Newsletter - The Car Nut

AJS
Newsletter
Vol. XXXI, num. 1
www.atlantajaguarsociety.org
Rough Year In Automotive!
By Alan Talbott, President
I’m always astonished that in a very bad
market that anything gets sold or anyone has the
money to buy anything particularly cars. So, you
may find, as I did, that the numbers while poor
not everyone is suffering. GM is still the largest
manufacturer with 2,084,492 cars sold in ’09.
That’s a 30% drop from ’08. Toyota is second
with 1,770,149 and a 20.2% decrease from ’08.
Ford was a close third at 1,682,323 with a 15.3%
decrease. Honda was fourth at 1,150,764 a 19%
decrease.
Chrysler sold 931,402 with a
whopping 36% decrease. Hyundai, Kia and
Subaru were all up. Nissan, including Infiniti,
dropped 19% to 770,103 and were overtaken in
sales by Hyundai. The good news was from
Jaguar/Land Rover, which between the two
divisions gained a huge 65% increase to 38,261
in annual sales (all numbers are for the US
market only). However, for the month of
December by itself most manufacturers saw
increases from ’08 so perhaps they will all
rebound this year.
AJS, however, bucked the trend as usual and
had a great year. Kim Daly and her crew
provided a variety of interesting events coupled
with the speakers at the meetings (mostly AJS
members) have been
terrific
in
building
attendance at the meetings
and
events.
The
November meeting was
no exception. After electing a slate of officers
for 2010 (basically a redo of the ’09 slate) June
Mindrup regaled us with stories from her
childhood and into her long career in the banking
industry. They say fact is stranger than fiction
January, 2010
and June’s facts you couldn’t make up. Each
story turned into a novella that could be
published. Laughing is an expression well used
in this club and June kept us smiling all evening
on a rainy night in Georgia. Great job June!
More smiles at the Christmas party at the
Country Club of Rowell, which came less than a
week from the monthly meeting. Dinner as
always was superb. Our DJ, Mark Sutherland,
kept us in background music during dinner and
notched it up during the dancing. We had a
gracious amount of excellent raffle prizes to
hand out complements of our vendors and
members like Claude Wills and Fran McNair
who contributed items as well.
Judy
Scarborough did the table decorations, which
were gorgeous.
Fran McNair won the
Outstanding Member Award, something that was
long over looked and overdue.
And I hate to say it but Vinnie Lauria did an
outstanding job with the Toast to the Queen.
Even though he managed to keep everyone in
stitches during the Toast, I will get even
eventually for the disparaging remarks made
about yours truly during his letter from the
Queen, which everyone seemed to find funny as
well. People indicated this may have been our
best party ever and that would be hard to argue
as you can tell from the pictures in the
newsletter. Great time!
Our January monthly meeting will be at
Aldo’s in Sandy Springs on the 25th. Long time
AJS member Erlinda McCabe will be our
speaker this month so come join us for her
stories, good conversation and those smiles we
discussed above. Please RSVP to Beverlee Leo
at 770-949-6775 or email fredleo@comcast.net.
June’s Corner
Member News
By June Mindrup, Health & Hospitality Director
Steve Unti was guest speaker for the AT&T
Pioneer Graduation Ceremony at the Training
Conference of the newly elected officers of
2010. The luncheon ceremony took place at the
Renaissance Waverly Hotel, Cobb Galleria Mall
on November 14th.
Fran McNair along with six other AT&T
Pioneer Officers was invited to the State Capitol
for a Proclamation Signing Ceremony with
Governor Perdue commemorating the many
volunteer hours served in their communities.
Sad news from Beverly Hicks saying her
Aunt's son (Mike) passed away suddenly January
4th. He was 51 years old, very athletic and lived
in the Denver, Colorado area. Our sympathy
goes out to all the family.
Donna Goman went to Elberton, Georgia to
conduct service at the Middleton United
Methodist Church on December 27th; then on
January 17th, she'll be at Woodlawn Methodist
Church, also in Elberton.
Charles Goman was in Las Vegas, Nevada
on December 4th through the 6th attending the
Board Meeting of the American Motorcyclist
Association. Also he will attend the Hall of
Fame celebrations including two dinners.
The Hart's have been on the "go"! They
returned from an 8 day cruise in the Eastern
Caribbean but...before that, they went to Hilton
Head with friends Carolyn and Marvin Sykes to
attend the Concours. And Don and Marlene
have just returned from a 3 week stay in their
Miami, Florida condo.
Bob and Kim Daly spent some time in
Birmingham, Alabama celebrating with family
for the Thanksgiving Holidays.
To celebrate Alan Talbott's birthday, Dabney
went with him to hear and see "Fleetwood Mac".
This was a "big deal" to him (according to
Dabney.)
Slow that kitty down!! Lew George says
watch out when traveling through Montgomery
Alabama! Speed limit signs go from 70 mph to
45 mph instantly (and vice-versa). He got his
first ever speeding ticket there! Appropriately in
a Jaguar of course.
Activities
Kim Daly, Activities Director
Happy New Year to You! I hope you are all
recovered from the holidays and ready to start
having fun with your fellow AJS members.
