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9s 384 – Jan-Mar 2026
Contents
- President’s Letter SHELLY BAXTER
- Editor’s Letter GREG ABBOTT
- 4 A Wedding Surprise BY JUSTIN CERCONE
- 6 A Proposal And… BY AARON GOVATOS
- 8 A Blind Date BY RAY KOPCYNSKI
- 10 Side by Side, Saab by Saab BY KYLE WEBB
- 12 A First Date BY CATHY REIST
- 14 Love & Trophies BY JOHN KUHN BLEIMAIER
- 16 A Marriage Measured in Miles BY JOHN BETSILL
- 17 SOC43
- 18 Love, Family, and 210,000 Miles BY BILL AND CHRIS SCOTT
- 20 From Turbos…to Taps BY BRET SASSAMAN
- 22 Hutchings Autoworks BY ROGER HARRIS
- 24 Saving Saabs with Synchronicity BY JERRY DANNER
- 25 Hooked After 3,600 Miles BY BERNARD CALMA
- 25 50 Years of the Saab Car Museum BY MARK WELKER
- 26 Saabs Online & Board of Directors
- 28 Saabs on Display BY AMY REIST JACHIMSKI
- 29 Future Events
SCNA President’s Letter by Michelle Baxter
Happy New Year my fellow SAABers!
Last year was a good year for the Saab community. We had one of the largest conventions in
recent history in Parsippany, New Jersey. We had local clubs hosting multiple events in their
states. Several museums and car shows featured Saabs last year. The Board asked the community
to step up and build locally from the ground up. From small meets to large ones, our community
is building deep roots across the country. Some of those roots have led to something unique in
our Saab family……and that is a story that starts with love.
How many couples in the community do you know that met at a Saab event? Gave each other
a “Saab wave” and pulled over to talk? How many of those couples built their lives around our
quirky cars? Everyone has some type of love story, but how many people have a Saab love story?
One of the things that makes our community so unique is the amount of lifelong friendships and
love stories that come out of owning a Saab. So in the true spirit of celebrating all things Saab,
we decided to do an issue dedicated to those love stories. Take a moment to read through these
stories and see how deep our roots are across generations of Saab owners. Decades of memories
built on the principle of loving a quirky Swedish piece of engineering. Our cars are a part of our
identity. Graduations, weddings, family photos, road trips and a host of other milestones that
we celebrate…in our Saab!
Many of you know that I have my own Saab stories. Nick Taliaferro and I met at a Saab Convention
in Crystal Mountain, Washington when I was 8 and he was 11. We were second generation kids
of Saab nuts whose parents built their love of a car into a family business. Now we carry on that
tradition together because, well, let’s be real. Who else would appreciate when I drag another SAAB
home? Only another Saab nut. Who else would be okay having date night in a shop working on our
Saabs or other Saab related projects? You guessed it: only another Saab nut. Saabs and the Saab
community has shaped our lives into something wonderful, both personally and professionally.
And I get to walk that road every day with my childhood friend who turned into my lifelong
partner. Our story is one of many, and I hope that you will enjoy reading the ones from other
members. It really is amazing to see how much the love of a brand has turned into a lifelong
commitment, both in my life and many other’s lives.
The community itself is still growing, with new Saab owners finding our club daily. Our Board
has been working very hard to shape the future of our club behind the scenes. Stay tuned for the
next year, as we have a lot of things in the works!
As always,
Keep on SAABin!
Shelly Baxter
SCNA President