March 31 marks the end of the First Quarter of the New Year and the beginning of the JOC Quarterly Newsletter format. First, I would like to hear back from the membership on the NEW LOOK of the Club, the new website headers, EBLASTS, EClubNEWS, improved MEMBER ROSTER format, our new Masthead, and our improved event announcements. We are aware how busy most of you are these days and the BOD decided to take advantage of technology and have it work for us. The benefit is that you get reminded of upcoming events with the EBLASTS, that way you don’t miss-out on some fun stuff, The EClubNEWS is an ongoing club news stream that we are going to expand and include a chat room and Q&A feature to come. By going all electronic, we now can have as many pages to the newsletter, add more advertises and services, expand our CAR FOR SALE and LOOKING FOR A CAR segments, more colour pictures of events, more articles on maintenance and restoration, and post interesting historical articles about the club and Jaguar Land Rover goings on. You can now go to our advertisers LINKS by clicking on their logos.
Our first event of the year was the “MEET THE BOARD” at the Whale and Ale, British Ale House in San Pedro, 40+ members attended of which at least 50% were new members, we all feasted on FISH ‘n Chip’s, Prime Rib Sandwich, Pasta, and Shepard’s Pie, washed it down with Newcastle Ale and Guinness Stout. By the sound of the crowd everyone was having a “jolly good time”, some members contributed ideas on future events and volunteered to help on up coming events. The parking lot was a wide selection of Jags, XK’s to F-Types and everything in-between, Sedans, roadsters, coupes, and SUV’s. The second event was the K1 SPEED GO-CART Event, unfortunately we didn’t get enough sign-ups in time to meet the minimum group rate and had to cancel, though some of us went to Golden Cove Cars ‘n Coffee instead, that was fun, every third Sunday of the Month on the south end of Palos Verdes Drive South and Hawthorne Blvd. All British cars, great bunch of guys and gals, lots of nice British cars too! The third event was the “GO GREEN” RALLY on St. Patrick’s Day organized by Ralph Gidwitz our 1st VP. Ralph had us start from the Pacific Palisades Village just developed by Rick Caruso, fabulous place, great shopping.
The event was a Time Distance Speed Rally through the hills of Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills, Hollywood and into Downtown Los Angeles. The Rally ended at one of LA’s Historic Landmarks, Philippe’s French Dip Restaurant where many a Jag event has ended in the past. 17 cars and 38 people feasted on their famous French Dip Beef Sandwiches or lamb dip or pork dip. I got the lamb dip with their killer potato salad and 2 pickled eggs, wonderful, been going to this place since my high school days in the ‘60’s. By the way, they have a small Pacific Electric Trolley Museum in the restaurant which is very complete with scale models, old train schedules, advertising, etc. worth the visit. Ralph and Karen Gidwitz did a terrific job putting on the rally, the instructions were clear, and the route was beautiful, well done Kids! Our next event is the JCNA CONCOURS JUDGES SCHOOL in Long Beach APRIL 13, look for the EBLAST with details and location direction, the ANNUAL JCNA CONCOURS will be held at the MUCKENTHALER ARTS CENTER IN FULLERTON on MAY 19, our Chief Judge Charlie Hallums will be sending out the entry forms for the Champion, Driven, Specialty and Display classes shortly. Well, the club has started out on the right foot and things are going great, membership is up, and event participation is growing again. So, let’s see more of you out there and enjoying your cars, we are planning more driving events this year and more social events too! See you soon! Cheers, Mark Mayuga, President