die klub

Oom daar is klaar te veel dinge wat gebeur net met die forum saam duine trip river trip swazi trip beboons en z
Rust de winter ...dan nog die dag trippies en naweek trips ....ek probeer nie negatief wees nie ...ons het baie tyd en moeite gespandeer om te help ens maar nou sê ek nee ek gooi my gewig agter die forum en is klaar te besig vir nog ander nuwe dinge ...almal is mos welkom om deel te neem ...niks agm ens ens omdat almal hulle deel doen werk dit ....anyway just putting it out there

Oom Mac

I do not want to be negative.
All I am saying is that we must understand why it failed, if we really want it to succeed in the future.

As far as events are concerned, any brand and model is welcome on Forum activities. Not just Patrols.
We just had a Jeep on the Baboons trip.

This forum, in my opinion, does as much or even more for us patrol owners as any club I have ever been involved in. And there have been several.

And the beauty of it is, because we have reasonable numbers, at least here in Gauteng, we have a surfeit of activities and events. And nobody really has to work harder at it than he or she wants to.

To my mind, this is often the reason why clubs die: just a few people having to work incredibly hard, for little or no thanks. Often, clubs (and especially small clubs) are dependent on a handful of people working pretty damn hard, and when they grow tired, the club often falls apart.

The issue with leaving the Nissan club dead is that there is then no support for the other Nissan products. Not having been involved heavily in Noroc, I don't know how many people ther really were actively involved in the club driving other Nissan products. Off hand, I can only think of a couple who do not now drive Patrols.

Obviously, those guys are more than welcome to join forum events, as has been proven many times in the past. However, we do not really offer technical support for Nissan's other products. Firstly, several of the technically-minded people here started with Patrols. And we all know you can't upgrade from there. And secondly because this is, after all, the Patrol forum.

So, without trying to be negative: if somebody wants to revive NOROC, he must be prepared to stand up, and make it happen himself, and without expecting any help or support. If five people like that stand up and make it happen, they will succeed. If not, if any of those expect others to help, it just won't happen.

George en kobus het dik hard probeer ....my gewig gaan nie daar wees nie en soos wat almal vir my sê 95% van almal wat ek ken hier .....

My sentiments exactly - this forum has it all, and more importantly (from my perspective) no red tape; club meetings with long agendas; rules & regulations etc etc. - you want to be part of the action, you go .... you don't or can't then you don't. No one judges your actions and everyone's your friend and always prepared to help out with issues, be that personal or mechanical!
Hell, this forum is more like a family - who needs a club!

I think that the old Nissan Club guys have almost all evolved into owning a Patrol. I think that there is a very negative stigma attached to the Patrol owners view of Nissan SA and Nissan Head Office, due to the feeling of Us as Patrol owners not really being cared for by Nissan. I cannot recall Nissan having a Patrol on their showroom floor, and yet we as Patrol owners show off our vehicles with more advertising page coverage than Nissan has done in 10 years. So its perfectly understandable that the Patrol owners now have turned their backs on Nissan as a brand. Are we proud Patrol owners ??.... Hell yeah !!! Ask us this question......Do we drive Nissans or Patrols? I bet you not many, if any, will say that they drive a Nissan.

As many know I was a the first one to try promote the Nissan Off Road Club, hell that's where it all started for me. I learnt so much and met so many brilliant people that I call friends. However we have almost all become Patrol owners and that is why the Patrol Forum is a HUGE success, and guys like Frans ( tour de Frans ) and Graham ( Pathmaker ) and Michael, and Marinus ( Terrain Tamer parts ), to mention a few, are successful, because they give the people what they want and make a living out of it, unlike Nissan. So where to from here, I don't know. Will the Nissan Club rise again? It would be nice, but I cannot see that there is enough new Hardbody/Navara/Pathy interest out there to get the club rolling. The club needs rotation of new members, and the Nissan Dealers are the ones that need to drive this and start the interest. Only then can the "Club" keep them involved by 4x4 training and hosting trips. I believe that over time these members will like many of us, evolve into Patrol owners, and hence the rotation of new members is needed to keep the club afloat otherwise the same thing is going to happen again.

ricster wrote:I think that the old Nissan Club guys have almost all evolved into owning a Patrol. I think that there is a very negative stigma attached to the Patrol owners view of Nissan SA and Nissan Head Office, due to the feeling of Us as Patrol owners not really being cared for by Nissan. I cannot recall Nissan having a Patrol on their showroom floor, and yet we as Patrol owners show off our vehicles with more advertising page coverage than Nissan has done in 10 years. So its perfectly understandable that the Patrol owners now have turned their backs on Nissan as a brand. Are we proud Patrol owners ??.... Hell yeah !!! Ask us this question......Do we drive Nissans or Patrols? I bet you not many, if any, will say that they drive a Nissan.

As many know I was a the first one to try promote the Nissan Off Road Club, hell that's where it all started for me. I learnt so much and met so many brilliant people that I call friends. However we have almost all become Patrol owners and that is why the Patrol Forum is a HUGE success, and guys like Frans ( tour de Frans ) and Graham ( Pathmaker ) and Michael, and Marinus ( Terrain Tamer parts ), to mention a few, are successful, because they give the people what they want and make a living out of it, unlike Nissan. So where to from here, I don't know. Will the Nissan Club rise again? It would be nice, but I cannot see that there is enough new Hardbody/Navara/Pathy interest out there to get the club rolling. The club needs rotation of new members, and the Nissan Dealers are the ones that need to drive this and start the interest. Only then can the "Club" keep them involved by 4x4 training and hosting trips. I believe that over time these members will like many of us, evolve into Patrol owners, and hence the rotation of new members is needed to keep the club afloat otherwise the same thing is going to happen again.

