Swedish Day UK 2013

Swedish Day 2013 was another great success but the order for good sunny weather must of got a bit lost as the skies decided to give us a bit of rain just after 1pm.

As in the last few years the weekend started on Saturday evening with another successful Carvery at The Sparkford Inn. 28 Swedish Fans sat down and enjoyed a three course meal followed by lots of chat until closing time.
Many of our friends from Europe were there sharing their love for both Saab and Volvo. 
The car park was full of Swedish cars including a Rally ready Volvo 122 and a Saab 900 Toppola.

The day of the show saw Alex, myself, our families and members of the South West Saab group turn up at 8.30am to get things organised,

Some gazebos were erected and flags were put up to fly in the cool breeze. The Volvos and Saabs started to arrive around 9.30, and there was a steady flow of Swedish vehicles driving through the gates. As in previous years, they were parked as they arrived therefore having a nice mixture of Cars on display.  This year it also included seven trucks who looked very proud parked looking towards the show field.
By 12.00am nearly 200 vehicles had received their welcome packs. The local scout group happily parked the cars for us and as last year turned out looking very nice. There were opportunities during the day to have photo shoots with like models if you wanted. I want to thank Lyde Road Scouts at this moment for their great help in organising the parking.

By the end of the day we had had almost 200 different Swedish vehicles on display for all to see. It was great to talk to so many enthusiasts and to see so many people smiling all day.

The variety of Swedish cars was brilliant. The older cars were there, a couple Volvo PV544s and a couple of Volvo 1800's, a few Saab Two Stroke’s including a Saab Sonett and a Saab 92. The cars ranged from the 40’s right up to the most modern of the two brands.

The Saabs, Scanias and Volvos came from all four corners of the UK, and were joined by many of our friends from mainland Europe.

The other attraction of being at Haynes was the Museum. Everybody who signed their car in received a reduced rate to enter the Haynes International Museum. A raffle took place with many great prizes. I want to thank the many wives of the South West Saab group for looking after the many duties that go on during the day.

During the day there were ten judging competitions going on. Three were named “The Most Admired Volvo, Saab and Truck” and was sponsored by "Chris Knott Insurance" and "Tailored Transport". Each entrant was given the task of choosing their Most Admired Volvo, Truck & Saab at the show. Another was “Best in Show”, sponsored by DCA Saab Specialists. The local Saab garage "Astley Saab" was there to choose their own favourite Saab. Andy and Lynn from "Send Fresh Chocolates" chose his favourite Volvo at the show. Andy Briggs chose his favourite "Young Swede" and Chris Hamley gave an award to the "Furthest Travelled" T R Autos introduced a new award entitled "Best Modified Swede" and Etienne from Saablog-in asked the scouts to choose their nicest vehicle there. A big thank you to all the sponsors for supplying the trophies. The 10 prizes at the 2013 show were awarded like this.
 

The Chris Knott “Most Admired Saab” chosen by the people at Swedish Day was presented by Paul Channer to Anne & David Dalimore with their Saab 99 Turbo.
The Chris Knott “Most Admired Volvo” chosen by the people at Swedish Day was awarded by Paul Channer to ???????? and his Volvo P1800.
The Tailored Transport "Most Admired Truck" went to Daren Moore and his Scania R560.
Send Fresh Chocolates "Favourite Volvo” was awarded by Andy to ?????? and his Volvo 1800.
“Astley Saabs Favourite Saab” was presented by Stuart to Tony Parkhurst and his Saab Sonett 3.
DCA Saab Specialists "Best in Show" was presented to Andy Boorman and his Saab 99.
Andy Briggs Property Services "Favourite Young Swede" went to Os Reid with his Saab 9-3 Aero.
The Chris Hamley "furthest travelled" went to Peter De Ketelaere who travelled across from Belgium.
T R Autos presented an award to their "Best Modified Swede" and John Skaar with his Saab 99GL were the lucky winner.
And the local scouts helped Etiennne from Saablog-in to choose their "Favourite of 2013" The winner was ???? with his Volvo 122

 

I would like to thank everybody for supporting this event, the helpers, the scouts, the nine sponsors mentioned above, Matt and Haynes Museum for the location, my friends Alex & Isabel, Mike & Marion, Mark & Carol and Authur from the local Saab owners group (SWS) for their fantastic help on the day, the internet forums and blogs, for their support and of course, my wife Kerry and daughter Azabeth. But the biggest thank you goes to all the owners of those lovely Scanias, Saabs and Volvos that came along on the day. Next years show will be held on Sunday the 11th May.
Robin.