Inliners International Forums General Discussion General Forum Information Forum activity

It seems like forum activity is way down, I was absent for a few years, moved to our retirement location and such, but I don't remember the forum being so non responsive....where is everybody?

It is hard to tell. Facebook and the internet in general has taken a toll. I hear from customers how this forum is the go to for inline archived info. And like in the past, many just sit on their fingers, never adding to the forum.

Like myself and many others who used to come here feel that the club has pretty much gone downhill. And find the info they seek in other FB groups, And almost just the same goes for the clubs FB page which to doesn't seem to see much either. Even I see more people in other Groups than I do on the inliners FB Group. Even the clubs Advertiser have left here. And that in itself has to tell someone something you would think.

Moregrip1

If you?ve been away for a few years, you are unaware that the Inliners Club we remember doesn?t exist anymore. I was known on this forum as 41 Coupe. Ex Chapter
Head of Texas Gulf Coast and Ex Inliner member since 1980.

When Luke Lucas term as president was over and he was done trying to bury what was left of the disastrous two terms of Will Willis, he decided to wash his hands of it and dropped it in the lap of his VP Allen Jewell, then Chapter Head of the Northern Nevada
Chapter.

Allen accepted the job reluctantly. I didn?t know Allen, but after talking to him a few
times, it seemed he had some good ideas to restructure the club. He started having
monthly Board meetings, including Chapter Heads as Board members, which was the way the Bylaws were originally written.

Membership had been dropping like flies. Their solution was to raise dues to $37 annually and go into an all out membership campaign thru the Chapters.
I hope I?m not telling you something you don?t already know, but I think the membership had known for a long time that joining Inliners was like beating a dead horse. They decided to decrease the number of issues of the 12 Port News, which had turned into a real rag several years earlier, leaving members to ask the question ?Why
do I need this thing ?. They voted long time Treasurer Lou Becker out, replacing him
with the wife of Bay Area Chapter Head, Marleah Scott. A complete idiot in my opinion. They also terminated the long time relationship with 12Port News editor
Wanda Kincaid, in an effort to cut costs.
When Allen took over, he held regular Board meetings, allowing one hour a month, which soon deteriorated into 20 minutes devoted to club business ( mostly no business)
the rest to BSing amongst the Elites he had lined the Board with, after vowing to eliminate their influence at the beginning.
They reorganized the club requiring members rejoin, shut the old website down and
formed a new one and quit supporting the The Bulletin Board.

Last I heard, Allen turned the running of the Nevada Chapter over to his wife.
You may remember Beater of the Pack, as a contributor to the BB forum. I?ve talked to him several times. Apparently they still hold Chapter meetings, but no Inliners business is discussed..

When the new changes took effect the first of the year, I resigned my Chapter Head
position and resigned my club membership.

I have since moved to Colorado, Will Willis is still running the High Plains Chapter, of which I have no plans to become involved with in anyway..
I am still an Inliner and hope to meet some of their members..

I hope this has provided some insight as to what has happened to what was a fun
organization to be a part of.

You can find me here or at my email address

Larry Cates
lhcates@hotmail.com

Best Wishes

thank you for the info, I had no idea so much had happened!

more grip 1, I think there are many reasons for the decline here. The club has certainly has its issues. Age is a factor both in members and the engines we focus on. It is getting harder to find parts for the old inlines. When you find them they are expensive. There are a lot more places where people can get information than there were in our Heyday. Facebook nearly killed this site. There are still a lot in inlines out there at Bonneville and the many vintage racing events but a lot of those are specialized and have their websites. There was a little surge when the 4.2 Trailblazer engine came along but that discussion ran its course and moved to other places. There is far more inline activity on the H.A.M.B. than here and not just Chevy & GMCs.

We have lost a lot of the contributors who made this place lively and we have not attracted new ones. Our local chapter (Northern Nevada) is more focused on car shows and tours than the engines the club was formed around. Many of our members don't own an inline engine and are not even interested in them. As far as I know Allen Jewell doesn't own one. Our leadership are more car club people than car people. As far as I know I am the only member of our chapter that uses this site. Most have never even visited it. No one, including me, wants to step up and take the helm of a sinking ship. Honestly Al & Vickie have tried to salvage the club but a lot of damage was done before they came along. No one seems to understand that this website is the best and easiest way to contact and attract new members but there has to be something of interest if they find it. Right now if someone finds the Home page they can not get to the Forums. You can join the club or pay you dues but you can'r access anything else. Who would want to join that? It is like going to the facebook page-no meaningful connection. Everything needs to be in ONE place and that place needs to have all of our archives, tips, conversations, pictures, history........ easily available.

For sure, FB and other social media has made a negative impact on forums. I guess these old inline 6's just don't have the luster they used to have in many peoples eyes. Ironic, after building both a LS motor and a SBC, building inline 6 is at the top of my list of what to build next. Just seems so cool to me; but I'm 54 now and I'm in the minority I suppose.
Hopefully enough if the old timers stick around and contribute! I have definitely benefited over the years from the collective expertise of this group via this forum!
Thanks to all who have helped and will continue to help; I appreciate it!!

I am on a few other forms, and they seem to be doing just fine. Part of the clubs down fall, besides vendors / advertiser and members & Chapters leaving. Had much to do with what happened many years back. And the Club let it happen. And to this day is why many advertisers will not Return do too much conflict of interest and being undermined etc.

Any recommendations Larry?

H.A.M.B Has a good group of people, And topics. I have been there about just as long as I have been on here.

I actually met Twisted6 first on the HAMB 15 or so years ago and he directed me over here.

I met him here and I won't tell you where he directed me. We get along a lot better now and even support each others projects.

It is still my belief that there needs to be one central place where Inliner International communication takes place and it needs to be accessed be accessed with one sign in action. As far as I'm concerned these forums are that place.

I honestly do not post much here Especially Pic's anymore. or log on to hear much anymore do too certain ........ coping my stuff. But enough said.

just thinking on this a little more, I hope forums get popular again (long form type sharing). Instagram and similar just don't provide enough detail.....Happy 2026!

I totally agree but am not hopeful. So much of the other formats just go away or are impossible to search. There is a ton of information in the archives here.

How do I post pics? I just joined and i am more than willing to add content.