The Pa Taket garage

You may remember our Pa Taket amphibian Saab model which attended at Red Bull Rapids race last year. Everybody was very afraid of it through the floods in summer. But it survived.

The owner of the place, where Pa Taket was stored, moved out, so there was a need for a new garage. Here it is. I don't know the guy on the photo, but his bravery to store it this way is awesome! I hope that both, the courage and the Pa Taket hold and remain where they are now.

På Taket Saab 96 is safe

The floods are gone, the harbour is accessible. So the guys managed to bring the Saabull Pa Taket Saab 96 out of its current place to another one.

It was more or less safe from water, because the doors of the place were isolated with a builders foam, something like this. So nothing serious happened.

via : Saabull Pa Taket facebook page

På Taket Saab 96 in danger through floods

You may remember our crazy amphibian På Taket Saab 96 model, which can drive as well as swim on water. This one :

It is stored at a friends place at the industrial harbour of Bratislava. But the river Danube is flooding right now all areas around it. Of course the harbour as well. Everything is closed down there, so we don't know anything about the condition of the På Taket Saab.

Sure it is water resistant and it can swim, but it is located in a storage garage with many other heavy things (seen partially on these photos) which can move and destroy it. Nothing is sure for the moment.

To get a context what is going on here, here's the only one picture from the harbour I could find :

Winter harbour Bratislava, 5.July 2013, photo : sme.sk

And this is how the flood looks right now, appx. 24 - 26 hours before the expected culmination point :

Parking space where we use to meet is now completely under water. Photo : sme.sk

Exactly the opposite river bank as the photo above. It's appx. 1 km to the city center. The barriers are still holding.
Photo : sme.sk

update : 10 cm of water in that part of the harbour, so nothing special. And sealed doors. Pa Taket is safe :) It is expected that the Danube drop its level after this night, so it should also stay ok.

På Taket Saab featured in Saab Enthusiast magazine

It all began with an innocent question in a Skype room and continued with weeks of work. The Pa Taket Saab 96, our amphibian vehicle, was built for the Red Bull Rapids competition, where unusual vessels compete in a rafting channel. Our club crew attended in the competition, finished somehwere in the middle of the field and had a lot of fun.

Since than our special "replica" has a kind of special life. It has a small facebook page and from time to time we get a like. It also got an enthusiastic response on the Saab Session Slovakia in the autumn last year with. Then it caught attention on Saabsunited (thank you Jason !). We're very thankful for all that, it keeps the spirit alive.

Yesterday I got the the hardcopy of the magazine of the british Saab Enthusiasts Club. The club is featuring Pa Taket in the current winter edition. A local hardcopy of a club magazine is always a very rare and special thing [ANY HARDCOPY FOR A FEATURE IS VERY WELCOME, JUST WRITE]. Inside is a feature of our Pa Taket.

UK will host the annual IntSaab 2013 gathering and the Saab Enthusiasts Club is one of the three clubs organising it. It is to feel in the magazine, that there are preparations going on. I also love the 96 rebuild story as well as the important trade directory. And also the key part of the Chairman's letter truly defining the meaning of these international gatherings in a few words :

"I can assure you, the fact that Saab has changed is irrelevant to our enjoyment of this international event. Many visitors have been coming to these annual meetings for many years so obviously they will know others met on previous occasions. Why not join us and make new friends ? It isn't just about breaking down barriers, socialising, admiring each others cars, for me it is also about building contacts, remembering and building a Saab world in the mould of the traditions established in Trollhattan before the bankruptcy."

There is also a PDF copy of the feature available. The story about building the Pa Taket was documented here on Saabism : intro, update 1, update 2 and update 3. The complete image gallery is on the Pa Taket facebook page. 

Update 3 : På Taket Saab 96 at Red Bull Rapids

Two videos. On the first our 96 is tested by the people from the Red Bull Rapids event on stability on the water. It is much more heavier now and seems to be super stable. The second video is the evening before the event.

