Travel Notes - Day 4
8
Most video will be held off until Friday evening as I'll be getting the use of a Mac at that time. I can process video on the laptop as long as it's all in one take. If I have to edit stuff out then it's too frustrating on this machine. Please be patient, it'll be worth it.
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Whilst it's been fun watching all the guesswork, let's stop the speculation, shall we. The blue one's mine for the week. It was provided by Saab Sweden, to whom I am eternally grateful as my feet were getting quite sore after one day walking around Stockholm earlier in my trip.
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I'll try and get some better pictures of it, probably tomorrow as it's a public holiday here and everything (except the museum) is closed.
-----
Speaking of cars and driving, I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable and confident on the wrong side of the road. So confident in fact, that I even put the top down for a little bit today and cruised.
I may have to buy a CD though, as Swedish radio is terrible! If it's not some talk show it's sugar-coated pop stuff. I bought my iPod, but forgot my charger cable, so once it runs out it's dead until I get home.
-----
Saab USA brand guardian Steve Shannon won't be attending the festival this weekend. I got some mail in from SaabUSA telling me that he has a provate commitment that was booked a long way prior to the commencement of his duties at Saab
-----
There's a lot of 9-3 sightings to be had here, but most have been on the road and if you think I'm going to be thinking of photographing them whilst driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road then you're sadly mistaken.
I saw two myself today on my brief in-car travels. There was one filling up with fuel at a station near the ANA dealership this morning, and a red SportCombi on the road this afternoon. The light pipes along the top of the headlamps are very subtle during the day, but they look great.
As mentioned, I didn't photograph them, but I did have these pictures passed on to me, which were taken in the last day or so, I believe.
<blockquote>
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</blockquote>
<blockquote>
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</blockquote>
As mentioned yesterday, and as you can see here, the new 9-3 is easily spotted now in Trollhattan. If there's a lack of urgency about posting more pictures, here's the likely reason why: there's nothing more to find out.
The interior is largely the same as the previous model, with the only changes being leather color and the option of a higher grade of leather. The other interior changes are non-cosmetic and relate to the quietness and fit of the interior. By all reports this will be a much quieter and smoother car.
Exterior-wise we've found out all the cosmetic changes and perhaps the only mystery remaining is the three little LEDs atop each of the side indicator lenses. These I haven't seen in operation yet. If I do I'll let you know, but it may be something worth waiting for.
-----
Tonight I caught up with a few locals and one of my fellow Aussie travellers (Brendan B) over dinner and we chatted until just after midnight.
The locals were Tim, Johanna and Rikard and later on, Patrick. There's lots to cover here, so let's start with the vehicles.
<blockquote>
![]()
</blockquote>
Tim and Johanna (please forgive me if I've misspelled your name, J) have matching 9-3s that have been fully done up to Viggen spec. The end result is very nice indeed and both cars have some special bits-n-pieces that make them quite unique.
I'll publish the pictures when Tim sends them, but he's got some one-off woodgrain pieces on the forward upper door trims. Apparently they were Saab designed as prototypes but never got produced. He managed to sweet-talk some out of a contact there and installed them on his car. They look pretty smart and I was left wondering why they weren't made as standard.
Johanna's 9-3 has a dash cover that's made from Teflon and it has a very distinct shimmer to it in the light. It's very hard to detect when you're not in motion - it looks almost like a standard grey. Get up close and you can see that it's different, but it's when the light hits it that it really shines - literally.
As well as those, check out the matching his and hers engine treatments:
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
Look again - event the coolant is color matched!!!
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Rikard's car is something I don't think I've seen before - it's a 9-5 Griffin. I've come across my fair share of 9000 Griffins, but a 9-5 Griffin was new to me.
<blockquote>
![]()
</blockquote>
Aside from the lack of a sunroof, this one's fully loaded and it's one sweet riding 9-5. It's not lacking in speed either. This one's a V6 and it was my first ride in a car with this engine. Very smooth and Rikard neede little encouragement to show that it went as good as it looks.
-----
After dinner and a long time talking about most things Saab, we decided to make a quick trip up to the museum to see if there was a late-night session going on to repair whatever happened when the Aero-X went bang earlier today.
