Category Archives: Featured

The GM/Chrysler deal and what it could mean for Saab

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We’ve already heard that GM are delaying R&D, design and a whole slew of future models because of the downturn in the economy and the need for them to stem all unnecessary outflows.

First, here’s a precis of the situation with regards to GM and Chrysler. This seems to be priority one at the moment and there’s no doubt it could have a profound effect on Saab if it comes off. And it seems GM really want to pull this one off.

The proposed deal as it stands:

* GM want around $10b in government funding to facilitate the acquisition of Chrysler from Cerberus. For that, they get all of Chryslers brands (Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep) as well as factory capacity and a whole bunch of workers, pension liabilities and dealer relationships. Oh, and there’s around $11b in Cerberus cash, too.

* Cerberus want to buy out a significant chunk of GM’s remaining 49% stake in GMAC. Apparently, if Cerberus can take their stake high enough, GMAC will qualify as a bank holding company and get access to Fed funds.

* The US government uses some of its national bailout money to buy up bad car loans, just like it’s going to buy up other bad loans. This will allow the car makers to throw good money after bad offer finance to new potential buyers.

* There’s talk about that bailout money being used as an equity stake in the merged entity, but apparently US lawmakers are very hesitant about supporting a merger that’s going to result in a lot of job losses. It’s understood that whilst GM may choose to retain some of Chrysler’s manufacturing capacity and keep Jeep and Chrysler’s minivan range, there’d still be a lot of job losses, mainly white collar jobs.

* After GM deal with excess capacity and staff (read: the UAW), they’ve then got to deal with the dealers. And they’ve got to do all this is a breakneck pace.

References for the above: Business Week and Reuters.

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The uncertainty over this transaction, and poor market conditions in general, means that GM have put the brakes on everything that’s seen as non-essential or less than around 90% finished. And that places Saab on the receiving end of some very poor conditions.

We believe from information left in comments here that the 2010 Saab 9-5 will be at least a minor casualty of this slowdown. The word on the streets is that the model could be delayed, at this stage by as much as three months and perhaps longer.

But Saab have a whole bunch of products in the pipeline and this could effect all of them.

Saab 9-4x: This is the other nearly-done model in the Saab range, but if the 9-5 is going to be delayed, then the 9-4x is almost certainly going to feel the pinch as well.

Saab 9-3x: If anything on the horizon for Saab could be seen as non-essential, this is it. I’d already heard from Djup Strupe that the 9-3x was delayed until 2010. This could kill it completely.

Saab 9-3: Any plans for a final refreshing of the Saab 9-3 prior to it’s move to Delta architecture are most likely going to be placed on hold. And that move to Delta? The exact timing’s unknown, but with this slowdown I don’t think it’s going to come any sooner.

Saab 9-1: There’s been no decision as yet as to whether this model would even get a green light. If they’re delaying a more mainstream compact car like the Chevrolet Cruze, I don’t think we can expect something about the 9-1 anytime soon.

2009 Saab Festival: ????? It costs money, right? There’s no date set yet, right?

Saab are going to get the 9-5. It’ll be delayed, but it’ll come. That’s the good news. They’ll also get the 9-4x, but maybe even later than planned.

The other stuff that we were all hoping for? Let’s hope that cool heads can prevail. Saab sure needs it.

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Right now, even as you read this, the fit is hitting the shan at the Ren Cen. There has never been a perfect storm of historically boneheaded, company-weakening decisions and barely skeletal market conditions like what we’ve got right now.

I think we’re at the point where the roller-coaster is just over the top of the crest. The passengers are starting to scream and unbenownst to them, there’s a wobbly wheel in the front left corner of the carraige.

Hang on!

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Welcome to Saab-i visitors

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I’d like to take a moment to welcome anyone visiting Trollhattan Saab for the first time via the link in Saab’s latest Saab-i newsletter. Allow me to show you around a little….

As described in the Saab-i newsletter, Trollhattan Saab is a Saab enthusiast’s playground. It is not run by Saab or by General Motors, nor is it financed by them. Trollhattan Saab is an independently owned and operated weblog, or blog, that carries somewhere between 3 and 5 new Saab-related stories every day (yes, every day). The site has been operational since February 2005 and now carries almost 5,000 Saab-related articles and serves around 8,000 page views per day to Saab enthusiasts all around the world.

