It was a weekend for car shows!

First we had the Spingtime in Sweden Saab gathering in the US. Some truly great vehicles there.

Second, we had the Swedish Day UK hosted by the unofficial Saab Ambassador for the UK, Robin M. I had a few emails in my inbox this morning, from both from Robin and from Lance Cole, stating that the day was an outstanding success. Contrary to earlier weather forecasts, the sun shone and it even got warm at some times during the day

I’ll have a fuller write-up coming soon but here’s a couple of quick snaps.

A little of the setup:

And the people’s choice winner for most admired. Somehow that doesn’t translate to being the best car of the day, though, which was won by a 900 Convertible. They’re all winners, I reckon:

My congratulations to Robin M for hosting such a successful gathering. It’s stuff like this that make motoring communities such a fantastic place to hang out.

Robins’ Flickr account has plenty of photos and there’s a thread on the event with more pictures over at UKSaabs as well.

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There was also a GM Show here in Australia. The 35th Annual General Motors Show took place somewhere in New South Wales. I should note this was a privately organised display but it seems to have had the approval of GM here in Australia as they didn’t mind telling Automotive bloggers here all about it.

I perused the photos very carefully but to my dismay there wasn’t a Saab to be seen. It mustn’t have been that kind of GM show.

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We have been known to wax lyrical about the carrying capacities of Saab hatches but it seems that we Saabphiles have been bested by a convertible!!

A Mazda Miata (i.e. MX-5) carrying a sofa? Well, as long as you don’t consider the potential for it to fall off, nor the inability of the driver to see out of one side of the vehicle, I guess you could say that we have indeed been outdone.

But I’ll still take my Saab, thanks.

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I’m not a fan of BMW, but there’s several important things about this video.

Firstly, it features Tiff Needell, who used to be on Top Gear but got ousted when entertainment became more important than substance. I love Top Gear, but geez Needell’s good.

Second, it show’s the importance of racing in a car company’s activities. Kudos to Swede Team Motor and JL Racing for the grass roots work they’re doing but how I wish there were a full blown racing arm at Saab again.

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