Category: Events

Best of the Road nears the End of the Road

The Best of the Road teams are now coming close to the end of their journey as they converge on Los Angeles. On Friday, their collective journey will end and one lucky pairing will win $10,000 plus a Saab 9-4x for their work!

Nice work if you can get it, huh?

I hope you’ve been tracking their respective journeys as they’ve covered some amazing places and had some pretty good experiences along the way. I travel a lot by air now, not so much by road, so it’s been good to see people neck-deep in a great road trip. It makes me want to get out and do a bit more driving (and no need to guess as to what particular car I’d be driving!)

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I mentioned in our last update that the Fun Finders had the good fortune to hook up with Dimmit Saab in Florida to receive a Saab 9-3 Convertible for the 4th July parade. They didn’t end up driving it, though. They would up being guests of honour in the parade, riding in the back of the Convertible.

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And in case you’re wondering how many miles these teams are covering during this trip, here’s the Fun Finders’ map, showing the route taken by them to cover the small towns with the best food.

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I’ve really been enjoying the work of the Gone with the Wynns team. They’ve had a heap of fun in their Saab 9-5…..

…… and you can tell from their road-trip slideshow that whilst they can have a fun time, they also know when to take a look around and appreciate the beauty that the road can bring.

Driving is an opportunity to see the country in a way that no other form of travel offers. It is an exploration rather than a destination.

Take a look at their slideshow at this link – please!

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Captain and Clark had a note pop up on their SID unit telling them it was time for an oil change, so they had to make a side trip to Sid Dillon Saab in Lincoln, Nebraska, and have the job done. The dealership was quite excited by the visit, too, as this was the first 9-4x they’d seen on the road whilst they were waiting for their own to be delivered.

Change it up! from Chris Staudinger on Vimeo.

Captain and Clark recently visited Rapid City and from there, took a look over both the iconic Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument that’s still under construction.

This is the stuff that road trips are made of, if you ask me.

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Traveling Jules and Joan have been in Park City, Utah, at what looks to be a sensational year-round facility.

They’ve been a little down on the Saaby content, but are very good at travelling, traveling-with-family and road-trip tips.

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The McNavigators left my friend Mike’s hometown in Franklin, TN, and proceeded a loooooooong way northwest to Sandpoint, Idaho.

While there were there, they took their Saab 9-5 up Mt Schweitzer, from which they can see neighboring states Montana and Washington, as well as Canada to the north.

They’re now in Baker City, Oregon, visiting the World Beer Cup(?)

I hope they take some time off before getting back behind the wheel (which I’m sure they will).

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The winners of the Best of the Road rally will be announced late on Friday, California time. We’ll publish the outcome as soon as we know it.

If you want to support your favourite team in their bid to win the $10K and the Saab 9-4x, then make sure you follow them on Facebook or Twitter – the links are all here – as your support will help them win.

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Saab at the 2011 Swedish Open tennis

Saab have been the main sponsor of the Swedish Open tennis tournament for the last 25 years. That all changed this year of course, because of our current circumstances, but our initial commitment to the tournament some time earlier meant that we were still able to have a presence there.

The ladies singles and doubles finals took place earlier today and I was there to see the show.

The tournament is held in a small, beautiful seaside town called Båstad (Aussie/Swedish pronunciation: Boh-stahd). Apparently the numbers in the town swell by around 80,000 over the two weeks of the tournament, which is why Saab like to be there. Accommodation is booked out in the region as the beautiful people from Stockholm head west and the Goteborgers (my term for them) head south to mingle and mix amid the heat and the bouncing balls.

The weather gods turned on a glorious day today and the social set really did get value for their money. The tennis was pretty good, too.

That’s the eventual ladies champion, Polona Hercog from Slovenia, serving to local favourite and runner-up, Johanna Larsson. Hercog really did seem to have Larsson’s measure for most of the match, but the Swede did make a late comeback with a break in the second set, but used up too much energy in doing so and was flat in the final game. The final score was 6-4, 7-5.

So aside from that little courtside naming banner to the left of Polena, what else did Saab have on show?

