Tag: Mille Miglia

Saabosphere – Saab links we liked last week

I’m going to start this week’s Saabosphere with a link from this very same website. I’ll do that because it’s important for those who didn’t all the commotion on Friday to know that Saab has indeed re-started production after a 6-week layover.

There was a press release about it and I also shot some video of the first cars coming off the line just after 10am Friday morning. The article on this subject that you might find a bit more entertaining is my Notes on the re-start of production, which includes a few behind-the-scenes observations from the day.

I can further confirm that today, Monday, we were back making cars again, with 145 built when I walked past the production line just after lunchtime (we built just 100 or so last Friday on the first day back).

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Franca Devonport from The Telegrgaph, in England, has an excellent article covering the value of the Mille Miglia, which Saab competed in a few weeks ago for the second consecutive year.

The article examines the value to companies who take part in the event, the way it can link a company’s past to its present and how companies can use the event to make a prolonged statement about themselves and their vehicles.

“The Saab is a strong character,” says Peter Bäckström, manager of the Saab Museum, and Fägerhag’s co-driver. “It simply cannot be mainstream and Saab drivers simply cannot be categorised, apart from as individuals. Participating in events like the Mille Miglia encapsulates what Saab is all about.”

Well, that’s one drawcard, along with the Italian food 🙂

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We’ve been covering the Saab Convertible’s 25th Anniversary here on Inside Saab (more to come soon) and if you do the math, that will tell you that the first Saab Convertibles were sold to the public as 1985 vehicles.

How then, does one get a 1981 Saab Convertible?

The short story is over at Saablog-in.

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Those of you in England might want to mark down the dates for MotorExpo in your calendar.

The 2011 event at Canary Wharf will once again include Saab as an exhibitor.

Motorexpo is open daily between 10.00am and 6.00pm from Monday 6 to Saturday 11 June, and between 11.00am and 5.00pm on Sunday 12 June. Entry is free.

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This story is not online (yet), but Jerry Seinfeld is coming to Sweden to do a few shows. In a publicity article in Goteborg’s Posten, Jerry lists three of his favourite things about Sweden:

  1. Lasse Hallstrom – “I love him. I loved ‘My Life as a Dog’. ‘Gilbert Grape’ was also good. It was he who did it? “
  2. Erik Carlsson – “That is a ‘60s reference. He was rally driver for Saab. He drove a Saab 96, no wait, it was actually a Saab 92”.
  3. Saab – “I love Saab. In my TV show, I drove a Saab.”

With reference to #2, it was both (as well as a few others), though he’s more known for the 96. It seems like Jerry’s Saab knowledge might run more than show-deep. But then he is a car guy, reported to own a fleet of Porsches.

Black Saab Rules!

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Mille Miglia Photo Exhibition at the Saab Museum

Posted to the events page……

The Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan will host a special photo exhibition on the 2011 Mille Miglia from Saturday, May 28 until Monday, June 6.

The exhibition will feature the two vehicles (still with Italian mud caked in the tire tread!) driven by Mats Fägerhag and Hans Hugenholtz, along with a slideshow of images taken during the rally. The images were shot by renowned British photographer Charlie Magee.

The exhibition will be open to the public during normal business hours, Monday to Sunday 11:00-16:00, and entrance will be included with purchase of museum day pass.

Get a preview of some of the photos here.

History: Mille Miglia and Saab

Once described as the world’s greatest road race, the Mille Miglia was created in 1927 as a marathon speed test of man and machine on closed public roads from Brescia to Rome and back. The original route was almost exactly 1,600 kilometers, hence the race’s iconic name – ‘Mille Miglia’ is Italian for 1,000 miles.

Continue reading Mille Miglia Photo Exhibition at the Saab Museum

Saab at the 2011 Mille Miglia

Trollhättan, Sweden: The Mille Miglia is one of the highlights of the year for any car enthusiast. Fantastic cars, fantastic scenery and fantastic people. And at Saab Automobile, we live cars, so naturally we again competed in this year’s event after the 2010 edition saw Saab Automobile CEO and Chairman Victor Muller and former Saab Automobile CEO Jan Åke Jonsson taking the wheel of two Saab 93s.

