Photo Credit: Saab Club of Israel

The Saab Club of Israel has just celebrated their silver anniversary, marking 25 years since their club was formed. To this day, there is only one importer of Saab Automobiles in their country.

Here is the press piece I recently received along with a link to photos that they took of their gathering, complete with a whole lineage of vintage SAABs to more modern Saabs!

I have not been able to locate their official club website, so in lieu of that, I will post their fotki photo page and create their own new section titled “Saab Clubs In the Middle East”.

The Israel SAAB Club celebrated its’ Silver Anniversary yesterday in a trip to the northern part of Israel. The club was formed at the end of 1983, at times when Saab had no importer in Israel. These days there is an importer, but only 1 (one !!! and this is not a joke) new SAAB car was imported to israel during 2008. there are around 950 SAABs in the country, of them more than 100 are in areas that suffer Hammas Terrorists’ missle attacks these days.

Israel Saab Club 25th Anniversary

 
The Swedish Saab Club’s ex-President, Martin Bergstrom, was recently interviewed on Sweden’s Rapport.
 
He has quite the Saab collection there, very impressive! In fact, one of the many vintage Saabs he owns includes the one-of-a-kind Saab 99 Limo that took the current King of Sweden to the Boston State House back in 1976! It’ll be nice to see this again once it has been restored!
 
I had the chance to meet him at last year’s 2007 Saab Festival, a nice guy and has done a lot for his club and Saab Enthusiasts all across the world! It is a good interview regardless of your knowledge of the Swedish Language.

Photo Credit: Aaron C. Gilbert

The Pacific North West Saab Owners Club in the United States has recently held a club outing at a wind turbine farm.

I find this venue quite interesting given that Saab used to manufacture wind turbines back in 1975 and as recent as 2003, Saab had their global launch of the 9-3 Sport Sedan through a shoot in the Canary Islands that had a scientific facility complete with wind turbines!

This particular location that they visited is Washington State’s largest wind farm appropriately located on top of a hillside in Ellensburg which has 127 turbines. A far cry from the old Saab-Scania turbine, these turbines pump out 230 Megawatts powering approximately 70,000 homes!

What a interesting idea for a Saab Club visit and what a place to take photos, surreal!

The International Saab Club Meeting took place this past weekend in the Cesis district in Latvia on August 7th-9th 2008.

The Saab Club of Latvia did an incredible job in advertising the meeting during last year’s 60th Anniversary Saab Festival in Sweden from the 7th through the 10th of June, 2007. From a huge distribution of flyers at the Saab Festival Dinner, to a website launch, as well as proper signage displayed on a number of Saab Club of Latvia cars, namely the Saab 9-5 pictured here, their presence was certainly known and their anticipating of the meeting, quite remarkeable.

Here is a brief quote from their website:

Dear SAAB friends,

We invite all SAAB enthusiasts from around the world to take part in the 26th International SAAB Club Meeting, on 8,9, and 10 August 2008, in the Cesis district of Latvia.

This year is very important for us because the Latvian SAAB Club has its 10th Anniversary.

Our main idea is to meet SAAB friends in a large camping place where all SAAB enthusiasts can spend an interesting and rewarding time together.

And, as we see SAAB cars not only as a cult objects, but also as cars for active people, the meeting will be at the camping place Mezrozes, Cesu district. Mezrozes is situated 100 km north-east from the capital Riga and 15 km from the town Cesis.

Cesis is the town with more than a 800-year-old history, picturesque landscape and numerous cultural activities.

Preliminary Program:

Friday, August 8, 2008
Morning: Meeting and check-in at the Mezrozes camping.
Afternoon: Check–in and a sightseeing route.
Evening: Official opening of the “26th International SAAB Club Meeting 2008” and a Grill Party.

Saturday, August 9, 2008
Morning: International SAAB Rally 2008, a tour with special tasks but without complicated orienteering (for locals, of course :) ).
Afternoon: You may still be on the tour, maybe not :)
Voting for the SAAB Beauty contest.
Evening: Buffet Diner with entertainment. Prizes and Special Prizes. Saturday night SAAB Disco. Sauna, smoke sauna, lake, pool.

