Saab 9-3 Lime Yellow Cabriolet in the Swiss Auto Illustrated magazine
It was early March when my Saab Garage Buser AG from Augst asked me if I would have the time and inclination to make my Saab 9-3 Lime Yellow Cabrio available for a photo shoot? I would have the time, of course I would like to! But hello, my beautiful convertible as a photo star? Of course I said yes after a few questions and so I soon got a message from Stefan Fritschi about the how and when of the report.
Stefan, a well-known motor journalist in Switzerland, with a lot of petrol in his blood, and the professional photographer Markus Kunz should finish the report in March so that it can appear in the April issue of Auto-Illustrierte.
In 2023, the said magazine will make a monthly report on youngtimers, which are just about 20 years old. Of course, a Saab 9-3 from 2003 to 2007 goes very well with it.
Lime Yellow is a cool convertible color
The choice fell, how could it be otherwise, on a convertible and the pros would have liked to have published one in the cool color Lime Yellow metallic. And then came the garage men from Buser (Link) and I come into play.
After brief discussions, on March 13th, the time had come and we met at Buser's in Augst. I was briefed briefly on how the shooting should take place and then it started on a little-used road near the Rhine near Augst. In addition to Stefan and the photographer, there was also Christoph Bleile, the longstanding press officer at Saab Switzerland (later worked for Opel, retired since 2017) and Hanspeter Buser, the founder of the Saab Garage Buser.
The procedure was as follows:
Position the Saab Cabriolet well - and open the roof. Then the photographer took what felt like a hundred photos of the interior. Unfortunately, unfortunately I had forgotten my great Saab cup at home. Of course that would have been great if it had still been in the cup holder.
What a pity.
Then open the bonnet - and again shot countless photos.
Now I was instructed how we want to record the Saab in dynamic driving. It went like this: The photographer sat on the back seat of Stefan Fritschi's open mini convertible and drove parallel or slightly offset next to me, of course with Stefan at the wheel 😊
The lime yellow convertible is the star
We repeated this several times, and it felt like about 100 shots were taken again. Of course I felt like a snow king. Class! Me and my Saab as photo stars, or rather the Saab and I as a driver. Anyway, it was mighty fun and I think the pictures speak for themselves.
Then we went back to the Buser car dealership and there we had a coffee and more petrol talks about Saab and the tiresome topic of the sinking. Great regret hung in the room. Everyone agreed that it's just a pity that this extraordinary car brand didn't survive.
I was then interviewed by Stefan Fritschi, why Saab and how I feel about the current situation. You can read all about that in the issue of Auto Illustrieren - the Swiss car magazine (Link). I hope I didn't disgrace the Saab community and tell crap.
Later I drove home satisfied - richer by an unusual event - and told the other Saabs in my stable about the great photo shoot. Did I notice that the lime yellow convertible was particularly shiny and the others looked a little jealous?
I think that's another nice story about our Saab and I didn't want to deprive the readers of the blog of that.
Images courtesy of the publisher and photographer
great design!
Please direct the article to be found in the Auto Illustrierte (I tried the link but can't find it).
Is it the May issue?
Steffen
Dresden
Got the model in black
According to my information, it is the April issue in which the Saab is discussed.
Unfortunately, we ended up with the black convertible because no gold one was available at the time of purchase. But we had it in gold as a workshop replacement vehicle and I had to do something in our town hall. When I came out again, the convertible and my wife were surrounded by people who exchanged views on the SAAB and ignored a 3-series coupe in special paintwork and a Phaeton in final equipment with individual foiling. I took note that a SAAB in standard equipment attracted more attention than a pimped mass product!
@ aero50: take good care of your beautiful convertible!
Dear Hans, oh how wonderfully written, thank you thank you! Yes, the other colleagues in the stable must have been jealous, and when you were gone the beautiful convertible must have boasted a bit too. But as a capricious beauty, it can do that too! Who or which car has already experienced something like this? But maybe that will happen to one of the other beauties. There is definitely a need and interest!
The description of the recordings during the dynamic drive is also wonderful. Very descriptive, I could picture it vividly. Was there a dress code for pilots? And where can we see these glorious images? Can you somehow get hold of this newspaper in Germany or do you have to get a subscription (for this one issue)?
I also noticed a few special features of the beautiful convertible: The two metal stickers on the navigation system - how are they attached? And the Saab lettering on the fender in front of the rear wheel and the half griffin behind the front wheel are probably stickers that were glued on afterwards, right? Looks very sporty-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr thaning than
Thank you for this reading pleasure and the wonderful pictures of the weekend! I wish all Saab fans a sunny beautiful same! (We'll pick up my two treasures from Kiel tomorrow morning and I'm really excited to see what happened there. )
Thanks for your nice comment!
The two pins are simply inserted into the crack.
The griffin and the Saab lettering are glued on. There are a great many variants of badges and stickers for Saab from GB.
@aero50, thanks for the article!
But I've seen better photos of your Saab 😉
The comparison is of course unfair and the photographer is innocent. I like the perspectives...
But you had Nordic summer light and Scandinavian locations on your tour, a natural habitat for the lime-yellow and a Saab. The convertible really shines in your own pictures. I still have one thing in my head so well today that I measure the current article against it and come to the conclusion that the best photo I've ever seen of your Saab is still one of you.
Thanks very much. I think it's the rich green on green in Lofoten, really a great shot