Something is happening in the Swiss veteran vehicle scene: a new umbrella organization has been created that aims to incorporate the members of the existing associations.
The "Schweizer Verband für Historische Fahrzeuge - Fédération Suisse des Véhicules Historiques" (Swiss Federation of Historic Vehicles) is intended to create a strong organization for the whole of Switzerland, which will support owners and drivers of historic vehicles - from bicycles to trucks.
Two become one
For 22 years, the Swiss historic vehicle scene has been looked after by two umbrella organizations. On the one hand, there was "Swiss Oldtimers", which emerged from the SDHM, founded in 1986, with around 8,000 members. On the other hand, the FSVA was founded in 1991, which, with 13,000 members, is also the representative of the world umbrella organization FIVA in Switzerland and currently issues over 450 FIVA ID cards per year.
Leading members of both organizations have now decided to attempt to combine their strengths in a new umbrella organization.
The new umbrella organization SVHF-FSVH aims to efficiently take on the tasks associated with historic vehicles and represent FIVA in Switzerland.
Expand, go further
The SVHF-FSVH would like to pool and expand the expertise of the existing umbrella organizations and be the point of contact for questions relating to historic vehicles. It will form working groups, just like the global association FIVA, which will deal with the areas of events & activities, technology & FIVA ID cards, crafts & trade, specialty motorcycles & bicycles, specialty agricultural machinery, culture & history, as well as a group dedicated to the history of historic vehicles.
history, as well as a group that uses its relationships to influence political decision-makers.
The new FSVH umbrella organization takes care of the concerns of the entire veteran vehicle scene, which individual clubs are naturally unable to address. One example of this is the promotion of young talent in the trade: there are over 30,000 historic vehicles registered in Switzerland, and someone has to repair and maintain them. Special knowledge is required, which must now be passed on to the next generation.
Political tasks
The new umbrella organization will take over links with associations, for example the Association of Road Traffic Offices "asa". The predecessor associations have done a good job here and are accepted. They have become partners in recent years.
It will be involved in consultations, as the two umbrella organizations have been to date.
Committed to the original
The certification of historic vehicles using the FIVA ID is one of its main purposes. The knowledge of the vehicles and their builders can thus be deepened and can be used efficiently in this way for the genuine historic vehicle. This is increasingly important at a time when everything - from clocks to historic racing cars - is being reproduced.
The SVHF-FSVH focuses on the FIVA Charter of Turin. This defines the preservation of historic vehicles and the right to drive them on public roads. The charter also deals with the preservation of intangible and tangible technical cultural assets relating to the vehicle.
A new force
When all the existing clubs are incorporated into the new FSVH association, there will be 160 clubs with a total of over 20,000 members. The largest members are the Friends of Old Agricultural Machinery with 5,000 members and the Friends of Old Motorcycles with 3,000 members.
Votes next spring
The merger into the FSVH still has to be approved by both the Swiss Oldtimers and FSVA delegates' assemblies. Our aim is to achieve this by spring 2014.
Professionalization and modernization
In future, we need to focus our energy and become more professional. We need to transfer knowledge and give a new generation the opportunity to get involved at a political level: New focal points will come, such as muscle cars, bobbers and choppers, custom cars. Transport policy will change and it is now important to secure a place for the historic vehicle.
There are new forms of organization, via the new media. The old club world of Sunday drives in convoys may have lost its appeal. New forms of get-togethers are emerging everywhere, which are obviously being taken up enthusiastically.
