2010
Sturbridge, Massachusetts

MINUTES

Toronado and Aurora Chapter Annual Meeting 2010

The annual meeting of the General Membership of the Toronado and Aurora Chapter of the Oldsmobile Club of America was held on Thursday, July 22, 2010, in conjunction with the 2010 OCA National Meet at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Conference Center, Sturbridge, MA.

The Meeting convened at 4:05 PM in the Cheshire Room of the Hotel. To allow some time for any attendees to return from the day’s Boston tour, we started the meeting with individuals informally introducing themselves. After these introductions, a semi-formal meeting commenced.

A welcome letter from the Chapter’s founder and Past President, Ralph Braun, was read. His words of wisdom include his wishes for continued support of OCA and our Chapter, as well as preservation of our special Oldsmobile models, the Toronado, Trofeo, and Aurora.

The Minutes of the 2009 Meeting were read, with no additions or corrections.

The Treasurer’s Report reveals a June 30 balance of $1,924.24. Some cash flow analysis reveals apparent solvency at the current 150 membership level, with membership fees slightly exceeding the primary expense of printing and mailing the “Toronado and Aurora Times” newsletter. At this point, there was some discussion regarding the possibility and acceptance of e-mailing the newsletter as a means of cost reduction, or adding an extra charge for postage for hard copies.

A letter from Trent Plungas, Editor and Membership Manager, was read, with various comments especially regarding the newsletter, including solicitation of feedback. In particular, he requests material for the newsletter from the membership, be it technical, owner’s stories, classified ads, whatever. Presently, if Toro / Aurora material is lacking, he takes the liberty of including current GM news items or historical GM / Olds material that he assumes might be of general interest; the membership seemed okay with this. Trent apologized for not attending this year’s meeting, but “it’s about as far from Southern California as is possible and still be in the USA.” He hopes to make it to Reno.

The meeting then became less structured, with various discussions. To possibly increase membership, and with consideration to the shared drive trains, it was suggested that the Chapter might consider adding the other GM FWD marques and GMC Motorhomes.

There was some discussion as to the Chapter obtaining 501C Non-Profit status. Not only would this simplify the interest earned on money in the bank, but a larger benefit might be the ability to successfully solicit donations to a non-profit organization.

To add some interest to our meetings, it was suggested that a speaker might be added to the agenda. Ideas included David North, design engineer for the Toronado, Darwin Clark from the AACA Museum, or Steve Moskowitz, AACA Director.

There were a few other miscellaneous discussions, including: Diamondback Tires of Canada will make reproduction TFD tires; reproduction window stickers are possibly available from Mark Corea; Toro interiors have variability over the years, but there are limits; etc.

At the end of all the sharing and discussion, the meeting adjourned at 5:23 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Paul Andreas, Secretary - Treasurer