SAAB in the Rearview Mirror

So many memories came flooding back that Vincent and I knew we had to record a Bonus episode! Join us as we chat about Vincent’s many good times at Saab both professionally and personally. Vincent shares more photos of the good times, talks about the Saab swag he helped create, shares additional memories of the 1992 Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel meeting, the changeover from the Saab-Scania logo to the Saab logo, discusses Scania trucks towing SCUD missiles in Saddam Hussein’s army and the controversy that ensued in the USA and some closing thoughts about his great memories of his time at Saab. Enjoy!

Join me this week on a fascinating journey with my guest Vincent Donroe-Wells. Vincent started as a contracted Account Manager, then came on board with Saab tackling various responsibilities including Merchandising, Auto Shows, Advertising and eventually National Sales Promotion Manager encompassing all previous jobs and adding many new programs and experiences. Vincent was an instrumental part of the now famous Opryland Dealer launch meeting of the 9000 and 900 Convertible and the new 900 launch meeting in Orlando as well as many, many more creative projects. Please enjoy this journey with over 150 photos and 15 videos to enhance the viewing experience. Enjoy!

This week’s guest is the effervescent long time Saab Connecticut employee Valerie Torphy. Valerie regales us with stories from her long extensive career in Sales and Marketing which included working with brochure production, dealer analysis, dealer Saab signage, prospective dealer franchise analysis, dealer meetings scouting, meeting production, used company car auction programs, and coordinating Saab into the GM vehicle employee purchase programs. Valerie was Saab’s first Used Car Manager. She also talks about her great joy working for Saab-Scania USA President Bob Sinclair and VP/President Sten Helling. Post Saab Valerie has been a driving force behind the semi-annual Saab employee reunions and is already planning the 2027 event. Enjoy!

There are several ex-Saab employees that can truly be referred to as “legends”. Arsey Miller is one of those people. Join me for an extensive conversation with Arsey as we discuss his years with Saab in jobs ranging from District Parts, Service and Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, National Product Display and Sales Training Manager. As well as all of these diverse positions Arsey was instrumental in the Saab National Peace Officer Ski Race, training the IDS sales persons in Europe, working with the Scania Bus and Saab Friction Tester at industry shows and much, much more. Enjoy!

This week I renew an old friendship with someone I worked very closely with and learned a lot from starting from my early days at Saab – Angela Leibowicz. Angela started at Saab in Customer Service for the Eastern Region and eventually became the National Consumer Relations Manager. She has many great stories from her years at Saab including applying for a job because she liked the building, developing the vehicle buyback program, the holiday “nuts to you” Bob Sinclair tale, several interesting celebrity encounters and working with a “slacker” like me! Please enjoy.

This week witness my most ambitious multi-media YouTube Podcast yet with guest Walt Lawson. Walt started with Saab in 1982 washing cars at the Saab fleet shop. From there he became a Technician, a Technical Representative and then moved to Training Instructor at the Southern Region Technical Training Center before leaving Saab and moving on to Kia Motors. Our lives crossed twice long before either of us worked for Saab. We start there in our interview. Join me for the interesting journey of Walt Lawson. Enjoy.

Joining the Podcast this week is ex-Saab District Sales Manager and 9-3 Product Manager Doug Blank. Doug’s interesting career includes his time as a Radarman on a U.S. Navy Destroyer to a vehicle painter on the Jeep assembly line and several jobs at Saab as a District Sales Manager and the 9-3 Product Manager. Doug has some great stories ranging from the questionable color choices out of Sweden where white was only for Police cars and not for retail to attempts to get OnStar and XM Radio into the vehicles to having his new 35 mile 9000 Aero totaled just a few moments after picking it up! Please enjoy my conversation with Doug.

Original Parts Help Line Creator Eric Weiss joins me this week on the Podcast. Eric started at Saab as a “Senior” Consumer Relations person where I followed in his footsteps as he transitioned shortly to my future role running the Parts Help Line. He then became a field Service Representative calling on 15 dealers in Connecticut and Rhode Island. A short time later he moved up to the Eastern Region Service Manager position. Eric regales us with some great stories ranging from the nightmare of the early 900 Sony radios, his interactions with CEO Bob Sinclair, visiting a dealer that also sold boats in the same showroom and transitioning to the “other side of the fence” working for Secor Automotive in New London, CT for the past 32 years where he can still be found today. Welcome Eric.

