Dear Friends, The Board met Classic Car Club of America Membership Application & Renewal in Chicago, December 2 & 3, 2017 and focused one full day on Club fifinances as I reported we would in my last President's message. ThThe Board was very engaged and the meeting outcome resulted in a preliminary balanced budget for 2018. We are working on 2019. We intend to monitor monthly performance against the proposed budget, to report results frequently and to be transparent to Club members.

In preparation for this meeting, I asked Board members to come prepared with revenue generating ideas and suggestions for the reduction of expenses with the least impact to the general membership. The Board did not disappoint and brought a number of solid ideas and suggestions toward immediate improvement of our financial performance.

We started with a deep dive into our 2017 revenue and expenses projected through year-end 2017 so that everyone had a clear understanding of each component. For 2017, our expenses are projected to exceed our annual revenue by $43,000. We realize if we are to sustain ourselves as a viable Club for the long haul, we cannot continue losing money and we know we do not want to dip into our assets to cover any future annual loss. We believe we have created a budget for 2018 and 2019 that is balanced between revenue and expenses, and is realistic. We hope to increase revenue higher than we have projected and we are firm that we do not want to experience another year at a loss.

Here are the highlights of the 2018 projected budget:Revenue Projection 2018 We assumed a 5 % reduction in MEMBERSHIP dues based on our historical trend. We assumed higher revenue for ADVERTISING because we intend to increase advertising revenue so that the high quality of our printed materials continues to be published since we know our Classic Car magazine is a high-value benefifit to our members.

We reversed a decision we made last year to print our Directory every other year. We will now be publishing the 2018 Directory shortly after the Annual Meeting in April. For 2018, we assumed revenue would be less for the ANNUAL MEETING in Branson than last year's event in Reno, Nevada, because Branson costs are anticipated to be less.

Other Contributed revenue The 15 Board members in attendance agreed to contribute $1,500 each towards Club advertising revenue. Ray Giudice generously offffered to contribute $10,000 towards an effffort to update some needed computer system functionality. ThThis was not counted as revenue- only as a donation towards our computer system.

Expenses We will be going out to bid on our printing costs to confifirm that our current contract is competitive.

Executive Director Jay Quail reported that he and our office staff believe the Club office work could be done in a smaller space. Our existing lease expires February 1, 2019 but Jay is going to approach the building owner to see if the owner would be agreeable to letting us sublet our space or because the building is presently 100% occupied, or is interested in letting us out of our lease in 2018 rather than 2019. Jay, with support from Ray is working on this effort now. Jay reported that he and the office staff have discussed the potential of a smaller space in the Chicago area and that all agree that it would work efficiently.

Other expense reductions projected included reduction of postage costs due to the new processes implemented for the Annual Report and Membership Renewal this year. Projected lower legal, accounting, and various other costs reductions were identified and a great deal of effort was made to not reduce expenses deemed to cover high-value items like our publications.

Bottom line, we are committed to balancing the budget in 2018, 2019 and beyond. We intend to publish a summary of the budget in early 2018 and to discuss our budgets in detail at our Annual Meeting in Branson.

We also discussed the position of Head Judge. As we all know, ultimately the Club deserves the most well qualifified person for the position. I also believe we all know that there is really only one time the Head Judge actually judges a car: that is at the Annual Meet for the Warshawsky Award, along with the Awards Chairman and the Area Head Judge of the Meet. Our current Head Judge has recused himself from that one instance. After discussion, the Board unanimously agreed that the policy should be changed to allow the Head Judge to be involved in the hobby. Members are invited to comment. In the same department, both the Judges Handbook and the DVD are making progress towards all being a cohesive whole. As one year ends and another begins, I want to thank all of you for your emails and letters, and even a few phone calls! I wish you all the Best for the New Year, and I look forward to seeing you in Branson. Respectfully, Tom Jones

ThThe Cadillac duchess article which appeared in the Winter 2018 ThThe Classic Car incorrectly referenced ownership by edward VII, when of course it should have been edward VIII. --RJV