It looked like the beginnings of a 120 Wagon convention at the General Meeting on October 13. Randy Blum, Richard Pattee, and Richard Hunt all brought their Amazon forerunner of Volvo's most famous model -- from the 145 to the present day V series -- the Volvo wagon. We are starting to look more like a Volvo club again, with seven of the nine attendees arriving in their Volvos. Way to go! 

   Our membership roster continuous to shrink. Kurt Sievert, membership coordinator of the SDVSA, reported a total of only 66 card carriers! Kurt usually gives three notices (on the address label of you 1800 NEWS) before he scratches the name off the mailing list. So, make it a point to check the mailing label every time your newsletter arrives, and, please, renew right away.

   Our Chapter Coordinator, Russell Orrell had no news from the leadership of the National VSA. However, the very active and Volvo-dedicated Orange County club, OCVSA, under the leadership of David Hunt, may just be the first victim of National VSA's internal ineptitude. Dave paid his dues, and has the cancelled check to prove it, but there is no acknowledgement of that fact by the VSA leadership. (This also happened to many other southern California chapter members). In fact, the leadership claims he never was a member! Even though it does not so state in the National bylaws, the leadership insists that a non-National VSA member cannot be a chapter coordinator. So, in essence, the OCVSA is not a viable chapter any longer! What kind of nonsense is this? 

   The 5^th Annual Dodge Speed Festival was held on the weekend of October 12 and 13^th at the Naval Air Station on Coronado. The SDVSA participated on Sunday, October 13, when the actual races took place. Four 1800s and one 544 met at Tidelands Park, and drove through the gate, "flying" our patriotic colors. Brad Benson led the way in his white '72 ES, followed by Alan Miller in his red '63 544. The next car was Dave Dempsey's white '68 S, and following him was Bud Hartwell in his powder blue '72 ES. Bringing up the rear was the "temporary" editor's white '64S. As we entered 

the Car Club Corral, we  were greeted by Scott Harrison, a long time member of the SDVSA. Scott, with his blue '63 Stingray convertible, decided to attend with the Corvette Club this year. We arrived at about 11 o'clock, so everyone had about two hours to take a leisurely walk through the pits and the tented display areas. We saw Royce Dunn's beautiful '32 Graham in the classic car tent, but not Royce. As Group 6 was assembling for the start of their race, we spotted Sandra DeMello and Richart Pattee fully absorbed in the proceedings. Sandra managed to park her aqua '68S with our group, but Richard decided to leave his TP21 at home. Driving a Swedish army communications car onto a U.S. navy base on the heels of 9/11…well, maybe that's not such a good idea. Randy Blum also showed up in his stalwart '63 120 wagon, looking smart in -- you guessed it -- the brand new SDVSA T-shirt! Our stealth representative was Jeff Perry, who still hasn't finished his '66S engine swap, and had to join the rest of the crowd in the public parking area. So, all in all, we had seven Volvos (see photo) and eleven SDVSA members in attendance. That's not bad out of perhaps 50 local members. However, we sorely missed the always-enthusiastic members form the OCVSA,  who usually swell our numbers. More coverage of this event is found starting on page 7.

   The OCVSA hosted the 4^th Annual All Volvo Car Show at Swedish Speed in Perris, CA. Mark Yarbrough, proprietor of Swedish Speed, Dave Hunt, and his loyal followers, did a bang up job of organization, creating awards and providing raffle prizes for most everyone. Dave's summary of this event is presented on page 4, and Dave Barton provides a more detailed account starting on page 9. 

   This month's event on Saturday, November 23^rd, dubbed "Return to Santa Margarita Winery,” promises to be much more than that! Turn the page for all the details of this interesting and rewarding drive, coordinated by Del Skoog, (760)728-5328. 

   Change of Plans for the SDVSA Holiday Party; Richard Pattee has volunteered his house! Sunday, December 15, 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. Turn to page 3.