Joining me this week is long time Saab employee Dan David. Dan joined Saab in 1973 and finished his career in 2005. While at Saab he held several positions in Service, Warranty, Parts, Product Development, Customer Retention, Marketing and many combinations of them throughout his career in the USA and Sweden. He has many interesting tales of working with Saab USA founder Ralph Millet and many subsequent Saab Presidents including Bob Sinclair, Sten Helling, Jim Crumlish and Dan Chasins just to name a few. He credits his terrific teams with hard work and friendship that made his time at Saab an enjoyable experience. Dan talks about the early days at Saab where having just one word processor was a luxury, communicating with Sweden by Telex and operated assisted phone calls. He experienced first hand the meteoric rise of the company in the 1980’s to the GM takeover emphasizing the term “outsourcing” of numerous departments in the 1990’s. Please enjoy.

My guest this week is another dear friend and longtime Saab employee-Dale David. Dale worked numerous jobs at Saab including Warranty Claims Processor and Supervisor, West Coast Service and Parts Representative, Sales Trainer and Facilities Brand Image and Design Manager. Dale talks about her love of Saab Cars, her time “behind the windshield” as a Field Rep, her true feelings about Saab Way training, letters from several celebrity Saab fans, missing a dear mutual friend and life after Saab working for Nissan and Hyundai. Welcome Dale David to the Podcast.

This week’s guest is long term Saab employee John Libbos. John was with Saab from 1987 to 2012. His many jobs included several Technical Services positions and later as Project Manager for the 9-5 and 9-4X. He also spent several years working in Sweden in the late 90’s as the Aftersales Project leader for the Saab 9-5 being fully immersed in Swedish language and culture. John was stationed in most all locations of Saab headquarters including the infamous GM Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit. Post Saab he worked as a contractor for Maserati at Road Atlanta and as a training instructor traveling all over the USA and Canada. Please enjoy.

This week’s guest is former Saab Parts Director Doug Williams. Doug worked in the Norcross, GA headquarters in the late 90’s through his early retirement in 2001. During his tenure the parts division moved over 100 million in parts and accessories per year with the help of a dedicated staff. Innovative ideas were put into place such as overnight dedicated delivery to dealers of parts and Saab badged delivery trucks traveling all over the Northeastern USA. My favorite was the view of a Gripen fighter jet afterburner on the back doors of the trucks. Doug also talks about his 25 years with Jaguar prior to joining Saab and many of the celebrities he met in his career.

I am joined in this week’s episode by long time Saab employee Gary Dagesse. Gary has had numerous field and management positions at Saab. He started in the early 90’s and stayed up until almost the very end of the Spyker years in 2011. He also worked for Ford, Porsche, Jaguar/Land Rover and Nissan and talks about his experiences in the non-Saab world. He also just recently completed a lifelong bucket list goal by visiting all 30 baseball stadiums ending up in Toronto at the Rogers Center, formerly the Skydome where his wife arranged a nice surprise for his birthday.

One of my many ex-bosses, my mentor, my sometimes life coach and most of all my friend, Mike Raflowitz joins me on the Podcast. Mike had a long and varied career at Saab ranging from Field Representative to operating Saab of Japan (thus the Saab Japanese intro). Mike "Raf" is fun to talk to and is a great story teller and he has some great ones from almost running over a group of astronomers in a Saab to illegally crossing the Finnish border into Russia! Enjoy.

This episode's guest is former Saab Training Department member Dave Kapitulik. "Kap" details his road to being an educator and training instructor/course designer at Saab Automobiles. Dave's long career started in Technical Services and to educating Saab Technicians from all over the USA's east coast. Dave talks about his numerous trips to Sweden, the great co-workers he had and his post Saab career working for the Connecticut Technical School system.

Join me for our first episode featuring ex-Saab Field Representatives John Ritter and John Sokol. We discuss how each became interested in the automotive business, their long careers at Saab, their favorite meetings, brushes with celebrity, life after Saab and much more.