The best place to start is right where you landed when you clicked the link in the Saab-i newsletter: the front page at www.trollhattansaab.net. This is where the latest stories are published in chronological order. Click on the headline to read the whole story. If you’d like to dig a little deeper, however, then you can do that too.

Stories are organised into various categories, and you can browse the different categories via a drop-down box at the bottom of the right side-bar.

Some of the feature categories you might like to start off with:

Saab Pride: Where Saab owners shared photos and stories of their experiences with their Saabs. This category was born from a competition held late last year (here are the finalists) and I’m now working on a book based on these entries and new submissions.

Saab Videos and Trollhattan Video: the Saab videos archive contains various videos posted around the web. The Trollhattan Video archive comprises videos that I’ve made personally, including a number from my visit to Sweden last year for the Saab Festival. My personal favourite, though, is still my video tour of the Saab Aero-X concept car, which was an unforgettable experience.

Sweden 2007: If you’d like to see where the passion for Saab comes from, you’ve got to go Sweden for the Saab Festival. It’s held every two years in Saab’s home town, Trollhattan. This archive contains material from my visit there in 2007. The highlights include the guided tour I received of the Saab factory and a visit to the Saab Museum.

That’s just a few categories to get you started.

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Trollhattan Saab also has a number of Saab resources and products to enjoy. Just under the masthead at the top you’ll see a number of links. Hover over those and drop-down lists will appear that you can check out at your liesure.

Of particular interest may be the “Cars” tab, which holds model information for various Saabs over the years. The list isn’t complete yet, but it’s a good historical archive for those that are listed.

The “Downloads” tab contains a great archive of custom made Saab desktop wallpapers for your computer, a collection of X-Ray Saab drawings and a few other fun goodies.

The TS Shop link includes a collection of Saab books available at Amazon, as well as a link to the Saab Design T-Shirt shops. The Saab Design T-shirt stores are a collaboration between myself and a Saab enthusiast based in Hungary and feature a huge range of Saab-inspired apparel that you can purchase. They’re great quality and you can even customise the design colors to your own preferences and add text to the designs.

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What keeps Trollhattan Saab ticking, of course, is news. Trollhattan Saab is known for breaking news about Saabs, whether it’s from the 100 or so regular news sources that I scour every day, tips sent in from readers, or from sources inside Saab who send me news on the quiet. Trollhattan Saab broke some of the first images of the facelifted Saab 9-5 back in 2005, the Aero-X in 2006, the facelifted Saab 9-3 in 2007 and has broken heaps of inside stories in between.

If you want to keep abreast of all the latest that’s happening with Saab (and there’s plenty on the horizon), make sure you do what the Saab dealers do: stay tuned to Trollhattan Saab!

There’s several ways you can keep abreast of what’s going on here. The easiest way is to bookmark the site in your favourites, which I hope you’ve done already. If you’re familiar with using an RSS reader, I’ve got a list of RSS links in the left sidebar, including the most prominent readers like Google Reader and Bloglines. Just click on the icons and you’ll be ready to go.

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About the authors:

Trollhattan Saab is owned, managed, built, published and authored (primarily) by me. My name is Steven Wade and I live in Hobart, Australia. Around here I’m known as Swade. I’m a Saabnut whose owned Saabs ranging from a 1972 Saab 99E to a 1999 Saab 9-3 Viggen.

I’m fortunate enough to have two excellent gentlemen from other parts of the world contribute here from time to time. Click on their names to access the complete archive of their work.

Eggs n Grits is a 900 convertible and 9-5 owner from Franklin, Tennessee. His intelligence, wit and love for the Saab brand are only matched for scale by his tall physical stature and the beauty of his family.

Lance Cole is a working journalist based in the UK and known in the Saab community for his must-have book, Saab 99 and 900: The Complete Story. It’s a true privelige to have Lance’s work hosted here.

TS is also supported by many individuals who send in tips and stories for me to publish here, as well as a large group of people who leave great comments and have great discussions about the various stories.

