MAY/JUNE 2014, VOL 39/NO 5

Winter has finally broken its grip on us; well, at least we hope it has by the time you read this. Of course, it didn’t happen before we had a broken pipe in our garage that led into the water meter. We received word about it and found out it had broken about a week prior to being discovered. It was in the garage under our home and that garage houses our 1959 MGA coupe; so needless to say, Bill wanted his garage man there when the insurance adjustor went in to make sure there was no damage to either the coupe or his truck. Fortunately, there was only minor damage and nothing to the vehicles. So you know that we are glad that winter will be gone by the time we return; just hope to get water restored to the home before we arrive.

In March the Board had its annual meeting and one of the concerns we had was the Chapter GT Attendance Award. That is because very few of our Chapters have a real chance of winning this award, as most of them are not strictly MGA only owners. So in order to try to level the playing field a bit more, the Board has decided to change the name to the Chapter Recognition Award and will use the ratio of the number of each Chapter’s GT registrations compared to the number of Chapter members. In order to obtain that ratio, each Chapter that wishes to be eligible for the award (two free one year NAMGAR memberships) must have reported the number of members annually to the Chapter Coordinators by one month prior to the annual GT. How does your club or Chapter count members? Most probably count the number of renewals or new memberships by family units (one for each household). So bring along some of your club or chapter members to the GT, even if they are not NAMGAR members. You know if they come once they will want to join this crazy, happy family! We are counting registrations and not cars; so be sure to attend the GT even if you are coming without bringing a car for the car show. For GT-39, we’ll need those chapter membership numbers by June 15th this year; send in your chapter name and number of members to chapters@namgar.com.

Let’s pretend that your Chapter doesn’t wish to compete for the Chapter Recognition Award; NAMGAR still needs those membership numbers in order to provide insurance coverage for your Chapter. This is for both the events policy and the officers and directors liability coverage that NAMGAR is providing for each of its Chapters annually at zero cost. We need those numbers to provide the best coverage for all. So please, help us out with this.

Did your club or Chapter do something special for “Drive Your MGA Day?” Be sure to send in some pictures along with some info to our editor at editor@namgar.com. Folks enjoy seeing what others have done. It always gives them an idea for their club or just an outing with some friends.

This July we will be heading to Ottawa, Canada for GT-39 and are looking forward to having a great time there! Be sure to check out the most recent articles on the NAMGAR website along with visiting the GT39 website for all the latest news. Our host, the Ottawa MG Club, has put together a wonderful event. Hope to see you there!

September brings two NAMGAR Regionals for us to attend; one in Watkins Glen, NY and the other in Dillard, GA. “NAMGAR at the Glen 2014” runs from September 3rd to September 7th and will encompass both the Grand Prix Festival of Watkins Glen and the Glenora Wine Cellars U. S. Vintage Grand Prix. Come join us as we celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Collier Brothers Memorial Trophy Race along with exploring the area with a visit to Corning Glass, Heron Hill Winery, and the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum. You’ll find the schedule of events and registration form both in this issue of MGA! and on our website, www.namgar.com.

Later in the month, the Peachtree MG Registry will be hosting a NAMGAR Regional from September 18th to September 21st in Dillard, GA and that will include the “Southeast British Car Festival.” This is the first time that this NAMGAR Chapter will have the opportunity to provide some Southern hospitality to fellow NAMGAR members and they are really excited about this. You’ll find an article and registration form both in this issue and on our website. I’m sorry I’m going to miss this one as Tim and Theresa Gaffney are sure to show those that attend a fabulous time! In closing, I’ll remind those Chapters in the Midwest and Western U. S. to put on their thinking caps and come up with a Regional for fellow NAMGAR members to attend in the next few years. Let’s hope they do!