This post originally written back in 2020, when I had to pull the Daimler out of a raffle at the very last minute and swap the car to a completely different vehicle. This was the press release that went out to customers…
Do you remember the days when football was still good? It’d be the Champions League on a Wednesday Night, 8pm kick off and your mate Andy would be over, you’d make your own pizza toppings at half time and one night you used cinnamon just to show off, and you didn’t really know what exactly it was, but you pretended it tasted excellent to save face… Manchester United would be 1-0 down heading into the 80th minute, usually a quarter final, and it’d be a proper nail biter.
By the 87th minute Fergie would be at the side of the pitch with Ole Gunnar Solskjær, who’d be jumping up and down like a jack rabbit ready to go. Solskjær would run on as a substitute, score 3 goals between the 87th and 93rd minute and everyone would go freaking bat shtt crazy.
Well, Ole Gunnar Solskjær might be Norwegian but we’ve had to invoke the spirit of Scandinavia and substitute the Brit for an 87th minute Swede. This is kind of a big deal. Those of you who have followed the Geoff Story will know that one of the reasons I launched the BMW E38 Raffle was due to my disappointment when a raffle company pulled a car at the last minute without replacing it. This is a little bit like that, but it’s not.
With less than a week to go before the draw the Daimler has thrown an electronic wobbly and I don’t have the time or patience to find out why it’s not playing ball. It won’t start or do anything and we aren’t sure why.
Faced with the possibility of cancelling the draw, I’ve retired the Daimler and instead substituted a Scandinavian friend…. Yup, that’s right, in the 87th minute we are bringing in a 2000 Saab 9-3 Convertible.
She’s incredibly clean and tidy with full history, mileage in the 5 figure range, full leather and metallic paint. She’s a beaut. She’s also got a much longer MOT than the Daimler and of course, the roof comes off. In many ways it’s a better car, but that’s subjective… Anyway it looks exactly like the one shown in the library photo here… except it’s obviously a right hand drive UK car.
Yup, this is the very definition of last minute dot com but why not? Life is much more fun when you’re constantly on the edge. Or dangling over it.
I set out to give a car away for £10 before lockdown ends and BY JOVE I am going to give a car away before lockdown ends. I’d rather be straight with you all now and give you a chance to say ‘hey man, that’s cool’ or ‘hey man, you’re a dick, give me my money back’. The tickets and postcards remain the same.
The plan is to do the draw on Facebook Live, we’ll have a chat, have some drinks and give away some cool stuff. Oh, there’s also now the 2nd place prize, the Bang & Olufsen telly. A Danish Telly and a Swedish Car. If you’ve paid your £10, you are still in it to win it, except it’s a Topless Swede not an Old Brit.
Now, I know you bought tickets for a Daimler, so…. 1. IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY ABOUT THE SAAB SUBSTITUTION AND WOULD PREFER A REFUND THEN I AM MORE THAN HAPPY TO GIVE YOU YOUR MONEY BACK. NO HARD FEELINGS, AND I AM SORRY. (email me with your name and addresss) 2. IF YOU ARE VERY HAPPY ABOUT THE SAAB SUBSTITUTION THEN USE THIS CODE HERE TO BUY MORE TICKETS FOR 50% DISCOUNT. YUP, £5 A TICKET. THEY AREN’T GOING ANY LOWER THAN THAT, THATS YER LOT. https://bit.ly/ToplessSwedesYEAH I’m not sure what the fate of the Daimler will be next. I guess we will find out in the coming weeks, after the raffle, but it’ll also go in for a fresh 12 months MOT and a service, and then i’ll see what’s what. If you’re interested, get in touch. Thanks so much for reading, as usual, sorry for all the words, I just think reading is important. Video on the new Saab will follow! Cheers, as ever!
PS fingers crossed this won’t change again but it’s exciting, isn’t it?! You never know what’s going to happen next with Geoff Buys Cars, it’s like Thunderbirds. Anything could happen in the next five minutes.