Saab Pride of Ownership - the finalists
It’s time. And it’s been a long time coming.
This competition was built to encourage some pride in owning your Saab and sharing a little of it. It was also formulated to show a little of where people live and in that way, build some community. I hope we succeeded together in doing this….and I have a sneaking suspicion that we did.
First and foremost, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who took the time to get out in the cold, photograph their car, and send the results in to share with everyone. I feel quite fortunate to have hosted this competition and humbled when I think of the effort that some of you went to. If I could send everyone a prize of some sort, I would.
For now, please accept my congratulations for your entries and my gratitude for your efforts.
Click on any of the images to enlarge.
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So, our Pride of Ownership finalists. In no particular order……
< drumroll >
Wilfried’s Saab 9-5 in Belgium
Wilfried’s entry gave a great run down of his cars and the locations where they were show, but more than that, there were two photos of his black Saab 9-5 SportCombi that not only accentuated it’s beautiful lines, but put you right there in the midst of winter with him.
Click here to view Wilfried’s entry in full.
This, for me at least, was the money shot. A moody atmosphere, a gate you just want to explore and a beautiful black Saab.
Tim’s Viggen in Seattle
Once again, a great story.
This car is notable for how meticulously clean Tim keeps it. It’s quite amazing that for a black car it’s without a mark, anywhere, that you can see on these shots. I’ve seen other shots of the car too and the work Tim’s put in is amazing.
More than having one outstanding shot, Tim’s entry was notable for the whole series, which worked together so well to show off the car and a few spots in Seattle, where he lives.
Click to view Tim’s entry in full.
Denver Newbie’s 9-3 in Colorado
This entry was a gamechanger. The effort that Denver Newbie put in to get these shots (a 4am start - yikes!) was outstanding and it set the bar for the rest of the competition.
Technically, these aren’t the best photos on this page or in this competition. Yes, it’s wearing a car-bra and yes, the lens shield intrudes in some shots - but taken as an entry in its entirety, none of that seems to matter. The sheer size of the setting and the sincerity in both the composition and the story stood it apart.
Click here to view Denver Newbie’s entry in full.
Vaidas’ Saab family in Lithuania
Again, an informative piece that put us right into a place that many people probably wouldn’t pay too much mind to. I know I’ve never given much thought to Lithuania except in terms of basketball, so personally I was all the more appreciative of this entry.
There’s multiple cars in this entry, but the feature vehicle is this 2007 Saab 9-5, which just looks menacing in black, especially in this dramatic setting with the building, the clouds and of course, the tyre marks 
Click here to view Vaidas’ entry in full.
Willy D’s Saab 9-5 in Hawaii
If Saab haven’t contacted Willy D for use of this image yet, they should.
Willy D took us for a quick ride around Hawaii and more than that, he showed us how good a Saab 9-5 could look in white. This was another very popular entry and I think it may have even been the starting point for people thinking there could be a book in all this.
Click here for Willy D’s entry in full
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So there you have it. Five outstanding entries amongst a field of truly memorable photos and experiences.
I hope you enjoyed them all as much as I have because now it’s over to you.
In addition to fun of sharing their cars with people all over the world, entries in the Saab Pride of Ownership competition were in the running for some great prizes: a series of Saab books, a backpack and Nallis Bear courtesy of Elkparts, and a 1GB UrSaab USB memory stick (full details of the prizes here)
So please review these final entries at the appropriate links above, and then place your vote in the poll below!!
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Entries will be light for the next 24 hours so as to give this competition full time to breathe. I’ll close entries at midnight tomorrow night, eastern daylight savings time here in Australia (just over 23 hours from the time of writing).
Cast your vote and spread the word!
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I suggest that we keep all comments neutral until the winner is revealed to avoid undue influence.
All entries were very, very good. These are all outstanding. Very nice photos, for sure.
Hmmm… do I detect a slight 9-5 bias here? Three of the five finalists….
Many thanks to the jury for being a finalist, I didnt’t expect to be one seeing all the various entries with such a high quality of pictures.
I hope when there will a pride-book all of the entries will be published, not only the finalist and honorable mentions, personally I enjoyed seeing all the entries and the work everyone put into it. Gives indeed a nice overview of trollhattansaabnetfans, their cars and their countries all over the world. Good topic swade put in his blog.