In addition, TS has been able to send representatives to various Saab events and motor shows around the world. Gripen’s work at the Saab 60th Anniversary event in San Diego (one, two and three) is a notable example.

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Thanks for dropping by. I hope you enjoy your time at Trollhattan Saab and that you come again soon.

My thanks also to Saab for their support in including Trollhattan Saab in their Saab-i newsletter.

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Yellow Saabs: anything but mellow!

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This post has been reproduced from my other site, The Spirit of Saab, which will most likely die a slow death in time.

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There are several colours in the spectrum that have been used sparingly in Saab’s 60 year history. You won’t find too many orange Saabs, for example, save for a few Sonett IIIs and 99s during the 1970s. Yellow is another rare colour, but it always looks special on a Saab, and in many instances, it’s because the Saab itself is special.

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In the beginning…

Yellow first made an appearance on Saab 95s and 96s in the mid 1960s. This was a time where colour was king and companies weren’t afraid to paint with a bold palette and a strong brush. Saabs from this time featured interiors with bold reds and cool blues, a far cry from the neutral greys that dominated the 1990s.

In the early 1970s Saab reintroduced yellow with a color called Brilliant Yellow, an example of which can be seen below on this Saab 96 V4.

These initial yellow Saabs were standard cars. In future years, a yellow Saab would come to signify something rather more special within the range.

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Saab Sonett

Yellow also featured as a colour for one of Saab’s more different cars – the Sonett.

There’s nothing else quite like the Sonett in Saab’s history. The Sonett name started life with the Saab Sonett Super Sport in the 1950s. Only six were ever made and none of them were yellow. But if you look around Saab’s home city, Trollhattan, during the Saab Festival it’s quite likely that you’ll actually see a yellow Sonett on the streets there. It belongs to a Saab devotee and is a handbuilt replica of the original Sonett.

The Sonett II featured a strong shade of yellow, and the Saab Sonett III featured a color called Mellow Yellow. An example in that colour can be found at the Saab Museum in Trollhattan today. This isn’t that car, but a fine example, all the same.

Photo: Liftarn

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The 900 Turbo S convertible.

In the early 1990s, Saab introduced a new, fully equipped version of it’s very successful 900 Convertible – The 900 Turbo 16S. There was a similarly designated model in the hardtop 900 as well.

The Turbo 16S Convertible got directional alloy 3-slot wheels and seats from the Saab 9000 that even included an option for electric adjustment of the driver’s seat.

For the purposes of this story, however, the Turbo 16S Convertible saw the introduction of a new color for the Saab 900 – Monte Carlo Yellow.

The new color was striking to say the least. In a time where metallic silvers, greys, greens and blues were crowding the streets, the solid, non-metallic Monte Carlo Yellow stood out like a beacon.

Unlike the SPG (or Aero) model that was around at the same time, the Turbo 16S convertible had the dark grey body kit of earlier 900s, rather than a full body-coloured kit. Perhaps it would have been too much if they’d gone the full Monte?

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Saab 900 SVO concept

The SVO (Special Vehicles Operations) concept began life in the mid 1990s with the “next-gen” Saab 900. The end result of the project was the Saab 9-3 Viggen that would follow, but the immediate fruit of SVO’s labour was the SVO concept vehicle – painted in Monte Carlo Yellow.

This vehicle was first shown in 1996 and provided a big leap forward in terms of the performance editions expected from Saab. In essence it was to the NG900 as the Aero or SPG was to the classic 900. The only problem being that it wasn’t in production, and wouldn’t be until 1999 when the Viggen was released.

Whilst the signature colors for the Saab 9-3 Viggen were Lightning Blue and Black in most countries, the US also got versions in Silver, Red, and in Monte Carlo Yellow. The original SVO concept vehicle now resides in the Saab museum, in Trollhattan, and is surprisingly accessible!

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The Monte Carlo

Saab made a limited edition model of the original Saab 9-3 called the Monte Carlo.

Production in the Australian market, for instance, was limited to 50 units and worldwide production stopped at 195 units. The car featured the 2.0HOT engine, woodgrain trim with black leather, and each of the Australian editions wore an individual number on the passenger side dash.

The car was identifiable not only by it’s colour, but also by a small Monte Carlo badge on the rear, below the tail lamps.

