The Rise & Fall of GMMG - Matt Avery

[daytonajim]

August 2022 seminar by Matt Avery.
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The Rise and Fall of GMMG is a new seminar created and presented by Matt Avery at the 2022 Bloomington Gold Corvette and Camaro Show, held in Bloomington, Illinois.
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History of GMMG - very interesting
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Thanks for sharing, Matt
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=deskt ... gftQG34OuU

[daytonajim]

I thought I'd share a little more history..... Jim Smith
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GMMG Early on:

I have made it a point to meet in person & visit with a lot of guys that were around in the beginning. I take the time to listen to people like Larry Christensen, Kevin DeWitte, Dick Jacques, Matt Berger, Dennis Barker Mike Carnahan, Matt Avery & others. They know way more than I do. How well do you know them & how much time have you spent with them?

I have heard their stories & most have no clue what the GMMG history is. I’ve done my best to share them over the years.

GMMG end:

I made at least 4 trips to GMMG & could see what was going to happen. It was so obvious that Matt was in trouble. We visited a lot about this & were up over 24 hours when he visited me & signed the cars.

Matt visited me in the fall of 2009 & in the spring of 2010 (before the doors were closed)
Matt called & I got in the car immediately & headed to GMMG. I lived there 10 days, delivered a car to Andy Puryear so I could meet him in person. I went thru the files & Matt printed all the build/ brass door tag info & gave me a copy of all his photos. (many thousands of photos). My intent was to save any GMMG records before they were lost forever & start the Registry.
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GMMG Registry beginning:

It took me many months to create the GMMG Registry with all the information, photos & info that I had in the beginning. This took crazy amounts of time & effort.

I knew of JD, but we didn’t become pals until after the Registry was live. We always talked like I did with Matt. The Registry needed some kind of Forum so people could not only find out any info we had on a particular cat but more importantly participate & add their own photos & info. Again, this took many many months of super long days getting the info we had on the Forum. It finally went live around Nov. 2012 & JD was a huge help. He liked doing clocks, shirts, hats & all that & we were able generate some money to support. We got some help when we got sellers & buyers together (.005%). JD was a great promoter of anything GMMG & was there in the beginning. A huge resource for info & stories. Thanks JD.

This was working pretty well until he died October 10, 2014. I made sure I visited him in the hospital & we said out good-byes. Unfortunately, he left a lot of things undone & it took a lot of my time to figure out everything he was doing. That’s when I decided that I would never put the Registry in this position again.

JD & I had a vision as to where the Registry was headed. We both had a vision & most of that got put on hold when he died. We decided that a minimum of three board would run things. There is a lot to do. More would be OK but with three there wouldn’t be any tie votes.

GMMG Forum:

JD & I worked very hard getting the Forum up & going with the information we had at the time. I spent months keying in info & photos. I thought it would never end. So much time. Being technology challenged added to the time.

Large Collectors:

I have made it a point to meet & visit with as many GMMG guys as possible. I helped a number of people find cars for Gary Walker, Trigger, Ryan & Vince as they built their collections. I have spent quality time with all of them & know/knew them very well.

People:

Matt Berger & Dick Jacques have supported the GMMG Registry & GMMG since the beginning even when Matt screwed them. They are both good friends.

Last winter I called & asked Matt Berger about the Dick Harrell #27 (Vic’s) Showboard. He took it off the wall & shipped to me in AZ as a thank you for everything I do for the Registry.

Jim Smith

I have owned as many GMMG’s as anyone (around 40 GMMG’s total) & have had the passion for over 15 years. My kids will have to deal with them unless I start selling a few.

JD

JD was another person that had so much knowledge. He was there in the beginning & is really missed.

I brought JD into the Registry after I started it. I did all the leg work, lived @ GMMG for 10 days when I saw what happening & all the problems Matt was having. I spent countless hours with Matt Murphy on the phone & visits to GMMG. You & Jim joined the party later after the Registry was going. Many phone hours every week with Matt & plenty of out-of-pocket money & numerous trips to GMMG. I have never asked for money for all my time. There would not be a Registry if I hadn’t had the insite, drive & desire to attempt to get & save this information before it was lost forever. I have gone out of my way so many times to meet the GMMG owners & have been the on-site ambassador for 15 years.

Vince

Another large collector that has so much GMMG knowledge.

Ryan Datko

Ryan has found cars that the Registry didn’t have any info on.
Ryan was new when he bought his first GMMG. He studied; learned & we have spent a lot of time on the phone together. As he became more familiar with GMMG’s he understood the kind of cars he wanted. Sometimes he has to sell cars to get better cars just like I have done. Had I known the cars I sold him would be sold & flipped I never would have sold them to him & kept them in my collection.

I understand exactly what he is doing. When a better car comes along buy it & something else has to get sold.

Matt Avery

Matt knows more about GMMG than anyone else right now. He is a great resource & continues to promote GMMG’s with his new book that should be released fall 2022 & his GMMG Seminars &Podcasts.

Helping Matt is good for GMMG. He is educating a lot of people in a way we could never do. He has connections & contacts that we don’t.

Aaron & Jim:

They have done the Registry with me for many years & will continue.

GMMG Registry today:

Not much has been going on for a while. I have visited with a lot of people & have brought many ideas, but others have decided to leave things like they are.

There are so many things that could be done.

In my mind doing all this for free is the biggest hurdle.

The Registry has fixed costs to cover to keep going. How can we fund this & raise money? Up until now we (Jim, Aaron & Jim (have funded it. Everyone should be helping out somehow.

New ideas & new faces are needed. The Registry should be managed by GMMG owners & promoted more. At one time we all had GMMG’s. Now I am the only one.

GMMG Registry future?

It seems to me like this is a good time to make changes with my age & health issues. New people & ideas should be tried. Younger people look at things differently than we do.

There are many qualified members that would be a good fit.

Jim Smith
August 14, 2022