While all the details are still being worked out, the British Motor Trade Association is pleased to announce that we will be visiting Charlotte, NC for our next conference in early 2017! Our hosts will be Dick and Beth Lunney of Classic MG Magazine, and Charlotte is also home to BMTA members Na’Da Dawg Racing, Driven Racing Oils (Joe Gibbs Racing) and members Hendrix Wire Wheels and Flying Circus English Cars are nearby as well.
Stay tuned for dates and details coming soon!
The BMTA is proud to announce our 2016 Conference Agenda, complete with a trip to the world famous Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, TN! For more details, please visit the Conference page. You can view a printable PDF version of the 2016 conference agenda here.
Thursday, February 25
4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Board meeting at the host hotel, the Radisson Hotel Nashville Airport
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Meet & Greet around the corner at Darfons Restaurant & Lounge
Friday, February 26
All Friday sessions meet at our host hotel, the Radisson Hotel Nashville Airport.
7:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Introduction and welcomes
10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Break
11:00 a.m. to noon Session: Getting the most out of your insurance, hosted by Richard Coker of CPW Insurance
Noon to 1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Session: How your business can better cater to the rally enthusiast, hosted by Tom Smith
3:00 p.m to 3:30 p.m. Break
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Session: Growing up in London with Little British Cars, hosted by Peter Nesbitt of Matchless Transportation Services
5:00 p.m. Bus departs for JD’s British Cars, our host
5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Evening social at JD’s British Cars
8:00 p.m. Bus returns to host hotel
8:30-? More socializing
Saturday, February 27
Morning session meet at our host hotel, the Radisson Hotel Nashville Airport.
8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. BMTA business meeting
10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Break
10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Session: Are you using the right shop management software?
Noon to 1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:45 p.m. Bus departs the hotel lobby for the Lane Motor Museum
2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Session: Learn what it takes to manage a car museum
2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tour of the Lane Motor Museum
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Session: What is it like to own your own museum, hosted by Lane Motor Museum founder Jeff Lane
4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Session: Tools that will turn a profit
5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Socializing while exploring the museum
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Dinner at the museum followed by formal conference wrap-up
9:00 p.m. Bus departs for hotel
The BMTA is pleased to announce that JD Damon and JD’s British Cars in Nashville, TN will be hosting our 2016 annual conference! The dates are February 25-27, 2016 and more details are available on our conference page.
The BMTA is holding elections for Board Members. Please view the election page here for more information.
That’s a wrap! The 2015 British Motor Trade Association conference in Kansas City is behind us and we’re looking forward to next year. We’d like to thank our gracious host Victoria British Ltd. and our sponsors Classic Motorsport Magazine, Engel Imports, Hagerty Insurance and Moss Motors for their support.
If you attended and have any photos or videos you would like to share with us, please do! Email them to eclecticalan@gmail.com and we’ll get them posted.
By Alan Dalman of Eclectic Motorworks LLC
Over the past several years we have strived to be as lean and mean at the shop is possible with regard to energy costs. Whether your place of business is a thousand square feet or a million square feet, energy use can be a significant cost to overcome. We’ve managed to reduce the cost of our heating, electric and some of our other services by up to 30% with some small improvements and changes in habits that have positively impacted our bottom line.
Insulate and seal air leaks. You’ve probably heard this one before, but every time you feel a draft try to imagine that you’re not feeling cold or warm air, but money leaking out of your building. Most buildings are under-insulated, have older or missing door and window moldings, inefficient single-pane windows, etc. By investing some time and money caulking, installing new weatherstripping, adding insulation, and making other improvements you can reap long-term benefits with some short-term work.
An often-overlooked item when discussing insulation is the window blind. In the winter, windows can let in sunlight to naturally warm a room. In the summer, using the window blinds to block unwanted sun will help keep workspaces cool.
