SOC 2011 - Parsippany, New Jersey

[Shazam]

SOC 2011 Location Announced!
The Saab Club of North America (SCNA) proudly announces the location of its Saab Owners' Convention 2011 - Parsippany, NJ.

The 29th annual SOC, SOC11, will take place on August 18-21 2011 at the Hilton Parsippany located at One Hilton Court, Parsippany, NJ in the heart of Morris County. The site is centrally located, including nearby access to the Meadowlands Sports Complex and FunPlex Family Fun Center, while complimentary shuttle service to the train station makes reaching the famous Broadway theatres, shopping, sporting venues and other New York City attractions easy.

Saab members from all over the United States and beyond will converge to talk Saabs and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Saab convertible. Conceived by former Saab president Bob Sinclair (known as "Uncle Bob" by his many friends), the convertible centric celebration will feature the unveiling of the Bob Sinclair Memorial Trophy. This annual recognition will showcase the SOC 2011 Saab owner who exemplifies the spirit of Bob Sinclair.

Details will be announced in NINES, the official magazine of the Saab Club of North America, and here, on the SCNA Web site.

Click here to email Ian Glenday , SCNA President, for more information.

Oh man... lots of Saabers are going to be confused by Jersey's law requiring workers to pump your gas... still don't get the point.

Info is from http://www.saabclub.com/index.php?op...test&Itemid=70

[Shazam]

So who is planning on going? I would like to! Hopefully by then the main floor of my 96 will be replaced by then, so I can drive that!

[Burnsside42]

10-4 I'll be there in something! Probably the 86'

[Shazam]

Looks like they've got the location of SOC 2012 and the tentative location of SOC 2013 figured out. From the SCNA website:

The Board has been setting the ground work for future SOC’s. As previously mentioned, SOC 2011 will take place in Parsippany, NJ. For SOC12 we will be in Iowa City, Iowa and in 2013 we are tentatively returning to Ohio.

Read more here...
http://www.saabclub.com/index.php?op...ters&Itemid=63

[nordwulf]

NJ, IA and OH.. I guess there aren't any Saab enthusiasts in the West or South..

I have been to the Michigan and Ohio SOCs and I don't think I'll be going to another one for a while. It's just not that exciting hanging out in a hotel parking lot and going to a few seminars. I still think they should have one in Toronto or some other interesting locales like Seattle/Vancouver, Miami (in winter), San Francisco, San Diego etc. I could see myself driving to Florida but not Iowa..

[Shazam]

It's just not that exciting hanging out in a hotel parking lot and going to a few seminars. I still think they should have one in Toronto or some other interesting locales like Seattle/Vancouver, Miami (in winter), San Francisco, San Diego etc.

Thats what I was thinking. I love Saabs, but I don't really have any desire to go sit in seminars, or keep pacing around the same cars for hours and hours. My main reason for wanting to go is because I've never been to one, and the parts tent... but I hear the parts tent isn't that great, and the parts I need the guy local has nearly everything I could dream of... just hoping the 95 year old man will last a bit longer. It'd be nicer if you could go, check out all the Saabs, do all that stuff, then have an interesting city/area to visit with things to do once you are all Saab-ed out. What's in Parsippany anyways... zip.

[nordwulf]

I guess it's fairly close to NYC so at least that's better than Iowa or Ohio. But still not a nice area for a scenic drive or place to drive to. The ones in Michigan and Ohio were so hot and humid, it was pretty miserable to hang out in the parking lot during the day.

It also can be pretty expensive if you go for the full program and stay at the hotel (I only got the day passes). They are nice hotels but can be too expensive if you're on a budget. Or cheap, eerrr, frugal like me.

But you'll have to go to one at least once, even if you're only get the day pass and stay at another place. The parts "tent" was a smaller conference room in Ohio last time. The good things are usually gone quickly. Unless you just happen to look for that '90 900 owners manual, 9-3 CD changer or other unique items.

[Shazam]

It's 4 hours for me... so if I didn't want to stay the night, I could make it a day trip. Wake up early, get there by 8 or 9, stay there all day, leave after dinner. Save a couple bucks. What is the deal with getting into the parts tent? Is that possible with just a day pass? And what's up with the pass system anyways?

[nordwulf]

The day pass usually doesn't allow access to parts tent. However, they opened it up for day pass visitors after the first day. Perhaps business was a little slow.. SaabScott scored some new wheels though so there can be good stuff when you're early.

Day passes are $25 a day. The full rate for the entire weekend, including all meals was $195 last time. On Saturday, I asked if there were any lunch boxes left over and was allowed to go in after 1:00pm to grab one. The day pass didn't allow to attend the main presentation after the dinner on Saturday. Too bad I missed Mr. Jonsson and Muller but watched the video on Youtube.

Basically, the day pass allows access tot he seminars and that's about. You don't need one to access the public hotel areas. Some of the seminars are pretty cool though, I enjoyed the one from Peter Backstrom about the Mille Miglia and John Libbos about the new 9-5.

Saturday is the best day to go, there isn't much happening on Sundays besides a round-table with important Saab people in the morning. I don't really get why there isn't more to do on Sundays.

[SaabScott]

I will be adding this to my calendar (personal as well as our club web site calendar).

As of this moment, I expect to be going, but as with other things in life, that could change.
My goal is to be there.

Thanks for the heads up about fuel pumping.

Wulf, the likelyhood of and SOC event being held in Canada is slim to none.
We have few members and even fewer who are interested in working, whether that be for the club or Saab.
Regardless, being so small, our club does not have the financial resources to even consider something like this.
There had been mention of helping out at an SOC if it were located closer to Canada (the Greater Toronto area to be exact - say Buffalo for instance).