SAAB projects. Yellow Danger and the Saab 9000 Club.

Some people are said to collect stamps. Other model trains. Supposedly it is so, supposedly it should be fun. But these things are very small and not for real petrol heads. We collect things in their original size. According to the motto “a Saab is not a Saab” there are new, rusty Sweden projects in Hamburg and Frankfurt. Our youngtimer blog will accompany these projects, not knowing how the stories end.

The yellow danger…

There is a very well-known Saab forum where postings were withdrawn some time ago in order to give a forum member access to a Swedish friction tester. This led to lively discussions in the forum itself, but the whole action was pointless from the start! Because we, in this case friend Olli, were there much earlier. Sorry guys!

What stood there on an airfield some 100 kilometers north of Stockholm is a very special Saab. A Saab 900 from 1979 that has been in service in northern Sweden for more than 30 years. Of course, Olli's question “… buy or not…” was followed by “… buy it…” from my side. The Saab is now in northern German hands, and our Youngtimer blog, which also mutates into a classic car blog, documents this very Saab story and its progress from time to time. Because the 900 is something of a rolling cultural asset from Sweden, and we don't want to withhold this from the Saab community.

Saab 9000 Club ...

Much less spectacular than the friction tester is the new Achim and me project. Another 9000 has moved into our Saab hangar. Good Saab 9000 are now becoming rare, and much that is offered cheaply is not worth the money. The consequences are clear. More and more of these great super-Saab go into the export, the stock thins out.

Restoring a Saab 9000 is not (yet) lucrative, at least not in Germany. Sweden is further ahead than us, and good 9000 are also being searched for in neighboring European countries and are more expensive than ours. Partly responsible for this are strict environmental laws that regulate the market and additionally speed up the scrapping or export process. Bad vehicles do not even come back to the street. For beginners, with patience and some reserves, the best time to buy. A situation that will not happen in the foreseeable future.

Our 9000 is an anniversary from 1997 in its original condition and from first hand. In addition, a non-tinkered non-smoking vehicle! He's lacked affection from his family for the past few years, and now he's been traded in for a mean, commonplace car. The body needs work, the technology and the interior too. It's almost fully equipped and we just couldn't resist. The price was shockingly low, and we almost had scruples when there was a discount on site. The value of the coveted 16 ″ rims with brand new tires, which Achim now drives on his Saab, made the purchase an “almost free” story. It starts in winter, but how long the project will take is in the stars.

Even more Saab 9000 stories? Our 9000 CS has completed its first trips across the country. The story can be read on our Saab Youngtimer Blog.

Text: tom@saabblog.net

Pictures: saabblog.net