Due to bad weather, the club’s scheduled lunch meeting on the back patio of the Old Susana Café in Simi Valley, was changed to a 3 pm indoor meeting at Denny’s in Northridge.

About 12 members braved the rain and intermittent bouts of mini hail to attend. Nobody drove a Studebaker, though Ernie Bailey drove his 1955 Dodge, which was a treat to see, even if it wasn’t a Studebaker.

Jim Ober started the business of the meeting with a statement that the status of the club’s finances was unchanged from the previous month.

Howard Brown then read the minutes from the previous month because secretary Bob Anderson was not present.

Howard introduced new member Joe Bock, and the not-new (but rarely seen) Glen Morgan to the group.

Future events discussed included a March 11 replacement for our rained out visit to the Commemorative Air Force museum in Camarillo, and our April 23 Classic Studebaker Car Show.

An impromptu discussion of collector car insurance and companies, happened among members at the table.

New business included a proposal to charge a deposit for end of the year party RSVP’s. Because the club pays for the meal, we get charged for all the people who say they are coming. At the 2022 event, four people said they would come, but did not. The club treasury ended up paying for four lunches more than needed. The concept is to charge all members for their meals, with those who attend, getting their money refunded, and those who do not, forfeiting that deposit, so the club only pays for the meals eaten. The club treasury would then no longer be out for the no-shows. The members who do not attend would be.

In member car status reports:

Jim Ober reported that his Wagonaire continued to have transmission problems, even after several professional attempts at repair. He said he was frustrated enough to do a whole engine/transmission swap on the car (to be sure that there was no problem in the engine/trans mating). 

Andy Wiegert said he was taking classes. In those classes he found a fellow student to help him work on that car’s R2 engine. Andy mentioned that the car was spitting fuel out of its air filter. Howard added some observations about the R2, that were different on the R3.Those changes had to do with carburetor pressurization.

Vince Mack reported on "mushrooming" his steering column in an attempt to remove its wheel. He said that he will be trying an axle repair kit to restore it. He also reported on mischievous squirrels dropping oranges on it, requiring him to place foam pads under its car cover, to avoid fruit bomb damage.

Howard Brown said that he was successfully gathering parts for the rein-car-nation of his 1958 Packard Hawk and that his trip to rescue two parts cars (photos and article about that in the February newsletter) included delivery of parts for the Packard and a door for a Lark that is sitting in Richard Marks’ driveway. He also reported fuel line precautions he is taking, to prevent old, previously dried gunk, being washed into another car’s carburetor.

Howard also reported on the cars he knew about, that belonged to members who were not present.

Those included Dennis O’Brien’s 1952 Commander (in pieces), and Steve Hedke’s new canvas top and side curtains on his 1915 (article and pictures in our February newsletter). 

The meeting adjourned with plenty of daylight left for everyone to make it safely home in the rain.