For the 2011 edition, Saab brought three 93s to the Brescia starting line. The #331 car was driven by Mats Fägerhag, Saab Automobile’s Vice President Vehicle Product Development, with Peter Bäckström, Manager of the Saab Car Museum, sitting alongside. The #332 car was driven by Hans Hugenholtz, Chairman of Saab Automobile owner Spyker Cars N.V., and his wife Laurence. A third #333 car was entered and driven by long-time Belgian Saab importer Jacques Beherman, assisted by Umberto Stefani, External Affairs Director for Saab Belgium.

In preparing the Saab 93s for the event, the cars were kept as close as possible to the specification of the cars that competed in the old days. “We restored them to original condition, as near as possible, with the same materials and components that were used at that time,” says Peter Bäckström. “We’ve had to refurbish some of the interior trim and that was an interesting project for our colleagues in the prototype workshop at the factory. They were working with materials and build techniques that are no longer used, but they enjoyed the challenge.”

Click to see a feature on the restoration of the #331 Saab 93.

Keeping the cars in original condition also meant not improving them beyond their original trim. “For instance, with the technical knowledge we have these days, it would be quite easy to get some more power from the two-stroke engines, but that is not what we wanted to do,” says Bäckström. “In standard trim they produced about 33 hp and for competition use this was raised to about 50 hp. And that is what we had on the Mille Miglia.”

Continue reading Saab at the 2011 Mille Miglia

Saab at Mille Miglia – a fan’s view

We’ll have some material on the Mille Miglia from the inside perspective tomorrow.

Today, though, I’d like to draw your attention to an absolutely brilliant collection of photos from the Mille Miglia, taken by some Saab fans in Italy.

Saabnews.it is an Italian Saab fan site and it’s typical of why Saab enthusiasts are the best automotive enthusiasts in the world. The dedication of the average Saab fan is without peer and the collection of photos from this event by the moderators at Saabnews.it is a prime example.

I’ve posted a few photos below with their permission, but please head on over and view the full collection for yourself. You’ll be AMAZED by the number of shots there:

2011 Mille Miglia at Saabnews.it

Click to enlarge.

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2011 Mille Miglia complete – all three Saabs finish the journey

Peter Backstrom, the director of the Saab Museum here in Trollhattan, oversaw the engine builds for the three Saab 93A’s competing in the 2011 Mille Miglia. Those engines were built not to be outstandingly fast, but to be very, very reliable (whilst still being quite quick for such a small engine).

That strategy has worked for the second consecutive year, with all three cars in the 2011 Mille Miglia finishing the event in fine style.

Brescia, Italy: The 2011 Mille Miglia contest ended on a high Saturday night, as all three competing Saab 93s safely returned to the enthusiastic crowds in Brescia. The number 332 car, piloted by Spyker Cars Chairman Hans Hugenholtz and his wife Laurence, was the first Saab car to finish the third and final leg of the 2011 event. Earlier on Saturday, the classic Saabs had departed from the Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome, after which they made their way back to Brescia over a course that brought them past Viterbo, Siena, Florence and other highlights of the Italian landscape.

Here are some more photos from the final day. Click to enlarge. We’ll get more information and stories from the guys as they come back into Trollhattan and regain their senses after a hectic week’s driving.

Congratulations to all three teams on the successful completion of the event. I can’t wait to see the full set of photos and video.

Coming soon!

Mille Miglia photo and video update

News from the Mille Miglia has been difficult to come by as we only have a very small team in Italy for the event and they’re almost all involved in either competition or support. It doesn’t help that I’ve been flying between Australia and Sweden for the last few days. We will get a more complete story in the coming hours, however.

Until then, here are some photos from Day 2 of this beautiful event through the Itlian countryside.

Click to enlarge.

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We’re also thankful to the Saabway Club, from Italy, who had members present to shoot a fantastic video of all three Saabs at the beginning of the event….

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Saab photo update from 2011 Mille Miglia

I don’t have any details or stories to share, but it certainly looks like the team at Mille Miglia is having a good time. The cars and the scenery both look breathtaking.

