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From your Club President
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I love our Rocky Mountain Saab Club!!! What makes me love our club is our members. We have got to know each other over the years. Think of how many years this has been. When our club got started there was no internet! There was no Facebook!
There was no twitter! Just the good old fashion Postal Service and the telephone. I remember print- ing our Club reminders on post cards, licking stamps and mailing out 40 cards every other month. We were lucky to get 15 members attend the meet- ings. That was our method of announcing the up- coming event. Announcements were only to get members to the meeting and all members were in the Denver Metro area.
The July 8th meeting will be held at the Brecken- ridge Brewery (5th & Kalamath) at 7:00PM. Agen- da includes Reviews of ACC Concours, Estes Park Festival, SOC14, Ray Middleton’s Vintage Airplane Rebuilding Hanger and Demonstrations.
Look at us now! We have 168 members subscribed to Yahoogroups. 65 members on Facebook totaling 233 members. That might not be an accurate count as some members are both on Facebook and Ya- hoogroups. We put out to the world our Club's ac- tivities and interests. When we announce a meeting or event, we type a message and hit send. People show up! How easy is that? When the mention of our Rocky Mountain Saab Club comes up in the Saab community, people know us and say “Great Club!” They know us! Our Club has done remarka- ble events and people still talk about them. Our two National Conventions in 1999 and 2009 put us on the Saab map. I’ve got to tell you, this would and could not have happened without the help of our Members.
Our Club's board of directors are working hard to continually improve. We want our Club to be fun and enjoyable, period! We have a lot of things planned this Summer so stay tuned to your messag- es. Every month through August has something planned.
Again I want to thank each and every one of our members for participating in our cause. We just might have something up our sleeve in 2019 that will require big help from our members. If anyone of our members have any ideas or input as to any- thing fun, cool, event or just want to throw in an idea, please feel free to contact any of our directors listed on our web site or contact me directly.
Have a Great Summer and Please Drive Safe. (Photo by Tom Nelson)
RMSC Meeting Minutes May 13th 2014
by Larry Beetham (photos by Charles Stoyer)
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The meeting was brought to order by club president Jerry Danner, welcoming new members David Ban- ner who has 2 Saabs and Garry and Karen Gray, who bought late club member Quackenbush’s Pur- ple Sonett III. Several members tried to lure them to
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register in the upcoming Ability Connections Colo- rado Car Show and Concours d’Elegance, since Bush had it in the show for several years.
Tom Nelson brought up his challenge to buy a beer for someone (anyone?) that knew any history of the
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Sonett III in a picture he had emailed to members. Bruce Harbison recognized it had been donated to the club and was on Tom’s back 40 for about 5 years, it was then bought by John McQuiney and is being rebuilt near Omaha, NE.
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Miles Bendixson showed a couple of issues of “Scandinavian Press” Magazine for 2 notable rea- sons, one was a Saab & Volvo Festival/Show on June 8th in Seattle and the other one had a picture of his painting for the Saabs Run The Rockies con-
RMSC Meeting Minutes May 13th 2014
by Larry Beetham (photos by Charles Stoyer) (continued)
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nected to SOC09.
This was the last club meeting before the annual Ability Connections Colorado (formerly CP of Colo-
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rado) Car Show and Concours d’Elegance in Little- ton; Greg Russell covered a few items and encour- aged registrations.
Karl Kingery donated several Saab brochures, Nines Magazines, books and issues of Auto Re-
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storer magazines that were up for grabs to mem- bers.
For SOC14 planning, Paul Bottone talked about the benefits and finding Top-Tier gasoline on the road and where rooms are available for the tour that
starts Saturday Aug. 2nd. Jerry stated that there is support to bring Erik Carlsson and Peter Bäckström
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from Sweden to attend this year.
After a short break, Jerry presented on computer diagnostics that has evolved since about 1991, demonstrating with his Tech II, from there we di- gressed to the simplicity of 2-strokes and carbs! Upcoming events are the Scandinavian Festival in
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Estes that will have member’s cars on Sunday June 29th, Volvos we be on Saturday the 28th, and a trip to Ft. Collins on Saturday July 12th to tour Ray Mid- dleton’s airplane restorations and the New Belgium Brewery, we also will be scheduling a club BBQ in August at Jerry’s.
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Respectfully submitted, Larry Beetham
Goodbye Sonetts
by Jerry Danner
There comes a point in one's life where you need to remove the tangible items that do not do anything for you. As you know I have collected many older Saab 96's & Sonetts. I have eight 96's and three Sonetts.
