There was a delay in opening the meeting but our immediate past president Jennifer Smith walked through the door and was promptly appointed president pro tem for the evening. Jennifer called the meeting to order at 8:10 p.m. The minutes of the November meeting were corrected by our Librarian Ric Maitzen to read that the book "The Red Car," noted in a recent Peter Egan “Side glances” piece in Road & Track, was and has been in our library as opposed to "is now in our library" as the minutes stated. On a voice vote, the minutes were accepted as corrected. In our haste to get the business portion of the meeting over with as soon as possible, and since the club's Secretary position is still open, there were no official minutes taken. So I started to scribble some notes so that we would have a record of the December meeting.

A Financial Report was circulated by Treasurer Ric Maitzen and approved by the members present.

Old Business
Ric Maitzen offered the club's thanks to Bill and Scotty Cole for hosting the Guy Fawkes party last October. All in attendance had a great time roasting that rascal once again.

Reinout Vogt reported that there were 81 attendees at the combined Holiday Party with the Chicagoland MG Car Club. The VMGCC was represented by 15 members, some of whom are members of both clubs. It was reported that the Abingdon Players and Singing Magnettes were fantastic. A round of applause was forthcoming in appreciation of the party organizers, and compliments went to Diana and Oscar Gonzales for organizing the VMGCC participation.

Don Ross donated a copy of the TC Instruction Manual for inclusion in our library. Don acquired it with the hope of adding a TC to his garage some day. That day has never come.

Rick Rausch surprised us with the presentation of the 2007 club Tourist Trophy. This award is normally presented at our Members' Dinner (or Founders' Dinner, or whatever we call it now), except we didn't have one this year. Since this was our last meeting of 2008, Rick thought it appropriate to present it now. The runner up was Rick himself with 54 miles. That's right: 54 miles because no one else turned in any miles. The top traveler for 2007 was Jerry Risner in his TF1500 with 2,765

miles. Rick asks that we get our driving miles for the 2008 year to him before the Member's Dinner and to remember that miles on the back of a tow truck do not count. Email your miles to RWRauschJr@aol.com

Bob Hanselman reported that the Thanksgiving day Cruise to the Rock was well attended. The Ferrari club had about 25 cars, four or five participants from the Chicagoland MG Car Club and one from the VMGCC. Frank Diaz pointed out that former member Bill Witt recreated the celebrated First Automobile Race as a tour for the club in 1976. Perhaps we can do it again.

New Business
Glenn Grossklags stated that the free publication "Gear Head" has the CMGCC listed but not the VMGCC. We should try to get the VMGCC listed.

Greg Hoeft read a letter from former president Larry Carlson stating that he has joined the Michiana Brits British Car Enthusiasts club and as a perk receives the British Marque Car Club News publication. We noted that the CMGCC is listed as a Participating Club but not the VMGCC. Reinout Volk said he didn't know anything about the CMGCC's participation and, as CMGCC treasurer, he would know if the CMGCC were a Participating Club.

Carl Vogel suggested that we use e-mail communication to a greater extent. Jerry Risner wanted to know what e-mail is. I guess we won't use e-mail exclusively.

Ric Maitzen reported that the Chicagoland MG Car Club Swap Meet is February 22. He asked if we should reserve one or two tables. No decision was made. (Ed Note: a round of e-mail communication after the meeting resulted in a decision that we will reserve two tables, one for club promotion and one for selling the remaining inventory of parts.) Staffing of the tables will be discussed at the January meeting.

Brian Donnelly (a VMGCC Charter Member) stated that his '53 TD is being restored after a long rest. He has a TD body tub and a TD frame for sale.

Rick Rausch made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 p.m. We spent the next two hours laughing our tail pipes off watching Phil Jarvis' 8mm productions. For the few of us who hadn't seen them before, these antique gems were absolutely fantastic. Well done, and thanks, Phil, for dusting them off and sharing them once again.

Respectfully submitted,
Greg Hoeft, Member at Large