The following photos just arrived in my inbox, directly from Italy…..

Peter Backstrom (left) and Mats Fagerhag talk to the crowd. Mats is driving the Saab 93A that Peter helped to prepare for the event.

Mats Fagerhag looking cool in the Italian sunshine….

The Saab 93A being driven by Hans Hugenholz along with a Saab 9-3 Independence Edition Convertible…..

The Mille Miglia entry from Behermans in Belgium, with the Saab Museum entry in the background…..

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Remember to keep checking in with SofieFromSaab on Twitter. She’s posting live occasional updates along with images from the 2011 Mille Miglia.

We’ll have full coverage of the event after it’s completion on the weekend.

Saab Up!!!

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Saabosphere – links we enjoyed this week

Let’s be honest. It’s a tough week to be writing about enjoyable links. But there are some good stories out there, so let’s take a look at them before I head off to the airport to return back to Saab HQ in Trollhattan.

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Mille Miglia is on right now and there are three Saab 93A’s entered in the event. You can view photos and commentary about the restoration of one of those cars right here at Inside Saab.

We’ll have a full review of the event when it’s over and done, but if you want some real-time updates on what’s happening there, the best place to go is SofieFromSaab’s Twitter page.

Sofie works for Saab in Belgium and she’s there covering the Mille car that’s been prepared and entered in the event by Behermans, the Belgian Saab importer.

From Sofie’s account, here’s Saab’s Technical Director, Mats Fagerhag, taking the Saab 93A prepared by the Saab Museum in Trollhattan (see link above) back to the Mille Miglia museum as part of the event.

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Saab appointed a new President and COO for Saab Cars North America, a guy formerly from Subaru, named Tim Colbeck.

Tim’s first day on the job took him to the Saab 9-4x press drive in Washington DC and while he was there, Autoblog conducted a brief interview with him for an article that now appears on their website.

It makes for some good, insightful reading and I’m very encouraged by Mr Colbeck’s background and knowledge not only of Saab, but of Saab’s market as well.

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A few articles from today’s issue of Saabs United:

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I look forward to getting back Trollywood. See you all there soon.

Video: 2011 Mille Miglia teaser

We take this opportunity to wish the best to the three Saab entrants in the 2011 Mille Miglia historic rally in Italy:

  • Mats Fägerhag, Saab Automobile’s Vice President Vehicle Product Development, with Peter Bäckström, Director of the Saab Museum
  • Hans Hugenholtz, Chairman of Saab Automobile owner Spyker Cars N.V., and his wife Laurence.
  • Jacques Beherman, importer of Saab cars into Belgium, and Umberto Stefani, head of Saab in Belgium.

Here’s a little teaser as to what they’ll be up to starting very, very soon…..

Restoration of a Saab 93A Mille Miglia racer

There will be three Saab 93A’s running in this year’s Mille Miglia. One of the cars has been restored in Belgium and will be driven by senior staff from Saab’s Belgian importer, Behermans.

The other two belong to Saab. The first one is the yellow car that was driven by Spyker Cars Chairman, Victor Muller, and his son in last year’s Mille Miglia (at left, below).

This article covers the recent restoration of Saab’s second car; a green car acquired by Saab late in 2010, which will be driven in the 2011 Mille Miglia by Saab’s engineering chief, Mats Fagerhag and co-driven by Saab Museum director, Peter Backstrom.

The car is 1956 Saab 93A. It’s only the ‘A’ model that is eligible for Mille Miglia, where regulations dictate that only models that participated in the original Mille Miglia of yesteryear can participate in the historical event today. There was only one Saab that competed in the original Mille Miglia, a Saab 93A driven by Charlie Lohmander and Harald Kronegard. They won their class in the 1957 Mille, which was the last Mille Miglia held before the race was cancelled as a competitive event (today’s Mille Miglia involves friendly competition and is a historic event only).

Buckle up. This is a long one, with 45 photos of the rebuild process.

Continue reading Restoration of a Saab 93A Mille Miglia racer

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