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Many new members to the Club ask the same question -  “Who is Erik Carlsson?”  I suppose a lot of people who were not around in the 60s have never heard of him even though this giant of a man is often referred to as “Mr SAAB”.

Erik was born in 1929 in Trollhattan, Sweden, not far from the SAAB factory, but at that time the factory was only producing aircraft. Erik was 20 when production of the first SAAB cars started.  His first passion was motorbikes, he bought a Norton 500 new when he was 18 from Nystrom’s where he was working. Pelle Nystrom was the Norton importer for Sweden. At weekends he took part in hillclimbs, motorcross, road racing and, during the winter, ice track racing.

As the final round, the Galloway Hills Rally was not a scoring round for us and my driver took the decision not to contest it, giving me a chance to dust off the 99 for another blast through the woods. Martin MacCabe, a Scottish Championship regular kindly agreed to read the notes. With a two car team bolstered by Grant Inglis in his lovely new MK2 Escort we made a good spectacle as the service barges towed us into the Rally HQ in the pretty town of Castle Douglas.

Jim Valentine

14 Ebor Saab members set off on Friday 10 May to make their separate ways to the assembly point at Gretna Green for what was billed as a Scottish Mystery Weekend, the mystery being only the organisers knew the itinerary. The mystery began to unfold on Saturday morning with a drive along gloriously empty roads under blue skies up into rural Scotland to visit the Kagyu Samye Ling Tibetan Temple at Eskdalemuir (nobody expected a visit the foothills of the Himalayas).

South Yorkshire Saab are no longer meeting.  If anyone would like to take up the baton in this part of the world please contact Elli Wilson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

There is no formal Branch currently in operation (largely as a result of the sheer geographical spread of members across this area) and therefore no regular meetings.
Where possible, there is usually an  SOC 'presence' at gatherings across the region organised by other clubs, motor museums or advertised on web forums (principally UKSaabs).

The dates known so far for 2017 at which we aim to be represented are:

• 23rd Apr    FBHVC 'Drive It Day' 2017  - various local runs (I'll be attending the one organised by the Highland Classic Motor Club, Inverness)
• 7th May     Forres Theme Day
• 21st May   Grampian Transport Museum, Alford, Aberdeenshire - "How Many Left" event for 'nearly classic' vehicles with fewer than 500 examples on the road
• 27th May   Rotary Club of East Sutherland Classic Car Tour, Dornoch
• 28th May   Vintage Day, Highland Folk Museum, Newtonmore
• 8th/9th Jul  43rd Scottish Transport Extravaganza, Glamis Castle, Angus
• 4th/6th Aug  (TBC)  Ignition Festival of Motoring, Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow
• 13th Aug    Historic Wheels Vintage Car Rally, Brodie Castle, Morayshire
• 20th Aug    Royal Deeside Speed Festival, Kincardine Castle, Kincardine O'Neil, Aberdeenshire
• 26th Aug    Fortrose & Rosemarkie Classic Vehicle Rally, Fortrose, Ross-shire.
• 3rd Sept     Motor Mania, Grantown on Spey. 
• Early Dec    Joint SOC/UKSaabs Christmas Gathering - date and venue TBC (see UKSaabs forum for details)

Should anyone wish to hook up with other Saab enthusiasts in the North of Scotland please contact:

Derek Darnell

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