My apologies for the indulgent nature of this post, but sometimes you can’t get to write the things you should until you’ve cleared away all the stuff that’s clogging you up.
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The gut
I have a pretty good gut. I have a very large gut because I feed it too much, but that’s a whole other story, and thankfully its largesse hasn’t decreased my capacity to feel.
At age 16, my gut told me it wasn’t OK to try and drink my father’s death away one night. So I didn’t. I’ve barely touched a drop since and I’m ever so grateful for it.
At age 18, my gut told me it would be bad news to go out with that girl. But who listens to their gut in that situation? I should have.
At around age 21, despite a purely Australian automotive upbringing, my gut told me that the Saab 9000 I was riding in was absolutely brilliant and would probably change my life. It has.
At age 24, and with no job or higher education, my gut told me everything would be alright. And it is.
At age 34 and 11 months, my gut told me that this new-fangled blogging thing might be worth a try, and seeing cars (and Saabs in particular) were the only things I felt passionate about, that’s what I’d write about.
The head
Like everyone else, I can feel right and wrong in my gut sometimes. And yet somehow, I don’t tend to act on it anywhere near as often as I should.
Some of that is down to timidity. I’m a fairly cautious person by nature. But it’s more than just timidity. It’s where my head comes in to the picture. Whilst my gut’s all emotion, my head is infatuated with a desire to reason. I am more often than not the devil’s advocate, no matter how lame the plight of the weakened argument I try to support.
At age 28, my head told me to marry my first wife, despite any misgivings I might have about us at the time.
After a national IQ test was held on television, my head told me to go and sit the IQ test being held locally shortly thereafter, sponsored by Mensa. My gut told me not to join, though.*
My head’s told me for the last four years that things will work out with Saab, that the next killer model is just around the corner.
My head tells me that I should continue negotiations with the media company that’s interested in buying Trollhattan Saab because I’ve worked bloody hard on it for four and a half years and something concrete should come out of that.
But then come the bones.
The bones
The bones are like the gut, but much, much stronger. When you feel something in your bones, it’s like you can smell it in a high wind. It’s the fear of loss. The thrill of imminent pleasure. The joy of a promosing road and knowing there’s not a soul around.
At age 30, my bones told me I’d never really loved my first wife. We divorced and it was 100% the right thing to do. At age 31 my bones told me I’d met the perfect woman for me. We married two years later.
At the same age my bones told me I was making a mistake selling my 99 Turbo. I bought it back three years later.
Your head can reason with your gut, but the bones are undeniable. I’ll probably buy that 99 Turbo a third time before things are all done and finished (if Bill will sell it).
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At age 38, my head is arguing that Saab are on a knife’s edge. My head tells me that the most promising way forward for Saab is with as little interruption and instability as possible, as if they’re doing a finely balanced juggling act and the slightest interruption could send it all tumbling. My head keeps telling me that the best way forward is for GM to still own Saab in few years from now, because that’s the most promising way for a continued existence.
But my gut tells me that Saab would be much better off without GM. My gut tells me that Saab are always going to be like a neglected child in GM’s house, eating scraps from the table and wearing hand-me-downs from older, more important siblings.
My gut tells me that if Saab were given one unrestrained chance at hitting a home run, they’d slug it into the next suburb.
My gut tells me that Saab will survive this somehow, in some form.
My bones don’t tell me anything other than the fact that this journey, this blog, is tied to Saab’s own journey, in as much as that journey still holds some promise of Saab being the company that I think they can be. The negotiations to sell this site are off becuase I can’t, in good faith, tie myself contractually to a brand when there’s a chance I may not believe in that brand any more.
Saab will survive. It’s just a matter of how, and how well.
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For what it’s worth, I think GM is too full of ‘head’ guys and too devoid of ‘gut’ guys. I think Bob Sinclair was a great businessman, and a ‘gut’ guy at heart. I think Bjorn Envall was totally a ‘gut’ guy, and most designers are. Their problem is that the ‘head’ guys are the ones with all the power. You can’t work gut into a ROI formula.
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And a final thought….
