Well here I am in my first full day as President of the FBCC. The Christmas party is behind us but we still have the holidays ahead. We also have another great year ahead for all of us that love to race, drive, show or tinker with Little British Cars. I am proud to be part of the leadership of this club and I learned a lot in my VP year under Tom Buto’s excellent tutelage. Joanna and I are looking forward to another fine year of mountain rides, The Mitty, The Picnic, Euro and many other fun club events.

Since it seems to have become a tradition in this space, here is a little background on my life with a LBC. In 1977 I was driving a big camper van conversion. It was great for the carpool, but not a great daily driver. So on my June 18^th birthday, I told the carpool they were on their own and traded for a 1972 MGB with 50,000 miles and an ugly mustard yellow paintjob. I soon had it cleaned up and repainted. It served as my daily driver for almost five years and another 50,000 miles. Since I was living in Northern Virginia and commuting to DC that meant snow and traffic jams. But I also joined the Richmond Rally Club and had many hair raising experiences on Virginia country roads.

Joanna and I married in January 1982 and with her kids and mine the MG just didn’t work. So I parked it in a field behind the house. As the kids grew there were several car restorations, but these were muscle cars and the LBC just could not make the cut. In 1995 I bought a 1971 MGB for “parts”. Years passed, and in 2003 we purchased a lot in Keowee Key. I announced that I was going to take the MG to South Carolina, because now I would have the time to restore it. Joanna said something that sounded vaguely like “over my dead body”. After many discussions about how much fun driving in the mountains would be…she held her ground. I parted out the ’71 and began to get the ’72 ready to tow south. She was still leery. While we designed the house I made sure there was room for a car lift in the garage. She became resigned.

By March 2005 we were moved in and the restoration began. Now at least I had something to do and was not bothering her. A year later there was progress but the end was nowhere in sight. Of course I had spent many hours ( and $ ) at the B-Hive. So one day Gorden said, “Join the car club and sign up for Euro…then you will have a deadline” So I did just that and it was a good decision. The car was ready for Euro 2006…just…and we took a 3^rd Place. A dream comes true, only 25 years after I put the car out to pasture. Hence my license plate..25YRDRM. The picture above shows the happy entrants. Better yet, Joanna drove the car home that day and decided that all this LBC stuff might not be too bad!

So here we are three years later and I am President. Life is strange sometimes. But we are planning to have another great club year. I am looking forward to working with all of our fine members, and with other clubs, to improve FBCC’s excellent reputation and to have a lot of fun.

Jack Donegan

FBCC President

2010