Recently in Saabology Category

No. I didn't crash. But I think I might be 'crashing' thanks to a flu passed on by the young bloke.

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It's been a great weekend, though, despite the crashing. Beautiful weather, a great lunch with some friends yesterday and half-decent car show today.

The Shannons Insurance car show is an annual event here in Hobart. Unfortunately, it tends to draw a huge Holden-Ford attendance and little else. It was around 70% domestic this year, with around 15%-20% being imported muscle cars from the US or old vintage stuff that was pre-1950.

That leaves around 10% of the show as being 'interesting' for me, with a few Minis, three Ferraris, some Porsches and Jags to keep me looking. I might have to call Shannons and suggest a Euro show in addition to this big one as I know there's heaps of Euro owners out there that don't bother with this show.

The most interesting car there today, for me, was this customised V8 Volvo, which really was in incredible condition. Please pardon the crappy cameraphone pics.

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Speaking of crashing, though, check out this Pug after some ice fell on it, from a rooftop in Gothenburg.

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The other thing that's kept me of SU this weekend is Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (published as Män som hatar kvinnor in Sweden).

If you've not come across it, look for it in large quantities at almost any airport bookshop anywhere in the world. A few weeks ago I did 10 flights in 7 days and saw it just about everywhere. So I bought it.

It's the first in a three-book series by a now deceased Swedish author and today, I rushed out and bought the second book. The first was that good.

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Enjoy the rest of your weekend.....

For the gamers out there.....

The Gran Tourismo game franchise is one of those that both delights and tortures its followers. The game is so good that its still regarded as possibly the finest driving simulator there is. But new versions of the game have been plagued by delays and fans left wanting.

The game was due to be released this month, but Sony announced yet another delay and as far as I can tell, there's still no firm release date in the public domain.

That gives the public a little more opportunity to try and have a say in what cars are included in the game.

The gaming industry is one that does manage a bit of interaction with fans. Recently, there was the Forzalopnik competition run by Jalopnik, where we helped get a Saab 99 Turbo included in an update pack for Forza, a driving game on the Xbox 360 platform.

So.... if you're a Playstation gamer and you're a Saab fan, please consider heading here and placing your vote.

There's a Pike's Peak edition Viggen on the first page, along with the Saab 9-3 Turbo X. The Saab 9-5 Aero is on the second page, along with the original Saab Sonett, the Saab 9000 Turbo and Aero - and the Saab Aero-X concept car.

Again, go here to vote.

One of our regular readers here, Marc S, had an unfortunate encounter on Wednesday this week.

I'll let him tell the story:

I wanted to let you know that I had Wednesday afternoon at around 13h45 a quite massive car accident here in Luxembourg with my 2003 Saab 93 Aero 2.0T.

A Mercedes hit me nearly frontal because the German driver thought that he was on a double-lane road which he definitely was not as I was driving on the other one.

As you can see from the pictures the impact was quite heavy, and the cars are apparently scrap as they both have a bend on the roof. But the most important thing is that we both are perfectly OK and not badly injured. I have only some minor burnings on my right hand from the airbag explosion and that was it.

The police stated that we were really really lucky running with such secure cars. By the way, my engine was still running and the radio still played J

PS: the only misery is that I wanted to keep my Saab until the new 95 SW is out and now I have to look for a car to bridge that time...

I'm sure you'll all agree that it's great news Marc is OK. The other driver as well. Such big accidents don't always end so well, even in cars as safe as Saab and Mercedes Benz.

I hope a new vehicle comes your way soon, Marc.

There's a lot happening this month for Saab.

Of course, there's already been the Geneva Motor Show and Erik Carlsson's birthday this month, but that's just the start of things.

Earlier this week, Victor Muller had his first days on the ground in Trollhattan, actually working at the Saab Factory as the new head of the company.

I've heard from one guy this week saying that today, March 12, will be the last day for Saab USA being housed at GM's headquarters, the Renaissance Center in Detroit. I've not heard anything different, so I assume they're still moving to Royal Oak, MI, as planned.

Production will re-commence at Saab's Trollhattan plant on March 22nd. That's going to be a big day!

The very next day there will be a Dealer meeting in the UK and it's my understanding that pricing and ordering for the new Saab 9-5 will be available either that day or the next.

On March 29th and 30th there will be a US National Dealer meeting. No word if pricing for that US will be made available then, but it might be reasonable to think so.

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And on an unofficial level, there will be a Saab 900 owners gathering in Paris, France.

Get the details over at Etienne's Saab blog.

Received via email today.....

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Hello,

My name is Ben Timmins and I am a student at the Boston University College of Communication. I'm writing about the recent purchase of Saab by Spyker and wanted to talk to you (and the commenters) about this.

