I’m disppointed to have to tell you all that I won’t be engaging a local representative to cover the 2010 Saab 9-5’s formal introduction to the world at the Frankfurt Motor Show…..
….and that’s because I’LL BE COVERING THE DARN SHOW MYSELF!!!
Coming up will be 10 or so days of Saabmania (and 60 hours of airport-airplane time) in both Frankfurt and then on to Saab’s home in Trollhattan.
The Frankfurt show is going to be electric (almost literally) with a whole host of new vehicle introductions that’ll be interesting to pick apart. Of course, the biggest one of the lot will be the introduction of the 2010 Saab 9-5, which I’m looking forward to seeing in the metal for the first time – and maybe even driving for the first time in Trollhattan.
All the Saab execs will be there, and hopefully the new owners might pop their heads in and say hello as well. I’ll be putting a headlock on every last one of them and they won’t get away until all the beans have been spilled.
After the IAA experience, it will be on to Trollhattan for a few days, where I’ll be having another look around a few of Saab’s facilities as well as meeting up with as many old Trollhattan friends as possible.
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Meeting opportunities – Frankfurt and Trollhattan
Being away from home presents the all-too-rare opportunity to hook up with some of you guys where you live.
There’s nothing organised, but if you’re within reasonable distance to Frankfurt or Trollhattan and you want to hook up, maybe we can organise a little get together somewhere?
The proposed dates would probably be Wednesday 16th in Frankfurt (or late on Tuesday night), and the following Saturday 19th in Trollhattan.
If you’re a local in either place and you can recommend a particular venue (some sort of eatery not too far from the IAA venue would be best for the Frankfurt gig) then please do get in touch.
Last year we did a Pacific Northwest Meetup in North America and it was an absolute blast. I know doing it on a weeknight might make things difficult for you folks in Frankfurt, but I’m sure we’d have a good night.
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And Singapore!
I’m going to have a not-insignificant number of hours in Singapore on the way to Frankfurt. I know we’ve got some Singaporean Saabers who check in here every now and then, so if you want to go for a Sunday drive next week – let me know!
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Program in Sweden
Some things that are possible/probable highlights of the Sweden visit:
- Quality time with Peter Backstrom at the Saab Museum, where I’m hoping to get out that back and show you some of the things you don’t normally get to see on a Saab museum visit
- A visit and tour of ANA Specialbilar, where they do all sorts of Saab custom work
- A visit to Maptun’s facility in Obrëro to meet the guys
- A visit to Auto Motor and Sport’s office to meet the people there
- Hopefully I might also get to poke my head around Saab’s design and tech development facilities (trying to line that up at the moment)
- Meeting up with Jörgen and Bo – the guys from the Saabs United Historic Rally Team
I’ll also be hanging out with our unofficial UK Saab Ambassador, Robin M, in Frankfurt. Etienne Morsa from the Saabhuy blog in Belgium will be there, too. It’ll be great to see them both again.
In Sweden, I’m going to be touring around a bit with Dave R, who’s name may not be familiar to many here, but he’s provided several stories for the site over the years, has owned just about every Saab there is at one time or another and is virtually a Trollhattan native, having visited there so many times.
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In Stockholm…
The trip will finish with one night in Stockholm, so if anyone wants to share a pizza there, just let me know and we can make it happen.
This is going to be an awesome (and very tiring) couple of weeks. I can’t wait!!
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