SAABs, Sunshine & Summer Fun
Planning an August vacation? Why not drive your favorite SAAB to The Desmond Hotel and Conference Center and join in the fun at the 2013 SAAB Owners Convention, August 15-18 in Albany, NY, presented by eEuroparts.com & SAAB Parts North America.
Whether you have a cherished 96 or Sonett, a perfectly polished 9000 Aero or a lightning fast Viggen or anything in between, SAABs, sun and summer fun seem to go hand in hand.
We have something planned for everyone – place your car in the Performance Automotive People’s Choice or Concours Showfields, listen to one of the many tech sessions planned – Jack Lawrence will be discussing Vintage SAAB Performance, courtesy of VSCNA, or perhaps Peter Backstrom discussing early SAAB rallying or maybe Justin Pagano of eEuroparts sharing details of their new T5 conversion for Classic 900s!
Albany SAAB Shop is bringing back the Dyno we used in 2011 for those of you who have made mods and want to measure your improvements. Or perhaps you’d there is a part you are looking for – we have a flea market area brought to us by Charles River SAAB, along with many of the vendors – SAAB Parts North America, eEuroparts.com, State of NINE, and JBMPress (Phil & Calye promise some good t’s on sale!) there will something that you just can’t pass up.
For you early birds who have pre-registered (HURRY, registration closes 7/31) – SAAB Parts North America is providing us a Parts Tent, a perennial favorite of the conventions with many discounted parts and accessories. But you need to pre-register and get there early, day pass attendees don’t get access to the Parts Tent on opening day. (day tickets are sold on-site only)
As a big thank you to our sponsors, SCNA has asked Peter Backstrom of the SAAB Museum to come over from Sweden to share with us the current efforts at the museum (Sponsors Dinner Thursday evening). Anyone who has heard Peter speak knows this will be an entertaining review with some interesting photos pulled from the archives!
Kicking off the event at our Welcome Banquet is Tim Colbeck, President, SAAB Parts North America, who will share with updates on parts availability and service points. Don’t miss the chance to hear what Tim has to say regarding the viability of keeping your car on the road.
Are you a shutterbug? What SAAB-O-Phile isn’t? Compile all of your photos onto a story a board and enter the Best Fleet & Photo competition, brought to you by the Rocky Mountain SAAB Club.
The culminating night of festivities is the MileHi Bodyshop Awards banquet, we have a special video treat for everyone along with the awards presentation, which includes the Larry “Stroker” Williams Award, The Walter Kern award presented by VSCNA, the Bob Sinclair SPG/Convertible Award and a new annual award for the most likely candidate for preservation – we hope this to be a motivator to restore rather than part out.
There will be 2 spirited scenic drives for those who would like to tour the Capitaland in their SAAB, we might make this a fun run with prizes to be awarded, stay tuned on that as we are still developing the program.
On Sunday morning, don’t forget to bring something – parts, memorabilia, recent purchases that won’t fit in your trunk – to donate to the Double H Ranch charity auction. John Moss will once again be after your money for this long time worthy cause of SCNA.
Make plans to head for Albany this year to reunite with your old SAAB friends and make new ones! But do it soon, time is running out! Visit www.saabconvention.com for more details, event schedule, event registration and hotel accommodation information.
See you in a few weeks!
Daryle, this sounds like an amazing event and I am sure all that attend will have a blast. Unreal that you will have Peter Backstrom there too. Just reading this and the names on hand, if anyone has a chance to be there, they will not be disappointed. Good job to all those involved and hey, did I hear somewhere that Roy Chui designed the logo for the event? Wish I could be there….
Daryle, this is a great summary that I haven’t seen presented before that brings the major elements of the convention together. Thanks for the reminder for bringing stuff for the Sunday morning auction.
Given Jason’s comment about Peter Backstrom coming, I should mention that Peter has been a regular attendee for many years during the GM and Spyker years. Having him back this year for him to talk about the transition and future of the museum will be especially valuable and certainly news.
For those who are thinking of coming from afar and by plane, I’ll mention that Albany International Airport is adjacent to the north of our hotel and convention center so you won’t need a car to get around if you arrive at this airport.
Jason – yes, you heard right – we enlisted the help of Roy Chui for the design work. The logo came out terrific and has been well received, but wait until you see the t-shirt art!
Steve – thank you. I am looking forward to seeing you and Martha in a few weeks. I am looking forward to reconnecting with everyone and having a great time in Albany! And working the registration desk, I get to say hello to everyone, can’t beat that!
Good luck with the event Daryle (from Alex SOC uk, we met in sweden at the festival)