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A professional photographer has reached out to me to see if he could take a few shots of a members Gen V Viper for an upcoming calendar shoot.

He will come to you, and take some photographs, usually around sunrise or sunset (the magic 15 minutes). He will gladly give you a copy of the calendar or the shots he will use for your personal use.

If anyone would be interested, I will put you in contact with each other. He is based in San Diego, and would perfer somone local to reduce travel.

Paul

Maybe that vette can become something like a tradition at SoCal events. It could be passed along from it's current owner to someone that is deserving, or does something goofy to be presented with it to commemorate the event.

The car was suggested by new SoCal member Guy Chandler (who bought TWO Vipers this year). He bought the model and donated it to the club to generate some fun and conversation at the same time.

Maybe it can even be auctioned off from time to time to raise funds for the club. Kinda like a White Elephant thing.

No matter. The party was a blast.

Great party everybody. Super food, music, people and the Aviara looked great with all the holiday decorations and lights.

Some people I forgot to thank were Paul & Pam Winters. They helped Teresa and I source all those cool Viper Models for the centerpieces. We tried to get a nice assortement of different years so the winners of the centerpieces could swap among themselves. Some wanted the latest Gen V, and others wanted a model of the ones in their garages.

It was also fun to sneak a model of the new Corvette onto one of the tables. Congratulations to Ben for taking home the vette.

This party was a blast. The dance floor was busy all evening, and the ladies as usual, were stunning in their holiday finery.

Merry Christmas to all...and to all a Good Night...

Also had difficulty with the website. Several San Diego guys are going down on the 9th to the Petco Park venue.

Will report back on what to expect.

Pretty excited about this opportunity.

Just changed my reservation from 1-3 in Orange County to the same time in San Diego. This should open up another spot in Orange.

From what I understand these events allow the driving of these cars on a street route. Not a race track or salom course.

\Great chance to see how these new Vipers prowl the streets.

My hat is off to SRT to allow people to experience these newly improved Vipers. Kinda the "warm puppy" approach to marketing and sales.

Want to thank Lance, SoCal VCA, SRT and Motor Village LA for a fantastic event. Made us feel like rock stars.

We were treated like VIP's. After a fun slither through the LA freeways, we arrived at Motor Village LA. This is a fantastic 4 story building stocked to the brim with Chryslers, Fiats, Jeeps and SRT's. We drove up the classic circular (you have seen this in all the movies) ramp up to the 4th floor, where we staged on the roof with an amazing panorama of the city. You could see all the way to the HOLLYWOOD sign on the hill.

Lance got some great group shots and we went down to the amazing Viper Pit. It was full of wall art, a Formula One setting, a full selection of Vipers including SRT, ACR, GTS and even an amazing Viper GT3 in full race livery.

They served us Champaigne, Mimosas, fresh made omelets and the best tasting french toast I have ever experienced.

We got to meet the owner and general manager of the business, and were allowed full access to all the cars in the showrooms. I have never seen so many Fiats in one location. Huge selection.

They shuttled us over to the LA International Auto show, and we were blown away with the new Graphite/carbon silver paint. It is in super limited production, but shows off all the tiniest details of the body work. You see design details that do not show up with regular paint. With the orange stitching and accent pieces, this car is evidently pretty special.

A number of Motor Village employees were staged around the facility to assist us in parking, which elevators went where, and to make sure we were given VIP treatment.

I do not know how Lance continues to set up these special ViperClub events, but this one was really first class.

Thanks again to SRT and Motor Village LA

Last minute correction.

The meeting place for the San Diego group is off the I-5 (not the I-15) freeway. It is the rest area on the Northbound I-5 freeway in the Camp Pendelton area.

Lance hits it right on the head. Most of our members could care less about national politics. The real prize is to keep the SoCal VCA club to together.

Typically you want to stay at the dance with the one that brought you there, however the Northern California club is attempting to entice our membership to leave VCA and come up and join with their new club.

Reminds me a little bit of the current TV show about motorcycle gangs, where the new club comes blazing into town to take over the established clubs territory. Lots of drama typically ensues, but in the end the start up club ends up looking just like the established club with different patches. Also know as different circus...same clowns.

They have made lots of allegations about the VCA that has turned out to be without substance, and that has turned off a lot of people that feel a loyality and allegiance to their long term affiliation with VCA.

Lance is taking a careful look at both options, but no matter how you slice it, the SoCal club will continue to offer their membership a fantastic experience, and the opportunity to join with other Viper enthusiastists to enhance the enjoyment of their cars.

The San Diego group will be meeting up at 8:45 (maybe just a little earlier if it is raining) at the I-15 Camp Pendleton rest area a few miles North of the 78. We will cruise over to meet the main group at the Starbucks in Carson and all go over together in a tremendous show of force : >)

Believe SRT has a pretty cool Viper on display, and it will be great to meet some of the guys responsible for producing our beloved Vipers.

Maybe a Mulholland Drive event, ending up at Universal Studios, or some cool place on the coast for lunch.

That could be a pretty nice event that may even quality for an article in Viper Magazine.

Doc.

There was a power struggle within the VCA Board of Directors. Ralph was dictating how they should run the club and a couple of the Directors was having none of it. (Jon Brobst issue).

3 of the Board members felt left out of the decision and wanted to do what SRT demanded. This split the board and the 3 decided to preform a coup.

They felt that following the directions of Ralph was more important than maintaining the independance of the club.

The Marshals that were performing the internal structural running of the club (magazine, VOI's and VPA, as well as membership and back office functions) were accused by Ralph as being corrupt, and it hit the fan.

The VCA President fell on his sword (some say pushed) and Dan was put in charge of restructuring the VCA in a manner that would be acceptable to a strong relationship with SRT.

A new temporary board was put in place to maintain the club until new elections could be held in January 14.

The new club got some pretty good traction, and Maurice is taking the place of the Marshals in essentially running the club and it's magazine, however I do not believe that any elections are being scheduled, but the people Maurice put into place will get the club off the ground.

The SoCal club is as befuddled as everyone else, and they have decided to form their own Board of Directors, and go it alone until the smoke settles and they determine which club they wish to maintain an alliance with.

They have asked all current and new members to send their dues directly to the club. The SoCal will split out the dues with their treasury keeping that part that would be theirs, and putting the balance into a escrow count to allow them to send it to the club that would best serve their membership.

Seems like everybody thinks this is a pretty good option, as the worst thing that could happen would be for the current members to split up into two different factions.

If you are going to the Auto Show this Sunday, pull me aside and I can give you more details. If not, we can get together at the Christmas Party. (Going to be a fun one)

I think all this will sort itself out, but right now the magic 8 ball is a bit hazy.

Paul & Teresa will be there

What a great back road run. Twisty...Turney...Tree Shaded. Perfect weather and a great turnout.

Nobody knows the best Viper Friendly roads better than Richard.

Lunch at the Oaks was fantastic. Great home cooking, and the chance to relax with some friends, both new and old.

OGO would have been smiling.

Good to see everybody early this morning. Thought Lance was going to pass out from hunger.

Really mellow vibe in Carlsbad today. Everybody was easy going, and checking out everybody elses' rides.

That perfectly detailed Aerial Atom really got everybody's attention. Looked fast, just sitting there.

A friend, that is a member there, just called and let me know the track is now open and running cars.

They are a brand new, members only track that is down the road from Chuckwalla. Both are near Palm Springs. This looks to be a far more friendly Viper Track with a 1/2 mile straightaway!

They are not open currently to the general public, but I have been invited to bring out the Viper to check it out.

I will be gathering more information shortly, but just wanted to raise this awareness.

http://www.thethermalclub.com

Paul