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From your Club President
Next month SOC13 will happen in Albany, NY. I enjoy attending these events. Since 1995, there has been only one I have missed. My first SOC I attended was in Atlanta, GA in August 1995. I remember it well. I remember it like it happened yesterday. The weather was called "squared".
Never heard of that term in Colorado. Squared means the temperature is 100 degrees and hu- midity is 100 percent. I have never experienced this before. It was hot!!! Once you got used to the temperature, it was OK for a while. You need to take a break from the heat you go inside the re- frigerated lobby of the hotel which felt great.
Then you would freeze because your cloths are wet from sweat. Then you would go outside to warm up. It was a cycle you needed to get used to.
Atlanta was the home of Saab at that time. The convention was centered around Saab Corpo- rate. Having Saab in Atlanta had a huge ad- vantage. Saab supplied many new cars for dis- play and to test drive the new product, That year was the NG900 & 9000. I test drove them all.
Saab at that time had the NG900 equipped with Sen-Sonic shifting . Five speed shifting without a clutch. Impressive but different. As many years I have been driving, I never dreamed of a five speed without a manual clutch. It seemed like a gimmick not a car. James Uhl, product special- ists for the Sen-Sonic program explained how it worked and it made sense however the product never took off.
The August 13th meeting will be 7PM at Brecken- ridge Brewery at 5th and Lipan in Denver. This is the annual business meeting with board elec- tions for 4 of the 7 positions open. Also finance review and planning the labor day drive.
We toured Corporate Saab's facilities tech cen- ter, warranty center, corporate offices and facili- ty layout. I, for the first time, met John Moss when he was in his prime with Saab. Very knowledgeable individual. John was in charge of technical department. He tried to make things break. It was impressive to see his facility.
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Because Corporate was in the same town as the convention, all of the staff got involved with the event. I met many personal and to this day I still
From your Club President (continued)
know of them. I got to meet Deborah Ennis-Kelly, first lady president of Saab. She was responsible for the 9-2 & 9-7. She was not the most favorite president because of her choice. John Moss, Sen- ior trainer & Technical division, Randy Risley - Director of Product Training, Mike Race, Product Trainer. First time I met Erik Carlsson. There are many more who I know of however have not kept in contact with over the years.
Eighteen years of Conventions have been fun. I have acquired many friends over the years from these conventions. I have had the opportunity to meet many key people on the independent side of
Saab and they have had the opportunity to meet me. People like Paul Perry - Saab Factory in Cali- fornia, , Bud Clark- J&B Imports, Bill Jacobson - Sport Car Service, Tom Donney, Marty & An- nette Adams - Iowa City Saab, Jack Lawrence - Motor Sport Service, Eric Kloot - Goldwing, Jack Ashcraft - DrakenParts and there are many more...
We will find who and what is happening in the Saab world without Saab this year. I will keep you posted.
(Photo by Charles Stoyer)
Paint A Junker
by Jerry Danner
I went to purchase art supplies in Denver at Mein- inger fine art supplies and I came across this 1968 Saab 96 in the front of the store. I had to inquire.
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Richard Duggan, Team Leader for Meiningers, gave me the scoop. Henry Meininger (owner) wanted to create an art event that was different. He named this event "Paint A Junker" He had his staff locate a "Junker". This car was found on craigslist and it was reasonably priced. They picked the Saab because it was quirky. It had no wheels. He located wheels, which do not match,
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just to get the car to be pushed. He invited several artists to participate. Sign painters, graffiti paint- ers, pin stripers, the public and fine artists. All gathered to create art and this is the product. No- tice the eyes! "Salvador Dali" was painted by Richard Duggan.
If you get to Denver, look up Meiningers located 499 Broadway, Denver Colorado, 80203 to see a piece of our Saab history as graffiti art.
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The meeting was brought to order by club president Jerry Danner, at the Breckenridge Brew- ery, recalling that we had an exciting month of activities.
New members at the meeting were Bill & Shannon Sompayrac from Fruita on the western slope, they have a ’97 Talladega
and are helping Paul Bottone set up the Labor Day
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weekend drive to Grand Junction, below. Tamara Pester with a ’01 9-5 & Jim Jodice from Elizabeth who has a 95 V4 & red 68 Sonett.
For tonight we will have an auction of Mats Sjodin's memorabilia from the 60’s which was donated to the club by his son Arne. Charles is out tonight af-
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ter his shoulder surgery and Gavin Morris will pre- sent pictures from Sweden.
