IFCCSM meeting 2004

The annual meeting of the IFCCSM (International Federation of Clubs Citroën SM) took place on 21 February, the last Saturday of Retromobile, in the usual hotel nearby.

Among the 21 participants, perhaps a record number, was the representative of a new SM club, in Norway. At the invitation of Adrian Furtado, who had come as usual to chair the meeting, John Rist, president and co-founder of the "Norwegian Citroën SM Register" explained the short history of the club, formed in  July 2003.
Although only 4 SMs were sold new in Norway, today there are around 25 registered in the country. At the moment there are 20 club members, owning a total of 16 SMs. The co-founder, John Selbekk, vice president and webmaster, has already created a web site (www.selbekk.com) and a forum.
The club's email address is ncsmr_jsr@yahoo.no

The first club meeting will take place on 4 - 6 June 2004 at Geiranger.  There will also be 4 club magazines per year (initially in Norwegian and maybe later also in English). After this presentation all the presidents of the existing federation club members voted unanimously to welcome the Norwegian club as a new member of the IFCCSM.

The next point on the agenda was the SM International in Italy 28 - 30 May 2004. Supported by 3 other Italians, Maurizio Baiocchi, president, gave his report on the programme, which is very interesting, and the status of enrolments, whilst also distributing documentation about the rally and Genoa, "European City of Culture" in 2004. A minimum of 70 cars are expected and a further 50 can be accommodated.
In the previous Italian internationals, 80 SMs came to Parma and more recently 105 to Sienna. At the time of the meeting there were 26 enrolments, but the enrolment deadline was not until mid-March and latecomers could enrol afterwards by paying a small surcharge. The other clubs were therefore asked to estimate the final number of participants from each country. This indicated well over 70. The event is being organised by MAC Events, a company already experienced in automobile activities such as the launch of the new Jaguar in Italy.
It remains to be seen whether the participation at Genoa will exceed that of previous Italian rallies, considering its proximity to the other federation countries, especially France.

Next to speak was the German club, which has just elected a new president, Ruleman Erckenswick, successor to Friedrich Soegtrop, longstanding president and now Honorary President. Horst Lommel, also at the meeting, is vice president. In 2004 there are 231 members, including 10 new.
In the discussions, comments were made about a general tendency this year towards younger members, who are no longer exclusively middle-aged, happily. Germany will be the host of the 2006 international. The suggestion that the rally should be centred on Berlin was strongly approved, because the long journey to get there (over 1000 km from Paris) will provide the opportunity to see a historic city undergoing major development following the fall of the wall and reunification.

On behalf of the Swedish club, Lars Frykholm, president, was available this year to make the long voyage to Paris and thus ensure the participation of all the member clubs. The club currently has around 50 members who between them own 60 SMs. The club organises one major rally each year and has also experienced the arrival of younger people in its ranks.

The Dutch club representative, Jan-Tjerk Eelkema, informed us of his resignation as treasurer, after many years of service, and introduced his successor at IFCCSM meetings, Joris Bogaard, who is responsible for the club's parts service. Jan-Tjerk also passed around a special calendar, with no year, to be used for recording the dates of birthdays and illustrated by a handsome SM photo for each month. This calendar can be seen and purchased via the club's internet site.

Felix Muff, president of the Swiss club sent his apologies for not attending and was represented by Hans Roellin. Switzerland is the venue for the 13th ICCCR in August this year at Interlaken. Meanwhile the SM club is organising its usual Spring and Autumn rallies, in addition to which there is a regular monthly members' meeting near Zurich. The current club membership is around 80.

Brian Cass, president of SeMantics, handed out information about the British club, explaining that SeMantics remains a section of the Citroën Car Club (CCC), a club which includes all models of Citroën. The latter (mother) club changed its status in 2003 to a limited company, in order to provide better protection for the members of its management committee.
SeMantics still has around 100 members of whom approximately 15 regularly attend club events. Brian welcomed all SM owners from federation clubs to participate in the main rally of the club, scheduled for 17 to 19 September 2004 on the English/Welsh border in the vicinity of Oswestry.
He also announced the intention of the SeMantics to publish its own magazine in 2004, to supplement the bulletins which appear every month in the CCC's monthly magazine.
To end, Brian passed around samples of electric gadgets produced by Andrew Brodie and David Osborne to enhance the operation of the SM's electric windows and internal lighting. These are on sale to any SM owner willing to make a slight alteration to his car's original specification.

Finally it was the turn of the French club represented first by Michel Sivirine the president. The number of members has slightly increased this year with an 8% decrease from wastage and a 10% increase from new members, giving a total of 650 members. This year the national rally will be at Cahors on 1- 2 May. In addition there are many regional rallies.

The French club will organise the 2005 international rally to celebrate the 35th birthday of the SM, with the gala dinner being held, as in 1995, at Clos Vougeot in Burgundy, but this time with a coach service to and from the dinner.

In the last year there have been many positive articles in automobile journals on the subject of the SM, which helps to explain the growing number of younger people joining the club. The web site has also been very popular with over 100 visits per day. Michel requested the other presidents to verify the contents of the Federation website (also managed by the SM Club de France's webmaster, Clemens Maas) because some of the club descriptions are out of date.
Adrian Furtado added that he had just sent Clemens an English version of the French club's enrolment form, to help English-speaking people to join using a document they can understand. Later on, after the meeting, Brian Cass and Philippe Beugin, treasurer of the French club, agreed that for 2005 subscriptions to the SM Club de France can be paid by credit card via the SeMantics website by the British and other persons not in the Euro Zone.
SeMantics will make a single annual transfer in euros to the French club on the part of all these members, as is currently done by the Italian club in the case of its members who belong to the French club.

As usual Pierre Fraleux, vice president of the SM Club de France responsible for the parts service, gave his annual update on the parts situation in the French club. Without going into details, it can be summarised that while the number of part references in the club's parts list has risen from 500 to 1000 references, the availability of important parts has deteriorated because the stock of original Citroën arts is gradually being exhausted as well as that of remanufactured parts. The destruction or loss of some original tools by suppliers makes it even more expensive to replenish some stocks. For these reasons, even more effective cooperation between SM clubs is now urgent in order to manufacture each new part in the largest feasible quantity to achieve the lowest unit cost.

Then Adrian Furtado, keen to find a solution to this old problem in the sixth meeting of the IFCCSM, proposed the formation of an International Parts Liaison Committee with one representative per club. This was agreed by all the club presidents and the committee was nominated and formed during the meeting. See illustration for its members and objectives.

On this positive note, the participants assembled for the traditional photo followed by dinner together.

Adrian Furtado

IFCCSM Spare Parts Liaison Committee
France	Pierre Fraleux
Germany	Horst Lommel
Italy	Erminio Baldiraghi
Netherlands	Joris Bogaard
Norway	John Rist
Sweden	Lars Frykholm
Switzerland	Willy Schmid
United Kingdom	Brian Cass

Objectives

• Communicate the parts remanufacturing plans already in progress in each club
• Discuss all new remanufacturing proposals and agree the best solution together
• Combine the demand of all clubs and partners to maximise the number of parts to be made
• Give priority to the parts that are most important for assuring the functioning of our SMs
• Avoid all duplication between clubs in future parts manufacturing activities