My head tells me that a replacement flagship vehicle in the Saab 9-5 is incredibly important for Saab, but my bones tell me that a smaller Saab 9-3 like the one they’ve talked about is the vehicle that Saab need more than any other.
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* Yes, I sat the Mensa exam and yes, I passed and was told I was in the top percentile of people who had taken the exam. This should tell you little about me, though, and more about the nature of perceived intelligence. If you want to know something about my own intelligence, witness the frequent mistakes here on this site. I’m just as dumb as the next guy.
Interesting post indeed. Have to read it a couple of more times. I have a co-worker that is a Mensa member. He is also a smoker…
The overt presence of your body parts seem to roll to the surface one at a time on this site. I’m not quite sure which one was responsible for this post …
Needless to say, I enjoy them all.
Knowing a little more about the author brings a feeling of “family” to this sight. Good job.
Good one Swade, enjoyable and thought provoking as usual.
Not only is GM run by the head-guys they also have a lot of people in need of head-jobs. Plenty of holes to mend.
Good to see such introspection Swade. I am also a great believer in reason, but would add this:
There really need not be a clash between ‘gut’ and head; or put another way, emotion and reason. ‘Gut’ can sometimes be more accurate than head, for the simple reason that one’s emotions are the sum of one’s life experiences and values. The origins of these gut feelings are buried below conscious level, but, if one has been consciously rational, those buried feelings will do the calculations quicker than the head.
If there is a dissonance between your head and your gut, it may well be that your head is not dealing with all the considerations buried in your subconscious. Forgotten experiences will have left their traces in your gut.
Excellent post.
The tought that Saab will always eat the scraps off GM’s table is correct.
Saab although will be a key R&D wing behind GM. Look at areas of ventilated seats, hybrid electric systems, two tone styling of inserts in interiors, whiplash protection etc…
Do not sell the site yet, your bones will tell you when the right time is.
Saab needs to be set “free” to devlop into the brand that would truely compete against Volvo. Wheather in Gm’s hands or not. They are getting there with potential new model introductions, 9-4X (Ovolo XC60) 20?? 9-5 and new S80 then the new 9-1 and the C30. Let’s hope to the continued growth of the Saab brand.
SW – good post, you got me with a hook, a line, and a sinker. The build-up or anticipation is a good ride, well done.
Swade, as long as You reflect and think You are ultimately on the right track. Work hard with Your site it will only be worth more by the day. But what would it be without a man who is just about as far away from Trollhättan as possible.
I have had thaughts on if one should be 100% loyal to the brand. My head almost told me to turn down the Turbo X a few months ago. Why not an Audi or Mercedes. But then my “legs” told me the old saying that the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side of the fence.
The Turbo X is a great car in very respect besides a little high fuel consumption.
The “heritage” and the fact of beeing born i Trollhättan, the 283 replica in the Saab museum used to be my grandmothers, friend of so many fine SAAB people in and from Trollhättan including Erik Carlsson, who I told as small kid that he had a “big engine” refeering to his belly.
Who can not be faithful to such a nice brand like Saab.
All of You who like Saab should go to Trollhättan next year for the SAAB festival. I told Rick Wagoner that he should try to come to the Anniversary Festival last year. He wrote that he should try to come to Trollhättan at another Saab Festival. Lets hope it is the one next year.
Could someone push the people in Trollhättan to FIX the date for the Festival.
I figure that if you are smart enough to join Mensa, you are also smart enough not to join them
Jörgen: Amusing comment about the “big engine”. I always wondered how Erik pulled off so many victories hauling so much weight in such a small low-powered car. I’ll bet he rolled more often on right turns than he did on left turns.
Not only do we get enthusiasm on this site, we also get introspection. “Move your mind”, indeed!
Back in the day, Lee Iacocca turned the sow’s ear Ford Falcon into the silk purse Mustang. Forty four years later, hearts still flutter at the mention of that machine. More recently, Toyota morphed a loser, the Echo, into a smash hit, the XB. This should tell us something. The future of Saab does have a lot to do with crafting a car that grabs us in some mysterious and unfathomable way. Platform sharing may help rather than hinder this process, since it keeps costs in check. At the end of the day, however, someone somewhere has to set out to make something that is insanely great, more like the 9-X BioHybrid and less like the 9-7.
