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Today is the day when I’m supposed to be going to one of the more exclusive events on Melbourne’s social calendar – Derby Day. Saab have their Ice Bar set up in The Birdcage, which is hands down the hottest ticket in town today.

My pass to get into The Birdcage is sitting here on a coffee table, but I’ve woken up this morning feeling pretty darn sick, so the beautiful people will have to go on being beautiful without me bringing them down.

The saddest part for me is that we’ll have to rely on others for photos of it all.

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And on the Ice Bar that Saab have built….

One journo mentions it in a piece on Australia’s poor record when it comes to climate change:

But it’s a jolly good thing those refreshment tents have gone up at Flemington. I particularly like the sound of Saab’s ice bar — somehow the idea of a car manufacturer creating a mini-Antarctica that will slowly melt as cup day rolls on seems exquisitely apt.

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I’ve got around 10MB of emails and attachments to get through at the moment. What a difference missing a day can make! To those who have emailed me about various things, I have got it and will hopefully get around to checking it all out and responding where appropriate soon. Cheers.

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BusinessWeek has put together a list of the 20-heaviest discounts in America at the moment. Among them, the Saab 9-7x.

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And further on discounts, Edmunds have reported the US industry’s incentive figures for October 2007. Once again Saab are at the wrong end of the table (who’s saying that their incentives aren’t enough?)

Cadillac spent the most, $4,953, followed by Saab at $4,790 per vehicle sold. Relative to their vehicle prices, Saab and Mercury spent the most, 14.5 percent and 13.0 percent of sticker price, respectively, while Mini spent virtually nothing and Scion spent just 0.6 percent.

But apparently this isn’t all bad news:

“It wasn’t long ago that the big spenders invested over $7,000 per vehicle,” commented Edmunds’ AutoObserver.com Senior Editor Michelle Krebs. “Automakers are really sticking to their guns, staying true to the real-world pricing strategy they have talked about.”

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If you’re wondering why a bunch of websites are featuring Saab’s press release on their new safety technology – where they have computers reading your eyes and seeing if you’re drifting off to sleep or not concentrating – well, it’s not on this site today for a very good reason.

The reason: it was on this site around a week ago, thanks to ctm providing a tranlsation of the Swedish release when it first came out.

We aren’t just ahead of the Saab curve here at TS – we’re holding the freaking pencil that draws the curve – yeeeeha! I might be feeling sick but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel happy

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A great collection of photos from The Saab Festival has popped up on Flickr. It’s from SaabRobz, whose photos have featured here previously as well.

Since then, Brendan has put the story together for publication in the Saab Car Club of Australia’s magazine – have I ever mentioned that it’s just about the best car club magazine on the planet?

Anyway, allow me to set the scene. It’s June 11, and while I’m out west driving the new Saab 9-3 just outside Gothenburg and down the coast, my fellow Aussie-in-Sweden, Brendan B is driving one of the rarest Saabs there is – the original Saab 94.

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It’s a beautiful sunny Monday afternoon in Trollhättan. Tim, a Trollhättan local, is driving me out to Sjuntorp, a town that is part of greater Trollhättan. We’re on our way to visit Gösta, a ex-Saab employee and a Saab collector. Gösta worked in engine development back when they were making two strokes; then working with after-sales fixing known faults with cars that were in between delivery from the factory and to the customer. He told stories of fixing cars sitting in various dock yards around the world! He’s also one of the people that lost their jobs when GM demanded that 800 jobs be axed at Saab. Gösta also owns a Sonett 1… chassis number 3 of 6!

Back in 1963, Gösta had recently received his drivers licence and joined the Swedish Automobile Club. His boss at Saab knowing this suggested that he purchase one of the Sonett 1s. Gösta left a message with Ross Meldor, the head of Saab back then, enquiring about the Sonett. Two months later Gösta’s boss asked him what the Sonett was still doing there and instructed Gösta to take it home.

The Sonett was then towed through town and back to his home, where his father remarked at how silly he was for bringing home a car with no roof. His father then quickly learnt that the car also had no registration, no engine and no gearbox! Gösta was almost kicked out of home!