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A new convertible – a new colour

The Saab Convertible has become the signature modern Saab, and Lime Yellow was undoubtedly a distinct signature colour to launch it with back in 2004.

It is, admittedly, more Lime that Yellow, but it certainly is distinctive and imagery of this particular car was commonplace in Saab promotional material at the time of it’s launch.

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New for 2008 – Lynx Yellow

The latest Saab to get dressed in yellow is the 2008 Saab 9-3 Convertible. Whilst this shade was widely referred to as Saffron Yellow in the lead up to its release, Saab Sweden called for a change prior to release, and the color was thereby officially named Lynx Yellow.

Well, it will be called Lynx Yellow in most markets, at least. The German market like to specify their colors according to what they think their clients will relate to, and they renamed the colour Inca Yellow, to stir up images of the gold held by the ancient Incas. This isn’t the first color to receive a different name in Germany, where the very deep, dark Nocturne Blue is known officially as Sapphire Blue.

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Saab Retro-perspective 2: Lance Cole on the Saab 91 Safir

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For Saab car fans, Lance Cole brings us something surprisingly Saab – with wings: herein lie the roots of Saab design

All photos by the author. Click to enlarge.

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Beyond the advertising hype of ‘born from jets’ as a Saab strapline, the reality is in fact – born from props! Props – egg beaters, propellors, whisks, whatever you want to call them, Saab’s first aircraft had prop power, not jets at all.

Even after the Draken jet fighter and other, later jet fighters, Saab made prop powered craft- including the Scandia airliner and the Saab 340 airliner of the 1980s. Saab’s propellor aircraft are known for their balanced handling, good roll rates, nice aileron feel and have no nasty habits, yet remain sporty rathern than staid.

The Saab Tunnan – (barrel), may have been the quinessential small fighter, but the lovely Safir (sapphire), conceived in 1948, is pure Saab. Indeed, the swept wing of the jet Tunnan was tested on a unique, one-off re-winged Safir- which looked even more modern and then more so when the Saab Lansen fighter wings were also flight tested on the Safir airframe.

The elegant little Safir light aircraft are rare now. A British example – the only flying example in the UK, lives near me in southern England where its owner Alan House, of Sylmar Aviation Services, is well known for restoring and caring for his airworthy Safir. He also has another airframe in store.

Alan flew into the Great Vintage flying weekend show at Kemble airfield recently and he very kindly gave the author a tour around his 1957 Safir for the benefit of everyone here at Trollhattan Saab. His enthusiasm for his Safir was infectious, he is a proud Saab owner of an elegant little plane that flies with pure- bred handling.

“It’s a well built, beautiful aircraft that is a delight to fly.” says Alan.

Of note in design terms, the interior control panel design- two hooped panels with a centre console – the shapes were very leading edge design back in the 1940s and highly individual- not your normal light aircraft interior for the era – in fact very advanced in design and erognomic terms- pure Saab then. Sixten Sason is rumoured to have had a hand in the control panels – and I think it shows.

To me, today’s Saab 9-3 car fascia has clear echoes of these shapes and motifs.

The cabin glasshouse is curved and faired in – even if the designers lacked acceess to smooth moulded canopies and windscreens. The front seats are thick and comfy and there is room in the back for others too.

And which other light aircraft of this vintage features a nice strong metal rollover bar stuck in the middle of the cabin? Typical Saab safety – whatever the weight penalty.

The size of the tail fin and the shape of the wings are all balanced- proving that ‘if it looks right it will fly right’ – to quote an old adage.

Alan told me that en-route to Kemble, in company with an other craft he had to drop some flaps to keep the speed down- as his little Saab is sleek and slippery – even if she is now a grand lady of a certain age.

The 91 or Safir came in three versions as it was developed- early ones had British De Havilland Gypsy Major engines (125 bhp), but later models had American Lycoming powerplants with six cylinder 190bhp or four cylinder 180bhp on offer – as does Alan’s.