Two Sonetts are Sonett II #79 & #119 of 258 built and one Sonett V-4. I am 60 years old and 6'4" 255 lbs and can feel my knees when I get low in the sad- dle. What does this have to do with anything? Let me tell you....
I had a reality check. The older you get and the size I am, it is harder to get in tight quarters. Tight quarters for me are Sonetts among other things like crawl spaces under your home and attic's. I have been thinking about this for a while. Why have anything you enjoy and cannot truly enjoy like getting into the gems. My Sonetts is what I am talking about. I really enjoy the 96's. The reason I really enjoy them is I can get into them easily. You know where this is going! I have a extremely difficult time getting into Sonetts. I finally released my desire to have these rare cars so I decided to find new owners of these gems.
#79 I sold to my mechanic Tim Lepar. According to the factory service log, Carl Lepar, Tim's Father, ser- viced this vehicle at Saab Denver on south Broadway
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from 1969 to 1971. Carl eventually purchased this car. Tim was young at the time and remembers this car. After Carl passed away, Tim took possession of this vehicle. Tim came across hard times and needed to sell it. Jim Addison purchased this car and was go- ing to restore it. As desire goes, it sat for 10 years
with nothing done. I heard Jim was going to sell it. I contacted Jim and eventually I purchased this vehicle. Prior to purchasing it I knew Tim owned this car. I gave Tim the opportunity to buy it before I took pos- session. Tim, at that time, could not afford it and Tim was happy I would be the owner of it. As time goes on, it sat in my garage for ten years also. When my reality check happened, Tim came to mind. I gave Tim the first opportunity to get his Father's car back. Tim thought that car was untouchable from me.
There was no one person that I know of to own this car than Tim. Tim deserves this car. The money was not the issue because I wanted Tim to own the car, period!!
#119 I sold to Tom Nelson, a member of our Rocky Mountain Saab Club. Our Saab Club was offered this gem when the Owner Chips Barry had a tragic acci-
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dent where he lost his life. I purchased this car in 2004. I have known Chips for 30 years. He was al- ways a Saab enthusiast. Our Saab Rocky Mountain Saab Club was offered this car by his wife Gail Barry however declined. Tom and I both wanted this car and at that time Tom was having a reality check also. Tom had too many cars so Tom let me buy it. When my reality check hit me I thought of Tom. Tom sold a vast majority of his cars and now was in a position to move on this car. Tom is the new owner of #119.
The Sonett V-4 was named Sarah. This car was origi- nally offered to our Rocky Mountain Saab Club as one of our Club project cars. All of our Club projects,
Goodbye Sonetts
by Jerry Danner (continued)
like Sarah, are named after the previous owners. I purchased Sarah 10/2010 from our Club as this pro- ject was too large and too time consuming as a Club. When I had my reality check I decided to sell it. I ad- vertised Sarah in Saabnet's Classifieds. This car was a Colorado car also with absolutely no rust. Frank
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Out with the Old and in with the New (Old)
by Jerry Danner
Schlitz transferred the funds to me and off to Bel- gium the car went. Frank Schlitz has a V-4 in Bel- gium with rust and his body was great. He took the
This always hurts me to see this happen with the old 96’s however these cars are extremely picked over, rusted and just boned out. There comes a time where you need to throw things out that are just worn out and replace them with a fresh batch. I had the oppor- tunity to pick up 5 replacement 96’s for the yard.
These cars have been sitting for 20 years. Relatively complete. Jim, a friend of mine, changed his business plan. Jim at one time loved these cars and was his livelihood. He now restores old cars for really wealthy clients. He has people throw large amounts of money at him for his services. He called me up and said “Jerry, I want you to take these cars off my
frame from my car and the body from his car to make one. Good luck Frank!!
Five of the eight 96's are strokers. Three V-4's. I have more Saab's than a man should have. I will miss the Sonetts. It was a pleasure to say that I owned them, however I am happy these cars are in a happy home. I am so much happier with my current car inventory. I really like Strokers!! I do not have sellers remorse of the Sonetts because all of the cars went to exactly who I wanted them to go to.
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hand” Guess what I have now in my yard. You bet, I made the space.
2014 ACC Colorado Concours Results
by Greg Russell (Photos by Tom Nelson)
This year’s Colorado Concours on June 8th at Arapa- hoe Community College began as usual, with clearer skies than predicted by the weather-heads - although we were warned about what was possible. By 8:30,
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16 of Sweden’s Finest had found their way onto the show field, eventually maneuvered into two semi- straight rows, and thus tying last year’s record for participation by our Rocky Mountain SAAB Club. Had there not been a problem with one of our mem- ber’s registrations, we would have had 17, for a new record. With a couple of our members who normally participate being absent this year, I think there’s a chance we may have 20 SAABs there next year.
