|
At the August 11 General Meeting of the SDVSA, we were pleased to see two of the West Coast’s most well known Classic Volvo experts.
Bill Webb, president of Southern California VSA and author of “Swedish Iron”, and
Art Banks, chief judge at many VSA meets, honored us with their presence. They voluntarily made the long trek from Los Angeles to offer advice on making our SDVSA sponsored
VSA West Coast Meet on September 10, 11 and 12, right here in San Diego, a success. Always full of sensible advice on planning club events, we also valued
Dave Hunt, president of the Orange County Volvo Club, taking time to join us.
We had a very productive meeting with 16 participants, where several overlooked and new ideas were discussed and resolved. It was reported that
Peter Webb spent more than eight hours contacting people with unique Volvos and related businesses, who warrant a special invitation to the
VSA West Coast Meet, and, of course, Kurt Sievert is continuing his quest for door and raffle prizes.
Randy Blum gave us an update of T-shirt status -- sizes and colors, and
Gene Bellegarde, aside from being the coordinator of this
meet, took it upon himself to acquire the hats. Producing the registration forms was no easy task, but in addition to that,
Jeff Perry, together with Bob Skoog, designed and acquired the awards and lapel pins. Last, but certainly not least, our Chapter Coordinator,
Russell Orrell, who has the unenviable job of keeping everyone focused and maintaining some semblance of sanity during the whole effort.
This issue of 1800 NEWS, as you can tell, is dedicated to the
2004 VSA West Coast Meet. The program for this year’s VSA West Coast Meet is shown on the next page.
You may not know that the young SDVSA, founded in 1980, held its first VSA National West Coast Convention in San Diego in 1984. The presiding officers at that time were
Cyndi Andrews and Bud Hartwell, who also co-founded the San Diego Chapter of the VSA, as well as
Christine Johannesen, Linda Black, Bob Baker and Cliff
Wheeler. According to Bud’s recollection, there were about 45 classic Volvos in the parking lot of the Hanalei Hotel in Mission Valley.
Ten years later, in 1994, the SDVSA again summoned the courage to sponsor their second West Coast Meet. The man in charge of both the club and
the meet at that time was Gene Bellegarde, with lots of eager support
|
|
from Leon Mack, Mary Ann Myers, Bob Skoog, Bud Hartwell, Kurt Sievert, John Cooper, Bruce Babcock, Russ Orrell, and
Goran Freske. The Meet was held once again at the Hanalei Hotel, and Gene recollects that we had slightly more than a hundred classic Volvos joining the show. For more information on the past ’94 meet, turn to page 12, where you will find a reprinted article, which appeared at the time in SEES, the newsletter of the VSA.
In anticipation on Sunday’s outing to the San Diego Auto Museum, a brief history, and information on their current display, can be found on page 11.
SDVSA Upcoming Activities
We plan another Pizza ’n’ Video night at the October 13 SDVSA General Meeting. Hopefully, we’ll have some videos of the West Coast Meet, so we can relive our moments of glory!
With all the excitement of the West Coast Meet, don’t forget about the next event on the SDVSA busy schedule -- the
Annual Chrysler Classic Speed Festival at the NAS Coronado
Sunday, October 10, which the SDVSA will attend as a group. As we have in the past few years, we’ll meet at Tidelands Park, located just north of the Coronado Bridge on the Coronado side, at the end of Mullinix Drive, at 10:00 a.m. We want to enter NAS as a group to ensure parking together in one area, so we'll leave Tidelands Park at
10:30 a.m. SHARP!, for the short drive to the racetrack. Remember to get your free corral passes from
Bud Hartwell at (619)588-2180, if you want to come by yourself, or at our meeting place.
No passes will be handed out at the gate. Every person with a Car Club Corral eligible car must also have a ticket. One-day tickets are $20/person, and the weekend pass is $25/person. Ticket prices increase to $25 for one-day and $35 for the weekend at the gate. Children under 12 are free with a paid adult admission. Tickets can be obtained by calling Chrysler Classic Speed Festival at
(619)283-5808, in person at the Qualcomm Stadium box office, or send your checks to,
Chrysler Classic Speed Festival
P.O. Box 601400,
San Diego, CA. 92160-1400
Or, an SDVSA exclusive: If you want to get your tickets at
DISCOUNT prices, contact Brad Benson at (951)323-8013, or bradly.benson@solvay.com before
October 6. See you there!
|
