"75 years of Volvo" and other memories from 2002...
 
By Goran Freske

     Yes, Volvo has been around in name for 75 years (1927 to 2002), but, as most people know, it really came to an end in early 1999, when Ford bought Volvo’s car division. Just to illustrate the differences in philosophies between the two companies; Motor Trend Magazine named The “Volvo” XC90 SUV of the year for 2003. It may be great for Ford’s bottom line (one of their unsafe, gas guzzling, Explorer plants made more profit than any plant, or company, in the world for at least one year. PBS, Frontline), but building an SUV was something Ol’ Mother Volvo was vehemently against! 

     About 40 Volvo Vikings participated in the Orange County Volvo Club (OCVC, a.k.a. OCVSA) sponsored Tech Session at Bob Workman’s European Auto in January of 2002. Bob and Cindy’s hospitality was as always impeccable. We learned how to properly tune a standard B18 engine, and the importance of leak-down tests in engine diagnostic work. In February it was time for another installment of Del Skoog’s Temecula Valley Wine Tour. Eighteen participants in eleven Volvos visited three wineries, from the small owner operated Santa Margarita Winery, the medium sized Miramonte Winery with a view and natural air conditioning, to the ostentatious Churon Winery and hotel, still under construction. The SDVSA had no scheduled event for March, but instead encouraged all members to support the OCVC’s 4th Birthday Party celebration at Swedish Speed in Perris, CA. There were 18 Volvos attending, but only one from San Diego. (As an aside, March 28 was also when Irv Gordon crossed the 2 million mile mark on his 1966 1800S in New York City at a Volvo 75 year anniversary party!) We had a few more participants from San Diego on Mark Jankowski’s (North) East County Tour in April. Bypassing Julian, Mark and Diane instead set the course along State Hwy 79, past Lake Henshaw, to Warner Springs glider port, and eventually to the quaint little town of Sunshine Summit and the outstanding La Cocina Mexican restaurant. Also in April, some of our members also took on Thunderhill Raceway during the VCOA West Coast meet in Davis, CA. May set the tone for dismal participation by the San Diego based members of the SDVSA for the next several months. At the 37th Annual Fallbrook Vintage Car Show, our May event, Brad Benson was the only member of SDVSA who showed his Volvo -- and he lives in Moreno Valley! And at the San Diego Auto Museum Car Club Council car show in Balboa Park, the SDVSA only managed to display two classic Volvos. In June, at the 10th Annual Menghini Wine Tour and Horseshoe Tournament, although we amassed 13 cars, but 2/3 were from the ever-loyal OCVC. In spite of Bud Hartwell’s best efforts, July’s SDVSA Annual Swap Meet at Crown Point in Mission Bay, only attracted a dozen participants, most of those again from points north of the San Diego County line. Bud fared little better in attracting local SDVSA’s participation in the “Back to the ’50s” car show in La Mesa in August. Only three of our SDVSA Volvos were there. The National VSA West Coast meet was held in Solvang in September, and because Solvang is in relative close proximity to San Diego, we did not schedule an event for September. The excitement of vintage car racing was what finally stirred members of the creaky old SDVSA into action. We actually managed to collect seven SDVSA Volvos and 11 members at the Dodge Speed Festival at NAS on Coronado -- without any help from the OCVC this time! Wow!! November’s special event, ”Return to Santa Margarita and more…” was another real winner planned by Del Skoog, but the attendance again dropped way below what this well planned and interesting event deserved. Even our SDVSA traditional Holiday Party, with barely over 20 participants this year, is a far cry from the 30 to 40 people we used to have -- and that was before the new influx of participants from the OCVC. 

     If you detect a note of disappointment in local member participation in SDVSA and other Volvo Club events during 2002, you are right. The only conclusion we can come to for the lack of interest in the activities of the club is the ”been there, done that” syndrome. Please, tell us know what would bring YOU out to participate in YOUR Volvo club activities! So far we’ve always tried to plan events that require minimum commitment by our members – no money up front, no required number of participants, etc. The problem is that it’s very hard to provide motivation for a club member to spend time and effort on organizing events when participation is uncertain. (I have been at designated meeting places a few times in past years when nobody showed up!) In the hope of attracting more members to join in SDVSA activities, we decided to schedule events only every other month through 2003. But we still need more help from you if you agree or disagree with this new policy, and what type of fewer, but better, events to plan.

     In spite of my slight frustration, I would personally like to thank all of our SDVSA members, active in club functions or not, for their continued support of the club. Without you, we would have no means to exchange much needed information on keeping our vintage cars on the road. We all share, I’m sure, in our appreciation for the officers (named in ”the box” on page 3), who sacrifice a lot of their personal time to keep the SDVSA going. As editor of 1800 NEWS, I want to especially thank each contributor to the newsletter, in order of the appearance of their articles, in 2002; Russ Orrell, Gail Mangano, Keith Soreng, Dave Barton, Mark Jankowski, Sven Olafsrorsson/Gene Bellegarde, Ted Brough, Dave Hunt (aside from his monthly OCVC newsletter), Richard Pattee, Randy Blum, and, of course, our publisher, Jeff Perry, whose ability to fill each issue with original writing and photos as well as Volvo trivia from his ever growing collection, is positively uncanny!