Close your doors. While the “open door policy” is a great concept for improving communication within an office, open doors and windows can wreak havoc on your energy consumption. An open door during a heating cycle can add up to 50% to your energy costs. During times when you want your doors or windows open (on a nice spring day or when someone has just fired up an MGB filled with varnish that used to be gasoline) make sure that your heating or cooling systems are turned off to avoid wasting energy. Invest in automatic door-closers if you have problems keeping doors shut. If you routinely keep different areas of your shop or office at different temperatures, make sure to close the doors between them as much as possible.
Control the temperature. Programmable thermostats are one upgrade that will pay for itself within a season. Having the ability to automatically raise and lower the temperature of your workspace will reduce energy costs because you won’t be trying to keep the environment comfortable when nobody will be there. It also eliminates the risk of someone forgetting to turn the thermostat up or down at the end of the day.
Additionally, keeping the thermostat 2 degrees lower in the winter and 2 degrees warmer in the summer can reduce your energy usage by up to 6%. There is one caveat – don’t set your temperature so wildly that your staff becomes more concerned with how cold their feet are in the winter or how much they’re sweating in the summer – you don’t want to adversely affect productivity.
Maintain your equipment. Keeping your furnaces, air conditioners, hot water heaters, fans and other environmental equipment clean will keep them operating at peak efficiency. If you’re using old, outdated equipment consider upgrading to Energy Star-certified units. Maintaining clean air filters can save you up to 5% on your energy costs.
Use more efficient lighting. The days of Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb are fading. Compact fluorescent lighting has taken over and LED lighting is the future. In addition to being inefficient, incandescent bulbs produce more heat than light, and there are more efficient ways of producing both. Compact fluorescent bulbs use approximately ¼ the wattage and can last for 5-10 years and LED lighting reduces energy usage and heat loss even more. The energy savings of these bulbs far outweighs the increased initial cost.
Consider installing motion sensors to reduce electricity usage on lights in rooms that are not being used extensively. Bathrooms, hallways and other locations where lights may accidentally be left on can greatly benefit from the addition of motion-sensing switches.
Using ambient light to supplement artificial light is a great money-saver, although installing insulated windows in areas that don’t already have them can be very costly. If you’re planning on remodeling or building a new facility, consider skylights, sola-tubes, fiber-optic lights, etc. which will help bring natural sunlight efficiently into the darker areas of your building.
Unplug when possible. Lots of electricity is wasted on a daily basis by unused equipment that remains plugged in. Most modern appliances, computers, TVs and other equipment use “soft” switching technology for convenience or aesthetics and continue to use electricity even when “off”. Computers are the obvious example, but everything from radios to battery chargers can keep your electric meter spinning at night and on the weekend.
These are just a few examples of ways you can reduce your energy usage and contribute to a healthier bottom line. Cost-cutting is an unfortunate byproduct of a weak economy, but ultimately these examples can also lead to a greener world by reducing pollution emissions and waste.
Dick and Beth Lunney from Classic MG Magazine just sent these pictures to us from the first-ever BMTA Conference in 2002 at University Motors LTD. See if you recognize anyone!
Well, we’ve wrapped up another successful conference – our 12th annual – at Bill Hiland’s place out in beautiful San Jose, California. With this year’s meeting now in our rear-view mirrors we all focus ahead to the upcoming driving season and keeping those beautiful old cars on the road.
Looking ahead, the BMTA is happy to announce that we’ll be getting to visit the fine folks at Victoria British next year! While planning is still in its early stages, Becky, Susan and everyone in Lenexa are looking forward to opening their doors for us in 2015. Kansas City-style BBQ will certainly be on the menu!
BMTA member Acadiana Sports Car Orphanage, offering performance parts for British cars along with Volkswagen, Datsun, Volvo and others, is now busy giving their customers more than just hard parts. A recent addition to their online shop, Acadiana is now offering stylish clothing that offers savvy marketing in a neat package. How is YOUR business finding new, innovative ways to market itself?