There were a number of Saab 9-5’s being used as courtesy cars at the tournament. We saw these in action but didn’t have the camera around at the time. Needless to say they were looking pretty smart.

Saab also had a 9-4x Aero on display just outside the centercourt area……

…..as well as a 9-3 Independence Edition Convertible looking over the main court area. I’m still trying to figure out how they got it there…..

That photo was taken during the ladies doubles final, inevitably won by a Spanish team. Two Spanish teams were fighting it out in the final and the lack of a local contestant probably lowered the crowd numbers.

The doubles final provided me with an opportunity to realise a long-held childhood dream (OK, not really) – being a ballboy at a national tournament:

The Swedish Open is a little different from some tournaments in that the women’s tournament is held one week earlier than the mens. There are only a limited number of courts at Båstad so there are only a small number of players in each of the womens and mens tournaments, too.

Now that the women are done, the men will begin work tomorrow.

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Surprise bonus!!!

As we were driving home from Båstad, a quick look in the side mirror told me there was an extremely handsome SUV coming up behind me. I moved over to let a very nice, Silver Saab 9-4x pass by at a reasonable rate of knots. The car took off ahead and I figured that was probably the last I’d see of it.

Little did I know the driver, one of our product marketing team, would be getting hungry around the same time as we were…….

That’s my car on the left, and quite possibly my future car on the right 🙂

A Saab 9-4x sighting on top of a perfect day’s outing at the tennis. Can you ask for anything more?

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Event: Swedish Car Day XII

I’m very sad to pass on to you all that I won’t be able to attend either the Saab Owners Convention, nor Swedish Car Day, this year. Inside Saab isn’t immune from Saab’s current circumstances, so I’ll have to content myself with doing such things next year.

I attended Swedish Car Day in 2010 and I can tell you it’s one of the best events I’ve had the good fortune to be at. Boston is just a brilliant city and the work that Village Auto Group put into this event is amazing. Just check out the setting, for starters!

If you can get to this event, I strongly urge you to do so. You will absolutely love it.

This has been added to the Inside Saab events page.

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When: 28 August 2011
Where: Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
Website: http://www.facebook.com/swedishcarday

What: Sponsored by Charles River Saab, and its sister stores Boston Volvo Village and Volvo Village of Norwell, Swedish Car Day brings together Saab and Volvo owners together every year on the lawns of the gracious Larz Anderson Auto Museum. The event will feature over two hundred cars displayed on the lawn, and we can reliably expect that two-thirds will be Saabs. There will be cars of every vintage, some pristine, some well seasoned, and a number of modified examples as well. There will be a raffle, awards for displayed cars as chosen by the attendees, a parts tent, specialty vendors, guest speakers and for the first time, live music! Don’t forget to tour the museum’s collection!

As a warm-up for Swedish Car Day, on 27 August 2011 we will see the return of the Swedish Car Day Rally. This will be a scavenger rally, and the theme will be Greater Boston Parks and Gardens. The rally will finish at Charles River Saab and we will have an early evening barbecue and gathering for all Swedish Car Day enthusiasts to catch up with old friends and get geared up for the main event.

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A couple of my photos from last year (it was HOT! and the weather was pretty warm, too)

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Events: 2011 Midnight Sun Rally (Midnattssolsrallyt)

Saab will be present at the 2011 Midnight Sun Rally, to be held in the Västerås municipality, around 50km northwest of Stockholm. The rally runs from July 13 to 16.

The Midnattssolsrallyt is organised by KAK, the Swedish Automobile Club and is the prime event on the historic rallying calendar in Sweden, a racing segment with a huge following here and elsewhere in Europe.

The Midnight Sun Rally will feature a lot of Saabs this year, and Saab have been prominent in the race’s history, too. The race was first run in 1950 and Saab’s first victory was nine years later, with Erik Carlsson at the wheel of a Saab 93. It ran until 1964, when it changed name to The Swedish Rally and became part of the World Rally Championship. Again, Saabs were prominent in the post 1964-era up until 1980 with Ake Akersson, Per Eklund and Stig Blomqvist having plenty of success.

In 2006, the Midattssolsrallyt name came alive once again, but as an historic rally. This year, only vehicles made before 1982 are permitted entry into the rally.