I noticed that you helped a student from the US last year at the old Trollhattan Saab website, so I thought this is worth a shot. I've posted a couple of questions for you and the commenters. Here's hoping that Saab enthusiasts are opinionated people (I've been reading this site for a little while...I know you are)

1. I've talked to a couple of dealers that weren't exactly happy with the time spent with Saab and GM, but no one really said why. What was the issue with GM?
2. I'm focusing in on the relationship between New England and Saab, which many people have alluded to in my research. What is it, then, with Saab and New England? Is it because Saab was located in Connecticut for so many years or is there a demographic match?
3. Who, then, is the Saab owner? What makes him/her unique?
4. Jamie Kitman of Automobile Magazine recently said that Saab's uphill battle post-Spyker is gaining back customers who had fled the brand during the GM years. What does Saab have to do to get these people back? What does it have to do to help the enthusiasts?

My deadline is pretty soon so anything you can do is great. As always, thanks so much.

Given that there's been quite a bit of Saab design conversation here in the last few weeks, there's a timely new article over at Car Design news.

It's a two-page affair covering Saab's design evolution right through from UrSaab to the Aero-X and the influence that concept car will have on Saab's design future.

It's not a huge ground-breaker of an essay and many regulars here will be quite familiar with all the territory it covers. For those who are more recent arrivals to either this site, or the Saab brand as a whole, it will give a useful insight into Saab's evolution over the years.

Click here to check it out.

And a tip..... the link to access the second page isn't at the bottom where the arrow is. You actually have to scroll back to the top of the page and you'll see it there in the top right corner.

It's time for another Saab O The Week entry.

This week's car is owned by Barry L, the organiser of the Memphis Saab Support Convoy. I'll let Barry tell the story.....

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This 2009 Saab 9-3 Aero convertible marks my fourth Saab, which began with a 1997 900 SE convertible. I have owned nothing but Saab automobiles since then. I must admit that yellow was not my first choice, but a great sales effort and a great "deal" on the car by the General Manager of Saab of Memphis convinced me to 'do the deal'. My only stipulation was that the car had to have a racing stripe, something I had never seen on a Saab, but wanted to give a try.

When it arrived from the shop with striping, even non-Saabist's took note of this car. And while I realize it is sacrilege to most Saab owners to even put a pinstripe on a Saab, I am happy with the look and the very professional job done in very fine detail (badges properly outlined, grille integration without compromising the 'flow' of the striping, etc.). It actually makes the vehicle look completely different, and accentuates, by virtue of the striping going all the way down both front and rear bumpers, the black lower fascia at each end.

I had and still have a passion for Saab that I have never shared with any other brand that I have owned, which includes BMW, Lexus, Mazda and others. In 2005, I joined Saab of Memphis as a salesman and am proud to say that I have continued in that capacity to this day.

After following events around the world, mainly through the very trustworthy Saabs United website, I decided that Memphis and Mid-South area Saab owners and enthusiasts should have an opportunity to demonstrate OUR passion for the brand and desire to see it live on, therefore I organized the Memphis Save Saab Convoy (which subsequently became the Memphis/Mid-South Area Saab Independence Day Rally).

This car was the 'lead' car of that Rally, and these photos were taken just prior to arrival of the other participants of the Memphis/Mid-South Rally on February 7, 2010.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my 'story' with you, and thanks to all Saab owners and enthusiasts around the world for doing your part to secure the future of the brand!

Did you know that it was one of our SU site sponsors - the guys at MobilForum, Dresden - who were behind the Rescue-Saab.com effort?

That effort was one of the first major pooling of supporters and resources to get behind the company and galvanise support for Saab. It was quite the example for others to follow and a big help in getting word out about the campaigns that followed.

It was only fitting, then, that some of the guys from MobilForum got down to the Geneva Motor Show to meet up with Victor Muller and Jan-Ake Jonsson to present them with one of their special Rescued-Saab mosaic posters - printed large!

Click to enbiggen it.

And here's a few more of their happy snaps from the Geneva Show.....

Congratulations to the guys on their efforts and I hope they got to spend some good quality time with the top brass down there in Geneva.

I don't know how I missed this before as I'm pretty sure that it's come across my feeds, probably from Etienne's blog back when sale stories were going crazy......

Still, I thought it was worth a mention here after I stumbled upon it again last night.

Saab Belgium, as part of their "I Love Saab" campaign, hosted a paper cutout design for a classic Saab 900. To make the model, you simply print the design, cut, fold and paste.

Click here to go to the download page. I'm sure the kiddies (even the grown up ones) will love it!