The Safir’s were built at Linkoping and later in the Netherlands to a design by Anders J. Andersson. 323 were produced after a first flight in 1945. Andersson had previously worked on the German Bucker 181 Bestmann design and the ‘look’ is evident in the Safir- albeit more modern – in fact very modern; this plane looks more 1960s than 1940s in its timeless Saab design: It has a lovely stance and visual graphic – just like Saab cars then.

Only the interuppted windscreen panels give its age away and just look at the front grille!

The Safir sold world wide- including in Ethiopia and to the Japanese air force as well as in Germany, France and beyond. It came in 3 or 4 seat versions and was midly aerobatic- an excellent trainer as well as being suitable for private use as a rather low-slung sporting carriage don’t you know…

Alan’s Safir served with the Dutch Rijksluchtvaartschool (RLS) in Eelde, near Groningen and has kept most of its Dutch registration – with the ‘PH’ code being replaced by a British ‘G’ reggo. He has flown her to Saab rallies across Europe too.

The maximum speed is a conservatively quoted 165 mph (265 km/h) with a range of 660 miles (1062 km).

As you can see in the accompanying photos, this little Saab is a real part of Saab history and we at Trollhattan Saab are honoured to have been given an exclusive tour by a Saab owner who clearly knows his stuff.

So, ‘born from props’ – and don’t let anyone forget it.

(C) cole 2008

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Lance Cole is a writer living in England and has penned several books on automobiles and aviation. Saab enthusiasts would know him best for the book Saab 99 and 900: The Complete Story, which is an excellent volume and available for sale at the TS Shop. At the bottom of the left sidebar you’ll see a list of authors here at TS. Click Lance’s name to read all of his contributed pieces.

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Saab 9-X Air – in color!

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UPDATED – Bronze 9-X Air, below

MEGA-UPDATE: Eight new Saab-based colors from Bjarte, in Norway. See below.

EXTRA UPDATE – Now we got a colored roof, too!

YET ANOTHER UPDATE – Two blues and a yellow!

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When I posted about a rather lame blue version of the Saab 9-X Air that appeared on GM’s FYI blog earlier today, I asked if anyone had the skills and the time to do some better photoshop work on the car. The answer just came in, and I’ll have some champagne, please!!

Tiago has answered the call, yet again!!

Here are Tiago’s photoshopped 9-X Air pictures.

Firstly, the Saab 9-X Air in black:

…..and now in a medium blue:

My personal favourite, champagne:

And finally, for those considering a mid-life crisis, a racy red:

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My thanks once again to Tiago for whipping these up so quickly.

If I get any more, I’ll add them to the collection.

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With thanks to Johan, we also now have a Saab 9-X Air in Bronze:

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Many thanks to Bjarte, in Norway, for putting these together. All are meant to replicate current Saab colors (within the limitations of computer images, of course)

Once again, in Black:

In Fusion Blue:

The new Glass Grey:

Very classy in Ice Blue:

Jet black:

Laser Red (otherwise known as “The Hotness”)

Nocturne Blue:

And finally, the surprisingly lookable Pepper Green:

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With thanks to Matt, we can now envisage a colored roof, albeit a somewhat unorthodox red.

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UPDATE!!

More from Bjarte:

His own take on Electric Blue:

Reminiscent of the Monte Carlo yellow, though Bjarte’s called it Lynx Yellow:

“Persian Indigo”

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Saabs of the Week

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Since I’ve decided to put this note into the much-prized “featured” position on TS, I’ve selected two great Saabs to feature this week instead of the usual single.

Additionally, with all of the recent run of news with the 9-X Air, I’ve purposely selected two cars from the past that are, well, not white. Not that I’ve got anything against white, I’ve got two white Saabs myself. It’s just time for a little color.

First up, from goeff.chittendon in the UK comes these great photos of his second gen 9000 Aero, resplendent in red.

From Spain (I’m guessing) we have this beautiful Scarabe Green Classic 900 S convertible. Hectoramez has this car in tip-top condition, and, naturally, this one is a favorite of mine.

Extra —- (and this one is white)

jens.lilienthal has posted quite a few excellent shots from the Stadtparkrevival 2008 apparently in Hamburg, Germany. His pics include this great example of Saab’s rally heritage, a white Saab 96V4:

Dueck Saab: the improving fortunes of Saab in Vancouver

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Whilst one of Saab’s iconic dealerships closed its doors in Seattle last week, there’s a ray of hope just north of the Canada/US border. What was formerly Lansdowne Saab was recently taken over by the Dueck family of GM dealerships. They have a long history, a good name in Vancouver and more importantly than that, they believe in Saab so much that they’re opening three new Saab stores in the near term.

