Melchtal: Where silence met turbo echoes
In the quiet of the Melchtal valley, as Alpine peaks caught the first golden light of dawn, the stillness was broken by a familiar sound: the sharp whistle of Saab turbos awakening after long journeys. Between August 8 and 10, this tucked-away corner of Obwalden became the unlikely stage for something extraordinary – IntSAAB 2025, the largest Saab gathering ever held on Swiss soil.
What was expected to be a modest meeting of 350 enthusiasts grew into a record-breaking celebration: 750 participants from 20 nations and 450 cars spanning Saab’s 65-year history. For three days, the valley transformed into a living museum where nostalgia and innovation coexisted, and where the brand’s absence from showrooms felt irrelevant.
A Swiss stage for a global family
The event, prepared over four years by the Saab Club Switzerland (founded in 1985), quickly outgrew expectations. “We never imagined such resonance,” admitted organizer Christoph Bleile, once Saab Switzerland’s press spokesman. “This proves that the passion is alive, across generations and across borders.”
The setting amplified everything. Rolling meadows, mountain trails, and the mirror-like Melchsee lake gave the gathering a cinematic backdrop. Cars were parked on grass that sloped gently toward the water, their reflections shimmering like ghosts of eras past. Here, a Saab was never just metal; it was memory, heritage, and heartbeat.
Прикажи ову објаву у апликацији Instagram
Through time: from 92 to ng 9-5
At the symbolic center stood Saab Icon Square, an exhibition that charted Saab’s evolution through a handful of touchstones:
- A 1951 Saab 92, the oldest road-registered Saab in Switzerland, trailered in like a sacred relic.
- The poison-green Sonett I (1955), one of only five known survivors worldwide and the only one in the country.
- A 2011 9-5 SportCombi, among the last cars to leave Trollhättan before the factory doors closed forever.
Between them stretched the brand’s entire arc: rally-bred 96s and 99s, first-generation 900 Turbos, the elegant 9000 CD and CS, the bold Viggen, and the late-era 9-3s and NG 9-5s—each car whispering the story of a brand that refused to blend in.
A special hush followed the appearance of the 850 Monte Carlo, its rally heritage vibrating through the crowd. It wasn’t merely admired—it was revered.
Oddballs with an American accent
Perhaps the most talked-about curiosities were the US-influenced Saabs—models often dismissed when new, yet magnetic today.
A 9-4X, born from Cadillac architecture and limited to just 733 units, gleamed under Alpine sun like a misplaced piece of Detroit steel. Nearby, a 9-7X—a Chevrolet Trailblazer in Saab clothing—reminded visitors of the brand’s turbulent GM years. With its burbling V8, it was an outlier, even a misfit, yet somehow its presence fit the narrative: Saab’s survival often meant adaptation, even when it challenged tradition.
Ingenuity on display
The spirit of Saab engineering lives in its owners. Tim Hoog, a Swiss restorer from Vevey, brought immaculate cars from his Hemisphere Garage—and stories of creating solutions where none exist. With original parts scarce, he experiments with 3D-printed grilles, battling the challenge of chrome-plating plastic.
From the Netherlands, KC Performance surprised with a seemingly ordinary black 9-3 Cabriolet. Only under the hood did its secret emerge: a V6 conversion with all-wheel drive, a true wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The long road to Melchtal
Every Saab carried a story, but some were epic. Tomi-Pekka Onni Kangas drove his 900 Turbo Coupé nearly 3,900 km from Finland, braving weather, ferries, and endless asphalt to reach the Swiss Alps. His journey symbolized what IntSAAB is: sacrifice for the sake of community.
Others arrived with camper-converted 900s, towing small caravans, or simply sleeping in tents by the lake. Under the stars, surrounded by turbos cooling in the night air, the gathering felt less like a car show and more like a family reunion.
rally echoes in the alpine air
One afternoon, the camp erupted into a scene straight out of Saab’s motorsport past. On a makeshift course winding between bungalows and food stands, four legends roared:
- a 99 Turbo Rallye spitting flames,
- a Sonett II with tuned V4 growl,
- a rally-spec 96 V4,
- and another Sonett II preserved in factory trim.
Engines howled, spectators cheered, and for a few minutes the Alps reverberated with the unmistakable music of Saab competition. It wasn’t staged nostalgia—it was a visceral reminder that performance was always in Saab’s DNA.
Прикажи ову објаву у апликацији Instagram
Why Saab still matters
Saab built its last cars in 2011. NEVS kept the embers alive briefly, but as a company Saab is gone. Yet Melchtal proved the opposite of absence: the brand thrives in memory, motion, and community.
It thrives in late-night garage work, in parts recreated with ingenuity, in fathers teaching children the meaning of a slanted ignition key. It thrives in thousands of kilometers willingly traveled for the chance to park next to strangers who instantly feel like family.
One German participant put it simply: “This isn’t just about cars. This is home.”
Not gone, only transformed
A Swiss newspaper headline captured it best: Totgesagte leben länger—“those declared dead live longer.”
IntSAAB 2025 was not merely a gathering. It was defiance against forgetting, proof that passion outlives corporations, and a reminder that engineering can become culture.
For three days in Melchtal, Saab once again reigned. And as engines cooled and tents came down, one truth lingered:
Saab will never disappear. As long as there is someone who turns a key and waits for that first turbo sigh, Saab will live.
