Tommi’s Saab Site

May 08

Classic Motor Show 2012

Posted by admin on Tuesday May 8, 2012 Under Enthusiasts, Image Galleries, Saab 96 Sedan 1964, Saab Club of Finland

I participated in the Classic Motor Show at Lahti as part of the saabworks.fi team. Here’s a short reportage with photos:

: Starting the trip to Lahti. I borrowed a Saab 9000 from a friend.

: Setting up the booth.

: A Saab 99 EMS 16 Valve. Still used in Historic Rally Trophy today by Teemu Pinomäki and Henri Salonen.

: The Flying Finn.

: A long time Historic Rally Trophy driver Ossi Rantalainen was kind and let us stay at his holiday cabin.

: I also found some parts at his storage: Klippan safety belts for the two stroke, a few Saab Sport cauges and a ’66 engine with carbs.

: Sauna, a fireplace, some beer, and a swim. The ice just went away a week ago so the water was about 4 degrees warm!

: What a sunset!

: The event collected a record audience of 17500 visitors!

: Event start.

: Teemu posing as Tapio Rainio.

: Tomi Tikanmäki’s fully restored 96 rally collected a lot of people.

: Three champions. Juhani Markkanen and Simo Lampinen and the championship car of 1975 – A Saab 96 rally, AEU-502.

: Juhani, Simo and Tomi.

: The original mechanics of Scan-Auto from 1970′s: Tapio Tarkiainen, Jorma Nurmi, Osmo Ek

: It’s a amazing how many people still remember the two strokes. I got plenty of tips on old parts cars and spares from just ordinary people.

: Just across the isle there were some more two strokes: A Wartburg and Trabant.

: Kari Aittomaas uncompromising Per Eklund-replica is just beautiful. It was on show at another booth.

: Some of the other cars of the show.

: When I got home I washed the Klippans thoroughly. Here they are drying in the sauna.

The show was just great. I talked to so many people I almost lost my voice towards Sunday evening. Learnt a lot too – there’s still many many people in Finland that just keep to themselves and are pretty quiet about what they know. I was kind of surprised that many came to talk to me just because they had seen this site and followed the project. Some just to talk about the old times and some to talk about the tech and racing. But all in all many were just happy that the old Saabs are still kept alive.

Many thanks to everyone who visited our booth!

Tags : 96, 99, Classic Motor Show 2012, rally, saab, Saab Club of Finland, two stroke, v4 | add comments

Nov 15

Saab 9-5 MY 2010 – Assembly line photos

Posted by admin on Monday Nov 15, 2010 Under Image Galleries, Miscellanea

I came accross these new 9-5 assembly line photos when searching the Saab Media Online for some editorial images for the Saabisti magazine. They were so cool I decided to post them here too (they are free for editorial/non-commercial use).

: Raw material: Coils of sheet metal will soon be cut, stamped and welded to form the new 9-5′s body structure.

: Off the shelf: Side bodies for the new 9-5 racked up to await welding.

: Precision spraying: Banks of robotised spray guns ensure a prefect finish.

: Human touch: At Saab’s ultra-modern Paint Shop there is still no substitute for expert, hand-held spraying to get to places the robot sprayers cannot reach.

: Work in progress: Interior wiring and componentry the customer will never see lies exposed on the assembly line.

: Cradled with care: A new Saab 9-5 nears completion on the assembly line.

: Nearly ready: The doors of the new 9-5 are final pieces of the bodywork jigsaw to be put in place.

: End of the line: Complete and ready to roll, a new Saab 9-5 reaches the end of the assembly line.

: On the way to market: A new Saab 9-5 is pulled of the line at the Saab’s state-of-the-art production facility

Tags : 9-5, assembly line, car factory | add comments

Feb 17

Saab Club Of Finland Winter Fun Photogallery

Posted by admin on Wednesday Feb 17, 2010 Under Image Galleries, Saab Club of Finland

Photos from the winter event. HighRes versions availlable on my Picasa album.

Videos can be found here.

Tags : 9-3, 9-5, 900, 9000, 95, 96, 99, Aero, event, rally, saab, Saab Club of Finland, track day | add comments

Dec 06

Saabclub track day

Posted by admin on Sunday Dec 6, 2009 Under Image Galleries, Saab Club of Finland

Here’s a few photos from the track day this fall.

Tags : saab, Saab Club of Finland, track day | add comments

Apr 23

Photos from the winter event

Posted by admin on Thursday Apr 23, 2009 Under Image Galleries, Saab Club of Finland

Better late than never! I took my time uploading these, but here we go – some images from the Saab Club of Finland winter event 2009.

Saab Club of Finland displaying a few cars at “Talviheikki 2009″ event. Some footage of setting up and of the cars. For example: Saab 95 1961, Saab 96 Monte Carlo 1966, Saab 96 V4 1980, Saab 900 Aero 1984, Saab 900 Turbo 16 Cabriolet 1986 (Pre-series!), Saab 9000 Aero 1996 (MapTun), Saab 96 Sport 1964, Saab 9-5 Griffin Edition 2009, Saab 9-3 SportCombi 2009.

The Saab 900 Turbo 16 Cabriolet is a very special car. It is one of the seven hand assembled Cabriolets that were made before the actual production started. It has the US type headlights as the cars were intended for US market – instead this one stayed in Finland for testing and development purposes.

Check the gallery below or see the images in Picasa