Top Nine things to read while Swade’s on hiatus
If you’re looking for some Saab stuff to delve into while Swade’s on vacation, I’ve prepared a list of suggestions:
9. “Best of TrollhattanSaab” in the lower right. “Saab are Swedish” is certainly entertaining.
8. The Spirit of Saab website.
7. The Pride of Ownership competition archives. Vaidas won!
6. The Saab Wiki at GMNext. Write something while you’re there!!
5. The chat with chief Saab designer, Anthony Lo.
4. The archives of Swade’s trip to Trollhattan about this time last year. Some great pics!
3. Ditto Swade’s trip to the Detroit autoshow earlier this year.
2. Check out all of those great mods from Hirsch. US fans need to find alternate suppliers.
1. Finally, check out the collection of Saab Videos posted on this site. Hours of enjoyment to be had. I especially like the ones with Anthony Lo and the video ride-along with Jay Leno in his Saab 93b.
Enjoy.
Oh, and one more thing: If you run out of things to read, buy a car and/or parts from Niddvale or Saab of Hunterdon or pick up that badly needed accessory from ElkParts. These people support this site; please patronize them in return.
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Interesting….I linked over to GMNext and there’s an article entitled “Turbo Camaro . . . Why Not Turbo (almost) Everything?” The author touts the virtues of the turbo, mentions a number of GM cars which are currently turbocharged, provides a link to the origins of turbo technology in Switzerland, but of course, makes NO MENTION of Saab at all, the very FIRST automaker to introduce a turbocharged engine in a production car. It’s an interesting read, and of course I agree with his comments about the turbo, but this is typical of GM’s attitude toward Saab. GM couldn’t build a decent small displacement engine to save their lives (remember the “Quad4″? UGH!!) until mining Saab for all it was worth. Now they can’t even give Saab engineering a nod for having shown them the way. When Saab introduced the turbocharged engine back in the ’70’s, GM’s corporate, collective response was “there’s no substitute for cubic inches”. Well GM, what do you think of that attitude now? You didn’t do your homework so you beat up the little kid and stole his homework!
Harsh words MarkS
and occasionally I can’t help but agree with your last sentence.
Dido MarkS, I couldn’t agree with you more. Have you seen the new Cadillac CTS? I mean why doesn’t caddy just put a Saab badge on all of its products to include some Chevrolet cars as well. Way to pillage the Swedes for all there worth GM!!
You might fool some red neck hillbilly Americans to buy that stuff but the loyal New England Saab people aren’t fooled…
If you really want to delve into Saab there is only one place to go: Lance Cole’s fantastic book “Saab 99 and 900 The Complete Story”. Swade has coverd it numerous times, for instance in this writeup: http://www.trollhattansaab.net/archives/2007/10/saab-99-and-900-the-complete-story.html
It really is a great book, even my wife has read a few chapter without going to sleep
Every true Saabisti should have at least one copy!
/Martin
Saaboy: youah bein’ wicked hahd on the rest of Americur ahn’t yah?
We’ll have good stuff on tap.
Is Swade away Alfa shopping?
Here is a question for you - as SAAB is an acronym, should it not be written in capital letter? It appears this way on the trunk lid of my 9-5!
Inquiring minds need to know.
Car U.K., may 2008, which has just hit the newstands down under has a SAAB Turbo-X feature with Per Ekland. Worth a look
Aero: yes and no. SAAB is an acronym for the airplane company, but formally, now that the two are separate, Saab Automobiles is the name of the car company. Either way works in my book.
Interesting. An acronym that has morphed into a word, another SAAB innovation.
That is good list of things to review on the site and it is kind of fun to read them again - and to think I missed Swade in Detroit by a few days due to some scheduling mishaps.
As for some other interesting automotive news - Swade got me hooked on Autoextremist last year and it is always a good read on Wednesdays.
MarkS: I do remember the Quad 4, used to work on them all them time. And hey, the engine looked good on paper.
ctm - I’m not….yet. I have my eye on one on the Aussie mainland. My brother in law looked at it this morning and says it’s pretty good. I imagine I’ll be over there next weekend to pick it up.
