You can never start planning too early for a Saab Festival. It’s an event that should be on any Saab enthusiast’s once-in-a-lifetime calendar – well…..at least once.

If you’ve got a convertible and you’re already reasonably close to Sweden (or willing to travel), then Jörgen T might be hosting just the event for you – the CabrioChallenge. The first CabrioChallenge was held on June 14-15 of this year – just a few weeks ago. They had 10 car participating in this inaugural event but are hoping for more next year.

There are no dates set for the 2009 event yet because the second CabrioChallenge is going to be timed to coincide with the Saab Festival in 2009 (for which there aren’t any dates yet).

So what will you get up to during this two-day festival prelude?

Although it’s called the Cabrio Challenge, there’s nothing competitive about it. It’s a beautiful two day drive between three of Sweden’s four largest lakes. This year’s program went as follows:

Day one consisted of a 250km drive. There were 7 special ‘stages’ driven. The stages were selected for their natural grandeur, culture, and the simple fun of the roads. There was even a 2 km gravel stage!

Day one ended at Svartå Mansion, built in 1782. We lined up in nice circle in front of the main buliding. After some hours relaxation we had a private 3 course dinner in the Grand Hall.

On Sunday morning (day 2) we drove to the Gälleråsen racetrack for the Historical Track day ( a Swedish Goodwood). There were old race bikes, pre-war Bugatti racers, SAAB 2-strokers, plus all sorts of racers including the SAAB 93 LeMans race replica. I spoke to former World Champion Stig Blomquist, who did not drive but enjoyed the day.

During the lunchbreak we drove our convertibles top down on the racetrack…. great fun!

There’s a website for this event and you can view more photos and get some info in both Swedish and English. You can also view a bunch of photos at the Saab Turbo Club of Sweden forum (highly recommended).

This would be the perfect lead up to the Saab Festival in 2009 so like the headline says, if you’ve got a ragtop and you’ve got access, then block out a spot in June 2009 for not only the Saab Festival, but also the CabrioChallenge.

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Just a heads up, thanks to Gripen…

Steve Shannon will be a Saab of Sherman Oaks in Los Angeles today talking about the state of Saab (I wonder if he checked here before preparing the speech?).

It’s an invitational event, though I’m sure if you live nearby and you wanted to pop in they would welcome you with an aperitif and a nibbly. Tell ‘em Swade sent you.

The program is as follows:

10:00 AM – Welcome, light refreshments at Saab of Sherman Oaks, Turbo X on display in showroom

10:30 AM – “State of Saab”, presentation highlighting Turbo X, given by Steve Shannon, Saab USA General Manager

11:00 AM – Q and A, media interviews

11:15 AM – Lunch buffet available

12:30 PM – Event concludes.

I wonder what’s bringing the troops to LA this week? Ah, media interviews is probably a decent clue, and it explains why S-USA comms guru Jan-Willem Vester is also in attendance. Gotta stay on-message.

Go well, gents. Why not let us know how it goes?

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It’s the weekend, which means that somewhere in the world, a bunch of Saab drivers are heading out to meet up, have a drive/feed/chat somewhere in the world.

My thanks to Z for sending through these pics from a recent meeting of Hungarian Saab nuts.

They got a few 2008s to come along, including a Turbo X. Note also, the e85 converted Saab 900, which I believe belongs to the head of one of the Saab clubs there.

Cheers, Z!

Click.

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The twin pipes. Nice.

900 goes green.

The Turbo X made it’s presence known….

The geographically limited Saab 900 EP (ecopower)

Pepper Green was in the house….

And the twin turbo diesel was there as well. That completes a pretty nice lineup.

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Many thanks to Jon1 for dropping this one into comments.

There’s a massive photo gallery from Saabs at Carlisle 2008 over at the New York Saab Owners Club website. 350 photos in all. As mentioned previously, there’s a huge number of Saabs that turn up at the annual event – some of them belong to regulars here at TS!

Here’s a small sample from the gallery…

A close-up of a 900 SPG prototype in pearlescent paint. Magnificent.

All in the details…..Saab 900 with 9000 Aero seats. Still the best seats ever IMHO, but I probably need to spend more time in a 9-5.

Not your usual carby setup on an early Saab 99….

And TS regular, Greg Abbott (left), drove all the way from Minnesota to take a prize in the 900SPG category. Congratulations, Greg!

I have a feeling that Blix might have taken an award, too, though there were no names mentioned on that particular photo. True?

Other noted owners were Jeff P, with his lightning blue 900 and Johnny Del, who’s covered several auto shows for us in the north east (usually with Jeff P).

Congratulations to all!!

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I featured one shot from Carlisle a few days ago, shot by Blix/Minxx. I’ve just come across a whole bunch more through a Vsaabs email.

The full collection of photos is here and there’s a bunch to see. This would have to be one of the bigger gatherings of Saabs in the US on an annual basis. If the convention is bigger then my guess is it’s not by much. There were 211 Saabs there in 2007.

Saabs at Carlisle is organised by the Central Penn Saab Club, but it’s sort of like an event-within-an-event as the Carlisle show is huge, the actual name being the Carlisle Import/Kit Replicar Nationals.

Here’s just a couple of snaps, but there’s more at the link.

This is a 16v Saab 99. Cool.

And this 99EMS has a rather extraordinary history, and is unrestored! Click through to check out the history.

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