RMSC News 2013 Issue 2 March-April 2013
From your Club President
I always look forward to this time of year. The harsh winter months are over. Spring brings out a new lease on life as now we can be outdoors enjoying what the world offers. This is the best time of year to use my Saab convertible. It sits in my garage with the top down all winter. Sometimes in winter when the weather nice but cold, it gets driven. My record is 13 degrees on a clear winter day driving across Denver and yes, the heater was on full high.
Spring is a whole lot more enjoyable to see the world from the view inside a con- vertible.
Sad to hear the loss of two of our club members, Bill Searcy and Rob Martinson. They will be truly missed. Memorial trib- ute to them appears later in this issue.
We have activities lined up this summer for club to gather with our Saab’s to en- joy the experience of what owning a Saab is really about. We will keep you posted. It will be fun.
Drive safely & keep those Saab’s running forever!!
(Photo by Charles Stoyer)
The April 9th meeting will be held at 7PM at the Breckenridge Brewery at 5th and Lipan in Den- ver. Agenda includes upcoming CP car show, Project Colleen, Membership, Trivia, Top Gear video and Simeone Museum Presentation
RMSC Meeting Minutes April 9thth 2013
by Larry Beetham (photos by Charles Stoyer)
Meeting was brought to order by club president Jer- ry Danner, at the Breckenridge Brewery.
Greg Russell stated the price to enter a car for ex- hibit in the CP Concours on June 9th at ACC went up from $40 to $50. No registrations will be ac- cepted after May 27th. This is an effort to “curb”
registrations on the day of the show. Volunteers are needed and will receive a free lunch and entry for only 2 hrs of work!! We are looking for a last model year 9-5 as a club entry.
Paul Bottone was at the Denver Auto Show a few weeks ago – only 6 members showed up this year. He also reviewed plans for a Club trip to the Gate- way Museum on Labor Day weekend.
SOC ’13 is in August in Albany NY. Steve, Bruce, Jerry and Darrell are planning on making the trip.
Jerry thanked Charles for his diligence on the news- letter. He also showed a spark plug bug that a neighbor made from a large 2-stroke plug.
Tom noted that 6 of the club members tonight have recently purchased 2011 9-5s or 9-3s.
Jerry talked about his recent trip to the SimeoneMu-
seum, for the special exhibit: “The SAAB Spirit Lives On.” Which had several of Bill Jacobson and Tom Donney’s cars from the GM Heritage Collec- tion. The retired neurosurgeon Dr. Simeonehas
been collecting cars for over 50 years and has 59 cars in his collection. The SAAB group of 250 was larger than any other brands at his shows. Though Victor Muller was not able to be there in person, there was a 5 minute presentation in the show of questions and answers from him.
RMSC Meeting Minutes December 11thth 2012
by Larry Beetham (photos by Charles Stoyer) (continued)
Tom Nelson: Membership Chairperson- reported on membership and had a tribute to recently de- ceased member Rob Martinson and his participation in the club, ski clubs and his interest in airplanes. “Life is an Adventure” was his motto.
Tom mentioned an article in “vintage Views on Dave Snider winning the Walter Kern award at the last SOC and presented a showing of his Project
Colleen slide show which included 90 of the 160 pictures taking at the Saturday club work party. Al- so noteworthy was that there were 4 new club mem- bers working on the project that day.
Jerry presented memorabilia that Arne Sjodin, son of long time member Mats, had donated to the club. (brochures, etc.), the items will be auctioned off at the next meeting.
Tom Nelson had the membership list that he has cleaned up available for updates. Approximately 20 members are out of state. 110 within CO.
Tom has the membership in a Filemaker Bento 4 database, starting the inventory of car models with 96s, we have about 20 in our club and he will con- tinue to expand it to include other models.
A video was presented from Top Gear that Jamey Beetham sent to the club.
We ended with a short trivia challenge by Jimmy Beetham and Bruce Harbison, Jimmy up’ed the lev- el of our knowledge on Scania truck history that started in 1893 with coaches.
The meeting adjourned at 8:58.
1970 Saab “Follow-up”
by Bruce Harbison
In regard to the last newsletter’s report on the 1970 96 that was being parted out, here are a
couple of photos of what’s left of the car after all usable parts have been removed. Yes, these cars DID rust if great care is not taken! Note that there was no safe way to support the
body-shell without the use of 2X4s. This poor car rusted in all the “usual” places ex- cept for the upper part of the body. The cowl- ing was filled completely with dirt and leaves, but the corners of the lower windshield area did not rust, and these outer pieces have been removed for “patch-panels” for another pro- ject. The right side inner wheel house was also cut out to be used by an RMSC member
for his 1968 96 Deluxe restoration. The tired body shell will be recycled.
Gone but Not Forgotten ...
by Tom Nelson
The RMSC has lost two long-time members in the past 2 months. We want to remember both of these gentlemen for their Saab spirit, their warm friendship, and their extensive contributions to the RMSC.