Sunday, August 10, 2008
Late morning: Late breakfast.
SAAB market.
SAAB Beauty Contest award ceremony.
Afternoon: Closing of the Meeting.

One weekend for us is too short a time to meet SAAB friends again and show our hospitality. Yes, we want to show you more!

So the Latvian SAAB club invite you to join other SAAB friends during 3-day event before International Meeting 2008 when we want to show you just a little part of the nice place called Latvia and spend time together with other SAAB enthusiasts.

For more information on this event, please visit their website directly at www.intsaab2008.com

The Vintage Saab Club of North America will be having a meeting on July 12th in New York. They are encouraging not only other members from other clubs, but enthusiasts and owners to attend as well! It sounds like a great time, read below!

VSCNA Meeting Notice

The next meeting of the Vintage Saab Club of North America will be held on July 12th 2008 at the home of Bruce and Lori Turk in Walden, NY, rain or shine. This will be a social gathering of like-minded individuals where we will discuss pressing issues such as, but not limited to, when the hamburgers are ready to come off the grill.

New for this years picnic is an indoor banquet facility (A.K.A. “The new barn”) that can easily accommodate all of us in the case of inclement weather. The picnic will start at 11:00am with lunch around 12:30pm. Early arrivals are always welcome if you don’t mind helping to set up!

The Turk’s will provide unlimited parking “on the green” for all make and model cars, a gas BBQ for your cooking pleasure, paper plates, utensils, cups, condiments, soda, macaroni salad, tossed salad and fruit salad. You will bring your own food, beverages and folding chairs.

The V.S.C.N.A. will hold its annual election of officers at the picnic. Only members in good standing will be allowed to vote.

Please sign up in advance so we know how many people are coming. Use his link to sign up: http://www.nysoc. com/cgi-bin/signup/index.cgi

We are also inviting the members of the New York Saab Owners Club (NYSOC) http://www.nysoc.com/ and Adirondack Motor Enthusiasts Club (AMEC) http://www.icerace.com/ and New England Saab Association (NESA) http://nesaab.org/site/ to join us. Inviting additional clubs insures a large turnout and that’s what we want, the more the
merrier. As always, you do not need to be a member of the VSCNA to participate in one of our events. Everyone is invited, all makes and
model cars are welcome. We do ask that non-VSCNA members make a $5.00 per person donation to our club; a donation jar will be on site.

Directions to the Turk house:

From Route 87 (New York State Thruway) Take exit 17 (Newburgh) Follow sign after toll to route 17K. Make
right at traffic light on to 17K West. Go 3.2 miles on 17K West to traffic light. Make a right at light on to Rock Cut Road (Cumberland Farms gas station on corner). See “Directions from Rock Cut road”.

From Route 84 Take exit 6 (Montgomery- Newburgh) Get on 17K West. Take 17K West 1/2 mile to traffic light. Make a right at light on to Rock Cut road (Cumberland Farms gas station on corner). See “Directions from Rock Cut Road”.

Directions from Rock Cut road. Take Rock Cut Road for one mile to traffic light. Make a left at light toward Walden. Go 1 mile and make a right on Saint Andrews Road. Go .9 miles on Saint Andrews Road; The Turk home is on the left. There is a telephone pole on the left at the end of their driveway. The number 333 is nailed to the telephone pole, which is hidden behind a big tree so go SLOW.

Bruce Turk
333 Saint Andrews Rd.
Walden, NY 12586
(845) 778-2469

Photo Credit: Tom Nelson

The Rocky Mountain Saab Club in Colorado, the club that is working hard in preparing the 2009 Saab Owners Convention next year, has recently enjoyed a “Saab Club Ski Day” for their members.

It looks like they had a great time there, showing some beautiful Saabs as well!