I’ll be at this year’s rally and will bring you all the Saaby action as quickly and as often as I can. It should be an absolute blast!

Here are a few photos from last year’s rally, which had an overnight stop in Trollhattan during the 2010 Saab Festival. The Saab 99Turbos seen in these pictures belong to the Saabs United Historic Rally Team. Click to enlarge.

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This has been added to the Events page. There’s a lot going on and Inside Saab will be there to see it all. And there are even more events still to be added.

If you’re going to be at one of them, make sure you come up and say hello.

And if you’ve got an event happening that I might be able to attend for Inside Saab, please do let me know. There are no guarantees, but hopefully I can get there, share some Saaby good times and tell some Saaby good stories here on the website as well.

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A little bit of Saab at Almedalen

We’ve already told you about the zero emissions Saab 9-3 ePower vehicles that are both on the roads and on display at Almedalen, the big socio-political love-fest on in Visby at the moment. We’ll hopefully have more on those vehicles later.

In the meantime, here’s a little of what’s happening at Almedalen….

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Saab’s representative at Almedalen is our Public Affairs officer, Anna Petre. Swedish publication Resume had a quick chat with her at Almedalan and it’s recommended reading for those who’d like to know a little more about what’s being talked about in regard to Saab at the event.

….we knew we would get a dip in finances in April. The plan was to solve it by letting Vladimir Antonov purchase our property and lease it back. The government said “yes”, but the European Investment Bank said “no”…..

Anna Petre has met politicians from all parties, but never Moderate leadership: – No, I have never met Fredrik Reinfeldt and Anders Borg. Their stance is that the Ministry of Industry has responsibility.

That last point is an interesting one and apparently there has been quite a bit of talk about this at the event (in Swedish).

We spoke to Anna yesterday about her program at Almedalen and this is what she had to say:

Anna, what are you doing in Almedalen?

– I meet parliamentarians and officials from departments and talk about Saab. It is important that relevant facts get enough scope. And, I also participate in seminars. The other day I spoke at an industry seminar about the political future of the automotive industry in Sweden. It was a real marathon seminar that lasted all afternoon. In the middle of my presentation Mats Odell (Odell is chairman of the parliamentary economic committee, editor’s note) stood up and said: “Anna. I just want to tell you that the EIB just approved the Saab Property deal.” And when he got up on stage to speak after me, he spontaneously decided to dedicate his speaking time to Saab and the EIB’s role in the Saab issue. This gave us more focus than originally planned.

How is the interest around Saab at the event?

– Huge! I would say that the Saab issue is one of the dominant issues here and I notice significant support from several directions.

Do you find time to talk about Saab’s product program as well?

– Yes, absolutely. We have brought both the 9-3 ePower and the new 9-5 SportCombi and we have them exhibited in the harbor. There are also cars for test drives and the SportCombi has attracted very high interest.

Are you the only Saab representative in Visby/Gotland?

– No, but there are not many of us. Technicians are needed for maintaining the cars and we have some product experts here as well.

What is the cost of participation in the “Almedalsveckan”?

– It cost us nothing this year. Our partners in the electric car project finance our participation.

What is on your program now?

– Later today I’ll go with some parliamentarians for an ePower test drive, and tomorrow I will be participating in a seminar on green cars.

Saab 900 – Climb to the clouds

A few days ago, I posted an article here on Inside Saab, written by a friend of mine in Boston named Pierre Belperron (a guy I’ve previously referred to as “the second-hardest working man in all Saabdom” due to his diligent work as Service Manager at Charles River Saab). The article was called Bare Naked Saabing (highly recommended reading) and the subject of the article was a hillclimb project car built by two of Pierre’s sons, Pascal and Marcel.

The car, a Saab 900, was finally used for it’s new purpose on the weekend in a hillclimb event called Climb to the Clouds. Here it is, being driven by Pascal. It looks like a good run, especially for a first up event for a car that’s just been completed.

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I have a very personal love for watching Saabs participating in motorsport events. As many of you know, Saab built their reputation in the 1950s, 60s and 70s on the back of multiple rallying successes, back before rallying turned into a mega-budget event.