Rob Martinson
Rob suffered a fatal ski injury at Vail on March 24, 2013 and passed away at age 67. He is survived by his wife Pam, plus children and grandchildren.
Rob was an avid, long-time, expert skier who usually spent over 50 days on Vail Mountain each season, but he also found time to ski with RMSC members at Mary Jane. Many of us knew him as an enthusiastic RMSC member and owner of an SPG and a Viggen. Rob helped on Projects Lisa and Colleen, as well the Auction Committee at SOC09 at Copper Mtn.
His other passions included fly fishing, and building and flying some amazing airplanes, like his current Rutan Long EZ based at the JeffCo Airport.
Jerry Danner recalls many very enjoyable fishing trips with Rob. Several RMSC members attended Rob's Memorial Service in the Evergreen area.
Bill Searcy
Bill Searcy passed away on Feb 25, 2013, following a long battle with Leukemia. He was 84 years old and is survived by a daughter, 2 sons, and several grand- children.
Raising his family in Evergreen, CO, Bill became a Saab owner in the 1960's when he briefly owned a Monte Carlo 850, then followed it with purchase of a
new 1968 Saab 96 Deluxe from Saab Denver. Bill also acquired a couple 1970 Saab 96's in the 1980's to join the 96 Deluxe.
When Bill started getting active in the RMSC in re- cent years he enjoyed working on Project RedBull and Project Lisa. As his health began to seriously de- cline Bill recognized how much the Saab Club in- volvement meant to him and decided that he wanted to have members of the club enjoy each of his 3 re- maining Saab 96's, so he donated them in the summer of 2012. Bill's warm generosity will be part of the history that goes forward with each of these 96's.
A memorial event was held in Longmont by Bill's family with many RMSC members in attendance.
2012 Walter Kern Award
by Ed Lorenz (reprinted from Vintage Views by permission)
The Saab Owner's Convention of 2012 was in Iowa City, and I was not there. But Dave Snider of Lafa- yette, Colorado was. He brought with him a base- model 1973 four-door 99L. And he went home with
The Walter Kern Award.
For those of you who do not know, for the past dozen or so years, The Walter Kern Award is presented
by our Vintage Saab Club of North America at each convention to the person with a “modified” Saab, and built in the same spirit as our past club president Wal- ter created his cars, like his Quantum, his turbo Sonett, his electric Sonett, etc. Since I was not able to attend the Iowa City convention, and I know that I missed a good one, I enlisted the most able services of Gary Stottler to find a worthy winner.
Dave bought his car in 1993, with a refurnished inte- rior, and then used it as his daily driver. After about ten years of that, Dave started thinking of restoring the car, and adding a few modifications that he
had thought about over that time. About four years later, the car was again running under its own pow- er. Of course the body and everything else was re-
stored and nicely repainted, but the vast bulk of the time, expense, and engineering went into the original carbureted “B” block engine. For starters, the “B” block was mated to a 16 valve 900 head. This in- volved cutting a new one-inch long oil passage in the head and gasket to get that to line up. Then to fit the new and custom built single-row timing chain, with
the appropriate sized sprockets, which then needed a new timing chain cover built for adapting the new head on one end to the old block on the other. And
then the fitting of a more up-to-date EZK ignition system and LH fuel injection system, from an '86 900S, all while trying to do it the same way the facto- ry might have done it. The '86 900 also donated its five speed transmission to the cause. Etc, etc. For these engine modifications, Dave did make extra parts and assemblies, which are for sale through him.
Dave's level of workmanship has made this a very nice looking car. Fortunately, his engineering skills proved themselves to be very good also. After be- ing "up and running" since 2007, the car has also been driven from Lafayette, Colorado to the conven- tions of Copper Mountain, CO in '09, Aurora, OH in '10, Parsippany, NJ in '11, and of course Iowa City, IA in '12. Not to mention a recent trip to Sarasota, FL, by way of Chicago, and back. That’s over 20,000 miles of perfect running.
Dave now has felt good enough about his time- and mileage-proven engineering and mechanical skills that he decided to recently sell the car. But that has not kept him from trying to become the first two-time winner of The Walter Kern Award. I have been sworn to secrecy, but if all goes well, his next project might be ready in time for the Albany, New York convention of this coming August. Congratulations to Dave for being
our winner of The Walter
Kern Award for 2012!
Arne Sjodin Donates Saab Memorabilia to RMSC
by Tom Nelson
Our club was the recent beneficiary of a gen- erous donation by the family of Mats Sjodin,
long time RMSC member who passed away about 3 years ago. As many of our more sen- ior members will recall, Mats was involved in the management of Saab Denver the origi-
nal Saab dealer on south Broadway back in the 1960's and 70's.
Arne Sjodin, one of Mats' 2 sons, has been on our RMSC email list since 2007. He came to the Project Colleen work party in March, bearing a bag full of vintage Saab Memorabil- ia that his father had saved over the years.
There are many interesting pieces, including a working model that demonstrates the ad- vantage of FWD vehicles by comparing a Saab 96 to a VW Beetle.
