The Deventer Tour – September 24, 2022. The plans to organize a tour together with the Facebook group “Saab Cabrio Group – Netherlands” had been there for a while, but the pandemic and other events kept throwing a spanner in the works. As organizers, we were surprised by the number of registrations; registration was forced to close at just under 100 teams.
Probably due to the changeable weather, some teams were dropped at the last minute, but we were nevertheless able to welcome 85 teams at the start at Hotel Van der Valk in Deventer. To get a bit of spread in the field of participants, we started in four groups. After coffee and a welcome word/briefing, the first group started at 11:30 am. The planned tour ride over 117 km took the participants through Deventer, over the IJsseldijk to Wijhe, in between to Heino, from Heino in between to Dalfsen, where we had planned a coffee stop at the Saab museum of the Tammeling family “Takt2Aero”. Our attempt to split up the field of participants did not yield much results, so with a lot of effort, we ended up with just under 100!! Saab Convertibles found a place on the museum grounds. Johan and Wouter had called in some volunteers, who guided everyone in and out safely and kept the coffee makers running at full power.
After the museum, the route continued from Dalfsen over the Vilsteren and Ommen, from Ommen towards Lemele, there is also a Saab Museum in Lemele, so the participants were treated to a second museum visit. Just like at “Takt2Aero” in Dalfsen, the participants were also amazed by the collection that Gerrit Jan Hallink has built up over the years. After the museum visit to Gerrit Jan, the route over the Lemeleberg slowly went back to Deventer. At Van der Valk we had planned a follow-up session and the participants could chat over a drink and a drink.
The three initiators of the tour, namely: Peter van Amen, Ron van Dorsten and Alfons Heetjans, came to the conclusion that this collaboration between the Saab Cabrio Group and SCN deserves to be repeated!