Bones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDGRc_krpYg
About gut and head.
If your gut and head disagree, follow your gut. You’ll always regret the decision your head made but you’ll be happy with the advice your gut gave you.
My head (and S.O.) said that the 9-5 Aero I wanted to buy last year was too expensive, but my gut still disagrees. Needless to say, I really regret the decision.
Now that’s a nice one – thanks for having a look in your gut
i’m still trying to wrap my head around eggsngrits’s comment that the opposite of love is indifference, not hate: http://www.trollhattansaab.net/archives/2008/12/detroit-free-press-saab-and-volvo-arent-going-anywhere.html#comments
(then what’s the opposite of hate?)
on top of that, now i have to grasp trollhattansaab.net (ts) in someone else’s hands, perhaps? (mensa, take me away!) interesting parallel, nevertheless, of the possibility for new owners of saab and ts.
anyway, swade, it seems as if there’s no “right” decision, only one that’s easier with which to live than the other. the methodology you use to get there, thus, becomes secondary. so…take the money…or don’t. …not that you asked for opinions, or anything…. (my bad.)
(then what’s the opposite of hate?)
The opposite of “hate” is “not hate”…
Fantastic post Swade, had a feeling some introspection (bit of navel-gazing perhaps ;P) was going on.
Very much a zeitgeist post I think.
Having bought a brand new 9-3 combi a couple of weeks ago was definitely beyond the gut, a ‘bones’ moment I think. The ‘Australia’s Best Cars’ awards have just been published, the 9-3 Linear TiD is second last in its segment in a very large field. The 9-5 is last in its group. If I cared or trusted what these judges think I would feel bad. I don’t and I don’t
The head gets Saab, so does the gut, but I feel Saab in the bones. TS too.
Keep thinking outside the box, Swade. My sixth sense says Saab may take long to get on its own feet, but its research and products into green technology are going to find a perfect fit with a new owner leaving all those other auto companies in the dust. How about Sir Richard Branson as the owner of Saab?
THIS post right here is why I follow you guys at TS, and why I’m still a fan of SAAB. SAAB is the only automotive brand in the world that would inspire such brain-bending philosophy and hair-tearing agonization. Not Ferrari, not Bugatti, not Lamborghini, definitely not Porsche, but SAAB.
My Mind has been officially Moved.(tm)
Beautifully written and very inspiring read.
Thanks Swade
My gut tells me your one of the most talanted and gifted bloggers out there!
Good writing as always from swade. Read it this morning, did not want to be first comment though.
Talking about guts and heads – in early 2003 we had 2 candidates for “1st child coming” car, and one can say it was very much a gut or head decision. In the end the head was the winner, and still today I really wonder if it was the correct one.
The candidates: Saab 9-3SS 1,8t Sentronic and ………………….. Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon 2,0 JTS Selespeed. Red with light leather.
Cheers.
Deepness Swade,,deepness. that is what i like with this article:)
and again thanks for giving us hope with TS!
Jörgen: would be cool to have a cruising in Trollhättan next year ,:)
Thanks for the support and understanding, gents. I really didn’t know how an article like this would go over and there’s probably a silent bunch out there thinking “what a load of drivel”, which is fine. I just had all these things clogging up my brain and had to get them out in order to move on to other things.
I contacted the potential buyers this morning and we’ve re-scheduled talks or some time in January. hopefully the road will be clearer by then.
just because I was part of the ‘silent bunch’, doesn’t mean I think it was a ‘load of drivel’, Swade.
Cool writing; nice insight into your mind and thoughts and deliberations. It even confirmed for me why I like your writing style – I just like you and how you think.
