For the second consecutive year, the Central Penn SAAB Club takes home the club participation award against some very experienced and active clubs, including the Mid-Atlantic Fiero Club, placing second with 126 cars, The Volvo Club of America, placing third, and The BMW Car Club of America. While the weather can prove to be a factor, soggy and frigid conditions did not prevent more than 175 SAAB owners from bring 131 SAABs to Central Pennsylvania for SAABs @ Carlisle 2003, held at the Carlisle Fairgrounds, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The Mid-Atlantic Fiero Club, led by Bob Schlag, had won the award five consecutive years until 2002. The Carlisle event is the single largest import event on the east coast bringing 1,100 cars to the event this year, as well as hundreds of vendors and exhibitors catering to the import enthusiast.
The Central Penn Club extends their thanks to The New England SAAB Association (NESA), The Washington D.C. SAAB Association (WASSAAB), The New York SAAB Owners Club, The New Jersey SAAB Owners Club, The New England Sonett Club, Swedish Underground and the SAAB Club of North America for their support and participation.
Sponsors for this year's event included Sports Car Service, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware and Hunt Valley SAAB, Hunt Valley, Maryland who sponsored the event T-shirt; Kelly SAAB, Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Lehman Motors SAAB, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who provided lunch on Saturday and Sunday; Eisenhauer SAAB, Wernersville, Pennsylvania for providing the SAAB Boutique with lots of items from The SAAB Catalog on hand and for sale; Scott Paterson and The SAAB Network for door prizes. Hunt Valley SAAB and Lehman Motors SAAB also providing prize items.
Special thanks to Mike Beare and The Corvette Bar and Grill in Lebanon, Pennsylvania for concocting the piping hot Swedish Meatball soup; Deb Hoover and Blimpy's, Carlisle, Pennsylvania for outstanding service in the lunch preparation, and Dave Radcliffe, Conestoga, Pennsylvania, who provided the sound system and handling the lunch time entertainment (the music of Danny Gatton), and announcements. Dan Borisko, Baltimore, Maryland and a Porsche (two syllables as they often remind us) enthusiast built the software that was used for quickly computing the People's Choice balloting on Saturday. Very special thanks to Dave Pond and Just Your Style Graphics in Lebanon for providing the SAAB street signs used in the People's Choice show field area.
Also, special thanks to John Webber, who designed this year's t-shirt, featuring Jeff Proposki's 900 Airflow; Dr. Bill and Cathie Bill Jenkin's 1974 99; and Bill Jacobson's Sonett 1 chassis #6. The Jenkin's SAAB was also featured this year on the official Carlisle Productions T-shirt and dash plaque, website and event program and brochures.
Congratulations to Ira Bloom, Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, and Wendy and Dennis FitzGerald, Manotick, Ontario, who won the free registrations to the 2003 SAAB Owners Convention. A give-away car is featured at each of Carlisle Productions 10 major events throughout the year, and when the lucky number was drawn, it was Central Penn SAAB Club members Bill & Joanne Clark, from Bensalem, Pennsylvania, who won a 1970 Fiat 850 Spyder.
The 2003 long Distance award was presented to Rudy Zweibel from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rudy and his daughter attend the event each year, but this was the first year they brought their SAAB. Christine Krueger, another long haul veteran, with four Long Distance awards to her credit at SAABtoberfest, decided to make the trip this year, and placed second. The Overall People's Choice award went to Jeff Proposki, Rockport, Massachusetts with his flawless 900 Turbo airflow. Jeff also took home a First Place Award for the "Dare to be Different" class. A complete list of winners will be posted at www.centralpennsaab.com shortly.
Apologies of the largest scale go out to The New England Sonett Club (see, I can spell it). It seems that when we had the street signs made, our sign maker ran a spell check on them and spelled Sonett correctly for the English language, but not for SAAB enthusiasts. Thanks to Bruce and Lori Turk, Bill Trench and Seth Bengelsdorf for helping prove once again that any good deed shall not go unpunished, and our very special thanks for bringing out some great vintage SAABs. They tell me I will not likely live down this mistake any time soon.
If you missed this year's event, not to worry. Plans are already underway for the 2004 event, when CPSC is planning on a repeat of this year's effort, scheduled for May 21-23, 2004.
Look for more information coming soon on Central Penn SAAB Club's next event, when they join their GM cousins at The Carlisle All GM Nationals, to be held June 13-15 at the Carlisle Fairgrounds. The event was introduced in 2001, and was attended by CPSC members Marc Fails and Mike Beare. On the return visit in 2003, they plan on a much bigger showing, with over 35 cars already committed to go. For more information, email Marc.
Marc Fails, President
Central Penn SAAB Club
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