Dedicated to the preservation, restoration,
and enjoyment
of all Cadillac and
LaSalle automobiles and to fellowship among its members.
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE ~ February, 2010 |
 This
is my first “President’s Message” as your new president. Although I’ve
said this several times already, most recently at the banquet on January
30, I feel it is important for me to start out in my first message with
thanks to members for voting for me for the Board, and to the outgoing
Board for installing me as President. The job will be easy because of the
excellent people on the Board with me. See who they are elsewhere in The
Goddess. I much appreciate and depend on Marty Watkins’ help with
the transition – he is always willing to give advice, answer a question,
and pick up the pieces that I drop in my faltering first attempts at
executing the position.
Lorraine and I attended our banquet on January 30at Normandy Farm Hotel and Conference Center in Blue Bell. The VFR is successful because there are so many willing to help out with Club activities, and we took a few minutes at the banquet to thank several of you for your tireless efforts. We had a wonderful time at the banquet, and I feel it is right in this case to single out one of you who worked so hard to make it so – ANDREA JACOBY. Marty Watkins handed me the gavel last evening, but I actually started learning the ropes about a month ago. This gave all of us a chance to witness dynamo Andrea’s hard work and attention to detail that virtually guaranteed the evening would be a success – and it was! Thank you, Andrea! At the banquet, we discussed the difficult times the US auto industry is having. We are all aware of this, and are grateful that our marque has survived – so far. But, who knows what the future will bring? It seems so hard to find any good news – so I’d like to offer something that I think is good news. One of my professional duties is hiring engineers at all levels. I am impressed with the high caliber of graduating engineers, particularly from the fine engineering schools just in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. They are bright, eager, and motivated, and quickly move into positions of responsibility. They are facile with all the latest computer analytical tools, and that multiplies their productivity several fold compared to the slide rule-toting engineer of my day. Excellent, innovative engineering has been the cornerstone of success for GM, and Cadillac. Although not in the automotive industry, I’m encouraged about the high quality of young engineering talent available to us, and can only hope that GM is mining it for all it’s worth. That will keep us in the game, and the US automobile industry, including Cadillac, will have a future. Who knows, it may even be so good that we’ll see a LaSalle again? But we need more American engineers. In that regard, Engineers Week is February 14-20. Do your part – encourage a young person you know with an aptitude for math and science to consider a career in engineering. There’s plenty of information on the Web – see, for example, www.eweek.org Who is frequently said to be the first US engineer? Send your answer to the Editor – correct answer next month!
Vice President Andy Jacoby will be in charge of the meeting, as I will be away.
Regards, Cliff |
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