Saab fans gather outside GM headquarters

The 60-plus-year history of Saab may come to an inglorious end in the next few days if General Motors and Dutch supercar maker Spyker--or perhaps a dark-horse bidder--fail to reach an agreement to save the iconic Swedish maker of premium cars.

But the potential death of yet another GM brand raised some voices of dissension--and passion--as a crowd of about 30 Saab enthusiasts braved temperatures in the 20s and snow flurries to show their support for Saab at a gathering near GM's global headquarters in downtown Detroit.

The event was organized by the Ryan Emge, editor of a Saab.History.com, and was part car show, part rally and part family gathering. The crowd lunched in the public food court in GM's towering glass offices before walking along the Detroit River to a parking lot where about 27 Saabs, mostly of recent years, congregated. There were a couple of chants and 50 “Save Saab” signs, but mostly the crowd mingled and talked cars with each other and the sizeable media contingent that showed up to chronicle the event.

Emge admitted that the event was going to be fairly low-key, but he said his point was to raise awareness and cast Saab in a positive light.

“This is a nice, pleasant gathering,” said the 30-year-old organizer who traveled from Portland, Maine, for the event. “We're here to gather and show our Saab spirit.”

That was evident in the die-hards who showed up and were eager to talk about why the Swedish brand caught their eye.

“I bought mine because BMWs are a dime a dozen,” said Carter Bishop, 50, of Milan, Mich.

He also pointed to the kinship he feels with other Saab owners and says he gets waves while driving his turbo-powered 9-3 SportCombi.

“It's a tight-knit group,” he said.

Meanwhile, Peter Gilbert, the Englishman who put a million miles on his 1989 Saab 900, also showed up. He's been driving the cars since 1967 and has had nine of them.

“I can't believe it's come down to this,” he said.

Peter Hughes, a musician from Rochester, N.Y., has put a few less miles on his 1988 900--he rolled over 195,000 before the odometer gave out--was almost wistful about the future of Saab.

“If somebody could just rescue it and put some money in to it . . . ” he mused.

Regardless of what happens, Emge said it was fun getting a bunch of Saab fans together for a meal and cars.

“If nothing else, this is a Saab gathering--and we don't get to do too many of those.”

Spokesman John M. McDonald said GM was happy to see a display of enthusiasm for the brand, and the crowd wanted to be sure the company was aware of Saab's loyal followers.

"It was nice to see everybody ... they like the opportunity to be acknowledged and recognized," he said.

By Greg Migliore