Dueck currently have the only Saab store in Vancouver, and whilst they’ll likely retain their monopoly for the foreseeable future, they plan to extend Saab’s reach in a city that’s enjoying significant pre-Olympic expansion and could use some automotive iron that’s good in wintry conditions.

Right now that one Saab showroom is on Minoru Blvd in Richmond, BC. It’s a busy area not too far from the airport, but let me explain a little about Vancouver in order to show you why this expansion is so necessary and so good for Saab.

My Canadian brother-in-law works from home and has now developed what could almost be classified as a clinical phobia of peak hour traffic. His father, my father-in-law, goes to extraordinary lengths to stay off the main routes in his area. As I type this, it’s 8.50am and already, some poor motorists will have spent up to 90 minutes commuting through a metropolis built on a winding river. That means everyone’s looking for a bridge, and traffic snarls around those bridges can go for miles, or even longer. It doesn’t take a big straw to break this camel’s back and a breakdown or minor collision can cause all sorts of havoc.

The majority of Dueck Saab’s potential clientele don’t live in Richmond, where the current (and somewhat compact) showroom is located. They probably live downtown, or in the beautiful leafy established homes of North Vancouver or similar locales. None of these places are too far from Richmond as the crow flies, but ask clients to battle inner suburban traffic and the bridge approaches too often and you’ll probably get a better response if you ask them to chew off their own arm.

And that’s why this expansion plan is so important. And exciting.

First of all there’s the Saab association with the Dueck family. As I mentioned earlier, they’re a long established GM dealer with great infrastructure, a huge clientele and most importantly, a really good reputation in Vancouver.

Here’s a map of the current Dueck outlets, covering all GM Brands.

The outlets marked A and B currently sell GM’s more mainline vehicles.

At “A” we have Dueck at 400 SE Marine Drive, which currently sells Chevrolet, Cadillac and Hummer vehicles. As of November 2008, this showroom will have a section specifically just for Saab.

At “B” we have Dueck Downtown at 888 Terminal Ave, which currently focuses on GMC, Buick and Pontiac. From October 2008, this will have a combined Saturn-Saab dealership incorporated into it.

The letter “C” on that map shows the current Dueck yards on Minoru Blvd in Richmond. These are being vacated in the coming weeks becuase Dueck are building a brand new showroom on a prime 5-acre lot at 12100 Featherstone Way in Richmond.

When I visited Dueck just over a week ago to return the Saab 9-3 they had loaned me for the great TS Pacific Northwest Meetup, I had a good chat with Dueck’s Saab guy, Bill Convery. Bill’s been selling Saabs with the various companies that have marketed them in Vancouver over the last 29 years. He’s a long-term Saab nut himself, currently driving a Dame Edna Saab 9-5, and has weathered all the changes that have taken place with Saab over the last three decades.

Bill took me for a drive down to the new Dueck showroom, currently under construction at 12100 Featherstone Way, in Richmond.

Believe it or not, they plan to move in here in just a few weeks time! Here’s the showroom front:

And here’s inside. Like I said, they expect to be moved in in just a few weeks from now. Hard to imagine, huh?

Here’s one of the plans for the entire complex. The main showroom area will be showcasing GM’s more mainstream brands and the building, as you’ve seen, is pretty big. Saturn and Saab will have their own separate premises, away from the main building. On this plan, Saturn/Saab’s building is shown as the small grey building at the bottom of the drawing.

At present, these buildings are yet to be constructed. In this photo, you can see the roundel where Dueck will feature a car, or cars, and behind that you can see a flattend mound of soil. That’s where the Saturn and Saab showroom will be located. Construction is due to begin shortly and the Saab guys will be located in the main showroom until it’s completed, due late December or early January.

A few more pictures, of the service are and body shop as they were when I toured the building. It was only a week ago, but I’m sure they’re looking different and more complete already.

