Rusty But Trusty

This month, my parents sold their last Saab. Here’s the car after 17 years of faithful service:

We bought the car new in the early years of GM’s ownership of Saab, and while we were sold on the virtues of a Saab already, having cheap GM financing on top of that was only gravy. The car was $36K, and I remember arguing to have a CD player, leather seats and seat heaters to help the resale value. Well, since it sold for $2200, maybe that was a moot point, 17 years and 165,000 miles later. It’s funny how cars weave their way into your memories, in a way not many other possessions do… I vividly remember a roadtrip to Yellowstone in this car, getting all the contents of my dorm room in the back at the end of sophomore year, and doing a track driving course up at Thunder Hill Raceway. My family had Saabs for 29 years, so this is kind of the end of an era.

Anyway, enough with the nostalgia, and on to a couple of older cars that are actually for sale. The first is a 1978 Saab 99 GLE. Much like our 9000, this 99 has been with its family all its life, but is now up for sale. It’s a rare 4-door model, and looks to be really clean. At $3000 (a lot for a 99), it should be. You can find it in Portland, OR.

Frankly, I think it looks mean with its mudflaps, quad headlights and soccerball wheels. Speaking of mean, our second Saab is a 1985 900 SPG in all black. It’s had several performance modifications, including Rota wheels, Corbeau seats, and engine and suspension upgrades to make it corner better and accelerate faster. The owner does say it needs a new brake booster, drain plug of some sort (it leaks), and has leaking power steering. That said, his description (and the fact that he’s a 10-year Saab owner) makes it sound like with a little work, you could have fun showing GTV-6s and 944s who’s boss. Listed for only $2500, you can find it in Monterey, CA.

Last, and maybe least, we have a 2-door 99 notchback. I remember a friend’s architect father bringing one of these home around 1980 in Montreal. Oddly enough, it has those same hideous hubcaps my parents’ 99 did.This car is barely broken in for one of these old Saabs, at 97,000 miles and on its second owner. The listing says the car needs body work, although no rust is visible on the white paint. Listed at $1200, you can’t complain too much. Everything else about the ad says fun classic driver or easy project.

Tags: 900, 99, Feature, saab, swedish, turbo

This entry was posted on November 6, 2010 at 6:00 am and is filed under Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.