I READ Alasdair Steven's appreciation of the life of Erik Carlsson (Obituaries, The Herald, June 27) with sadness and fond recollections.
The former was of his passing and that of Saab, the marque of which he was such an enthusiast and ambassador; the latter of his kindness and the gentleness of one so determined to succeed, as Mr Steven reflected.
My wife and I enjoyed the time we were able to drive what we regarded as the original and best Saabs, before the company was taken over (and some might say, rescued) by General Motors.
We were going to Denmark in 1990 and thought we might visit the Saab museum in Trollhattan, Sweden. Our dealer provided contact details and arrangements were made.
On arrival at the museum, we met our contact, who greeted us saying that Mr Carlsson was expected during our visit and perhaps we'd like to meet him. Would we - the man we knew for his ability to turn over a Saab while rallying, right it and carry on regardless?
What a pleasure - we might have been tongue-tied, dwarfed by both his personality and size, but we were given a warm welcome and in the case of my wife, a careful bear hug, as she was pregnant.
We left with an appreciation of both his and his company's generosity of spirit, and an amazement that he could fit into and drive the original Saab models.
Neil M Bruce,
7 Watson Mews,
Watson Street,
Banchory.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article