The spare parts question has still not been resolved to anyone's satisfaction, it appears. A sampling of impressions from our major sources of information, the publications of Western States VSA, SEES, etc., are reproduced, starting on page 5, for our members who do not receive these. The ipd article gives the most positive take on the whole situation so far.

At the general meeting on November 12, we set the dates and places for the first six months' events of 1998, as shown on page 3. If any of you have different ideas, please let us know. Suggestions of activities for the last half of the year are also shown. Bob Skoog's 50/50 raffle was won by Pete Betz who was not present to pick up his immense winnings of $22, so that money goes back in the pot for YOU to win, if you attend the meetings, that is.

Our East County Drive attracted six coupes with sports-minded drivers - and tolerant passengers. We had the road all to ourselves on the stretch from Jamul, through Lyons Valley and Japatul, to our second rendezvous point in Descanso, and we took full advantage of it. From Descanso, we proceeded along Old Hwy 80, crossing over the new I-8, onto Buckman Springs Road for some more exciting driving (especially on one right hand curve where the deteriorated pavement shook a lot of dust out of our old cars' suspensions), finally arriving at the Railway Museum in Campo at about 11:45, just in time for the 12:01 local train ride. Randy Blum and a friend went on the "real" train ride to Tecate, and we're hoping for some tales of great adventure from him. If we have enough interest among our SDVSA members, and a little more time for planning, the Tecate Train Ride could be an event for next year (see page 2 of the last issue of 1800 NEWS for details). 

Please, let us know how you feel about that.

The next day, some of us went to The Chrysler Festival of Speed, the historical car race held on North Island NAS in Coronado. They had about 150 "famous" sports/race cars divided into six groups, from the '20s to the early '70s, some worth up to $5 million! There were Ferraris, Jaguars, Porsches, Alfas, Lotuses, Allards, Corbras, Abarths, M-B 300SLs, and Morgans, etc., and of course Corvettes, Mustangs and Camaros, just to mention the most "common" marques. Even a '50 Hudson Hornet that made a pretty good accounting of itself! It was great to see all these cars doing what they were built to do, even though the groupings by year left something to be desired as far as competitiveness was concerned. If this race is held again next year, we would like to see our SDVSA club participate, as many other clubs did, and make it the event for the month. Maybe we can even work on having a "famous" Volvo race car (544 or 1800) here to compete as well. After all, there was a Sunbeam Alpine on the track in Group 4 !!

Coming up this month in only a couple of days, on the 13th (Lucia Day in Sweden), is our SDVSA Annual Christmas party! If you haven't RSVP'd yet, DO SO IMMEDIATELY! Details as to location; times, and what to bring are given on the next page, but, please, call Russ Orrell at (619) 565-8034 for information on what food to bring. The Christmas party is the most attended event of the year, so come out and meet your fellow "Volvinos" if you are curious to associate the often published names with faces - and cars! If you can't make it to the party,

GOD JUL OCH GOTT NYTT AR !