It was all closed up with no-one working inside. We did manage a photo and it shows that the Aero-X is still listing to one side. Here's a static shot and as you can see, the wheel well is sitting right on top of the tyre.
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
-----
Whilst it's been fun watching all the guesswork, let's stop the speculation, shall we. The blue one's mine for the week. It was provided by Saab Sweden, to whom I am eternally grateful as my feet were getting quite sore after one day walking around Stockholm earlier in my trip.
<blockquote>
I'll try and get some better pictures of it, probably tomorrow as it's a public holiday here and everything (except the museum) is closed.
-----
Speaking of cars and driving, I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable and confident on the wrong side of the road. So confident in fact, that I even put the top down for a little bit today and cruised.
I may have to buy a CD though, as Swedish radio is terrible! If it's not some talk show it's sugar-coated pop stuff. I bought my iPod, but forgot my charger cable, so once it runs out it's dead until I get home.
-----
Saab USA brand guardian Steve Shannon won't be attending the festival this weekend. I got some mail in from SaabUSA telling me that he has a provate commitment that was booked a long way prior to the commencement of his duties at Saab
-----
There's a lot of 9-3 sightings to be had here, but most have been on the road and if you think I'm going to be thinking of photographing them whilst driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road then you're sadly mistaken.
I saw two myself today on my brief in-car travels. There was one filling up with fuel at a station near the ANA dealership this morning, and a red SportCombi on the road this afternoon. The light pipes along the top of the headlamps are very subtle during the day, but they look great.
As mentioned, I didn't photograph them, but I did have these pictures passed on to me, which were taken in the last day or so, I believe.
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
As mentioned yesterday, and as you can see here, the new 9-3 is easily spotted now in Trollhattan. If there's a lack of urgency about posting more pictures, here's the likely reason why: there's nothing more to find out.
The interior is largely the same as the previous model, with the only changes being leather color and the option of a higher grade of leather. The other interior changes are non-cosmetic and relate to the quietness and fit of the interior. By all reports this will be a much quieter and smoother car.
Exterior-wise we've found out all the cosmetic changes and perhaps the only mystery remaining is the three little LEDs atop each of the side indicator lenses. These I haven't seen in operation yet. If I do I'll let you know, but it may be something worth waiting for.
-----
Tonight I caught up with a few locals and one of my fellow Aussie travellers (Brendan B) over dinner and we chatted until just after midnight.
The locals were Tim, Johanna and Rikard and later on, Patrick. There's lots to cover here, so let's start with the vehicles.
<blockquote>
Tim and Johanna (please forgive me if I've misspelled your name, J) have matching 9-3s that have been fully done up to Viggen spec. The end result is very nice indeed and both cars have some special bits-n-pieces that make them quite unique.
I'll publish the pictures when Tim sends them, but he's got some one-off woodgrain pieces on the forward upper door trims. Apparently they were Saab designed as prototypes but never got produced. He managed to sweet-talk some out of a contact there and installed them on his car. They look pretty smart and I was left wondering why they weren't made as standard.
Johanna's 9-3 has a dash cover that's made from Teflon and it has a very distinct shimmer to it in the light. It's very hard to detect when you're not in motion - it looks almost like a standard grey. Get up close and you can see that it's different, but it's when the light hits it that it really shines - literally.
As well as those, check out the matching his and hers engine treatments:
<blockquote>
</blockquote><blockquote>
</blockquote>Look again - event the coolant is color matched!!!
-----
Rikard's car is something I don't think I've seen before - it's a 9-5 Griffin. I've come across my fair share of 9000 Griffins, but a 9-5 Griffin was new to me.
<blockquote>
Aside from the lack of a sunroof, this one's fully loaded and it's one sweet riding 9-5. It's not lacking in speed either. This one's a V6 and it was my first ride in a car with this engine. Very smooth and Rikard neede little encouragement to show that it went as good as it looks.
-----
After dinner and a long time talking about most things Saab, we decided to make a quick trip up to the museum to see if there was a late-night session going on to repair whatever happened when the Aero-X went bang earlier today.
It was all closed up with no-one working inside. We did manage a photo and it shows that the Aero-X is still listing to one side. Here's a static shot and as you can see, the wheel well is sitting right on top of the tyre.
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
