12 years SaabBlog project - and it goes on
After 12 years, he will finally be through with writing, some will think today. At some point the story should be told, there can't be much more material. In fact, those who think so are right. Saab is long gone, the blog is a media long-term survivor.
I'm pretty sure if Saab wasn't the topic, then we really would have reached the end of the journey a long time ago. But Saab is something special, and the brand has always been different from its competitors. This is probably the secret of why it continues here every time.
Today, 12 years ago, it started! And people still read here every day. There are not so few, because there is a very interesting number. Some thoughts on the daily applause, honesty, the virtual stage and the readers.
The daily applause
The blog is the virtual stage that I step on every day. And every day, to stay with the analogy of the stage, there is a new play that is performed. The core theme always remains the same; it revolves around cars, with gentle variations. Old cars, combustion engines, which alone makes the project suspect and places it outside the mainstream.
A lot of work goes into most of the posts that get published. Research and conversations, phone calls, searching and poring over old literature. Sometimes coincidence helps, because there are topics where I can't get any further for months. Then there is a spontaneous (Saab) contact that can answer questions. And the knot unties.
Some other posts write quickly, fluently, almost on a whim. For all articles, like most media professionals, I wait for the applause. It comes, perhaps, in the form of access numbers. Sometimes in the form of comments, new subscriptions, sometimes gifts. But the audience, actually the best in the world here on the blog, can also be cruel.
Unconsciously, sure - but actually it's honest. Because it is not uncommon for a topic that requires a lot of work and is important to me to not catch on at all. It drags along listlessly, is hardly read, only a few 100 people stray to it. Another post, which I don't care about at all, is trending really heavily. The readership is then a massive five-digit number, how do you cope with that?
Actually through the attitude that you don't look at the daily applause.
A resolution.
Then you do it, of course. That much honesty is allowed. Like most people, I am vain. And vanity thirsts for the applause of the audience. In fact, I don't write some posts for the readers out there. But primarily for me. Because I think a topic is good and important, because I like it. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that it has now been 12 years. And that it goes on.
The readership
Of course, readership is still important. Not only because of my vanities, but also as a yardstick. Is there anyone else who is interested in the Saab topic? For old combustion engines from Sweden, with a spare parts supply that is beyond friendly? Or shall we turn off the light soon, close the door behind us and pull the plug?
The question is important! Not only for the fans and for me, but also for a lot of other people. The SaabBlog is the seismograph for Saab workshops, spare parts suppliers and those who earn their living around the old cars.
In fact, there are people who are still fascinated by Saab. You read diligently, and how! In January, the blog, which has experienced ups and downs, had a new visitor record. 186.572 people read here, this is the best January ever.
Why it is like that? No idea! I'm just the one who writes as I see fit and tells stories. If they like it, that's good.
I'm happy about the applause, I'm satisfied. See you next year with the SaabBlog project!
Nice that this blog still exists. Continued success!
I love this blog, the topics, the language, the writing style, the special promotions!
I just extended my subscription today - even without Saab up to date.
Here I can connect completely 🙂!
THANKS to the entire team (!) for the many informative, entertaining and out-of-the-box information! And the actions first..., great CLASS!!!
I'm sticking with it, even without SAAB.
12 years of SAABblog, it doesn't seem that long to me. If I'm honest, I would be missing something without SAABblog. As a rule, the texts are always interesting and make reading fun and enjoyable. I learned a lot about SAAB and its history and I hope there are still some new topics.
Thank you for your commitment!
LG Frank Bosselmann
You guys are just great. I like the mix of topics and even the lemon stories. I'm excited for the next 12 months and maybe another 12 years.
A day without a Saab blog is a day wasted and my wife says I'm crazy so it must be true.
Many thanks to the whole Saab Blog team for the great effort for us readers.
Keep it up!
…simply good!
...just keep going!
...thank you 🙂
Daily mandatory reading that keeps you enjoying driving the Saab and increases it enormously,
with big thanks to Tom Knecht and the editors !!!
Dear Saab bloggers.....thank you for your great work, which I always enjoy.....you are like the engineers in Trollhättan used to be every day: always think and act a little cross-over and beyond the normal limits!!...... .a product from the shop and my "editing" ultimately ensured that my brother now rejects his W124 T and gets a 9-5 station wagon !!
That sounds good. A new member of the Saab family, great!
Hello Tom, Mark and team, my heartiest congratulations on your 12th birthday. Every day around 11.00 am I've been waiting for the new report in the blog for years and I'm always amazed at all the interesting things you still bring up after so many years.
Many thanks for this and of course also to the team from the shop. Everything works great.
Yes, Tom and Mark, we have known each other personally for more than 10 years, have taken part in trips together, were in Trollhaettan for the festival or at the car dealership tour to present the 9-4x and the 9-5 SC in Leipzig. There were always wonderful times and encounters with a lot of Saab.
Thank you for your engagement. Keep it up.
Dear Wolfgang. I remember Leipzig well. A dramatic day back then, but nice that we met!
Definitely keep going. I've been there since the beginning. great blog
The SAAB blog is a great achievement and should be continued as long as possible.
If the lights for the right products go on again in Trollhättan, that would be another reason to be happy - Tom please stay on the ball there too.
Thank you dear Tom!
I've been one of the readers since the beginning. At that time, as is well known, it was about pursuing the thriller of the brand's struggle for survival. A nerve-wracking time, which was always spiced with a small spark of hope.
