At the SDVSA General meeting on January 9th, our main topic was the ongoing discussion of the future direction of the SDVSA. The attendance was nothing to brag about, and again, we encourage more of our members to attend the monthly, second Wednesday, meetings to participate in this very important discussion!
  

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

     Also, we are still looking for a more economical way to print 1800 NEWS , so again, if any of you work for a company, which lets its employees obtain copies for a reasonable price, please, let our club president, Peter Webb, know at (858) 414-0000, or peterjwebb@yahoo.com. It would be very much appreciated by all SDVSA members, who would probably not appreciate an increase in club dues, or a reduction of newsletter pages!

     Speaking of the newsletter: Jeff Perry, due to personal circumstances, cannot devote the considerable time and effort he expended on publishing any more. We, and especially the “temporary editor,” really appreciate his past efforts on behalf of the SDVSA! However, we are lucky to have a recent joiner of the club who has volunteered his talents. Having been featured on the front page of the exclusive 1800 NEWS for the last two issues, Doug Gagliardi probably decided he wanted some control of his notoriety. The following is a direct quote from Doug, accepting the position:

      “My professional background is in typesetting and page layout, so this would be an ideal way for me to contribute to the group. Plus, the cover would be mine whenever I wanted it (insert sinister laugh here), and I could maintain continued vigilance regarding the spelling of my name.”

     Welcome onboard, Doug!

     We still have lots of things left over from the 2004 VSA West Coast Meet, held in San Diego on September 10 through 12. Besides T-shirts and two varieties of hats, we have really beautiful grill badges, which were used as prizes, and a miniature quarter panel P1800 “Volvo” emblem in the form of tie or lapel pins! The club, of course, had to pay for all these items, and now we offer them to you to raise some much needed money for our treasury. A list of items and prices appear in “Annonser” on page 11, as well as on page 9, accompanied
with pictures of each item.

    Some thoughts on the future of the SDVSA by our new chapter coordinator (president), Peter Webb, are included in this issue, starting on page 5. Peter has been in communication with both Bruce Potter, current president of the Volvo Sports America (VSA), and Lee Cordner, president of Volvo Club Of America (VCOA). It is to our advantage as a regional club to be affiliated with a national club, if only for the insurance policy they provide for their chapters to cover local events. The question is always been if each local member, or what percentage of the local chapter membership, has to also be members of the national club, in order for the insurance policy to apply. That has not been made very clear, at least by VSA, with whom the SDVSA has been associated with for the last 25 years. Another option we are investigating is joining the insurance program, which the San Diego Automotive Museum's Car Club Council (SDAM CCC) has initiated. The SDVSA is already a member of the SDAM CCC, and for a fee of $40 per year for the entire club, we would receive the same insurance coverage as with both national Volvo clubs. Of course there are other benefits to belonging to one or both of the national Volvo clubs, such as parts sources and just plain camaraderie. But, in the final analysis, any member of the SDVSA can join any national Volvo club, which they have been doing anyway throughout the years. The overhanging question is our insurance coverage as a club.

     The first SDVSA event of 2005 is our Temecula Wine Country Tour, on Saturday, February 19, hosted by Del Skoog. Del managed to find yet another new winery (!), so we’ll visit that one and two others. The last one will have a patio, with a rain-tight cover, if the weather turns out not to be perfect. We would encourage participants to pack their picnic lunches since food at the wineries is rather dear. Turn the page for more info!

     Keeping with our “an event every other month” policy, be prepared for the next SDVSA extravaganza; Mark Jankowski’s San Diego East County Tour on Saturday, April 23! Mark has toured every part of San Diego since the late ’50s, so he is somewhat of an authority on the subject. We don’t know yet what surprises he has in store for us, but we can be sure it is going to be a most enjoyable road trip with lots of scenery and interesting land marks along the way. Make your plans to attend
now!