The five finalists in the Saab Pride of Ownership competition have been determined.

I’ll do a post on those soon, along with the poll so that you can have your vote. In the meantime, I’d like to mention a few entries that haven’t made the final five, but were very close to being in there.

John’s Pick - Golfhunter’s Saabs all over France

A firm favourite with one of our judges and an honorable mention with another. Golfhunter’s exuberance for all things Saabs is quite infectious and this entry was as well.

Click to view Golfhunter’s entry

I think this photo sums up the Saab journey pretty well:

Stu’s pick - Nico’s Buttwagon

Stu really loved this entry because of the sequence, and the journey that this entry took us on.

An entry with a fantastic sequence of shots. I particularly like this one due to the presence of the reflection that gives the shot some depth and shows that this SAAB is parked somewhere special.

Click to view Nico’s entry.

Swade’s pick - Rich’s red Viggen

You might think I picked this for an honorable mention mainly because it’s a Viggen. It’s not the reason, though. I just adored this shot from the first moment I saw it. The red and white contrast is just fantastic, and the gopher is icing on the cake. I’d be happy to have this on my wall.

Click to view Rich’s entry.

Extraordinary honorable mentions

These entries just had to get a mention.

The photos in this first one are of extraordinary quality and the text that accompanied them was beautifully composed.

I’m talking about RJ’s entry from SanDiego.

So why didn’t it make the final?

The primary reason is that the photographer in this instance was an incredible guy named Benzon Ray Barbin. I’m not sure if he’s a professional photographer (I think so…when you can Google a photog it usually means so) but if not, then he should be. The point, though, is that he’s not the owner of the car.

I know I didn’t make it explicit, but I think it was implicit in the explanatory post that the photographer should be the vehicle’s owner. I also feel uncomfortable pitting a pro against the owners who also made the effort.

None of that should detract from the quality of the entry, though, which I was privileged to host.

Similarly, I’ll mention Mychal’s entry under the professional ruling, but needless to say I loved the car and loved the shots!