Here is the writeup by RMSC member Charles Stoyer in his own words from their latest April newsletter.

It was Tuesday, 18 March 2008 and the designated RMSC ski day. Tom and I both had our concerns. Tom’s concern was than no one would show up and it would be just the two of us, one of the 20-odd RMSC ski days we have had this season. My worst fear was that we would end up skiing blue cruisers all day. Both fears were unfounded.

We did manage to get one additional person to join us, Rob Martinson of Evergreen. He did not bring a SAAB to meet us at the Floyd Hill P&R, but he does own a steel-gray ‘02 Viggen 5-door and an ‘86 900 Turbo SPG. While we were getting our boots on in the Mary Jane Parking Lot, John Hill of Boulder parked behind us with a steel gray Viggen ragtop which semi matches Robs.We introduced ourselves, invited him to ski with us and suggested he get in our picture. He did, and he has now joined RMSC! John was previously a member of the Boulder Saab Club.

Well, John (a former member of the CU FreestyleTeam, and ex ski racer) was the best skier among us and yours truly was the worst, but even then we had no need for blue cruisers and spent the day skiing tree and black bump runs. John snuck off for an extreme run at the end of the day but we did meet back up with him in the parking lot for one final photo showing both my red ‘92 9000 T and his ‘02 9-3 Viggen ragtop.

Lunchtime on the patio next to the Club Car at Mary Jane. L-R: Charles Stoyer, Tom Nelson, Rob Martinson and John Hill.

We hope to see more of you next year, even if we do have to ski blue cruisers! 3, fortunately,

Saab Enthusiast and sales represenative at Cherry Hill Saab, resurrects a Saab Club in New Jersey.

The New Jersey Saab Owners Club (NJSOC) was originally started by a longtime Saab enthusiast by the name of Larry West in 1987, 21 years ago.

I recall going to a few of the NJSOC technical sessions that were arranged by this club and hosted with John Moss at the former Saab Cars USA Technical Training facility in Wallingford, Connecticut in 2001 that GM subsequently closed in April of 2005. I believe that sometime after 2001, the New Jersey Saab Owners Club was disbanded.

If you are a Saab Owner or enthusiast in and around New Jersey and can make it to the next meeting, check it out and let me know how it went!

Here is a piece about the club’s new launch:

The Jersey Saab Club is all about the Saab owner pride in the Delaware Valley.

The South Jersey / Philadelphia area has some of the best Saab’s in the country. In the past we have not had representation in the Saab owners Club of North America annual meetings and we would like to show that this area definately has a lot of Saab pride.

This isn’t going to be easy but with your help and love for the brand we can show the rest of the country the wonderful cars our areas has.

Our Meetings are in South Jersey. South Jersey is most defined as Trenton down to Cape May. Don’t worry if you are from North of Trenton you can still participate in the club our meetings and outings will be held south of Trenton.

This club is committed to all Saab’s. Old and New. We encourage recent Saab owners as well as “old heads” to join the club and socialize and network.

Please visit their website directly here: http://jerseysaabclub.com

Photo Credit: Jon DelRosario

The New England Saab Association, a Saab Club, are relaunching their activities with get together none other than the Swedish “Crown Bakery” in Worcester, Massachusetts, adjacent to the Swedish Electrolux shop this Saturday at noon in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The photo above was taken in May of 2001 and showcases the vehicles of the original New England Saab Association organizers. The 9000 on the far left (black) was a passer by, who surprisingly was Swedish and his grandfather was a past Saab President in Sweden, surprisingly enough. It is important to know that this photograph represented our “photo opportunity”, however the meeting took place elsewhere.

If you plan on going, please get a photograph in a similiar fashion of all of the Saabs lined up, nose out for a THEN & NOW photo collage for the record. It’ll be really nice to see how many people who show up and support the relaunching of the club to those that were unable to make it to due to prior committments or logistics.