However a 850cc motor and a 4 speed gear box soon found a home in this Sonett. Not too long after that the talk of the town was all about a little red Saab sports car. Some complain that this 3rd manufactured Sonett 1 isn’t original, but what is an original? The 1st
Sonett came with the 750cc GT engine and a 3 speed gearbox. The 2nd Sonett came with the 750cc GT engine and a 4 speed gearbox. The 3rd Sonett came with no engine and no gearbox. The 3rd Sonett is as original as the first two predecessors.

So here I am on the opposite side of the world to Australia, standing next to a Sonett 1, being given a personalised guided tour by it’s owner. The hood and boot open revealing the insides. Looking over the car reveals that this is in fact a car built by a company that builds planes. Tim who accompanied me on this visit and whom is a pilot, happily pointed out the features that have been carried over from it’s aircraft heritage: zig zag rivets, aluminium frame and structural design are the blatant clues.

Gösta then puts the car back together and it’s time to get into the car. I am then told that there are two ways in: one can use the door or one can simply just step over the door! The car is 825 mm high at the top of the windscreen. I open the door and stepped into the car, not wanting to hurt the car. Gösta then jumps into the car!

As we drive slowly down the driveway he explains that he’s tuned the car and estimates power at 60hp and the car weighs around 500kgs, probably more with a couple of people in it.

Then we’re off! What a fantastic car, the weather is perfect for open top motoring and the car is quick! After only a five minute spin I’m sold. This is a fantastically fun car! I’m left wondering why Saab never put the car into full production, as I believe it would have sold in bucketloads.

I’ve featured them in posts and on TS calendars.

Well, here’s all of them and all in the one place. I haven’t contacted Jeff yet to see if these are all his. I was under the impression he owned five magnificent Saabs, not SEVEN!! It matters little, as they’re worth drooling over anyway.

His website, Saabs Downunder, has a separate gallery for each car. Jeff and his wife Di were also part of the Aussie contingent at the Saab Festival in Sweden back in June and he has a fantastic gallery of pictures from the trip, too.

Following is just one pic of each car in the collection, but you’ll find heaps more at the website. Click any of these to enlarge.

I should add that Jeff has done the lions share of restoration and customisation work himself – that’s a 1980 900 there, with a custom made body kit well before Saab did body kits. Having seen and driven a number of these cars myself, I can tell you that the workmanship is first rate.

Get a napkin to catch the dribble and head on over to Saabs Downunder.

So here’s my 50 or so reasons why a Saabnut should visit Trollhattan during Saab Festival. Maybe with your help in comments we can get to 99…..

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1. You can’t separate this city and Saab, but it’s undeniable that Trollhattan itself is a beautiful little place.

2. The locks. A great place to go for a walk.

3. “The release”. I didn’t see it, but apparently they open the gates and do a massive release of water every week during the warmer months. The photos look spectacular.

4. It’s an easy place for an English-speaking tourist to get around. Like most places in Sweden, nearly everyone speaks English and they don’t get uppity about doing so (hello, France!)

5. Web access. They have faster access in just about any hotel you’d stay at than what most people have at home here in Australia. Made my job a lot easier.

6. Breakfast. Everywhere I stayed had a huge cooked breakfast buffet available and it was included in the cost. This happened in Stockholm too. Maybe it’s a European thing, but you’d pay plenty for that in Australia.

7. They have Viggens mounted as statues just out of town.

8. Only 4 hours of ‘darkness’ in June means there’s heaps of activity.

9. The kids finish high school and provide plenty of entertainment, both night and day.

10. Pizza is readily accessible and quite good. Combine this with the 4 hours of darkness and it makes for a great night out, eating El Fresco with some Trollhattan mates (English ones too).

11. The urban myths about Sweden and the number of blond inhabitants are totally true. I’m happily married man but can appreciate some of our Lord’s finer works from a distance.

12. #11 combined with a social predisposition towards riding bicycles

13. The Erik Carlsson roundel (roundabout) just near the Saab Museum. At one point of the Festival I sat there quite happily just watching the Saabs go by.

14. The Saab Factory – do I even need to explain?

15. The carpark of the Saab Factory. It was interesting to walk through on my way to the factory office and just see what the locals are driving. lots of Saabs there, naturally. Lots of older Saabs there, too.

16. Hearing a 2-stroke in the distance.

17. Knowing that you’re driving around many of the same streets that Carlsson did as a kid.

18. The Wednesday night car show – the locals all get out their favourite cars, head to the locks and show them off.

19. ANA – the big local dealership. At the time of my visit it was still Saab/GM owned, but for sale.

20. The locals. Saab is a common thread through almost all their lives. I was even accosted by a drunk who hadn’t seen a bath, shower or bed for several days yelling “Saab – 60 years” at me. It was great.

