Don’t panic – it’s not an extract from the Bard’s comedy – more a summary of the content of this article and the play was, of course, actually set in Italy the home of our Barchettas. I started the 200 Club year with the best of intentions intending to scribe a few paragraphs mid year but here we are again three quarters of the way through the year. About the same time as last year in fact!

Does that mean it’s been a quiet year or just so much activity that time has prevented me scribing those few words. Well – neither really -the 200 Club finances are roughly in the same financial position they were twelve months a go – if anything slightly down. However, if everyone who pays towards the end of the 200 Club year continues to do so we could still end up roughly where we were last year – but not where I had hoped to be with a prize fund of £1500. 

Owners Club membership  has increased steadily over the last few few years from 222 in March 22 to 239 currently – 11 of whom were in the last twelve months. To offset the increase though; we are also getting quite a few enquiries from members, who for a variety of reasons, are putting their Barchettas up for sale – probably still the best time of year to advertise if only the sun would shine a bit more. At the moment there are six Barchettas on the club website for sale – two on Auto Trader and four on carandclassic.com ranging in price from £1500 -£12000 – quite a spread of asking prices. At the end of Q3 2023 there were 276 Barchettas taxed in the UK and 447 on SORN so quite an untapped market not yet members of the Owners Club and equally importantly the 200 Club!

Out of our 239 current members – making the assumption the status quo of tickets is not going to fall before the year end at 30 June, we will have sold 87 tickets this year – roughly the same number as the last two years. – just over a third of our membership– so for the remaining two thirds there is still time to join this year -make it a General Election year to remember!

As ever our thanks to all of you who have supported the Club and have continued to do so – to those who have left we are sorry to see you go but thank you for your support in the past- and to those of you yet to join – why wait?

Mike Barnes

Treasurer

March 2024