What: New England Saab Association (NESA) Meeting

Where: The Crown Bakery & Cafe
133 Gold Star Blvd
Worcester, MA 01606
508-852-0746

http://www.thecrownbakery.com/

When: Saturday, Nov 17th, 2007 (12:00noon sharp!)

View Larger Map

Photo Credit: Gerry Angus

I have just received a very nice writeup about the Saab Club of Canada, here it is in their own words:

We do have a web site and a fairly active forum. Our club is one of the older ones around, certainly the oldest in Canada having been around since 1978. One other thing to note … our club has been running Enhanced Driving Schools (for anyone who wants to attend, not just Saabs) for almost 20 years.

Our last school was October 5, 2007 and was attended by 11 Saabs, the most ever! Have a look at our web site for photos of the event, including the Saab group photo at the end of the day … and notice that the JL Racing Saab is there (John Lockhart, the owner, is actually my neighbour too - small world!!!).

Our membership has grown almost 30% in the last 18 months. I attribute this to the work of our membership as well as the quality of products Saab has been producing. As a matter of fact, the largest dealer in Canada has just invited the club to not only attend, but to participate in their 2008 9-3 launch coming up in a couple of weeks.

In addition to that, our club has very close ties with the head of Saab Canada, particularly the last head (who just finished his stint in August) and have made very good progress with his replacement. One very interesting comment from Marten is that he doesn’t believe any other club in the world works as closely with Saab as our club does (and this from the new guy!!!).

Saab Club of Canada

The President of the Saab Car Club of Australia of a club that represents 5 branches spanning the entire Australia region, those being Victoria, NSW, WA, Tasmania and Queensland, has recently contacted me with a really interesting proposal:

Here is his proposal in his own words:

This a great site and shows the SAAB owners geographical location, the value of the 80 clubs members cars must be in the $$ U.S. millions. This also raises the opportunity for the international SAAB clubs to form a network of international SAAB owner clubs , which would possibly be one of the larger car clubs and could be a strong influence on GM as to what is happening with the SAAB brand and models.

Thousands of global SAAB car owners in the international clubs who are truly passionate and proud about their SAABS can carry a message of brand loyalty to SAAB.

This was really kind of the president to provide this idea and moreover, to allow me to share this idea directly here on Saab history.

I think this idea is important to consider having some sort of network for all of these 80 Saab Clubs in over 40 countries to communicate regarding key areas of importance that transcend across all of our geographic locations.

If you are reading this, what are your thoughts? Please post them in the comments section of this posting.

Photo Credit: Saab Club of France

The Saab Club of France has just contacted Saab History to indicate that they recently participated in the annual vintage auto show titled “Salon Epoqu’Auto Lyon“. This auto show took place this past weekend from the 9th until the 11th of November.

This display is quite impressive and really puts the Saab Club of France high on the list for putting this altogether. From the photos, you could tell how much level of detail they included in their display with everything from scale model cars in glass cases to product literature including actual Turbochargers and intercoolers along with their respective technical brochures.

I’m willing to bet that that anyone visiting their display would have left with a real sense of why Saab has one of the largest followings of enthusiasts in the automobile industry. I hope that a lot of new members joined the club!

Please take a look at their photography from the site here.

A Saab Club, commonly known as a community that consists of Saab owners and enthusiasts have gathered to drive, socialize and learn about Saabs in a fun and welcoming environment, have been around for years in various capacities.

Today, due to the growing volume of Saabs that have been produced, communication of activities due to the maturity of the internet, and a few other factors, the owner and enthusiast base for the Saab automobile is at its highest level ever and the total number clubs representing these individuals is now at 80 clubs worldwide.

From the Saab Festivals, Saab Conventions to other various events and activities that take place monthly in just about every continent on the globe, year after year, these tireless unpaid volunteers who come together in the spirit of Saab, enjoy what they do, but it’s about time that we thank the international Saab clubs wherever you may be for all of the hard work you continue to do.