At several previous concours we had not been partic- ularly pleased with where the layout committee had placed our club, but location on the field has steadily improved, satisfying us last year and again this year. I am asking them that this year’s spot, near the south pedestrian entrance and a nice group of trees, be- comes our permanent home every year - but as I al- ways say, asking is about all I can do to help keep it there.
Until about noon, the day seemed perfect, with just the right amount of sun and warmth, without feeling like one of those hot, overbearing summer days so many car shows experience. But, as the morning wound down the dark clouds rolled in, and we found ourselves huddled under the club canopy or inside our cars while the rain and small hail fell for about an hour and a half. It wasn’t long before a few uni-
formed public servants were telling us we must leave our cars and head for the big concrete building be- cause a tornado was eminent. Hindsight tells us the danger was about twenty miles away near Castle Rock, but they were trying to do their job, albeit without much response from the crowd. When the showers let up, we were proud to be one of the only car groups that did not have a single vehicle leave the site due to the weather. All 16 SAABs remained as parked and I don’t know if any other club can say that of their group. However, I must apologize to the owners of two beautiful classic 900 convertibles for parking them under a tree. They may have been fine had it not rained, but after the storm they had a lot of top cleaning to do. Sorry guys. At least the judges got all of their work completed before the foul weath- er hit and the cars got dirty.
And that brings me to the ribbons received by the
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owners of the judged SAABs:
"Older SAABs" Class:
1st Place: Bruce Harbison, 1977 99 EMS, Cardinal Red Metallic
2nd Place: Karl Kingery, 1988 Classic 900 SIS Con- vertible, Black
3rd Place: Tom Nelson, 1986 Classic 900 Converti- ble, Silver Metallic
"Middle Years" Class:
1st Place: Larry Beetham, 2006 9-5 Combi Wagon, Silver
2014 ACC Colorado Concours Results
by Greg Russell (Photos by Tom Nelson-continued)
2nd Place: Cameron Trussell, 2003 9-5 Aero Wagon, Cosmic Blue
3rd Place: Marshall Warnick, 2003 9-3 Convertible,
Dolphin Gray
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"Newest SAABs" Class:
1st Place: Paul Callahan, 2010 9-3 SS, White
2nd Place: Tom Nelson, 2011 9-5 Turbo 4, Diamond Silver Metallic
The rest of our contingent was not judged, but they were still an impressive group of Trollhättan Toys:
Jerry Danner, 1958 93 Stroker, Green, 1967 96 Stroker, Green, and 1972 96 V4, Tan
Greg Russell, 1968 Sonett V4, Light Gray
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Wayne Brewer (Dave Snider), 1973 99 16V 4-door, Red
Tom Jansen, 2006 9-3 Arc Convertible, Chili Pepper Red
Charles Harper, 2010 9-3 Convertible, Black Steve McCoy, 2011 9-3 SC, Glacier Silver
I believe this may be the first year that we have had a SAAB wagon at this show, and we had two. Also, with five convertibles, nearly one-third of the SAABs shown were drop-tops. Unfortunately, the ACC com- mittee members who handle the task of ordering rib- bons failed to order the “Favorite” ribbons for any of the marques, so we had no “Favorite SAAB” ribbon to hand out this year. I will try to remedy that for 2015.
Besides all who brought out their SAABs to show, a Big Thank You goes out to Bruce Harbison and all those who helped him judge the eight cars. Also, Thank You to Paul Bottone for volunteering a second year to head up Traffic Control for the entire show,
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and to Paul Callahan for volunteering to help park show cars wherever he was needed. Several club members who had no SAAB in the concours were on hand for the camaraderie, to help judge, or assisted Jerry and Tom to bring multiple cars.
Here’s a special side note on the 1973 99 16-valve 4- door that Dave Snider built and brought to the show. He had sold that SAAB to Wayne Brewer and the two of them had planned to show it together; Wayne driving it up from Cotopaxi (150-plus miles) and
2014 ACC Colorado Concours Results
by Greg Russell (Photos by Tom Nelson-continued)
Dave bringing a display showing the parts that he de- veloped for the engine that went into the car. Unfor- tunately, Wayne had a death in the family and real- ized he would miss the concours all together. Dave then generously offered to drive to Cotopaxi to pick up the 99, leaving his car in its place. He did that, then prepped the car for the show and arrived with his display in the trunk, which he proudly set up on a ta- ble and explained to interested gear heads. Wayne enthused, “Dave did a great job for me at considera- ble time and expense.” What a guy!