Cedric, I do not believe the Forum is a success because Nissan (other model 4x4) owners became Patrol owners. It is true for some to have changed models, but the majority of active Patrol owners on this forum have had their cars since long before I had any involvement in the Nissan club or the forum, and while NOROC was still active. The forum is a success because the events are well organised, and people here help each other on technical matters.

This did not happen at the expense of NOROC. It happened because there was a need, and this need was not addressed anywhere else.

NOROC failed because
a) It failed to forge and maintain a partnership with Nissan SA. This is a case of "taking two to Tango", I am not in the position to put blame on one side only. I do not know enough of the history to do that. But that it needed to succeed in this regard was clear.
b) Events did not meet members requirements /expectations.

If the above was done right, NOROC could have been a success, and even with a majority of Patrol owners participating, and with the Patrol forum still doing its thing.
It is not a case of one OR the other.

The 14 January meeting was attended by many Patrol forum members who were in some cases never involved in NOROC, but who supported the idea of NOROC co-existing with the Forum.
This is still possible, but then you will need a number of hard working selfless people who are prepared to get both (a) and (b) above right.
But trying the same things as in the past, and expecting different results is a route madness.

Its a no from me, perfectly happy with the Patrol Forum, and I don't see the point if Nissan SA is not onboard and we get some benefits from them

Alex Roux wrote:

ricster wrote:I think that the old Nissan Club guys have almost all evolved into owning a Patrol. I think that there is a very negative stigma attached to the Patrol owners view of Nissan SA and Nissan Head Office, due to the feeling of Us as Patrol owners not really being cared for by Nissan. I cannot recall Nissan having a Patrol on their showroom floor, and yet we as Patrol owners show off our vehicles with more advertising page coverage than Nissan has done in 10 years. So its perfectly understandable that the Patrol owners now have turned their backs on Nissan as a brand. Are we proud Patrol owners ??.... Hell yeah !!! Ask us this question......Do we drive Nissans or Patrols? I bet you not many, if any, will say that they drive a Nissan.

As many know I was a the first one to try promote the Nissan Off Road Club, hell that's where it all started for me. I learnt so much and met so many brilliant people that I call friends. However we have almost all become Patrol owners and that is why the Patrol Forum is a HUGE success, and guys like Frans ( tour de Frans ) and Graham ( Pathmaker ) and Michael, and Marinus ( Terrain Tamer parts ), to mention a few, are successful, because they give the people what they want and make a living out of it, unlike Nissan. So where to from here, I don't know. Will the Nissan Club rise again? It would be nice, but I cannot see that there is enough new Hardbody/Navara/Pathy interest out there to get the club rolling. The club needs rotation of new members, and the Nissan Dealers are the ones that need to drive this and start the interest. Only then can the "Club" keep them involved by 4x4 training and hosting trips. I believe that over time these members will like many of us, evolve into Patrol owners, and hence the rotation of new members is needed to keep the club afloat otherwise the same thing is going to happen again.

Cedric, I do not believe the Forum is a success because Nissan (other model 4x4) owners became Patrol owners. It is true for some to have changed models, but the majority of active Patrol owners on this forum have had their cars since long before I had any involvement in the Nissan club or the forum, and while NOROC was still active. The forum is a success because the events are well organised, and people here help each other on technical matters.

This did not happen at the expense of NOROC. It happened because there was a need, and this need was not addressed anywhere else.

NOROC failed because
a) It failed to forge and maintain a partnership with Nissan SA. This is a case of "taking two to Tango", I am not in the position to put blame on one side only. I do not know enough of the history to do that. But that it needed to succeed in this regard was clear.
b) Events did not meet members requirements /expectations.

If the above was done right, NOROC could have been a success, and even with a majority of Patrol owners participating, and with the Patrol forum still doing its thing.
It is not a case of one OR the other.

The 14 January meeting was attended by many Patrol forum members who were in some cases never involved in NOROC, but who supported the idea of NOROC co-existing with the Forum.
This is still possible, but then you will need a number of hard working selfless people who are prepared to get both (a) and (b) above right.
But trying the same things as in the past, and expecting different results is a route madness.

Please note I'm just speaking my mind/opinions and nothing is meant personally....

Alex for sure, but maybe I didn't explain myself properly. The Patrol Forum was, is and will always be a success, why? Because it gives us what we want and need. I definitively agree with you that the Patrol Forum success was not at the expense of NORC. They are totally independent of each other.

NOROC failed because
a) It failed to forge and maintain a partnership with Nissan SA. This is a case of "taking two to Tango", I am not in the position to put blame on one side only. I do not know enough of the history to do that. But that it needed to succeed in this regard was clear. I believe NORC tried, but Nissan didn't respond, and like you said it takes 2 to tango. Unfortunately the Club took the brunt in a one sided tango. I know for a fact that there was loads of attempts from the committee to pull Nissan into the club,.... you can guide a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. I would guess that the committee tried to focus on what they thought Nissan would like, to draw them in, but Nissan again shrugged it off,
hence point B being the next failure.
b) Events did not meet members requirements /expectations. I agree. The events didn't work for the members and I'm sure I am to blame for some of it as I was a past committee member a 4 or so years back. I did the best I could at that time, as I'm sure my successor did.

In General, I believe circumstances killed the club. Like Peter and many have said if it was to come back up as a successful club, then there needs to be some seriously dedicated members to spend a LOT of time in getting the club going from grass roots level.
Unfortunately I cannot dedicate any spare time at the moment. so I cannot expect anyone else to step up to the plate. I will however be supportive of whom ever takes on this task. Why, because there are a few guys that would like to have the belonging to a Club, and why not, we all require different things out of life....