Update 2 : På Taket Saab 96 at Red Bull Rapids

This video is from yesterday, from the firts swimming test of our amphibian Saab 96. Even much more worse weather didn't stopped the team to try it out. It swims ! :) Stability is a different story, but as this vessel will compete in a rafting channel, a keel makes no sense here. Only the crew balance.

The video is an facebook embed from one of the crew members. It's from the cargo harbour on the Danube river.

If you have troubles to see the video, at least some photos :

It works !

Safety rope is a must

A fight without scars isn't a fight

Maybe you want to know what it is all about and also see the previous first update.

Update 1 : På Taket Saab 96 at Red Bull Rapids

Our amphibian Saab 96 is progressing to the final stage. Time is running out, new issues to solve are appearing. Late evenings are spent with the Saab model. Working on smoothing of the surface again and again. Today are the real stability on water tests.

Another set of considerations is the one minute "circuss" while coming to the water and launch the På Taket on the water. Since we don't know, where in the sports area will be the platform of start on the water, so we were there to look. And guess. There seems to be only two possibilities, but maybe we are completely out of the real plans. If yes, than improvisation will come.

Also some flyer work was done, to explain what  På Taket means and why the name. The short story around is imho a strong one.

When the Saab freaks come together. Two more Saabs aren't in the picture. Six Saabs together.

Still too clean

Saint Saab. The original, but scratched idea for the wheels.

Final stage soon

A really sporty silhouette

Smoothing the surface

Public Relations

Half Life

Work until deep in the night. The colour is there.

Note : I have to find out, how to make image galleries / lightbox in the blog post. This is getting too far. Of course there is no time for that. Right now even not in the evenings. A task for the near future.

På Taket amphibian Saab 96 at Red Bull Rapids competition

The Red Bull Rapids annual event organised by Red Bull is challenging people to invent, design and create strange and funny "boats" which are competing each other at a one day competition. It happens in many countries around the world, including Slovakia.

This time our Puppy Hunters Saab Club decided to attend with a Saab car. Not with "just a regular Saab" but with the famous På Taket (on the roof) reminding on Erik Carlsoon and his legendary Saab 96 being several times on the roof.

The expression "Carlsson on the roof" originated from the children's story Karlsson på taket by Astrid Lindgren, in which a Karlsson character lived on the roof of an apartment building. The name was given to Carlsson as a result of his habit of occasionally rolling a rally car onto its roof. In the Safari Rally, he even rolled the car intentionally, to escape from a mud pool. When journalists later doubted his story, he proved it by rolling the car again. [src: wikipedia]

So we decided to make a custom red Erik Carlsson Saab 96 model, which can swim on the roof and compete on the event. A 1:1 scale would be too much, but the model is pretty large, it still has to carry four mariners. The size of the vessel is reduced a bit (length x width x height) : 2,7m x 1,4m x 1m vs. original 4m x 1,57m x 1,47m.

The size is a compromise between hosting 4 people on board and transportation to the place of the competition. One of us has an old VW Bus, which can carry our Saab vessel wherever needed.

Actually this is a third amphibian (as we could find) Saab :) It can travel on the road as well as swim on the water. It has wheels on which it rides to the water and than with a bit of magic combined with muscle power converts itself into a vessel.

It's in advanced stage of creation. The finalising stage is right now and a bit hectic, because the event is this Saturday, 15.9.2012 in a rafting channel at Cunovo, near Bratislava.

You can support us by coming if you are near or just give a like to our På Taket - Red Bull Rapids
facebook page. And of course crossing fingers :)

Some pictures from the creation (not finished yet) :

The think tank ...

Parts ... of course in a Viggen

Our deesigner at work ...

Our sophisticated documentation ...

Hard work

Industrial poetry

Exterior tuning

Interior tuning, heated seats :) 

Photos by Puppy Hunters Saab Club

More on this : update 1 and update two (video)