In spite of the threat of rain, ten stalwart SDVSA Vikings descended on the San Diego Auto Museum on January 8 for our monthly ”allting.” Most of the discourse was centered on copies of two letters written by the National VSA president Jon Keebler and received by various members of the SDVSA, Orange County VSA, and VSA So. Cal. Chapter. The letters (dated Nov. 5 and Dec. 9, 2002) were addressed to Dave Hunt, member of SDVSA and coordinator of the Orange County chapter of the VSA (OCVC a.k.a. OCVSA). If you received one of these letters and found it offensive, rest assured, Jon was presented with our response at the National VSA board meeting on January 26. For the rest of you, the essence of the controversy is the loss of membership data by the National VSA, when Jon fired membership coordinator, Robert Foltz, for controversial reasons. In the confusion, Jon claimed that Dave never joined the National VSA, and therefore his OCVC was not a VSA chapter. In fact, Dave has been a member since October 1996, and has been a great contributor to the National club and its newsletter S-E-ES (now VSA) ever since. Dave was accused of using the VSA to his own and his chapter’s end, without being a member! There was also some misrepresentation of the SDVSA in the letters, partly the reason for our response. We hope that proper amends be given so we can get on with the task at hand – namely, keeping and restoring our classic Volvos. 

     Aside from being elected VSA Board members, Jon has appointed Art Banks, Bill Webb, and Cal Terry (also members of the SDVSA) as ”ombudsmen” for the West Coast chapters. Art will be attending our March 12^th General meeting, to answer our questions about our relationship with other Southern California chapters and the National VSA. Bill and Cal are of course also invited We think it would be prudent for as many of our member as possible to be present in the upstairs meeting room at the north end of the San Diego Auto Museum at 7:00 p.m. on March 12. Please be there with your written questions!

     After a period of doubt, we have concluded that the National VSA seems to be on the mend.

We recommend, therefore, that as many of our SDVSA chapter members as possible join the National. As a member, you’ll have access to a number of nationwide parts providers, informative technical articles, and event schedules, through six issues per year of the club’s newsletter, VSA. Please, fill out the application form provided on page 4 to join the National VSA, and mail it right away. 

     The first SDVSA event for 2003 is going to be the ever-popular Temecula Valley Wine Tour on Sunday, February 23. Del Skoog is already working feverishly on making this tour the traditional success it always has been. Only one of the rumored three new wineries will be open by the time of our tour, according to the latest intelligence from Del. But, no matter! Aside from this new, small, family owned and operated, winery, Del has scouted out two ”old” wineries worthy of our return. One is under new ownership with improved wines, and the second is another small, award winning operation. For more details on this always-enjoyable event, just turn the page! If you are worried about being out on the road alone getting to our meeting place, we can organize caravans, too. Just contact any of the characters in ”the box” on page 3. But, please, make your plans now to join us! 

     According to SDVSA’s new policy of hosting events only every other month, March is devoid of one of our sponsored events. However, we strongly recommend that our members attend the Southern California VCOA picnic on Saturday 15 (see www.scvcoa.org). The same goes for the Annual VSA Southern California Chapter Westside Volvo Swap Meet in Culver City on Saturday 22 (contact Bill Webb at 805-588-1832). There is certainly no lack of Volvo events for our local ”I roll” nuts!

     Get ready for another interesting and educational Mark Jankowski-hosted San Diego East County Tour, coming up on Saturday, April 19. If you’ve participated in Mark’s previous tours, you know he is a master at sharing his vast knowledge of the backcountry in San Diego County. More details in the next edition of 1800 NEWS.