SAAB Owners Club of Great Britain
The Saab Owners Club was founded on May 17 1963 at ‘Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese’, a historic pub on Fleet Street, the spiritual home of all the great British newspapers, in the heart of the City of London. This year’s IntSaab event takes place in the 60th year of the Saab Owners Club
The “SOC” has adapted to meet the needs of changing times and still offers a vibrant mix of activities for active members to engage in all based on the common denominator of enjoying the cars, enjoying each other and having fun. The Club has steadily developed its membership services, the dispersion of technical expertise and advice, the development of model registers and information about particular vehicles, the production of a high quality magazine and branch newsletters, the attendance at car shows and the on-going promotion of the ‘Spirit of Saab’. It was motorsport and the exploits of the Scandinavian drivers that underpinned the growth of early sales of Saab cars in Britain; and perhaps directly led to the inaugural meeting that David Hinds called in 1963. Formal involvement in rallying, (Saab’s greatest sporting forte), came to an end in the early 1980s; but many of our members are still engaged in motorsport, encouraged by the Saab Owners Club.
Throughout the weekend, non-members have the opportunity to join and take part in the Club’s celebrations and take their place in the SOC. The opportunity to meet like-minded people from all over the world in a congenial and social setting and to experience the vibrancy and vitality of events such as ‘IntSaab2023’ is a direct outcome of Club membership. Many of the directors, local group organisers and longstanding members will be available throughout the weekend to encourage your membership and suggest ways in which you may become actively involved in a local, national or international way. Application forms or club membership are available in the ‘Club Shop’ gazebo, along with memorabilia including clothing, giftware, special ‘diamond anniversary’ items and more besides and all the profits go back to benefit members!
SAAB ENTHUSIASTS CLUB
The British Saab Enthusiasts were formed in 1989 by a group of Saab owners who wanted a forum focussed more specifically on the older models. From the beginning this fledgling group had a different appeal from the older owners club, but the question was, would there be sufficient interest for the club to survive and prosper. Many members knew each other and the group expanded on the basis of personal recommendation to others with similar interests. The new club offered mutual support on technical matters, sourcing of spares and social activities involving the family. All this was happening against a background of changing models in Saab. By the early 1980s the 96 had come to the end of its life from the point of view of new sales, and the 99 and the 900 had established themselves on the back of more rally successes as that decade rolled out. Today, club members who are owners of 96, 99 and classic 900 series cars enjoy feelings of what might be called respectful nostalgia. Following the recent company history, these sentiments can be applied more widely and we welcome new members enthusiastic about any Saab model. The club is still thriving, almost 35 years later, having evolved into the Saab Enthusiasts Club. It has a solid membership base with a wealth of technical knowledge. It’s aims remain much as originally set out to foster interest in models ‘no longer in production’ , but because of recent changes at Trollhättan the club now welcomes all those with an enthusiasm for Saabs. It keeps members up to date about club activities and shares news about all things Saab through a quarterly magazine and an active website where cars and spares can be advertised for sale to a wider public. It also arranges regular club gatherings and occasional local visits, all at a membership cost of only £23 per annum. www.saabenthusiasts.co.uk
UKSAABS
UKSaabs was founded in May 2004 as an alternative to the already existing Saab based web forums, predominantly based in the USA, and increasingly littered with corporate advertising. UKSaabs does not fill your viewing of pages with irrelevant adverts. UKSaabs is a family friendly community-based site, oriented towards the SAAB enthusiasts in the UK. A small team of moderators ensure the smooth running of the forums to ensure it remains a family friendly site. In an age where many use social media platforms, UKSaabs is still the busiest Saab forum in the world, with a huge technical database. We have a large number of users who answer questions and solve problems related to all variants of SAAB’s in our technical sections with a fantastic resource of technical data that importantly is searchable and easily found, and on a surprisingly wide range of non-Saab related topics in the Coffee Bar.
New and second-hand parts can be bought and sold at no cost to the seller/buyer within our Classifieds Sections.
In addition, the site has become a focal point for social gatherings and Saab meetings around the UK, some on a regular basis and others on a more informal and irregular basis.
Whilst still being oriented towards users in the UK, we have active members from all four corners of the globe. There are no fees for joining or using UKSaabs as the costs are covered by our advertisers, traders and sponsors.
UKSaabs is a privately owned non-profit site, run by volunteers for the benefit of the SAAB community.
Join the Community at https://www.uksaabs.co.uk
New and second-hand parts can be bought and sold at no cost to the seller/buyer within our Classifieds Sections.
In addition, the site has become a focal point for social gatherings and Saab meetings around the UK, some on a regular basis and others on a more informal and irregular basis.
Whilst still being oriented towards users in the UK, we have active members from all four corners of the globe. There are no fees for joining or using UKSaabs as the costs are covered by our advertisers, traders and sponsors.
UKSaabs is a privately owned non-profit site, run by volunteers for the benefit of the SAAB community.
Join the Community at https://www.uksaabs.co.uk