On This Date August 20 2013 CHRYSLER LETTER OF DOOM that began the VOA

[JonB ~ PartsRack]

Happy Anniversary..............Anyone remember?

"Dear Lee,"

The rest has ~1.7 million views on The Alley.

And I'm still breathing 6 years later.....

[Bryan Savage]

I don't remember. I didn't own my car then.

Link? Story?

[98intrigue]

https://www.viperalley.com/forum/att...8&d=1388426851

[Viperenvy]

And a Happy Anniversary it is!

Bigger and better is on its way

[ViperSRT]

Well Jon, all I can say is it took too long to come to a conclusion. Some of us concluded where Marshall was at with the VCA at least 3 years before the grand exit.

[ViperTim]

Talk about a huge fuck up.
Never heard of any other company funded club.

[01sapphirebob]

Talk about a huge fuck up.
Never heard of any other company funded club.

Thats what made the old club special and standout from any other car club at the time. It had the support of the manufacturer. Something no other car club had or could say.

[Bryan Savage]

https://www.viperalley.com/forum/att...8&d=1388426851

Thanks for the link!

So what's "VPA"?

[01sapphirebob]

Thanks for the link!

So what's "VPA"?

"Viper Parts of America." The VCA went into the business of selling Viper parts. They even got as fas as to eventually become an official MOPAR parts dealer. The original idea was the ability to be able to purchase and get ahold of the old Viper parts tooling (which they did) far the body panels etc. Thats where things really started to go south...

[Bryan Savage]

"Viper Parts of America." The VCA went into the business of selling Viper parts. They even got as fas as to eventually become an official MOPAR parts dealer. The original idea was the ability to be able to purchase and get ahold of the old Viper parts tooling (which they did) far the body panels etc. Thats where things really started to go south...

So FCA was basically like "Oy, you can't turn an enthusiasts club, which we are giving you money for, into a for-profit business. We're cutting the cord."

Is that about right?

[ViperTim]

Thats what made the old club special and standout from any other car club at the time. It had the support of the manufacturer. Something no other car club had or could say.

One thing for sure, Chrysler won't do it again.

[RedTanRT/10]

Happy Anniversary..............Anyone remember?

And I'm still breathing 6 years later.....

Seems like all that drama finally died a couple of years ago! Hopefully all is well for you!!!

So FCA was basically like "Oy, you can't turn an enthusiasts club, which we are giving you money for, into a for-profit business. We're cutting the cord."

Is that about right?

Lot's of drama, and bad feelings all over! Corruption, an attempted overthrow of Ralph Giles and on and on!!! This is when and why the VOA was formed.

Lot's of information on the Alley to help you understand and add color. Go on the Alley to the G5 section and look at some of the Sticky's. Start with the one with Marv Spats name, then read the replies. Same process for the Sticky titled letter of Doom.

[Coloviper]

We have all moved on. Time for a drink and bury it once and for all.

[Drummerviper]

Seems like yesterday and don’t want to brag, but I was onto the shenanigans early on, as I think Jon would agree. No one, went through as much shit as Jon did during this period. The fact that he weathered the storm always amazed me. I recall advising Maurice the only hope was a new club .

[JonB ~ PartsRack]

We have all moved on. Time for a drink and bury it once and for all.

Been drinking continuously ! Not KoolAid.

[ EZier for those not 'deeply affected' to move on. ]

[Toxic]

That whole corrupt mess. I remember the Presidents’ meeting in Scottsdale where several VCA national officers threatened us all with legal action, banned Jon and insinuated Maurice of all people was a problem.

The Texas regions and Oklahoma among others weren’t going to tow the line. I went from being the new face in the room to vocal pretty quick.

Glad that mess is long gone.

[J TNT]

Sad that some clubs get political, car clubs are meant to be Fun . Glad we moved on in a positive direction.

[XSnake]

Oh the memories...

[Fatboy 18]

Sad that some clubs get political, car clubs are meant to be Fun . Glad we moved on in a positive direction.

Just about every club I know gets Political at some point, with some righteous person moaning about someone else in the club not doing this or that! It's just the way it is.
That's why after all the goings on some people choose not to belong to any club. (It's all clubs from a local Tennis Club, Motorcycle club, Car clubs). Someone or some people always think they're above everyone else in a group.

[Fatboy 18]

I never did fully understand what went on and how it all came about? I did hear at one of the VOI meets the Police were called in as it was getting very hostile towards those holding the meeting.

Question
Were the Mopar parts from Chrysler actually "Given to the Club"? Then "The Club" set up its own spares shop selling the parts to Club members?

If that was the case? then the parts "Given" to the club technically already belonged to the club members?
Perhaps that's a too simple analogy?
Pretty easy to see why sponsoring Vendors got upset!

I can tell you, this is still a very raw subject within European clubs

[JonB ~ PartsRack]

I have always played an official / unofficial "HISSSStorian" role on Viper forums. Note the many HISSSStory tidbits I have posted here.

This is no different. Probably no more hisssstoric events in club existence, than the club creation by Dodge in 1995, and the club demise and destruction in 2013. Chrysler Letter dated 8/20/13. Sad. But Historic.

I dont want to beat a fossilized horse, but 'those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.'

[USAFPILOT]

Well I hope somewhere down the road a serious effort at producing real reproduction parts is able to happen somehow. Maintaining these cars by cannibalizing wrecked cars and what not isn’t going to keep us all going for very long.

[TrackAire]

God, I had all but forgotten about those damn days.

I still remember the hilarious photo somebody posted on the old VCA or Viper Alley forum site of Chris Marshall holding a huge stack of cash at the VCA T-shirt booth at one of the VOI events....It might have been Salt Lake City.

The only thing better than that photo was the speech at the dinner of the Salt Lake City event about how and who was going to be president of the club. It was very Vladimir Putin-ish......I couldn't believe they actually did that with a straight face.

And the final straw was when they black balled Parts Rack because of a B.S. situation they tried to highlight that had nothing to do with the VCA....just to make Viper Parts of America your go to Viper parts source. Hey, Jon can be a dick but I've spent thousands with Parts Rack, but the day somebody tries to unethically shut down a business to further their own interests ain't going to happen if I have anything to say about it.

You could have literally had a reality TV show based around the VCA and its shenanigans back then.

[JonB ~ PartsRack]

"He can be a dick, ...... but he's OUR dick!

[ViperSRT]

I have always played an official / unofficial "HISSSStorian" role on Viper forums. Note the many HISSSStory tidbits I have posted here.

This is no different. Probably no more hisssstoric events in club existence, than the club creation by Dodge in 1995, and the club demise and destruction in 2013. Chrysler Letter dated 8/20/13. Sad. But Historic.

I dont want to beat a fossilized horse, but 'those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.'

Not sure a full accounting all of all that transpired would ever be possible. Impossible to recall all of what I was aware of, but I do recall the many lengthy discussions with Jon about the travesty within the VCA. I dropped out of the VCA in 2010 after personal attacks by Marshall and Stubberfield, that culminated in attempts to have me fired. What the majority of VCA members observed and discussed on the internet was literally the tip of the iceberg. What a freaking disaster!