As soon as it became clear that SAAB as a car manufacturer was (unfortunately) history forever, the blog managed to turn into a fan blog, which was amazing for me, with new, well-researched stories and backgrounds again and again. This realignment was a masterpiece, which is only possible with a lot of passion for our brand! I'm always learning new aspects of SAAB here in the blog, although I've been a SAAB fan through and through since the late 70s and have always and exclusively driven SAAB since 1986 (did my driver's license). My old man has been driving SAAB since 1969 and to this day. So our brand has been with me my whole life. I do not intend to change brands in the future either!
Thank you dear Tom! Please continue as long as possible!
Keep SAABing Daniel
What should I say that hasn't already been said? Keep it up. At least 12 more years please!
Hello Tom, thanks for the 12 years so far and thanks in advance for the next 12 years of tireless writing of entertaining reading about cars worth writing about. Both Saab and the blog have a fascination that I can't (and don't want to) escape. Saabige greetings and continue to enjoy writing
For me, the Saab story reads here again and again.
Not because I have a bad memory, but because it is still dynamic and is told very well and up-to-date here.
The number of registered vehicles, the appreciation for different models over the course of time, the supply of spare parts, the lively and international scene and, this is an important aspect, also in relation to what is actually known and supposedly told, I regularly get new thoughts and insights here , to another reception. The story is neither at the end nor already told. She is only one. It's damn well told and continued here. Thanks!
Hello Tom & team,
I also really appreciate the blog. As you write, one topic catches more, one less, but that's always the case. Therefore, praise and recognition also from me and also for the "shop" and the good service associated with it. I'm looking forward to the next 12 years 🙂
Sunny greetings from Hesse
12 years already, oh people, how time flies.
The post that Tom writes also makes me think. The blog is the anchor point of the Saab scene, without it many things would probably be different or no longer exist. I therefore hope that he and his team will always get enough applause, also in the future. However, sometimes I have the feeling that a lot is given here and only a little comes back. I hope I'm wrong about that.
Hi Tom,
I can only tell you why I like to stop by here regularly and read with interest and joy:
1. Because I only came to Saab when the brand no longer existed.
That's why I'm incredibly interested in all the old stories that you don't read anywhere else and can't find here.
2. Because you can write really well!
3. I'm also a multi-brand scrap iron driver and am therefore happy about every article - even if it's not about the old Swedes.
Thank you and please keep it up!
Greetings, Jan
Jan, I'm glad. Maybe my Saab scrap iron group will grow from another brand this year. So as a small supplement and for additional narrative material.
Dear Tom, thank you very much for the twelve years of blog. I've been reading along for more than nine years - since there could no longer be a new Saab company car. But I read everything!
Perhaps precisely because no Saab in my small collection is larger than 1:18, and there are no other cars in front of the house.
How big is the proportion who have been there from day one?
That is hard to say. But around half of the subscribers have been there for what feels like an eternity. It's also exciting that in the last few months, names I knew from the early days have found their way back here. Saab seems to be something like home.
I am probably the “youngest” reader among you guys..I think it was only 2019 when I found the blog. But I was there at least 30 times for the big number in January...Thanks Tom...I don't have a day without the blog...keep it up!!!
I hope you hear the thunderous applause!?!
Andreas
I listen and read over and over as I work. Thanks!
Hello Tom, applause, applause from me too for your contributions to our automotive life purpose, which make us happy every day. SAAB was and has always been a passion. So thank you, thank you, thank you to you and the team for everything you do. ... I'm honest, especially regarding your "vanity" 😉 and unfortunately I have to tell you that I don't always manage to read all the posts. Sometimes my day is just too full for that. But sometimes I catch up on a lot on other days 🙂 ... SAAB greetings and please keep it up
Congratulations from me too on 12 years of Saab blog, I've only been there for a little over 6 years, but I was able to take and experience a lot with me. Thanks to the blog, many nice contacts were made that would certainly never have been made without the blog and Saab.
I come from a family of artists and I know it too, works where you would expect great interest receive little attention and then there are spontaneously created projects/works that in turn meet with great interest
An incredible achievement! Admirable how you can come up with a Saab-affine topic almost every day and how it is just as exciting as it is entertaining!
Keep it up - and a BIG THANK YOU at this point
(Unfortunately, it's technically not possible for me to fade in a thunderous applause).
Stefan
(who now drives the Andorra Saab)
Yes, the beautiful Andorra Saab. Great, consistent car. I really liked it, I met him briefly in Frankfurt for a story. I'm sure it's a lot of (driving) pleasure!
12 years, great! The blog is just like the cars; anything but ordinary!
In the 12 years I have experienced a lot of extraordinary things about Saab and learned a lot about it. Thank you Tom for your perseverance and for the many suggestions about Saab!
Keep on saabing 🙂
You just have to have a quirk somehow – in the most positive sense.
Happy 12th birthday – getting older is something positive 🙂
My life has completely influenced Saab - from professional to our family fleet to my bride show 23 years ago ...
Everything was done correctly – I hope it stays that way until …. so
Thank you SAAB - Thank you Tom & Mark
Happy blog birthday dear Tom. It's a media miracle. 12 years and record numbers. About a car brand that hasn't existed for a long time. You seem to be doing something right, even if the applause sometimes fails to materialize. I look forward to going into another year with you, the blog and all the weird and weird Saab drivers.
Greetings to the community
The Lizi
Life without a Saab blog is possible, but pointless. Thanks!
Applause from me always guaranteed! Thank you Tom! Lo and behold, my daughter seems to have internalized this DNA chain from a genetic point of view.....