Without these clubs, I truly believe that the body of knowledge, mentorship, events, activities, archival material ranging from written, photographic as well as audio and video would not be in existence today. I also believe that these tireless promotors of all things Saab, who choose to make the sacrifices with their families for the sake of everything Saab, all the time, are owed a debt of gratitude and for this I respectfully thank you for the work you have done and continue to do. Your work has made a significant impact worldwide in terms of promoting, advertising and keeping the Saab brand alive for generations to come. These contributions set the competition far behind and it is no wonder that the Saab owners are “the most desireable customers a company could ever wish for”!

I want to wish each and club the best and believe that running a club today unlike your earlier counterparts, you have more tools at your disposal in which to promote and communicate your activities to a greater audience more than before. This is a great time to be part of a Saab club!

As a resource for potential new members consisting of new or existing Saab owners and enthusiasts, I have provided a complete listing below of all of the 80 Saab Clubs worldwide. This list will also be accessible on every page of the site on the right-hand column as well, for easy accessibility. If I have missed anything or you see changes that should be made, please contact me immediately so that I can make the necessary modifications. I have also created a Saabs Club section for any and all postings pertaining to Saab Clubs to reside. Please visit this section directly here.

Happy Saabing and keeping the Saab spirit alive in over 40 countries worldwide!

Saab Clubs - Asia

• Saab Club of Japan
• Saab Club of Malaysia
• Saab Club of Singapore
• Saab Club of Taiwan
• Saab Club of Thailand

Saab Clubs - Europe

• Saab 900 Club of Hungary
• Saab 9000 Club of Sweden
• Saab 96 Club of Netherlands
• Saab 99 Club of Sweden
• Saab Cabrio Club of Netherlands
• Saab Club Espirit France
• Saab Club of Austria
• Saab Club of Belarus
• Saab Club of Belgium
• Saab Club of Bulgaria
• Saab Club of Cheshire and Staffordshire UK
• Saab Club of Czech Republic
• Saab Club of Denmark
• Saab Club of East Midlands
• Saab Club of East Sussex
• Saab Club of Estonia
• Saab Club of Estonia2
• Saab Club of Finland
• Saab Club of France
• Saab Club of Germany
• Saab Club of Hungary
• Saab Club of Iceland
• Saab Club of Ireland
• Saab Club of Italy
• Saab Club of Latvia
• Saab Club of Lithuania
• Saab Club of Luxembourg
• Saab Club of Netherlands
• Saab Club of Northwest UK
• Saab Club of Ottawa
• Saab Club of Poland
• Saab Club of Portugal
• Saab Club of Romania
• Saab Club of Russia
• Saab Club of Slovakia
• Saab Club of Slovenia
• Saab Club of Spain
• Saab Club of Sweden
• Saab Club of Switzerland
• Saab Club of West Midlands and Warwickshire UK
• Saab Enthusiasts Club of UK
• Saab Freunde of Germany
• Saab Italian Car Club
• Saab Owner's Club GB
• Saab Sonett Club of Sweden
• Saab Sport Club of France
• Saab Team of Germany
• Saab Turbo Club Norway
• Saab Turbo Club of Sweden
• Saab Turbo Club Serbia
• Vintage Saab Club of Norway

Saab Clubs - North America

• Bay Area Saab Club
• Carolina Saab Club
• Central Pennsylvania Saab Club
• Great Lakes Saab Club
• Lone Star Saab Club
• Milwaukee Saab Club
• Minnesota Saab Club
• New England Saab Association
• New York Saab Owners Club
• Northwest Saab Owners Club
• Rocky Mountain Saab Club
• Saab Club of North America
• Saab Club of Tampa Bay
• Saab Club of the Florida Panhandle
• Saab Club of Western Canada
• Saab Owners Club Canada
• San Diego Saab Club
• Southern California Saab Club
• Tri State SAAB Club
• Vintage Saab Club of North America
• Washington Area Saab Club

Saab Clubs - South America

• Saab Club of Argentina and Uruguay

Saab Clubs - Oceania

• Saab Club of Australia
• Saab Club of New Zealand