President’s Message October, 2014 Hello all Corvette friends and club members, I'm running out of things to put in the President's letter as the season is running down, but here goes. Our one day color tour (or blur, as it used to be called) is coming up. Check the newsletter for date, time and location. Thanks in advance to the Amante's for putting this on. The SAE event was a great event. We had 18 cars in attendance. Great showing and some very good information regarding the 2014 Corvette put on by General Motors. (club received an Award). Just some info received regarding the 2015 Corvette. In the "Valet Mode" it is possible to record passenger conversation within the car. It is illegal in Michigan and maybe other States. Just a funny note. More info at the meeting. Shorts party coming up on Nov. 21st and Christmas Party on Nov. 29th. And last but not least, BOARD POSITIONS. Nomination committee is in force. Looking for people to step up and help. I know that I have brought this up previously, but this is what makes this club operate. WE NEED YOUR HELP. Hope to see you at the October Meeting at Kool Chevrolet. Keep the plastic on the road as long as posible. Your President, Gordon Wilcox BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Gordon Wilcox 5989 Terrace Park Drive Rockford MI 49341 (616) 299-1013 topgun4@charter.net VP of Competition Bob Faar 4707 Rock Valley Dr. N.E. Grand Rapids, MI 49525 231-388-0089. rfarr57@yahoo.com VP of Membership: Todd Tamminga 2625 Cedar Grove South Jenison, MI 49428 (616) 669-8718 todster2@aol.com Treasurer Karen Young 3750 Hilton Ave SE Lowell MI 49331-9527 (616) 868-6900 karyou47@gmail.com Newsletter Editor & Webmaster Paula Down 7455 Decosta Drive NE Rockford, Mi 49341-8572 (616) 874-7432 corvettegal@chartermi.net Secretary Char Gabbert 7604 Noffke Drive Governor Jeff Janus 6650 Twin Springs Ct. Rockford, MI 49341 (616) 560-5200 jjcpj@aol.com Caledonia M I 49316-8828 (616) 891-5867 rcgabbert@att.net Kool Chevrolet Club Sponsor David Bailey 3770 Plainfield NE Grand Rapids, MI 49525 Phone 616-364-9431 Grand Valley Corvette Club September 11, 2014 General membership meeting. Board Members present: Gordy Wilcox, Pres., Todd Tamminga, Membership, Char Gabbert, Secretary The meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM Secretary Report: Motion and 2nd to accept minutes from August as written in news letter. Treasurer Report: No report Membership: Membership dues will be sent out soon and are due by November Competition: No report Governor: No report Old Business: Three Cruises/car shows from mid August to the end were, the Woodward Cruise, Metro Cruise and Mackinaw Crossroads. We had members and friends attend. Though everyone had a good time it was reported that in general, attendance was down a little. The weather held up really good which is all you can ask for in Michigan. The Gilmore car show was Sept 7. Some members/friends attended and stated it was a good event. Another mention of the Christmas party, November 29. Meat will be provided and members will bring a dish to pass. 2 New Business: We have 3 Board positions open, Gordy asked for a few people willing to find people to run for the offices of, Membership, Competition and Treasurer. Karen would like to turn over the Tres. Before she goes South for the winter. As I understand, we have a small committee to find those interested in one of the offices available. The color tour will be a one day event this year on Saturday October 11, 2014. This will be put on by Pam and Mark Amante. More details at next meeting. We will meet and leave at 11AM. Gordy told us about West Michigan Auto Engineers Corvette show. It is coming to GR Sept. 23, at 730 Plymouth Ave. NE. It is free to our club. They want our club to park in front. It will begin at 6 PM. Free food and drinks (non alcohol), and time to look at the cars. At 7 PM there will be a video about Corvettes and the latest developments, etc. We would like a good showing. If you plan on going, Gordy needs your names ASAP and at least by Sept 18. Friday November 21 Char and Denny Link will sponsor a shorts party, details to come. Swap and Sell: a 1987 Medium blue coupe. If interested get details from Todd. The next meeting will be October 9, 2014 at Kool Chevrolet. The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 PM Respectfully Submitted, Char Gabbert, Secretary 3 CALENDAR OF EVENTS OCTOBER 9 GVCA Membership Meeting— Kool Chevrolet Dealership—7 p.m. 11 Color Tour, Amante’s– see info in newsletter NOVEMEBER 13 GVCA Membership Meeting— Kool Chevrolet Dealership—7 p.m. 21 Shorts Party—Beer 30—7 p.m. - see invite in newsletter. 29 Christmas Party— Rockford Log Cabin DECEMBER 11 GVCA Membership Meeting— Kool Chevrolet Dealership—7 p.m. All bold items are GVCA sponsored events Michigan Region of NCCC Corvette Clubs Home Page and Link to Calendar http://www.michcorvette.org/index.html Cards and get well wishes or expressions of sympathy, please contact Jan Czerney at (tjbaar@comcast.net) Cathy and I want to thank everyone for their prayers and cards on the death of my son and her brother? Your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated. Joanne & Cathy 4 5 Our fall FTL/Color tour trip is going to have to be on Sat., 10/11/14 instead of on Sunday the 12th. We will meet @ 11:00AM at the Metro Health Center parking lot located @ 4200 Divison Ave. N.E., which is located off West River Rd. between McDonald's &Speedway gas station, near Comstock Pk. . Thank You!! Marc Amante 6 7 GM issues stop sales for two Corvette defects Washington — General Motors Co. told its dealers to halt sales of about 2,800 new Chevrolet Corvettes for possible defects. In recent months, GM has issued similar stop sales before issuing new recalls. GM spokesman Alan Adler declined to confirm the Detroit automaker planned to recall the vehicles, but said very few of the 2,800 vehicles are in customer hands. Adler said GM told Chevrolet dealers to stop delivery of about 2,000 2015 Corvettes to fix the driver’s airbag. GM also has temporarily stopped shipment of the cars from its assembly plant in Bowling Green, Ky. "The cars are being inspected for a suspect part that attaches the air bag to the steering wheel. Separately, another 800 Corvettes — most of them at dealerships — are on hold because they may have been built with only one of the rear parking brake cables fully seated and engaged. The part must be inspected to assure the parking brake is operating on both brake drums," Adler said. GM has recalled a record 29.1 million vehicles in 65 recall campaigns for vehicles built by its North American unit this year. The company paid a record setting $35 million fine in May for its delay by nearly a decade of a recall for 2.6 million older cars for ignition switch problems linked to 13 deaths and 54 crashes. It is under investigation by the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, 45 state attorneys general and Canadian auto safety regulators. Congress has held four hearings and GM agreed to intensive monitoring of its safety efforts by NHTSA. The automaker has added dozens of safety engineers and revamped how it approaches recalls. GM CEO Mary Barra fired 15 employees — including a company vice president — after an internal report found a pattern of "incompetence and neglect" led to the delayed ignition switch recall. GM has recalled more than 10 million vehicles this year for ignition issues. It also faces more than 100 lawsuits. GM has issued at least one other recall that has not been made public in the United States. From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140912/AUTO0103/309120067#ixzz3Daeijzur 8 Kool Chevrolet has just received a 2015 Corvette Stingray Z51 Coupe for stock in Laguna Blue with the Jet Black trim. It is a 2LT 8 Speed automatic with the Z51 Performance package. Thanks, Dave Bailey Kool Chevrolet 9