Anyway, don’t attribute silence to disapproval – I just didn’t think I had anything interesting to say. As a matter of fact – I still don’t think I contributed much to the discussion with this comment…
I didn’t mean it that way, Tim. Just that there was/is probably a bunch who don’t like it but either don’t want to say or can’t be bothered. All of which completely OK. – SW
Swade,
It all boils down to this. You want to write stuff about Saab. You know you want. Sometimes it’s a breeze and a joy, with lovely photos and great stories. Sometimes it’s a pain in the *** because the news makes you so mad about the whole situation. That time is now, as it was in June and earlier around Detroit. That happens, and it will happen again. That’s life – especially when one likes Saab. But it’s your blog and you can write any damn thing you want. That’s the beauty of it all. There is nothing you must do when it comes to Saab. There is nothing here that should rule your life. You don’t have to apologize. We all said it before. Write what you want, when you want. Then just go out on the porch, relax in the summer afternoon sun, and enjoy life. Cause in your bones you know that you want your own blog…
Nice post matey..
Thom Yorke picture aswell.. nice
a.
Well written, Swade.
My head tells me I should go pour a few cold ones down to my gut
Oh, and for the record. I too bought my first SAAB by following my gut. I knew very little about the brand and took a chance. I LOVE my car! My wife asked me 4 times if I was sure. 8 months later she bought a SAAB too. Go figure….
I agree with your bones Swade. I think the new 9-5 is in many ways just a means to an end, but Saab still needs it. But what Saab really needs is a new 9-3. One that isn’t compromised like previous ones. A car that nobody will say is “too little too late”. The 9-3 is spiritual successor of the 900 and the 99 and more than any other model in the range, it should be what Saab is all about.
well written prose there Swade.
Years ago (back in college) my gut told me to break it off with my girlfriend at the time while my head said no. The relationship lingered on for a two more years. Eventually my gut prevailed when I moved to a different city. One month later I met my current wife and my gut told met to marry her after four months. I’m still quite happy about that decision 9 years later.
This August, my gut told me to trade in the 9-2x for a Turbo X. My head said, why not upgrade to a 335xi? The gut held fast. I’ve been with the car on clean roads, wet roads, icy roads, and snowy roads. It has performed well in all situations. My gut was correct. And my wife (who drives a Prius) loves to steal it from me on snowy days!
Nicely put swade. Brave too.
I appreciated the introspection, Swade. I know I wonder how far I should go when I’m posting a topic for my blog.
Take tonight’s entry, for instance. I had some notes of topics to blog about, but couldn’t be bothered (for now). So I wrote something from a combination of both the head & gut, with a little book sale promotion thrown in for good measure.
I sometimes surprise myself when I look at something I posted in the past & think, wow, where did THAT come from? Doing the blogging thing, one does have to purge on occasion to free up some of the mental blocks. Also, reading your daily volumes continues to encourage me to post my usual 1 daily entry.
A little self-promotion, here… Today is my 6 month anniversary of my blog – I’m pushing forward to the next 6 months. And thanks for your help & encouragement!
BTW, your post did not seem at all negative; just good, serious pondering!!!
Swade,
I hope that you are not thinking of selling-out to a Chinese conglomerate that wants to use-up your goodwill to flog poorly engineered, borderline toxic blog postings.
The most important thing (to me) is that the key human player remain in Trollhattan Saab after this corporate restructuring.
Will you reconsider if the Australian government releases funds to support their auto blogging industry? It is one of their most important exports, after all.
Damn you Swade! Got me listening to ‘In Rainbows’ again. That’s ‘bones’ music alright.
TS is The Site!
I don’t write here that often but this site truly keeps me happy ( most of the time.) With the information and opinions. I think you have become quite the writer and Saab owes you a huge debt of gratitude.
Cheers Swade, I know its been a struggle.
Chris
i was worried this site had lost some of its fire. there it is. best post in a while. cheers, swade.
Brilliant post- just the business; spot on mate. loved reading it.
Rgds from Lance- out in the W.A. bush with no web thnigy…
Good article and I believe sometimes Corporations need to move out and behind the Heads and see it from another perspective.
Small but loyal. I think that GM could learn a lot from ownership satisfaction from blogs such as this an hope that the wisdom is shared. I would like Sweden to take back financial ownership so that the product is maintained from the roots. SAAB when it at it’s best represents more of the scandinavian ideals and strengths and belongs rooted their rather than tossed around as a variable in a large corporate spreadsheet. “Gut instinct” comes from seeing the bigger picture with a clear sense.
Thanks for the words and hello from SE Alaska