Voting has finished in the Saab Pride of ownership competition and we have a winner.

Congratulations to Vaidas in Lithuania for submitting the winning entry in the competition.

As you can see, the competition for second, third and fourth place was very tight, with Wilfried just beating out Willy D for second place, and Tim S finishing a very close fourth.

Congratulations to all the finalists and all of the entrants in the competition. At the end of the day, this was more of a celebration than a competition. An exhibition of pride in owning a very distinctive marque.

I’d like to thank you all again for your participation and interest in the whole campaign. It’s certainly been a pleasure to host it here.

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It would be quite remiss of me not to mention our competition sponsor, Elkparts.

John has been a supporter of this website almost since the first post was written and his contribution and generosity in this campaign is appreciated. Elkparts provide a great range of parts and accessories for Saabs. Their prices are always competitive and they can deliver anywhere.

So check ‘em out.

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* the observant ones amongst you will note that Denver Newbie’s bar in the graph above has a black outline indicating that a vote for it was placed from my computer. Lest you think I was favouring anyone, the vote belonged to my wife, who loved the red setting.

…until voting closes in the Saab Pride of Ownership competition. NOW CLOSED.

The voting is incredibly close from second through to fourth place, so if you haven’t had your say yet, then go have it now!

And if you have, then enjoy this pic sent in by Jacco.

Vive la Saab!

It’s time. And it’s been a long time coming.

This competition was built to encourage some pride in owning your Saab and sharing a little of it. It was also formulated to show a little of where people live and in that way, build some community. I hope we succeeded together in doing this….and I have a sneaking suspicion that we did.

First and foremost, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who took the time to get out in the cold, photograph their car, and send the results in to share with everyone. I feel quite fortunate to have hosted this competition and humbled when I think of the effort that some of you went to. If I could send everyone a prize of some sort, I would.

For now, please accept my congratulations for your entries and my gratitude for your efforts.

Click on any of the images to enlarge.

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So, our Pride of Ownership finalists. In no particular order……

< drumroll >

Wilfried’s Saab 9-5 in Belgium

Wilfried’s entry gave a great run down of his cars and the locations where they were show, but more than that, there were two photos of his black Saab 9-5 SportCombi that not only accentuated it’s beautiful lines, but put you right there in the midst of winter with him.

Click here to view Wilfried’s entry in full.

This, for me at least, was the money shot. A moody atmosphere, a gate you just want to explore and a beautiful black Saab.

Tim’s Viggen in Seattle

Once again, a great story.

This car is notable for how meticulously clean Tim keeps it. It’s quite amazing that for a black car it’s without a mark, anywhere, that you can see on these shots. I’ve seen other shots of the car too and the work Tim’s put in is amazing.

More than having one outstanding shot, Tim’s entry was notable for the whole series, which worked together so well to show off the car and a few spots in Seattle, where he lives.

Click to view Tim’s entry in full.

Denver Newbie’s 9-3 in Colorado

This entry was a gamechanger. The effort that Denver Newbie put in to get these shots (a 4am start – yikes!) was outstanding and it set the bar for the rest of the competition.

Technically, these aren’t the best photos on this page or in this competition. Yes, it’s wearing a car-bra and yes, the lens shield intrudes in some shots – but taken as an entry in its entirety, none of that seems to matter. The sheer size of the setting and the sincerity in both the composition and the story stood it apart.

Click here to view Denver Newbie’s entry in full.

Vaidas’ Saab family in Lithuania

Again, an informative piece that put us right into a place that many people probably wouldn’t pay too much mind to. I know I’ve never given much thought to Lithuania except in terms of basketball, so personally I was all the more appreciative of this entry.

There’s multiple cars in this entry, but the feature vehicle is this 2007 Saab 9-5, which just looks menacing in black, especially in this dramatic setting with the building, the clouds and of course, the tyre marks

Click here to view Vaidas’ entry in full.

Willy D’s Saab 9-5 in Hawaii

If Saab haven’t contacted Willy D for use of this image yet, they should.

Willy D took us for a quick ride around Hawaii and more than that, he showed us how good a Saab 9-5 could look in white. This was another very popular entry and I think it may have even been the starting point for people thinking there could be a book in all this.

Click here for Willy D’s entry in full

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So there you have it. Five outstanding entries amongst a field of truly memorable photos and experiences.

I hope you enjoyed them all as much as I have because now it’s over to you.

In addition to fun of sharing their cars with people all over the world, entries in the Saab Pride of Ownership competition were in the running for some great prizes: a series of Saab books, a backpack and Nallis Bear courtesy of Elkparts, and a 1GB UrSaab USB memory stick (full details of the prizes here)

So please review these final entries at the appropriate links above, and then place your vote in the poll below!!

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Entries will be light for the next 24 hours so as to give this competition full time to breathe. I’ll close entries at midnight tomorrow night, eastern daylight savings time here in Australia (just over 23 hours from the time of writing).

Cast your vote and spread the word!

You’ve seen the honorbale mentions….now a word on how we judged this competition.

There were three judges. Myself, my camera buddy Stu The Lens Genius, and John from competition sponsor, Elkparts.

Each of us picked a pool of finalists – our favourite entries from the group. I know I speak on behalf of all three of us when I mention how difficult this was. In fact, whilst Stu and I both got our lists down to a final eight, John sent in a final eleven!!

The theory was that where any entry got two votes or more, it would be a finalist. And to show how even the field and broad the appeal was, we ended up with only five finalists for you to vote on.

