MG Car Club, Central Jersey Centre

News

Minutes		Presidential Thoughts		Other Events
The February 24, 2026 meeting of the MGCCCJC was called to order at 7:00 pm by President Butch O’Connor at the Morris Plains Community Center. There were 18 in attendance. Rob Alper gave his treasurer’s report which was accepted. Minutes from last months meeting were accepted as posted in the newsletter without any additions or corrections. New Business There will be a Britfest zoom meeting coming up next month. Let Charlie or Rob know if you would like an invitation to join in. Butch announced there would be an upcoming board zoom meeting. The club is still in need of a newsletter editor. Rob said he had templates to help. Rob has reserved the Brundage Park pavilion for our June 13 picnic. Paul Flexner will check on the Morris Plains pavilion for our September Oktoberfest. Britfest is scheduled for the Sunday of Columbus Day weekend with Monday as a rain date. Loretta Viglione will once again plan our Holiday dinner for December. Dick Bettle announced the AACA has extended an invitation to join them at the Hunterdon Hill Playhouse for a dinner and show. Contact Dick for more information. Saturday, September 12 the AACA and Ford club will be hosting at the Tinticum Polo Park and extended an invitation to join them. Contact Dick for more information. Butch again reminded members that all board positions will be up this fall and need to be filled. Contact him if you would be willing to step up and help out. Cake and cookies were served to celebrate member Samantha Orin who will be leaving for boot camp next month. She was presented with a goodie bag of a few items to help transition into military life. Vinny Viglione presented her dad Ed with a parents pin. Good Luck Sam!! Meeting adjourned at 8:00pm. Respectfully submitted Linda Wagoner, Secretary Respectfully submitted Linda Wagoner Recording Secretary Sam cutting her cake		February 2026 Happy 2026! I hope everyone is staying warm these days. I don’t think the temperature has been above freezing since Christmas here in Sparta. Added to that are a couple of snowstorms which dumped 24 inches of the white stuff on us in a little more than a week. Think Spring. It’s Groundhog Day as I write this and I think Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, which is not a good sign. In any event, we should all be working on our Winter projects to get our MGs and related LBCs ready for when it’s safe to venture outside. Many of our members said farewell to our long-time member Karl Marx, who passed away last month. Karl was our steady hand who guided the Club and many of its officers over the years, including me, in the right direction. He will be missed. Our meeting last week followed Karl’s service and was pretty well attended given the bitter cold weather. It gave us an opportunity to welcome our newest member, Dan Carlson, to the Club. With the help of Dave Collier, Dan found and purchased a very nice red 1967 MGB and I’m certain he is looking forward to some nice drives once the weather warms up. Chris and Dick (Bobbie?) brought home-made cookies for all to enjoy, and the membership made very short work of them! Thanks!! The Board will be meeting via Zoom shortly to plan activities for the year, so if you have an idea, please reach out to me or any member of the Board. As mentioned in my last column, I have a long list of projects to accomplish before the racing season begins in early May. The major one was figuring out how to fix the front sway bar mount on the MGB. The right front sway bar mount had ripped completely out of the mounting points. As the front suspension was overdue for rebuild, I decided to do that as well. Well, I was able to rebuild the suspension and figure out a way to address the sway bar mount, so the MGB will be ready for the mid-May Jefferson 500 event in West Virginia. Our February meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 24 at 7:00 pm. This will be a farewell to Sam (Samantha) Orna, who will be reporting for duty in the Air Force in March. Please join us to give her a proper sendoff. Until next time. Safety Fast! Butch   Safety Fast! Butch