Today, old Saabs are riding a wave of popularity in Sweden and other parts of Europe as historic rallying gains more and more prominence around the continent.

Later next month we will cover the Midnight Sun rally in Sweden, where there are dozens of historic Saabs entered in the event. It’s going to be an absolute blast.

Congratulations to Pascal and Marcel (and team) for their efforts at Mt Washington last weekend!

Participants and their Saabs in Best Of The Road

The Best of the Road event is now on. Run by Rand McNally with media partner USA Today, five groups of two are driving Saabs across the United States looking for the best small towns in America.

The groups will tweet and blog their way across the country, collecting followers along the way. A winner will be chosen at the end of the event and that winner will win a Saab 9-4x.

Here’s a bit more detail on who they are, where they’re going and most importantly, what they’re driving.

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Captain and Clark

Category: Most patriotic

Locations: Clarksville TN, Emporia KS, Fort Leonard Wood MO, Peachtree City GA, Rapid City SD, Williamsburg VA

Car: Saab 9-4x

Find them: Twitter, Facebook, Web

Recent banter: “She is beautiful! We don’t ever want to give her back!” – talking about the Saab 9-4x on Twitter.

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The Fun Finders

Category: Best for food.

Locations: Addison WV, Burnsville MN, Costa Mesa CA, Gulfport FL, Lafayette LA, Visalia CA

Car: Saab 9-3 SportCombi

Find them: Twitter, Web, Facebook

Recent Banter: “….one of the first things Jim said was “my seat is getting hot.” We found the proper button before he burned his bottom.” – Gotta love those Saab seat heaters!

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TravelingJules and TravelingJoan

Category: Most Fun.

Locations: Glenwood Springs CO, Myrtle Beach SC, Santa Claus IN, Sioux City IA, Vacaville CA, Yellow Springs OH

Car: Saab 9-3 SportCombi

Find them: Web, Facebook, Twitter

Recent Banter:

New York City from travelingjulesandtravelingjoan on Vimeo.

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Gone with the Wynns

Category: Friendliest town.

Locations: Lake Havasu AZ, Mount Airy NC, Nacogdoches TX, Valdosta GA, Walla Walla WA, Woodward OK

Car: Saab 9-5 sedan

Find them: Web, Facebook, Twitter

Recent Banter: We got the awesome 9-5 Areo to sport over the next 3 weeks thanks to SAAB and we are on the road to the Friendliest Towns in America! – via Facebook.

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The McNavigators

Category: Most beautiful

Locations: Baker City OR, Coral Gables FL, Franklin TN, Marco Island FL, Pacifica CA, Sandpoint ID

Car: Saab 9-5 sedan

Find Them: Web, Facebook, Twitter

Recent banter: “LOVING our Saab! 10 hours of driving and I am still comfortable! :)” – via Twitter.

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Saab to feature in "Best of the Road" adventures

Best of the Road is an event being run by cartographers Rand McNally with the help of their official media partner, the newspaper USA Today.

The event involves five teams driving various Saab vehicles to 30 destinations around the US. The destinations are broken into five categories, with 6 cities in each category, as follows:

  • Most Beautiful – Baker City OR, Coral Gables FL, Franklin TN, Marco Island FL, Pacifica CA, Sandpoint ID
  • Most Patriotic – Clarksville TN, Emporia KS, Fort Leonard Wood MO, Peachtree City GA, Rapid City SD, Williamsburg VA
  • Most Fun – Glenwood Springs CO, Myrtle Beach SC, Santa Claus IN, Sioux City IA, Vacaville CA, Yellow Springs OH
  • Friendliest – Lake Havasu AZ, Mount Airy NC, Nacogdoches TX, Valdosta GA, Walla Walla WA, Woodward OK
  • Best for Food – Addison WV, Burnsville MN, Costa Mesa CA, Gulfport FL, Lafayette LA, Visalia CA

So what’s this all about? From the Best of the Road website:

What is the Best of the Road® 2011 Rally?