It’s going to be an excellent, state of the art facility and the good news is the company that’s investing in this piece of real estate has a real belief in the future of Saab. They’re allocating a separate, specialised area for Saab (and Saturn) as part of the construction program, and as I’ve already told you, they’re expanding Saab’s reach and within the lower mainland in Vancouver, which is a vital step in accessing the clients they need to reach.

Bill Convery at Dueck expressed real enthusiasm for the availability of XWD in the 2.0T version of the 9-3 in 2009 and his eyes really lit up at the prospect of a new 9-5 as well as the 9-4x.

We all know that Saab are currently hampered by a lack of new models and a lack of exposure in various markets around the world. It seems that over the next 12 months, Saab and Dueck are going to tackle this two-headed problem and it looks to me like they’re doing all the right things. Dueck are showing a lot of faith in Saab. It’s now up to Saab to repay that faith with cars that’ll do the job.

I love Vancouver. It’s like a home away from home for me now. I’m really pleased to see the potential for Saab’s expansion here taking root.

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The great TS Pacific Northwest Meetup

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The following is my account on what turned out to be a highlight of our holiday in Canada so far – the great TS Pacific Northwest Meetup.

When we organised this event, I was bouyed by the interest of the three clubs involved: the Saab Club of Western Canada, the Saab Club of Seattle, and the Northwest Saab Owners Club. Responses to me personally were a little light, though, and I thought that we’d get maybe a dozen or as many as fifteen cars along for the meet. This is North America, though, and everything’s supersized here. My expectations were blown out of the water with the final tally of vehicles.

We started the day with the Canadian Saabers meeting up at the Coquitlam Ikea store. A number of them had to work, or perhaps were put off by the full-day nature of the event. Consequently, we only had three cars in the carpark there. We pulled up in our 9-3 loaner vehicle from Dueck Saab and Saturn just after 9am to find SaabKen and Todd waiting in the carpark.

Todd was kind enough to come down and meet us even though he was unable to attend the event due to a birthday commitment that day. His 2006 9-3 Aero was an excellent example and he had nothing but good things to say about it. Like a friend of mine back in Hobart, he chose this model specifically for the combination of the V6 motor and the button dashboard and has been a very happy camper ever since. Whilst Todd’s dad has had a number of Saabs, Todd’s virtually a new Saab customer having owned mainly VWs since owning a Saab 99 as his first car.

After a decent chat at Ikea (and a Saab 9-7x spotted as we left the Ikea car park), we finally made our way to the Aldergrove border crossing, where I noted that a particular Saab Central moderator sports a set of Saabnet number plate surrounds on his 9000 CSE – tres political!!

It should be noted by those interested in such things that when loaded with an appropriately sized cup from a Swedish-themed venue, the Saab 9-3′s controversial cupholders performed with aplomb.

After crossing the border we had a pretty gentle drive down to Bellingham, where we paused for some refreshment and used the ladies washroom due to some doofus taking 15 minutes in the mens. Then it was on to the ominously titled but beautiful Chukunut Drive, heading south out of Bellingham.

We passed one house with three or four Saab 9000s in the driveway along Chukunut. I felt like stopping and asking them why they weren’t accompanying us, but each to their own, I guess.

I’d have loved to fly along this route, but we got held up in traffic along the way. Still, I guess it gave us more time to enjoy the beautiful Washington surrounds.

After the Chukunut adventure, Ken realised that we were running a little late for our 3pm rendezvous at XXX Root Beer in Issaquah, so we had to motor. That meant Ken leading the way at considerable speed and us trying to keep up as he weaved his way in and out of four lanes of traffic. Here’s our target, and this was about as close as we got to him in the next few hours!

Note: at least one and quite possibly two Saab 9-2x were spotted as we made our way south.

As we got close to our target, we spotted what looked like a couple of Saab OG9-3′s heading in the same direction. I’ll explain the “what looked like” bit shortly. We played musical Saabs for a few miles before settling in and following them to our destination at XXX Root Beer. It was here that my expectation of maybe 15 Saabs was blown out of the water.

There must have been at least 15 there already. The four in our convoy would make it close to 20 and more were rolling up very shortly thereafter. Prior to our later drive around the Saab Club of Seattle’s “flogging route” the number was tallied at 24 cars.