TS 2.0 has progressed through the planning stages.
Swade,
1) TS 2.0 has progressed through the planning stages ? … . Is that a hint for the comeback already ?
2) I’m not particular with aussie 2nd hand market, but except some old spiders on www dot automarket dot com dot au, I couldn’t see any Alfa matching the spirit of your old 900 or our viggen.
YOUR viggen, I ment. I haven’t got one ….yet.
Robyn - I saw the CAR article too. Great coverage for Saab - and typical high quality from CAR. The best auto magazine by miles in my view. How are those photos?!?!?
Eggs wrote:
“Aero: yes and no. SAAB is an acronym for the airplane company, but formally, now that the two are separate, Saab Automobiles is the name of the car company. Either way works in my book.”
Actually it is an acronym for the car maker as well, they changed the company name to:
SAAB Automobil AktieBolag
and they said the name change was so they could keep the same acronym for the car company.
Saabboy1 - I’ve noticed that GM is making Caddys more and more Saab-like as the years go by. I saw a new Caddy in a parking lot the other day and took a peek inside just to see what it was like (I know, I’m completely nuts). The seats are shaped much like classic Saab seats, and the interior has more of a “cockpit” layout than Caddys of the past, for sure. It’s certainly not identical to a Saab interior, but GM has definitely been transforming the Caddy into a more sport-oriented, Saab-like car over the years (except for that exterior design…..sheesh! I’m going to claim the “right to silence” on that issue). Saab and Cadillac have always had different and distinct identities, but now it seems GM is determined to re-invent the Cadillac to make it more competitive in Europe, where nobody wants the blasted things in the first place and where Saab is already in a very good position to compete! I’d better stop now. Have you guys ever seen comedian Kevin James when he gets all fired up? I start sounding like that whenever I talk about Cadillacs or GM these days. Anyway, rant over (for now)!
And Eggs, dat wiz wicked haaash on us Newing-glindiz!!
(haha)
You mean the acronym SAAB doesn’t mean:
Super Awesome. Always Broken.
As much as I love driving the cars, I’ve really gotten to know my service department in the 2.5 years I’ve been driving Saab. But, that has a lot to do with driving the first year of the restyled 9-5 and the first year of the V6 in the 9-3.
I guess I’ve been lucky - mine has been super reliable except for the DI failure which kinda was expected anyway. Hell its been better than my past Hondas, knock on wood.
As for acronym meanings here are a few I found:
SAAB -Send Another Automobile Back
SAAB -Swedish Automobiles Always Breakdown.
SAAB -Swedish Automobiles Are Beastly
SAAB -Sad Attempt At Beauty
SAAB -Sorry Auto, Always Broken
SAAB -Swedish Automobile-Always Broken
SAAB -Style Appears Ass Backward
My favorite though is:
SAAB -Swedish Aero, Awesome Beast
2000Aero5speed
The Quad 4 (good on paper) was a dud, but the 2.5 “Iron Duke” was super reliable and surprisingly strong (we had one in a 9-seat Chevy Celebrity wagon) that got very good mileage. The latter block was and may still be the basis of some of the most popular inboard boat engines.
The CTS is RWD. It’s chasing BMWs. Rather well, too, at least outside the snow belt. SAAB’s/Saab’s target is the FWD field and some AWD (at least for image).
Hiatus . . . Holiday . . . I propose that we regard Swade as being on Sabbatic Leave!
Best to all, and thanks Eggs.
As if the 1.8t, 2.0t and 2.0T haven’t been enough, there will be a 2.0TS too ?
Sounds promising. Let’s hope the fat lady isn’t going to sing at all. And if she ever will, I’ll be blaming Alfa for that.
Swade is no dummy.
This is the SAAB version of James Browns cape routine. You know where James works himself to exhaustion and then stage manager puts a cape over his shoulders starts to get him off the stage and then the singers sing ‘please dont go, dont go’ and then Swade, er James is revived and stronger than ever and singing ‘I Got You/I Feel Good’.
Swade is no dummy, he is the James Brown of saablog-o-sphere. Always leaves them wanting more.
Kinda looks like him too.