And, if we gave out a “Long Distance Award”, Steve McCoy would receive that. Steve drives up from his home near Cortez, Colorado (400 miles one-way) for RMSC meetings, this annual concours, and other club activities. What a guy, as well!
But we have lots of those guys (and gals) in our club. So, if I may steal a motto from my other car club: “It’s not just the cars, It’s the people”
Laura got Cancer
by John Collins
Laura, as in “project Laura” from the RMSC. She made her Debut at SOC ’04 at Crystal Mt. Washing- ton and now lives as a daily driver of Pat Kopczynski in Albany, Oregon. She had an issue last winter.
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One cold afternoon Pat flipped the passenger seat for- ward to retrieve something from the rear seat and while leaning on the seat, the headrest pushed and cracked the windshield. Time for windshield replace- ment surgery! After finding a donor windshield, a replacement seal, time and space in the shop, the windshield came out.
This revealed that under the bottom edge of the seal was – CANCER – also commonly called Rust! Both sides, same area. It was caught in the early stages so
treatment was promising.
After a couple of aggressive wire brush treatments with a little Moto-Dremel work, it was time for an
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Acid wash followed by another aggressive round, this time with a POR-15 application.
Now with the Cancer treatment complete and the rust in remission, the windshield surgery could continue. With the surgery complete there are no signs of any problems and Laura and Pat have a clear view to get them to the SOC’14 at Eagle Crest, Oregon.
P.S. Laura hopes to see some of her old friends from her days with the RMSC.
More Saabs
by Jerry Danner (Photos by Tom Nelson and Charles Stoyer)
I had an opportunity to buy more Saabs. like 8. For some reason I feel like a safe haven for distressed older wayward Saab’s. Four of the Saab’s were 96’s and one ’72 95 wagon and the other three were a ’88 900T CV, 85 900T 3dr and a ’84 900S 3dr.
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Jim Verhey is a longtime customer of Mile Hi. This goes back to the early 80’s. Jim had an Automotive shop in Avon, Colorado. At that time there were a lot of Saab’s in the Vail, Avon area because the Vail &
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Aspen Police Department drove Saab’s for patrolling. He closed his shop in 1999 and moved to Colorado Springs, Co to do a different aspect of automotive repair. He opened a restoration operation named Re- incarnation. Reincarnation specializes in showroom restoration of only the nicer older cars. These cars are
cars that go to Jay Leno and the high dollar car buffs. He has people throwing money to him to restore vin- tage and collectable cars thus getting out of the ser- vice industry. He knew a lot of Saab people. Since 2001, he collected these cars one by one until he had 4 96’s, 1 95 Wagon, 1988 900TCV, ’85 900T 3dr and
a ’84 900S 3dr. Except for the ’88 900CV and the ’71 96, all the other cars were not runnable. Jim wanted to restore a couple of these cars. He has a love for them but he came to a realization that it takes the same effort to restore a $500,000.00 car as it takes to restore a Saab 95 Wagon that is worth $15,000.00.
Profit margins were greater and it was a no brainer not to restore these and let someone else take over the
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fleet. Jim Called me up and said “Jerry, I want you to buy my cars”. I went to look at them and the price was right so I committed to purchase all 8 cars. The next hurdle was to figure out how to transport the
More Saabs
by Jerry Danner (Photos by Tom Nelson and Charles Stoyer-continued)
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cars to Denver, 70 miles away.
I put the word out to our RMSC that anyone with a
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trailer if they could help me. Tom Jansen and Tom Nelson, John Clary and Charles Stoyer responded. All the 96’s had flat, rotted tires that needed to be re-
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placed for transport. Between Tom Nelson and My- self, we had 12 wheels with good tires. When we got
there, first thing we did was to put wheels and tires on the three we were transporting the first haul. After we got the wheels and tires installed, we proceeded to load the cars.
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I have a car hauler and a two wheel dolly to handle two cars and Tom Nelson transported one on his trail- er. We transported three cars to Denver. When we got to Denver, we unloaded the cars, took off the wheels and tires and loaded the wheel and tires for the next day’s haul.
The second haul Charles Stoyer joined Tom Nelson
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and Me with his trailer and truck. Tom Jansen and John Clary joined us also. This time we transported 4 cars to Denver.
Jim Verhey had one 96 loaded on his trailer. He usu- ally makes trips to Denver so he brought one up 4 days later.
Except the ’68 96 and the ’71 96, the other 96’s and 95 are rust free. I will offer these body’s for someone to restore their car. Take two to make one. People on the east side of this country will be ecstatic to get one of these rust free bodies.
Thanks to all who helped in this rescue mission.
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