I have to apologise to some because I was so swept up in the whole day that there’s some cars that I probably forgot to include. Not to mention that my photos are really just snapshots rather than nicely composed. There was just so much to see, though, and so many Saab people to meet and talk to.

Some (but definitely not all) of the notable vehicles in attendance were as follows:

A Saab 9000 running on the stock Turbo and stock ECU and pushing well over 300hp. Note the little red switch on the dash. That’s the volume button and the car goes up to 11 when you flick that switch.

Nitrous.

Mag-X drove all the way up from Oregon to attend this event in his 1976 Saab 99GL. He said the ride around the flogging loop was the hardest he’d ever pushed the little car. Like me, he was from out of town and would have been completely lost if he hadn’t kept pace with the pack!

This Saab 96 was owned by an older gent named Dick, who took out the award for most Saabs owned over time amongst attendees at the event. This is one of the 33 Saabs he’s had over his lifetime.

This Saab 99 Turbo brought back some very fond memories for me, having owned a few of them in the past. We never got this gunmetal grey color in Australia, though. I don’t think my photo will do it justice, but it looked superb.

The TeamD Saab 900 was featured in an earlier group photo. They bought this car for $250 and then prepped it for the Alcan Rally, a 5,000 mile trek from Washington to northern Canada and back. It didn’t miss a beat.

Here’s the interior with all the rally gear installed.

Here’s a great example of a much overlooked car – the four door Saab 900 sedan. Dennis L bought this one brand new as a graduation present to himself back in the late 1980s. He’s still got it and some mild refreshing of the car a few years ago turned into almost a full mechanical rebuild complete with a customised stand-alone engine management system.

It really does go to show how great these sedans can look given the right treatment.

These are just a few of the cars that were there. The vehicles ranged from the 96 and 99s you’ve seen here right up to a couple of Dame Edna Saab 9-5s and of course, my loaner Saab 9-3.

After an hour or so of chatter, tyre-kicking and getting-to-know-yous, we all jumped in our cars for the drive around the Flogging Loop, a mix of suburban and highway driving where the locals really did give the cars a flogging.

I had my brother-in-law in the car with me for the drive down to Issaquah and therefore was OK if we got lost at that stage. As cars took off for the Flogging Loop, however, he was just getting a burger from the XXX Root Beer restaurant. That left me driving solo in a loaned car in a place I’d never been before.

Like Mag-X in his little 99GL, I was totally stuffed if I lost track of the cars I was running with. As the main group got split at a set of traffic lights, we ended up being a small group of just 5 or 6 cars. I had to keep up and believe me, these guys called it a Flogging Loop for a reason.

I was in a group comprising all 900s and one Saab 99, and it was a real pleasure to see and hear these classic Saabs enjoying a good run in the countryside.

We made our way back to XXX Root Beer, where there were a few more cars still to come. Food was eaten, music was listened to and there was a lot of close-up inspection of various cars.

That 9-3 that I thought I saw on our way to the event earlier in the afternoon? Well, it turns out it was a Saab 900 SE Talladega, and one of the best upgrade customisation jobs I’d ever seen.

Here’s a picture but there’ll be more on that one later.

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Again, I’d like to thank all who helped to organise the event and especially all those who made the time to turn out. Particular thanks must go to SaabKen from The Saab Club of Western Canada, James from The Saab Club of Seattle and Tim S from the Northwest Saab Owners Club. If you’re in the area and you’re not a member of one of these Saab clubs, then I’d encourage you to join up and get involved.

Of course, my thanks also to Dueck Saturn Saab of Richmond, in Vancouver, for the use of the Saab 9-3 2.0T that we had for the day. Dueck have some huge plans for Saab in the lower mainland area of British Columbia and I’ll be sharing more about that this week. It’s really exciting stuff.

There’s already talk of this becoming an annual event and whilst I won’t be able to make it annually (oh, how I wish I could!), I certainly hope that it happens. It’s a great venue and everyone had a great time.

For more photos, see SaabKen’s album at Photobucket, and Dennis L’s collection at SaabCentral.

FYI – the Flogging Loop.

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