God Jul och Gott Nytt År

Merry Christmas and a Good New Year

     According to Kurt Sievert, SDVSA Membership Coordinator, we have 63 current members, of which around ten are honorary, all over the country – and one in Canada. Nine members attended the November 10 SDVSA General Meeting – the first presided over by our newly elected President (Chapter Coordinator), Peter Webb. As expected, Peter did an outstanding job, keeping the proceedings moving along. Our main topic of discussion was the future direction of the SDVSA. Although the SDVSA seems to be holding its own as far as membership is concerned, it seems to be that many Volvo clubs -- perhaps with the exception of the VCOA -- have suffered demise, presumably

     The SDVSA Traditional Swap Meet, held at Crown Point in Mission Bay Park on November 20, was reminiscent of a decade ago! Between Gene Bellegarde and Peter Webb, they managed to peak the interest of about 25 Volvo fanatics, who arrived in 18 Volvo cars of various models. The cache of parts for trade or sale didn’t match the great turnout of enthusiasts, but not very many people seemed to mind. The weather was a little on the cool side, but Sven’s hot links worked their magic. There were plenty of ”new” cars to examine. Anne Bair, Don’s mother, just purchased a low mileage, fully restorable, ’72 E, which she brought for us to admire. Doug Gagliardi brought his racy new ’69 black and white 142S, and Rick Bogart showed off the brand new red interior in his ’70 E. In the really ”old” Volvo department were Allan Miller’s ”better looking every time” ’64 PV544, and the TP21 man, Richard Pattee, with his ’57 PV445 wagon, with an elegant Volvo grill emblem.  Thanks to 

from lack of interest by the actual and potential membership. It has manifested itself in a lack of meaningful communications (newsletters) between the leadership and the few remaining members. Hopefully, this is just a temporary condition,

everyone for the enthusiastic turnout, and, by the way, we sold eight T-shirts, bringing some welcomed cash into the SDVSA’s coffers! Jeff Perry, our official club historian, and web master, took some snap shots of the gathering, which appear on pages  

but nevertheless, it causes the leadership of the SDVSA to weigh several options open to us to make our local area club more viable. We’d like more of our members to attend the monthly, second Wednesday, meetings to participate in this discussion. We suggest that YOU make a New Years resolution to make your voice heard, by coming to a few meetings and expounding your ideas. 

     We have lots of things left over from the 2004 VSA West Coast Meet held in San Diego on September 10 through 12 – perhaps another sign of declining interest. 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.

7and 8.

      It’s officially too late to RSVP for the SDVSA Holiday Party on Sunday, December 12, but it would be hard denying admittance to any real Volvo nuts! All the details are included on page 2 in this newsletter. As you know, Bud and Christine Hartwell have once again graciously offered to host the festivities, and if you have never been to the Hartwell’s ”Car Barn”, you owe yourself a visit. Out of courtesy to our hosts, it would be a good idea for any late comers to call the Hartwells. Our Holiday Party is one of the highlights of the yearly events agenda, where we get to meet members and their significant others who we usually see at other times of the year. Come join the FUN!

   The first SDVSA event of 2005 is our Temecula Wine Country Tour on Saturday, February 19,, hosted by Del Skoog, who always have has a pleasant surprise in store for us. The flyer with Del’s plans will appear in January’s 1800 NEWS.