A number of random shots from the Custom Section.
Concept Cars
Some shots from the Concept Car Area in the Saab Museum. The lighting was very poor in this room, so I had to ditch most of them.
The 9-X BioHybrid. Notice the camera, replacing the rearview side mirror.
The mighty AeroX.
The 9-4X BioPower Concept.
Caroline’s Custom Saab 9-3
In the custom section of the festival, we saw quite a lot of exciting Saabs in different shapes and colors. This red beauty, caught our eyes.
What was that console in the middle of back seat? It resembled the battery pack in the Saab ePower.
We were informed that it wasn’t a battery pack by the car’s owner and creator – Caroline. Caroline has been working on the car for 7 months and it’s still not fully complete. We wondered where she learned all these skills and she told us that she had been studying technology/mechanics but was now employed at Koenigsegg.
That explained the ghost. Koenigsegg is located in Ängelholm in an old airbase. The ghost was the sign for the squadron located at F10, Ängelholm.
The ghost can be spotted on Koenigsegg cars and on the Saab AJS Viggen below.
What a great car!
Arriving at the Saab Festival 2019
Me and my family decided to go to Trollhättan to visit the Saab festival this Saturday. Rain was pouring down in Gothenburg when we started our journey.
We found a good parking place close to the museum. The parking alone, was almost like a Saab festival in itself.
Rain was still pouring downs as we were greeted by a bunch of wet 900s.
After a few minutes the rain faded and we could actually see the sun. We had some shorter showers later, but all in all it was a pretty nice day. Me and my oldest son took a bunch of pictures. I will publish a number of these in a set of posts the coming days. So, keep posted!
Saab Car Museum Festival 2019
The traditional Saab Car Museum Festival will be in and around the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan, Sweden Friday June 7 to Sunday June 9. The event will kick start on June 6th, the Swedish National day.
Please check out the Saab Museum Event Page for details.
Time goes by
Time goes by and its now about 8 years since Saab went out of business in its original setting.
NEVS have had their ups and downs. They have mostly been struggling under harsh financial conditions. Something employees from the Saab days are used to, but probably not too happy about. Lately a new major owner, Evergrande, has entered the scene and the wheels are spinning faster again in Trollhättan. Focus is still on the Chinese market and there are currently no formal plans for launching products in Europe or the US.
Quite surprisingly, NEVS lately bought about 20% of the Swedish supercar maker, Koenigsegg. Koenigsegg and NEVS are also planning for a joint venture company which will produce electric cars and hybrids. Rumors say that Koenigsegg would like to gain access to the Trollhättan plant in order to produce “cheaper” electric cars. The reason for NEVS doing this deal is not that clear. NEVS are focusing on sustainable transport solutions, which has little to do with supercars.
You may remember that Koenigsegg was one of the potential buyers of Saab back in the days. Koenigsegg is now the employer of Saabs United´s founder Steven Wade, Swade.
Another car manufacturer in the western part of Sweden is Volvo. Volvo has been doing great lately, better than ever, I imagine. New plants, lots of new models, lots of sales. Many former employees of Saab have found a new job at Volvo Cars.
The picture below was taken last weekend in the heart of Volvo-land, Torslanda. You may recognize the slogan from Volvo commercials with Swedish celebrities like footballer, Zlatan. The car in the foreground however, is made by Trollhättan.
Saab CabrioChallenge 2018 – Halland – from forest and sea via beech woods to the ocean
The 2018 edition Saab CabrioChallenge was driven for the 11th time in a row, and even this year we got a report and great photos from our old friend Mioh! Thanks for sharing this with us! 🙂
The 2018 edition of Saab CabrioChallenge took place 10th-12th of August. This event has been driven annually since 2008 and even this year it attracted a large number of happy and pleasant Saab-enthusiasts. The meeting started lightly on Friday evening på “Två Skyttlar” with a common dinner for those who were in place the day before the start of the rally.
Saturday morning we all gathered at breakfast, and after that set up for this years group image. (This year the theme was “Organized Chaos”). After the photosession, welcome greeting and distribution of roadbooks the roofless Saabs rolled out on the roads through beautiful Halland. Along the way to the final destination Tylösand trees, churches, radio-station with thunder and seafood-lunch, meadows, ice cream-shops and waterways were passed. After many lovely miles, our final destination Tylösands Tylö Sun was reached. In the evening we all gathered in the hotel’s large hall where dinner was served to us. Here we enjoyed the whole evening of good food and a nice atmosphere in a true “Saabanda”.
Sunday morning started with a hearty breakfast before checkout. Sundays activity consisted of a visit to Svedinos aviation and car museum. We was all very happy and thanked eachother for a nice weekend and the organizers welcomed us all to the Saab CabrioChallenge 2019!
Click on the thumbnails for full size and text.
Many thanks to the organizers and others for a really nice weekend! 😁
900 Classic 1987 Convertible, restoration
I started to post my project 2 years ago, but it is still ongoing. The more I am “drilling” into the depth, the more is revealed. The 2017 summer I drove to Aalborg to replace the soft top including a new heated rear window. On the return trip to Sweden there was a terrible rain storm. We really tested the new soft top! Back in the garage I found water in the trunk so I realized that there was leakage somewhere. The rear quarter windows lift did not work + suddenly the soft top hydraulics stopped working. The decision to make a winter project to get the car in a better condition was taken.
What I have done so far this winter:
1. Repaired both lift motors – driving cog wheels stuck with hardened old grease. Cleaned and greased. In the same run I removed the lifting mechanism so I could clean the drainage outlets and make a proper rust protection. Greased the mechanism before installation.
2. Repaired defective hydraulic cylinder – O-ring was leaking, probably due to age and lack of usage. Dismantled the cylinder and change the ring. Cleaned the hydraulic system and reservoir. Full instruction found on You-Tube.
3. Electric window heater did not work – The time-relay was missing. Purchased a used one on eBay.
4. Water leakage was localized to be caused by many rusted spots in the rear inner wings, lower part on both sides. I have cut out all rusted areas and have to make by hand replacement plates and weld them. The process is ongoing. There is also heavy rusted areas in the trunk floor along the side to side joint. I have not yet decided what to do.
5. The rear axle is heavily rusted. I plan to remove it to get it sand blasted and painted. I will replace the shock’s. They are probably 30 years old – as the car.
I guess this is about all I can manage to do this winter. I hope to get the car on the road by end of May. Time will show.