Your activities committee is in the planning
process for the 2010 fun and games. We are
asking all of you to put on your thinking caps to
come up with some new ideas about what you
would like to see the club do this year. I am
hoping we will have a few volunteers to plan
something a little different. For example, The
Blackfords are already working on a day trip to
Serenbe and Lew George has suggested a day
trip to the Kangaroo Conservation Center in
Dawsonville.
We, of course, will have our annual
activities…Saint Patrick’s Day parade, visit to
the High Museum of Art (The Allure of the
Automobile), Martinis and Imax at the Fernbank,
lake and/or pool party, British Car Day, day
driving trip(s) and, possibly, an overnight driving
trip, Christmas party, tech sessions, Walter Mitty
Historic Car Races, Amelia Island Concours,
Eurofest, AJS Concours d’Elegance, etc. As this
is a car club, it would be nice to have more
automobile related activities as well as a few
cultural or just plain fun activities and parties. I
will have a report for you at the January meeting
and will take your suggestions at that time.
Personally, I would like to thank Judy
Scarborough and Myrna Ruiz for all of their help
in planning and executing the club’s activities
during the last several years.
I am looking forward to your participation in
our 2010 AJS activities.
Kim Daly
Activities Director
Next monthly meeting
January 25th
Aldo’s Restaurant
Social hour- 6:00 pm, Dinner-7:00 PM
Please RSVP to Beverlee Leo
770-949-6775 or fredleo@comcast.net
Officers & Directors
For 2010
Honorary Chairman:
Alan Talbot
President Elect:
Don Hart
Vice President:
Judy Scarborough
Secretary:
Kenneth Carr
Treasurer:
Fran McNair
Activities Director:
Kim Daly
Newsletter Editor:
Lew George
Membership Director:
Wil Sommer
Health & Hospitality Director: June Mindrup
Technical Director:
Ivan Ruiz
Regalia Directors:
Marlene Hart
Dabney Talbott
Concours Director:
Dick Thyer
AJS Founder:
John Steen
Do these names look familiar? Ed.
2009 Christmas Party
Schedule for 2010
January
Atlanta Jaguar Society
www.atlantajaguarsociety.org
February
March 13th - St. Patrick’s Day Parade
April
May – The Classic Motorsports Mitty
Road Atlanta
- British Motorcar Day, Berry College
June
July
August
September -Atlanta British Car Fayre
October – Concours d’Elegance & Party
- Concours d’Elegance @ Nalley
– Eurofest Spartanburg
November 14 –
December 6th - Christmas Party
Officers & Directors
Honorary Chairman: Alan Talbott
(H)770.621.9854 talbottfurniture@bellsouth.net
(O)770.939.1644
President Elect: Don Hart
770.956.7165
Vice President: Ray Gore
(H)706.864.4903 rgore@alltel.net
2nd Vice President: J.P Summers
(H)770.448.5244 jp.summers@comcast.net
Advertising & Publicity Director Open
Past President: Paul Brower
(H)770.509.6830 pgbrower@mindspring.com
Secretary Kenneth: Carr
(H)404.843.0681 jkennethcarr@yahoo.com
Treasurer: Fran McNair
(H)770.497.9980 fmcnair@bellsouth.net
Activities Director: Kim Daly
770.410.5717 Kimdaly1@comcast.net
Newsletter Editor: Lew George
(H)404.892.6979 lewatl@bellsouth.net
Membership Director: Wil Sommer
(C)404.803.0306
peachtreebrokers@mindspring.com
Health & Hospitality Director: June Mindrup
(H)770.457.1217 jmindrup@bellsouth.net
Technical Director: Ivan Ruiz
770.998.0923 ivan@thecarnut.com
Regalia Directors:
Marlene Hart
770-956-7165 blondething@comcast.net
Dabney Talbott talbottfurniture@bellsouth.net
770-621-9854
Concours Director: Dick Thyer
770.887.1312 dthyer@comcast.net
AJS Founder: John Steen
770.419.9632 jbsteen74@aol.com
The AJS Newsletter is published monthly
except December and is distributed free to all
Society Members.
For email delivery send
request to:
lewatl@bellsouth.net
Submissions for publication should be
supplied to the Newsletter Editor by email or in
other machine readable form by the 25th day
of the month prior to publication. Material is
subject to editorial revision and may express
the sole opinion of the submitter.
Note From The Editor: Send me
good quality scenic pictures of your
Jaguar and it may be a featured car in the
newsletter!
AJS Newsletter Editor
Lew George
220 Renaissance Pkwy.
Unit 1113
Atlanta, GA 30308-2352
WHEN IT HAS TO BE RIGHT,
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New & Select Edition Pre-owned Vehicles
We are proud of our association with the Atlanta Jaguar Society.
“Drive in the Fast Lane” Internet Pre-owned Sale!!
Visit us at www.nalleycars.com
Present this ad for a $500 discount off the new Jaguar XF!
Offer valid through February, 2010
As always, AJS members are entitled to these exclusive benefits:
15% discount on Parts & Accessories! - 15% discount on Labor!
Excludes scheduled maintenance and tires, cannot be combined with other offers or specials.
AJS Member’s Car of the month
Wayne Harris and his beautiful 1976 Jaguar XJS.