As many of you already know and for those who don’t, our former President Larry Carlson, has moved to Indiana. He will still be involved with the club and will still be writing his Mr. Toad column. Unfortunately, his new location makes his commute to the monthly meetings difficult, so he can no longer fulfill his presidential duties. I, Jennifer Smith, as Vice-President and next in line of succession have become President. I am also happy to announce that Doug Clark has accepted the position of Vice-President. I hope to carry on Larry’s enthusiasm as President, and encourage garage visits. It’s a great way to meet and socialize with fellow members and learn about our cars. If you are interested in hosting a garage visit, please let us know. You can contact Doug or me.
The year, so far, for the VMGCC, has been one of change and adventure. Not only did we have a change of President and Vice-President, we also inherited two MG TDs from John Fee, who was terminally ill, and his wishes were for the cars to go to our club rather than to a junk yard. Jim Evans of Auto Appraisal Group, Inc. appraised both of the cars; the cars were sold, and now have new homes. Hopefully, the new owners will have these cars restored and back on the road soon so they can once again be enjoyed as John wished.
Information: If you are looking for a show to attend (also a great way to meet potential new members), Hubcap Café has a calendar list of shows by month. They may not all be for our T-Types, but maybe we can change that – take a look at their website:
http://www.hubcapcafe.com/calendar/illinois.htm#June-2
History of your car: Have you ever wondered about the history of your car? Here’s some information that may be helpful in tracing your car’s history. You can try writing to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles for the state you are interested in. Ask them for all the public information available. In my case, it was the State of California, Department of Motor Vehicles, P.O. Box 944247 Mail Station G199, Sacramento, CA 94244-2470. Provide them with the vehicle identification number, make, year, and body style. You may be able to track down the previous owners, and even previous accidents the car was in, but beware that most states only keep data so many years back. This was the case with my 1948 MG TC. They stated that “The information you requested is out of the department’s retention period (too old) – no longer in our database.” Tell us of your own experience. You may have some luck and breakthroughs in researching your car’s history.