The Toppola interior

It's a while ago since the last blog post. Many things happened and I had to care about real life. In my daily job we've finished (successful) fiscal year which is connected to a lot of work. In my side project Citylife we've launched the Android version of our mobile app. A lot new things to learn and solve. Mobile analytics, interesting stuff. Besides the iOS version, this is our second app.

And than my brand new home PC burned out. It's now back but my trust in it got a deep scar.

A nice thing happened recently. There was a reader question about some photos of the Toppola interior in the post about the Toppola convoy. I have only one and not very good. But the Toppola enthusiasts from Belgium have seen the question and reacted with a set of pictures, which landed in my email. Thanks again Chris!

Here they are :

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The Toppola convoy

To see a Toppola on the road is a very rare thing. They are sometimes on Saab conventions. On the IntSaab 2012 were two or three. Also on the Saab 64 book launch there were two, arriving from Belgium. Som basically who goes to some of the bigger conventions, get a chance to see a live Toppola once a year.

And than there are the Toppola meetings, which are organised from time to time. A really unique opportunity to see many Toppolas in one place. Even, they drive convoys !

Chris, one of the Toppola owners from Belgium sent me a set of wonderful photos from three such meetings, one in Sweden and two in France (Bretagne and Normandie). And I am really happy to post them here.

Btw. there will be a Toppola meeting in Sweden around the time of Saab Festival. As far as I could understand, they will meet a day or two before the festival somewhere in Sweden and afterwards drive a convoy to Trollhattan. Wow. Looking forward to see it there :)

Many thanks for the photos Chris !

Edit : there are also a couple of photos of the Toppola interior here. 

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The IntSaab 2012 photobook

There is a photobook from IntSaab 2012 [web, facebook] still available. It's a 48-pages simple book full of photos from the gathering. It's divided into three sections : the drive on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, the gathering in the center of Spa and the big soirée, the evening dinner with the ceremony, prices etc.

And I am very proud, that the book contains, besides two other photographers, also many of my photos from the event.

The book is available via thesaabfarm and on this email.

This year, the IntSaab 2013 will be held in the UK. The place, program and all the necessary informations can be found here.

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Time witness : a 1988 Saab 9000 print from the Stop magazine

The Stop magazine is a slovak car magazine. A very weird name for a car printed magazine, it should be "start" isn't it ? :) In these online ages his fame faded out "a little bit", but there were times it was the only one local printed magazine about cars. I loved Stop a lot many years ago.

This is a Stop scan from February 1988, the 9000 time.

The text says :

"The SAAB 9000 CD has broaden the Saab 9000 model range. A luxury limousine with classical lines. It offers an inline four cylinder 1985 cm3 engine with fuel injection and an intercooler, 16 valve head with dual overhead camshaft (DOHC). Saab offers a catalytic converter as an option.The version without catalyst offers 129 kW (175 hp) at 5300 rpm and 273 Nm torque at 3000 rpm. The version with catalyst offers a 119 kW (160 hp) at 5000 rpm and 255 Nm of torque at 3000 rpm."

It's amazing how they ignored any kind of marketing speach. Just raw basic facts and nothing else. It's not seen nowadays at all. Also that is why this is a pure time witness.

src : Puppy Hunters Saab Club

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The Saab 64 Celebration Day in Luxembourg, part 2

The 1000 km to Luxembourg are doable in a bit less than 9 hours. Maybe even a bit quicker, depending on the traffic, on having faster summer tyres and to be less responsible. I love these drives, especially when encountering some weird things from different planets :

That's the beauty of travelling. When a Saab session with some cool Saabs and nice people is the target, even more.

This is the part 2 of the Saab 64 Celebration Day photos. Part 1 is here.

Somewhere in Austria. Snow around. 6-7 hours later in Germany 15°C. Some topless convertibles seen.

Three black 9-3 cabrios. Each one is different. The beauty of Saab.

The roundtrip around Luxembourg

Yes, I'm nice.

... go for a football game ?

the sold red 900 ...

A shapes photo attempt

new vs old

... stalker

saabish beers ...

... and the book

Part 1 of the photos is located here.

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The Saab 64 Celebration Day in Luxembourg

There were many reasons why I decided to go to the Saab 64 Celebration Day and drive the 1000 km. The first was to meet a couple of online Saab friends in person, shake their hand and drink a beer with them. Maybe find new friends. Also to see a community in a smaller country than I am living in. Driving the Autobahn again.

But there was one special reason, which has roots 25 years back in the past. I was 14-15, trapped behind the iron courtain, without a perspective for a normal life. But my family had friends, which visited us and supported us. Especially the father of the family (R.I.P.), without knowing that, opened my eyes in many ways. He spoke about the life in the western part of Europe. That not everything is as easy as it appears. That I have to learn foregin languages. That the system in the soviet block falls apart, but nobody knows when it will be definitive. That family lives in Luxembourg and that is why Luxembourg has a special place in me.

The event itself was a birthday party of two people - congratulations again to Roby and Nicolas and an official launch of the Saab 64 1947 - 2011, a tribute to the history of Saab cars, a book written and collected by Nicolas Demuynck. He has put a lot of effort into the book which has texts in three languages and contains hundreds of photos. The book is now a part of my collection.

The book is available via thesaabfarm and on this email.

The two days were very informal. Fans, besides of Luxembourg came mainly from neighbouring countries. Many Saab models appeared, most of them the classic 900s. A birthday celebration, a meeting, a round trip, and an official dinner.

A very pleasant two days.

Part 1 of the photos :

The classic 900 and a Sonett discussion

The almighty Saab 900 Convertible. In Monte Carlo Yellow.

Cabotine and Toppolas

A randomly spotted reflection ...

Again the almighty 900

n/a :)

To have this in front of the hotel ? Anytime ...

... a detail

Another detail

An original birthday gift. A Garrett turbo.

The departure day, 8 o'clock in the morning. Frosty ...

... very frosty

... even more frosty

Part 2 of the photos.

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Three generations

Ohh yes ...

source : Save Saab Museum facebook

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Jalopnik and a Jason Castriota interview

Jalopnik published a Saab related story called Why The Saab 9-3 Phoenix May Not Be Dead After All. It is related to the 9-3 Jason Castriota design, which was seen and discussed by the whole Saab community.

There are a couple of new parts in the puzzle. For example, all new Saab 9-3s were planned to be  AWD and hybrid. With the BMW four-cylinder engine as the front power source and electric engines with torque vectoring on the rear wheels. An example of Saab torque vectoring test can be seen in this video. Cool, I would go for this power train as it would bring more driving accuracy and less money for fuel.

Jason Castriota says about that it would make sense for NEVS to use this design for the new 9-3. Yes it would. However, the community response is the big question here. What you would prefer a Saab 9-3 Griffin (or the facelift before) or JC's design ?

The emphasis on Saab-ness (or Saabism if you want :) ) is another of the points of the interview.
Yes, it is a hatchback, and at least inspiration from the c900 in the rear, as well as the hatchback 9-3 from the side. However, for my taste there are too many compromises in it.

There are many more points covered in the interview, and there will be a Q&A session later this week on Jalopnik. So if you are interested in asking, you may have a success getting an answer.
It's worth to stay tuned.

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287 km/h with a Viggen

Sure it's tuned. The discussion on youtube gives a bit more information. He did 287 km/h in 35 seconds. According to the video he did 0-100 km/h in about 8 seconds.

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