Since the donation was made to the RMSC, your Board of Directors has decided to con-
duct an informal auction at the regular Club meeting on June 11th. Please contact Jerry Danner to view the items, or for details on the auction. You must be present to bid!
Thank you Arne, and we were all happy to see you again at this RMSC event. It was also good having a brew with you at the Breck fol- lowing the work session.
Simeone Museum
by Jerry Danner (Photos by Tim Colbeck)
Invitations were put out by Bill Jacobson, owner of Sports Car Service of Wilmington Delaware, to attend a remarkable auto-
mobile collection at the Simeone Automotive Museum in Phila- delphia, PA. The theme of the event was “The Saab Spirit Lives On”. Bill Jacobson was given a special invitation by Dr. Sime-
one to present nineteen of his cars at a six week event. Over two hundred fifty Saab enthusiasts gathered Feb 22, 2013 to attend the launch of this special showing. The event was fully catered. Dr. Simeone mentioned of all the years he has been hosting car clubs, the Saab event was three times larger than any other event ever held at the Simeone Museum.
Victor Muller was to attend but canceled. Dr. Simeone personal- ly asked Victor Muller questions and created a presentation on Victor’s behalf. Other guest speakers were Tim Colbeck, parts manager for Saab Parts North America. The evening was fin- ished by John Moss presenting a one hour, in his remarkable style, “The Good Years of Saab”. Bill Jacobson ended with thanking all who attended. The furthest traveled to the event was Shelly Baxter from Atlanta, Georgia and Jerry Danner from
Denver Colorado representing our Rocky Mountain Saab Club of Colorado. Bill Jacobson put me up for the night I came to his home in Wilmington Delaware.
Bill Jacobson show cased nineteen of the best, restored Saabs he owns.
The Saabs on display include a 1956 Sonett 1, of which only six were produced, a 1996 “Saab Talladega Challenge” 900 model,
and a Barber Saab Pro Series open-wheeled racer. Many nota- ble Indy Car drivers such as Juan Pablo Montoya began their racing careers in a Barber Saab. The newest Saab on display will be a 2011 9-5 Aero, which was the ending production of the Saab era.
Saab (in English, Swedish Aeroplane Limited) was formed in 1945 out of Saab AB, a Swedish aerospace and defense compa- ny, when Saab AB started a project to design a small automo-
bile. The Saab 92, Saab’s first production model, was launched in 1949. GM gained control of Saab in 2000, spending $125 million to turn the company into a wholly owned subsidiary.
Project Colleen Phase II
by Jerry Danner (Photos by Tom Nelson)
Phase II of Project Colleen was a success. I want to thank all who participated.
We gathered at Mile Hi Body Shop Saturday March
16, 2013 to replace the transmission with a rebuilt transmission which we rebuilt as a club at our Octo- ber 2012 meeting. Sixteen club members attended the transplant. Colleen Wells, the donor of this wonderful
car also attended as our special guest. She was very ecstatic to see the project move forward. She also fur- nished the club with a wonderful pineapple upside down cake to show us her appreciation.
We worked as a group and also broke down individu- al groups to handle seven categories needed to be re-
paired while engine out. David Snider and Jerry Dan- ner directed the charge. 1) Trans Replace. 2) Reseal oil pump and replace front timing cover seal. 3) Re- place water pump. 4) Replace alternator bushings and checked brushes on the voltage regulator. 5) Replace rear main seals. 6) Replaced transmission and 7) Washed and detailed engine bay while engine out with Hotsy Steam cleaning. Also cleaned trunk area with Hotsy.
We started the project at 9:15am and completed by 2:15pm. After getting the shop cleaned up by 2:45pm we then retired to the Breckenridge Brewery for a few celebratory beers. It was a learning experience for all who attended.
Those who attended are; Paul Bottone, Zach Wooten,
Tom Nelson, Eric Johnson, Dave Murray, Don Palm-
Project Colleen Phase II
by Jerry Danner (Photos by Tom Nelson - continued)
RMSC at the Denver Auto Show
by Jerry Danner
Our Rocky Mountain Saab Club of Colorado attended this year’s 2013 Denver Auto Show March 23, 2013. We gath- ered at the Denver Diner at 8:30am for breakfast and then
proceeded to the show. This year the weath- er did not coop- erate as it snowed heavi- ly. Only six members of the club attended. Dave Hutch, Zach Wooten,
er, Dennis Leach, Greg Gruen, Jerry Danner, Bruce Harbison, Richard Raedeke, David Hutch, Arne Sjodin, David Snider, Larry Beetham,Gavin Morris & Bob Buck.
We will schedule another work party to do the little minor detail repairs needed to complete this project. Detail the vehicle inside & out, finish the headliner and a medium size list of items too small to mention.
Again, I want to thank all of you for your hard effort. Everyone attending truly enjoyed the experience of this club event.
Carl Kingery, Paul Bottone, Jerry Danner & Dave Murray. There were a lot of good looking cars presented however we all miss the Saab showing.