Manchester Motor Museum - October 1999

Members of the Saab Enthusiasts' Club and members of other Saab clubs joined together at the invitation of the Manchester Museum of Transport on 10/10/99.

The museum had advertised their facilities in Practical Classics magazine earlier in the year and the deal is you provide the cars they provide the space and give free entry into the museum. Your car forms part of the museums exhibits for the day!

I as the organiser wanted to arrive early to make sure everything was ready. We left home later than I would have liked and rushed up the motorway blowing away a few visitors in their Saabs en route.

We arrived 15 minutes before the museum opening time of 10 o'clock and were surprised to be the first there! We weren't alone for long and soon the garage was full of Saab's (28 cars in all).

The museum staff who are all volunteers made us all very welcome and arranged for us to have an informative guided tour. Buses and coaches of all shapes and sizes are on display. Many are undergoing restoration and you can actually get on some of the others. We then found time for some lunch, many people had brought lunch with them but others made use of the excellent canteen in the museum.

The best was yet to come. The museum took us all for a ride around the centre of Manchester in one of their exhibits and it was on every body's favourite a double decker. On our return we continued our exploration of the museum with the usual car chat along the way.

Every one seemed to enjoy themselves even if they did get a bit lost getting to the museum. A special thank you must go to the museum staff who made us all most welcome and have invited us back next year, so keep an eye on the magazine for the date.

Report: Dave Thorne

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