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Paul Bottone discussed special events including a Project Colleen work party scheduled for Saturday July 13th at Mile Hi, a BBQ at Jerry’s house on Sat July 20th and a new project car. He listed the club project cars that have all been named after their pre- vious female owners, such as Laura, Tristine, Lisa,
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Sarah, Colleen, etc., we now have project Rob - the late long time member Rob Martinson’s 900 SPG. Other events and drives for the summer will include SOC13 in Albany, NY August 15-18. Looking into Ice Driving in Georgetown next winter in coordina- tion with the Audi Club and their instructor.
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Also a Labor Day weekend drive to Grand Junction, CO with options for touring the wine country in Palisades, the Tammy Allen Auto Museum, Gate- way Auto Museum, Colorado Monument and the Western Colorado Classic Auto show is that week- end. There are hotel discounts if your car is entered into the car show, more info is at http:// westerncoloradoclassic.com/
Greg Russell presented results of the 30th annual CP car show last Sunday, June 9th. RMSC had 16 Saabs entered and 5 new participants the earliest
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was a 67 96 and we had 2 2011 9-5s on the other end of the timeline, a great history of our cars lined up chronologically. Greg’s Sonnett was in the
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Founder’s Circle and the Favorite Saab Award went to Miles Bendixson for his 2011 Red 9-5; he thanked Bruce Harbison and Steve McCoy for judg-
ing and Tom Nelson presented a slide show on the event at his ElkMtnMan YouTube channel.
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In Trollhatten each year there is a Saab Festival/ Jubilee, June of 2017 will be the 70th annual. Tom Nelson is going and is so- liciting others to join him. We had a slide show from Gavin Manis who's broth-
er, Ethan, has acquired a 2011 diesel right hand drive
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9-5 Combi from Sweden, there were only 34 built with these specs and the 16 sold at auction are the only 16 remaining. It is not able to be imported into the United States, let alone registered.
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Member Dave Finley from Wyoming has been restor- ing his '68 96 DeLuxe and showed the dash cluster
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frame that he duplicated by measuring his into CAD for milling. It was an impressive piece that he hopes he will be able to have produced to help with other DeLuxe restorations.
We completed with the auction of Mats Sjodin's memorabilia and benefit- ted the club with a total of $437 raised. We ad- journed at 9:40.
RMSC Summer Barbeque
by Jerry Danner
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Rocky Mountain Saab Club of Colorado hosted our summer picnic July 20, 2013 at the home of Jerry Danner. Twenty one members attended sporting great food and wonderful camaraderie. On display were seven vintage Saab’s. Four of Jerry Danner’s collec- tion. A 1964 Bullnose, 1967 96, 1972 96 & 1973 96. Greg Russell brought his 1969 Sonett V-4, Wayne Brewer drove his 1969 96 three hours to attend. Phil Drury brought his 1972 95 Wagon. There was also a great variety of other Saabs in attendance. Thanks to all who made this a great event!
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The Rocky Mountain Saab Club of Colorado gathered for phase III of Project Colleen July 13, 2013 at Mile Hi Body Shop. Phase III consisted of removing the interior, washing
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carpet, giving a complete interior detail, exte- rior buffing and detail.
All our club projects are cars offered to our club usually in a hard ship case. Project Col- leen was owned by Colleen McBride who had a great 1991 900 NT 3dr she dearly loved. It has a great body however had mechanical is-
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sues. Our Club took on the challenge bring her back to mechanical soundness. Phase I we bench rebuilt a 5 speed transmission to re- place at a later date. Phase II we gathered to replace transmission, reseal motor, replace clutch & water pump, detail engine compart- ment when engine out, replace headliner. The
car is now drivable and runs great.
Project Attendees - Don Palmer, David Snid- er, Darrell Christiansen, Eric Johnson, John Clary, Jerry Danner & Paul Bottone.
We as a club gather for the enthusiasm and learning knowledge of each project. After Project Colleen is completed it will be offered for sale. Proceeds from the sale of our club projects is what funds our club. If anyone is interested in a mechanically sound classic 900 at a reasonable price, please contact our club at jerry@milehibodyshop.com for more de- tails.
Our Club just acquired another project. "Project Robb" 1986 900 SPG 3dr Edwardian Gray in excellent condition. We will keep you posted.
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