I expected a bit more elder saabs in this friendly ‘competition’, i.e. like the Golfhunters one, as many 900 1st generations are still on the road. Having 3 new gen 9-5’s is a bit astonishing. I suppose all new gen 9-5 owners are proud of their cars - regardless the slightly negative critics saab got in the press, as it is widely regarded as a simple facelift in order to lenghten the lifetime of this car. In the aera I live, you hardly see them, I believe in the city i live there’s just one other sedan.
As it is certainly inpropriate to vote on myself, i’ll give mine to Will D. picture, just personal reasons (I’m not trying to convince anyone in order to manipulate the poll): the white 9-5 reminds me of the old 900 I used to drive and the scenery is so uncommon and mysterious, those mountains just seems to exist on another planet, not in the small world I know. In white a car allways gives away its beautiful (or otherwise) shapes. Hopefully next ‘pride of ownership’ includes some other gems like, next to vintage saabs & 99’s, some 9-2X’s and 9-7’s, even a 9-1 (or 9X !). That would be nice …
Enjoy your saabs.
sorry eggs, didn’t see your comment, you are right - page must be open too long.
Nice job. Some difficult decisions. I went with one which showed cars over scenery. I think SAAB needs to step back a bit from its impressionistic photos/videos, show drivers and passengers enjoying its many features, perhaps with a voice over description, focusing on practical, fun and safety aspects of the vehicles. Adding a full 100,000 mile warranty would also attract buyers who might shy away due to various reports of problems in the past.
DP
Congrats to the winners. All entries were very interesting to read and it was great to see where everybody is driving their Saab. It wasn’t really about winning when I sent in my entry, it was just nice to show of the car and the place where you live.
“I think SAAB needs to step back a bit from its impressionistic photos/videos” (DP)
I’m glad to see someone else thinks this. I’ve seen too many SAAB promo videos where all I can think is “Where’s the car?”. It’s like they’re using subliminal suggestion where you only get momentary glimpses of the car.
Regarding the voting, I kinda figured my only chance of getting a vote would be with a write-in campaign, but that’d probably only get me one vote. It seems we’ve got some really artistic/creative people among the Saab faithful.
Is it just me, or is it a bit ironic that no finalist is from Sweden?
All nice entries though. Excellent.
Hey all, I really enjoyed the Saab PoO comp. (I didn’t get an entry due to my schedule back then, unfortunately.)
Some great photos, and some great locations, and some great cars.
I can’t get over the sky in the Vaida’s shots! Fantastic! (It looks just as good reflected in the hood as well!) As for who I voted for, I’ll take eggs’ advice and withhold my choice.
My only question is:
When is round 2?
Rogan:
Round 2 will be a higher level of difficulty…
denver newbie’s shot is my desktop background. i can “saab” vicariously while at work! i concur with rogan, let’s do this again.
The northern spring summer will give you guys a chance to get some great pics, I hope. I do’t want to run the competition again though, this one will be for the book.
The competition’s been absolutely brilliant, but I do feel a little sad for having to pick a handful at the expense of some others. The campaign as a whole has been much bigger than the sum of its parts.
Congratulations to all the finalists but Tim in Seattle is my man, why? anyone who has the patience to keep a black car clean ans absolutely scratch/swirlmark/dust free really IS proud of his Saab.
tims car is impressively clean! but willys beautiful all white 9-5 set against the stunning lush scenery of hawaii gets my vote. a rare unique car in an exotic setting.
I can see where your coming as far as not running the competition again, Swade. I think we should get Saab of the Week going again. Looking at pictures of a Saab that actually belongs to someone rather than press photos is much more fun!
Many thanks for being considerd among these great photos! I have to admit the last shot was stressful…my 2-yr old was in his seat in the back, crying like there was no tomorrow as he thought I had left him!
Wilfried and Vaidas - absolutely great pictures! Can’t wait for the book to come together.
Can’t wait for the book - love ‘em all - now at least I am not alone in owning what the press has been repeatedly referring to as the old 9-5 mule. Obviously the Saab community thinks differently, wait a second - non conventional.
They are all magical and a decision was close to impossible. Great photos & great stories.