A. This summer, five teams of travelers will help us find the very best small towns in America in the Best of the Road® Rally. A panel of travel experts from Rand McNally and USA TODAY will select the top 5 small towns in each category – then the Road Rally begins!

Road Rally teams will leave New York City on June 23rd and visit each of the small town finalists. Each team will cover one of the five categories. At each town, the rally teams will dig deep and leave no stone unturned as they work to determine which small town is the best of their category.

When the rally teams arrive in Los Angeles, CA on July 15 they will announce which towns are really the best small towns in America.

The panel of travel experts from Rand McNally and USA TODAY will then determine which Road Rally team will win first place and the grand prize of ,000.

You’ll be able to support your favourite team by following their adventures on Facebook, their own websites, and on Twitter.

  • Captain and Clark (exploring the “Most Patriotic”) – website – Twitter
  • Gone with the Wynns (exploring the “Friendliest”) – website – Twitter
  • McNavigators (exploring the “Most Beautiful”) – website – Twitter
  • The Fun Finders (exploring the “Best for Food”)- website – Twitter
  • TravelingJules and TravelingJoan (exploring the “Most Fun”) – website – Twitter

We’ll be following the competitors and the adventures of the Saab range, too, as they carry the contestants around the United States on this adventure.

There are five teams, and of course there will be five Saabs involved in the adventures.

  • 1 x Saab 9-4x SUV
  • 2 x Saab 9-5 sedans
  • 1 x Saab 9-3 SportSedan
  • 1 x Saab 93 SportCombi

If they’re coming to your town, it’d be great to get and out, show them your support and let them know just how blessed they are to be doing this trip in a Saab. Maybe see if you can get photo of them and send it in.

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Events – IntSaab 2011, Finland

This event has been added to the events page.

IntSaab is the annual International Saab Clubs meet, which is hosted in a different country each year. Although it mentions Saab Clubs in the official title, you do not need to be a member of a Saab Club to attend. IntSaab is open to all.

Well, almost. IntSaab 2011 is fully booked, such is the popularity of the event. For those who are interested in attending an IntSaab meeting in future years, however, here’s a run-down of what will be happening this year……

IntSaab 2011 is being hosted by the Saab Club of Finland. The main center of events will be at the Hotel Ellivuori, in Sastamala. The official IntSaab program runs from August 5-8, 2011.

The program for this year’s event also includes a pre-tour from August 3 to 5, which will start at Espoo Car Museum near Helsinki and finish in Uusikaupunki with a visit to the SAAB Museum. Participants will then head for Ellivuori in time for the official IntSaab proceedings.

The official IntSaab program for 2011 is as follows…..

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Friday, Aug. 5 2011
Afternoon:
Arrival formalities and registration.
Arrival of the pre tour participants.

Evening:
Presentation: Hannu Berger, “History Of The Uusikaupunki Car Factory”
Presentation: Simo Lampinen, “Flying Finn”
Get together around the BBQ.

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Saturday, Aug. 6 2011
Morning:
Breakfast served at the hotel for all participants.
Registration continues.
An 80km long Saab pick nick tour with quizzes and tasks.
The picknick tour includes a pause at the Nokian Tyres warehouse, where a soup lunch and a factory tour will be availlable, as well as a show by Saab Performance Team.

Afternoon:
A non-prepaid lunch at Ellivuori will be served.
Parts sales.
Beauty contest.
Normal sauna and traditional Finnish smoke sauna.
Swimming pool and possibility to swim in the lake.

Evening:
Anniversary dinner with program.

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Sunday, Aug. 7 2011
Morning:
Breakfast at the hotel for all participants.
Part sales.

Afternoon:
Lunch with price giving continued from the previous night.
“Goodbye and get safely home!”

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I’m planning on being there in Finland for this years’ event and I can’t wait. It’s been a Saab event I’ve wanted to attend for a long time now.

I’ll be bringing you all the coverage I can. Hopefully it might inspire you to get to an IntSaab event one day, too. Saab gatherings like this one are always heaps of fun, with plenty of great people to meet and a smorgasboard of incredible Swedish (and Finnish!) machinery to drool over.

For those who like to do a lot of forward planning, IntSaab 2012 will be held at Spa, in Belgium.

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