21. The Saab Museum – an incredible store of Saabs in great condition. Even better, they’re all kept in driveable condition. Even UrSaab and the EV-1.

22. UrSaab and the EV-1. I’d only read about cars like these in books and never thought I’d see them in the metal.

23. Seeing the Saab Performance Team at home.

24. Chance meetings 1 – Running into someone like Bjorn Envall, assistant to Sixten Sason on the Saab 99 and father of the 900, EV-1 and NG900.

25. Pulling up next to Saab Sonett II in the carpark. Where else could you do this?

26. Spying cars coming into and out of the Saab Technical Center. Fun.

27. Chance meetings 2 – seeing Jan-Ake Jonsson in your hotel lobby

28. Chance meetings 3 – when you’re standing around outside and then you turn around and there’s Erik Carlsson crossing the street.

29. Sitting outdoors at a restaurant having dinner when a Sonett III pulls up and parks next to you.

30. I can’t remember the proper name for it, but I’ll call it the King’s Rock. There’s a rock formation there that kings dating back a looooooong time have all written a message on. Cool.

31. The hydro power system. It may not sound too interesting, but you’d be surprised once you see it working and hear about the power it can generate. I think it was one of the first in Europe, too.

32. The Saab Turbo Club of Sweden

33. Going at Festival time means you get to visit Kinnekulle and drive with all the other Saabs.

34. Going at Festival time means you get to visit Kinnekulle and see vintage Saabs on the race track.

35. UrSaab. Being driven.

36. The SDCC sale. An unbelievable store of parts and accessories at crazy prices. I think I’ve still got video of that to process….

37. It’s fun driving on the right-hand side of the road when you’re only used to driving on the left.

38. Crazy modded Saabs, like the Saab 92 with a V6 in it.

39. Swede Team Motor.

40. If you meet the right people and play your cards right you could get a ride in a Saab Sonett

42. The sheer fact that of only six Saab Sonetts ever made, four of them will be in close proximity.

43. The 9x – still my favourite Saab concept car.

44. You get to meet some amazing people with some incredible Saab history to tell. Like the guy whose best friend grew up taking weekend trips in UrSaab as they had to do so much testing in it. His father designed a lot of the factory layout there back in the 40s and 50s. If a Saab employee took UrSaab for the weekend they HAD to do minimum 500 miles in it. Amazing.

45. Erik Carlsson, Gunnar Palm and Stig Blomqvist chatting about rallies over dinner.

46. Talking with Kjell AC Bergstrom about the LSD in his 9-5.

47. Watching one of Saab’s engineering chiefs, Stig Nodin, walking around as happy as can be looking at Sonett IIIs. There’s something beautiful about that.

48. Unexpected moments like walking into a room and seeing the Saab NG900 prototype that eventually became the 9-3 Viggen just sitting in the room – with the keys in the ignition!

49. Jets. Yes, we saw jets.

50. Trollspeed. There wasn’t much going on when we visited, but just knowing what’s come out of that place and seeing it firsthand was worth the short drive (in a RHD 99 – thanks David!).

The SDCC sale is a huge affair, with heaps of new-old stock going for absolute peanuts. Wood or carbon fibre dashboard kits for SEK400. Gearboxes, engines, panels, scale models, clothing, books…..you name it.

It’s one of the many reasons you should head over for Saab Festival when it’s on again in 2009.

Lots of Saabs on the way and especially in the carpark. And note the Toppola at the end!

Seeing this one brought back a whole bunch of good memories.

I put the music with it as the wind noise on the video camera was terrible. Please be kind in your commentary, as someone you all know is playing bass on that one (you can comment on the odd timing on one of the drum fills in the first verse, though).

There’s heaps of cars from Kinnekulle there, so if you were on the track on Saturday 9th, then you might just see yourself. Steve had prime position for the Saab Performance Team as well, and of course there’s a lot of cars from the exhibition on Sunday 10th.

It’s obviously not the best one in the collection, but I’ll use this one as a feature, as it looks like Steve snuck further into the museum than I did!

Whilst I was hanging out with the new Saab 9-3 on June 11 and having the time of my life, another Aussie – Brendan B – was enjoying himself in the undisturbed presence of one of Saab’s rarest vehicles – one of the six original Saab Sonett Super Sports.

