Sorry folks.
I’m away from civilisation at the moment and won’t be able to post for a few days.
I’d like to leave this thread open for all comments and thoughts. Anything Saaby you have to say – now’s the time. I will be approving comments daily, so may have to wait a few hours to be seen, but don’t let that stop you.
Cheers,
SW
ps – staying in the most beautiful spot on the planet – Binalong Bay, Northeast Tasmania. Photo coming soon. We have a hot tub!!
I’d like to welcome a fellow Tasmanian Saab Car Club member here to Trollhattan. Drew has forgotten more about Saabs than I’ll ever know. He’s restored a magnificent silver 900 from a wreck. He’s currently restoring an old 99 into what will be an absolute showpiece (that story’s still to come) and has a black 99 Turbo waiting in the wings.
Drew was one of Dan Rotman’s Targa Tasmania crew and proved to be a valuable resource for the team with his superb running knowledge of the cars.
Drew’s given me the OK to publish here a piece that he wrote on refurbishing your wheels. One of the things I’ve always loved about Saabs is the fact that generally (OK there are some early 1980′s exceptions), they’ve all come with some pretty nice wheels as standard equipment. The daily scrapes can make them look a little tired, though.
The process described here is pretty simple and won’t cost much. I know – I’m in the middle of it right now with the Inca’s from my 99 Turbo. Enjoy.
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There’s no doubt that curb-rashed alloy wheels can really detract from a vehicle’s appearance. Given that aluminium alloy isn’t a terribly durable material, and the costs normally involved in having even minor damage professionally corrected, it’s easy to understand why so many of our Saabs exhibit damaged rims after many years of driving. So, what to do? If you possess ample spare time and patience, a spray gun, and a general willingness to learn, read on……..
Continue reading
Just a quick note, which will go up for permanent link on the sidebar.
If you’re viewing this website and the font you’re reading now (or more noticably, the font in the heading for this post) is different from the one in the picture below, then chances are that you don’t have the Gill Sans MT font installed on your computer. This website looks a lot better if you do have it installed.
If you hunt around, find it and then install it, you’ll find that the site really does look a whole lot more Saabish. Alternatively you could email me and I’m sure I could help you find it if necessary (delete the bits of the email address that look a little inappropriate).
Until the Kings traded Chris Webber, Sacramento was always one of my favourite places in the US and right up there on my ‘places to get to’ list for my eventual visit.
I haven’t forgiven the city for letting C-Webb go, but this review of the 9-3 Convertible published in the Sacramento Bee (click below to read) is a start along the road of forgiveness.
There’s been a lot of news floating around this morning about GM’s plans to reposition their various brands. Thanks to AudiSAABfans over at Saabcentral, we have this diagram, that’ll save me a thousand words (still cooped up with the flu, so can’t be bothered typing).
A few thoughts:
1) The actual model repositioning doesn’t look like much at all. Buick or Pontiac will drop a minivan? Big deal. I would have thought a few more model cuts might have produced a better defined lineup of vehicles, and this may well just be the tip of the iceberg.
2) The big news here is dealer repositioning. The number that sticks out the most to me is the number of Saab dealerships (250). They’re going to need to dramatically increase the exposure of the marque and give people greater access to the cars, and much better service when they finally get there.
Testimony to this is John’s experience with a 1997 900S – his story is here. He really ties together the quality story of the last few days and the need for better service that’s highlighted by today’s announcements.
3) The positioning of Cadillac directly against BMW and MB leaves Saab somewhat out in the cold. I don’t think it will be, but it does look a little like the thin end of a wedge.
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Coda: Another nice thread from SaabKen over at SC too, which has led to the Photoshop creation of a 9-3 Coupe. Bob, Jay, check it out!!
Job interview in 5 hours. Grrrrrr.
If you’ve read my posts here before, you’ll know that I aspire for Saab to haul in the massive might of BMW. I believe firmly that the foundation is there for Saab to build fantastic automobiles – every bit as good, if not better, than their German competitors.
I’d heard that Bob Lutz had worked previously for BMW, but I’d never read any of the details of his role there.
Until now.
From the Car Connection, a fantastic excerpt from what i think would be a very interesting book….
Read on to find out about bob Lutz – BMW builder, hardline negotiator, and reluctant chick-magnet!
Continue reading
Just needed to provide you all with a little info on commenting. I’m sorry to be having to write about the site, rather than about Saabs. One of the pitfalls of starting over, I’m afraid.
Those of you that have been good enough to have your say in comments would have noticed that they sit in a queue, pending approval. This is my feeble attempt to battle the spammers.
One thing you can do to get around it is to register with typekey. This is a backdoor to the security system. Once you register, you’re comments bypass the approval queue and should appear automatically. You can also hit the ‘remember me’ bit and you should just have to sign in once and you’ll remain signed in whenever you return (I think).
The brief details you give typekey aren’t forwarded to anyone. It’s merely a comments registration system run by the same people that built the software for this blog.
If you don’t mind waiting a little while in the queue, then that’s fine too.
This picture has nothing to do with this weblog entry, just consider it a consolation for having to read such drivel on a site that’s supposed to be about cars. Click to enlarge.
My old red 99 Turbo. I’m trying hard to not regret selling it. Really, I am.
I’m writing from my sick-bed today. Stuck at home with the flu – a particularly discouraging condition seeing as I have a very important interview tomorrow afternoon for a promotion. The interview necessitated I buy a shirt – one that i can wear a tie with. I’m sure my Manager will wonder who it is when I walk in the door tomorrow!! I work as a professional, but I’ve always held that ties contribute nothing to the performance of my duties. Consequently I haven’t worn one for around 3 years or so.
On the upside, I did receive a purchase from Ebay in the mail today, a copy of The Saab-Scania Story that I picked up for $10 plus postage. Now that I’ve just checked Amazon, I see I could have bought it for $2.75. Hmmmmm. I’ve thrown a copy of the Amazon link on the sidebar. It certainly looks alright so far. Another one for the library.
I also bought a Saab keyring from Ebay and that came today in the mail today, too. It features the old airplane logo in gold on a black background.
In a bumper day for parcels, we also got our pre-order copies of the Dave Matthews Band’s new CD, Stand Up. I’m listening to it right now – sensational!! Comes as a dual layer CD/DVD, which I haven’t seen before. One side it’s a CD and then you flip it over and stick it the other way in your DVD player. Probably old hat over in the States, but it’s the first I’ve seen.
That’ll do me for today. My advice: stay warm. This flu’s a killer!!
