Mega turnout at Saabdag at Valkenburg Air Camp
Sunday 15 January was a special day for all lovers of the Swedish brand Saab. You may wonder whether this article does not belong in the section verkeerd afgelopen. In the last month of 2011 the curtain fell for the cars that were built by the Trolls.
"Made by Trolls" was in fact a winged statement that was synonymous with the Saabs built in Trollhattan, Sweden. Before Saab focused on building cars, aircraft were built. For that reason, the first cars of the brand were already packed with all sorts of ingenious things that came from the aircraft industry. The first model that came into production was equipped with a three-cylinder two-stroke engine. The streamline was based on aerodynamics laws from aviation. Despite the small engine capacity, the small front-wheel drive Saabs were able to achieve many rally successes. With among others the flying Swede Eric Carlson at the wheel, or "Eric on the roof" as he was called in England because he could roll over the roof with the Tweetakt Saab without damaging that roof. Eric married the sister of Stirling Moss, Pat Moss and this lady also achieved the necessary success with the Saab.
Things like that all fluttered through the heads of the enthusiasts who were there in Valkenburg. All different types were installed in Hangaar 2. While the cars were parked outside, there were also a number of blue and yellow cars in the shape of the Swedish flag. The different variants of the cabriolet versions were put together and around three o'clock in the afternoon even two Saab planes flew over the new fans of the brand. Then the former CEO of Saab, Victor Muller, appeared to address those present. The chairman of the Saab club reported that there had been more than 1450 cars. That is a huge result for an event that was conceived a few weeks before. And in other places around the world attention was given to the Saab brand in this way. Who knows what is possible in the future. Wouldn't it be a good idea to continue on a small scale along the lines of the English Morgan and to build a retro version of the primal Saab who managed to achieve the rally successes and thus appealed to the imagination?
Text and photo Jacques van den Bergh