I’ve not yet asked Brendan for the story about how this came to happen, but I figured the pictures were too good to leave unpublished for now. I’ll get the story from him some time soon and re-post this entry in it’s entirety. As good as the drive in the new 9-3 was, I’d have to say that Brendan probably scored a more worthwhile treat, when looked purely from a Saab fan’s point of view.

Until that story arrives, click these images to enlarge and enjoy one of Saab’s greatest creations. The full Flickr set featuring a couple more photos is here.

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When I was akid, scissor doors were the coolest thing EVER. Don’t tell me you never drooled over a Countach for reasons other than just the lady draped across it in the poster.

I still like scissor doos, and whilst I’d never do it to my own Viggen, these look to have been remarkably well executed:

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Someone asked yesterday, in the post about the V6 Saab 92, if I had any more pics of the Saab 900 that was in the background. I do, but unfortunately this is it. Not much more detail. I was just amazed at the hugeness of this griffin decal.

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I was told that this car ended winning best in show. Can anyone confirm that? I’m also told that the owner is a drinking buddy of at least one of the judges. Can anyone confirm that?

For the record, I’m not a fan of airbrushing, but I’m not trying to cast any aspersions here. Those really are things I was told whilst in Sweden and I’d just like to clear up whether it’s accurate or not.

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And finally, three shots of a Viggen I spent a fair bit of time looking over.

This was certainly an interesting bit of customisation:

It’s a very neat car, all things considered. One of my favourites of the day.

And some engine bay detail. I’m getting right into this at the moment.

Prior to visiting there, my first thought of a Swede wouldn’t have extended to greased hair and cars with tail fins. I remember a conversation in comments here a few months ago that highlighted the cultural links between Sweden and the US. I know that when I was there, there was plenty of US programming on television and apparently it’s been that way for a long time.

When I was in Sweden last month, there were a few locals joking in comments that I’d start turning “reggare” with the Convertible that Saab were kind enough to lend me. I got a partial insight into what they were talking about through some quick explanations. It seemed like Reggare were perhaps young guys that liked to go cruising around trying to pick up chicks.

This article will give you a much better insight, however. It seems that “reggare” is one of those US cultural links that sprung up years ago and is maintained today, partly out of nostalgia but with it’s own Swedish angle nowadays.

So what’s reggare?

Thousands of 1950s mint condition Chevrolets, Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles cruise the avenue with Brylcreemed greasers draped over the steering wheel and rock’n'roll hits blaring on the radio.

You might think you’ve been transported back half a century to small-town America but no, this is a scene found in any number of towns across Sweden where the early days of the US car culture never went out of style.

The fascination for Thunderbirds, Chevrolet Bel Airs, Crown Victorias and De Soto Fireflites with their slick, tapered tail fins and two-tone finish led to a vast subculture that crossed over to Sweden in the late 1950s — and entered a time warp.

Called “raggare,” or cruisers or greasers, the aficionados dress and live like their idols James Dean and Elvis Presley from the post-war boom period when wheels meant freedom — fast, fun and good-looking.

The thousands of mint condition cars they’re talking about there is a literal number. There was a car show recently in Vaesteraas, with around 150,000 people turning up to look over the approximately 13,000 cars on show.

That’s visitors from all around the world, but it gets more Swedish than that….

Thanks to the longevity of the “raggare” culture, Sweden is now home to tens of thousands of classic American cars, by some accounts the most in the world outside the US.

Numbers vary but according to Klas Brink, who has restored eight 1950s Cadillacs in 12 years, there are now more restored 1950s cars in Sweden than in the US.

“Swedish car restorers are considered the best in the world. Some of the cars that are restored here get sold back to the US,” he said, adding however that most Swedish car buffs would never sell their prized possessions.

Brink noted that only two 1958 Cadillac convertibles were originally sold in Sweden. Now there are more than 200 such models in the country and almost none left in the US.

Perhaps I did indeed get a personal taste of Regarre for myself during the trip. Every Wednesday night during summer in Trollhattan, the locals get out their classic cars and head down to the locks. They park there and wander around looking at each others’ rides. I didn’t see any greased hair or rolled up jeans there, but there were plenty of old 1950s style American classics on show.

Next time you think about stereotyping a Swede, think again.