Picking the honorable mentions was an even more difficult proposition. For reasons of space and time I selected only one each of our panelist’s favourites. Therefore, there’s a lot of great work that didn’t get featured in the honorable mentions, like Turbin’s SportCombi in Oz, Wulf’s 9-5 in Michigan, Joe’s 9000 in Malta, Andreas’ convertible in Spain, Arild’s 9-3 in Norway and Gary and Annette’s Saabs at Montacute House in the UK.

Actually, I could put just about everyone in that list.

I feel quite fortunate to have hosted such a great gathering of Saabs around the world and I think we produced something really special as the competition progressed. I’ll save more of that for later, though.

So….on to the finalists!

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!

The Saab Pride of Ownership competition has now seen it’s final entrant (well, providing I haven’t missed any).

I want to thank everyone who sent in an entry. Your efforts are much appreciated and I’m sure everyone who stopped by enjoyed what we’ve gathered here.

So, how things will work from here?

There’s three judges. Myself, John from Elkparts, and my camera buddy here in Hobart – Stu the lens genius. We’ll all take a look through the entries and by various measures, we’ll come up with a list of finalists.

Then it’s up to you to vote and come up with three winners.

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The entries throughout the competition have been fantastic. It’s been great fun to see people’s cars and learn a little about where they live, where they holiday, as well as why they love their Saab – which is what this competition has been all about.

Great photos, great stories and pride of ownership.

Here’ the full list of entries. A great collection.

Blix’s Saab 9-5 in New York

Greg Abbott’s Saab 9-5 in the dirt in Minnesota.

Bart B’s Saab 9-3 at St Michel.

Stig B’s Saab 9000 in Japan.

Baah’s Saab 9-3 SportCombi in North Carolina.

Andreas’ Saab 9-3 Convertible in Spain.

Joe’s Saab 9000 in Malta.

Simon A’s Saab 9-5 here in Australia.

Mikael’s Saab 9-5 in the snow in Sweden.

Denver Newbie’s Saab 9-3 in Colorado – USA.

Joel W’s Saab 9-5 in Idaho, USA.

Saab 9x’s NG900, also in Colorado, USA.

Frank’s Saab 9-5 in Romania.

Ted’s Saab 9-3 SportCombi in Ohio, USA.

Nico’s “Buttwagon” Saab 9-5 in New England (except for the but where he’s in New York).

Mychal’s 9-3 Viggen in Seattle

Tim S’s Classic Saab 900 in Yonkers, NY

Brian M’s 9-3 SportCombi in Canada

Saabaudi’s 9-3 SportCombi in Germany

Radu’s 9-3TiD in Austria (though he’s from Romania)

Wulf’s 9-5 Wagon in Michigan, USA

Tim S’s Viggen in Seattle.

Kaz’s 9-3 Convertible at Luton Hoo (I love that name) – UK

John G’s Saab NG900 in California

Bengt P’s 2008 Saab 9-3 in Växjö, Sweden

Tony R’s 2008 Saab 9-3 here in Australia

C H Tay’s Saab 9-5 in Singapore

Jeroen’s Saab 9-3 in The Netherlands

Vaidas’s Saab family, feat new 9-5, in Lithuania

Wilfied’s Saab 9-3 and 9-5 in Belgium

Golfhunter’s Saabs all over France.

Mo’s 9-3 in Texas.

Ted’s 9-3 in Ohio

Robin M’s 9-5 Wagon in Yeovil

WillyD’s 9-5 in Hawaii

Alex’s 9-5 in Pennsylvania

RJ’s 9-3 in San Diego

Tim’s 9-3 in Belgium, though it’s normally in Sweden.

Peter’s 9-3 in Austria

Martin’s 9000 Turbo Anniversary in Germany

Arild’s 9-3 in Norway

Gary and Annette’s convertible and SportCombi in England

Rich’s 9-3 Convertible in Minnesota

Simon’s 9000 in the Aussie outback

MarkoA’s various Saabs in Finland

Oskar’s geographically anonymous 9-3

Carlos’ convertible in Spain

David’s convertible in Dallas

Eldo’s 9-3 in Frankfurt

Patrick’s SportCombi in Switzerland

Igor’s 9-5 wagon with sea kayak in Connecticut, USA.

Peter’s 4-door C900 in New Mexico

Alexandra’s Viggen in Austria

Turbin’s SportCombi in Australia

Alexander’s 9-5 Wagon in Norway

Danni’s 9-5 in Africa

Sumit’s 9-5 in Wisconsin

Terry’s 9000 in Sweden

Norbert’s convertibles towing caravans

Seth’s 9-3 in Cincinnati

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I’d like to once again thank John at Elkparts for supporting this competition. Elkparts have been supporters of this site since the very early days of its existence.

They provide a great range of Saab parts and accessories at very competitive prices. Best of all, the service is first class and the goods will be at your door faster than you can say Fasta egentligen porto.

If you’ve got some places left unfilled in your Christmas list, there’s some TS suggestions from the Elkparts catalogue here.

It’s time for what I believe might just be the final entry in the Saab Pride of Ownership competition.

NOTE: if you’ve sent an entry and somehow I overlooked it, please let me know.

Today’s entry comes from Seth, in Cinci.

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Since you have pride of ownership pics from around the world, I thought I would send you a few of my car in Cincinnati, OH.

These were taken on a rainy, crappy day in the Queen City and the car is a little dirty. This is my first Saab and the best car I have ever owned. It is a 2004 93SS 2.0t. I have had this car about 1 1/2 years and since I drive about 40,000 miles per year, I need something comfortable and fun.

The Saab is it!!!