The Life and Death of Saab Documentary

[Nickshu]

Just out this month, it's a 3.5 hour watch, but as a long-time Saab fan this is the most in depth documentary of the company's history from the beginning and it's demise. Very well done, I watched it over several days.

[Steve Carlton]

I'd like to watch that! First new car I bought was a 1980 900 Turbo 3-door. Oddball in a great way.

[KFC911]

A long time buddy used to buy old POS Saabs.... and he had lots of Sob stories .

[dw1]

Thank you very much for posting this documentary.

I loved my SAABs. I still think the 900SE turbo 3-door was the best car I ever owned - the perfect combination of performance, economy, utility and luxury. If SAAB was still in business, I'd still be driving them.

Top Gear (series 18, ep 5) did a tribute to SAAB when it was announced they were closing:

part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-ZXGTJFSig
part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy63USDaxxM

[dewolf]

Like my Aero cars. Very underrated vehicles. I have an 02 9-5 Aero and a 02 9-3 Aero.

[Steve Carlton]

Mine looked exactly like this.

[Rick Lee]

Those old 900 turbos were cool cars. My mom had one, gave it to my sister and she drove it until the wheels fell off. The next one my mom got was a nightmare. I had a 900S. They could still be a cult classic if they did things right.

[rwest]

Slightly off topic; how is the availability of Saab parts?

I love the 900 turbos. Wish they still made them.

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Those old 900 turbos were cool cars. My mom had one, gave it to my sister and she drove it until the wheels fell off. The next one my mom got was a nightmare. I had a 900S. They could still be a cult classic if they did things right.

I had an 83 900. Loved that car. But, the left front wheel literally fell of as I was about to get on the Long Island expressway in 1999. One winter traveling on the NYS Thruway the throttle got stuck doing 65. Popped the hood and found the throttle linkage was frozen in place. Many adventures in this car. Most character of any car I’ve owned except the 911.

[Otter74]

Thanks for posting this. I still have my 900 SPG, and love it - it's a great highway car.

Originally Posted by rwest

Slightly off topic; how is the availability of Saab parts?

I love the 900 turbos. Wish they still made them.

Parts for classic 900s are hit and miss. Some things are easy to find, others aren't. There are. I think, a few sheetmetal panels that are made for rust repairs (like front fenders, maybe) but for the most part if you need metal you're getting it off an old car. Normal maintenance stuff is fine, except occasioally it isn't (like, say, calipers for pre-88 cars.) Transmissions are fragile and it's hard to find good ones if yours blows up. In general it isn't like, say, a Volvo 240 when it comes to parts.

The other weekend I took mine on a great little low-buck rally I do every year in West Virginia. This year it was in the Hocking Hills of Ohio. On Saturday afternoon, I hit a deer. Before and after photos:







I got lucky as far as deer impacts go - driver and navigator, uninjured, demage localized (didn't go over the hood and into the windshield, for example), car fully functional except passenger door stuck because hood corner pushed over it and headlamps had bulbs that lit but didn't really do much useful (photo shows DIY light setup to get home on - I had an 8-hour drive home mostly in the dark). This is the kind of thing where parts availability makes things a pain. Finding a good hood isn't too hard but finding good Euro lights is not easy, and neither is finding the accessory grille I had. Apparently Canadian corner lights are not exactly the same as US or Euro ones in how they're wired, so there's that too.

[Nickshu]

I looked into buying a 1993 commemorative edition 900 Turbo last year. The Saab forum guys said that most parts are available but transmission internal parts for rebuilds, as well as any decent cosmetic interior or exterior body parts are hard to come by.

The seller ended up wanting quite a bit for more than I wanted to pay so I passed on it.

I owned 5 Saabs back in the day.

86 9000T
91 9000CD
93 900S
95 900S
07 9-3 2.0 T Sportcombi

Also in my extended family w/ my Dad:
99 900 Turbo convertible
02 9-3 Turbo
06 9-3 2.0T Convertible

Great cars and great memories. Of all of them the 86 9000T and the 93 900S were the best ones. When I bought the 93 900S I really wanted a turbo but couldn't afford one at the time.
The 95 900S was pretty good too. We bought it used with about 50K on the odometer, took it to Europe with us for 2 years where it got hammered on cobblestone roads, then we brought it back to the USA and daily drove it for another 5 years before selling it to a college student. It was so abused and as a car was literally unkillable.

[Nickshu]

In the documentary I learned something I never knew. That the Subaru Tribeca SUV was originally developed in Sweden by Saab/GM as the 9-6X including it's pretty neat dashboard design and would have included a V8 engine option, then when GM sold their 20% stake in Subaru the project went to Subaru who stuck a Subaru engine in it and sold it as the B9 Tribeca. GM then had Saab put out the 9-7X (Trollblazer).

Also I didn't know much about the lawsuit that Spyker took out against GM for blocking their ability to sell the company. GM truly did everything in their power in the background w/ contracts, restrictions, parts supply chains, etc to make sure Saab was dead forever (that part I did know).

[blucille]

I've owned a bunch of these and each brings back great memories, sonetts, old two strokes, 96's 99's and 900's and newer, 9-3 and 9-5, had viggen's, aero's...SPG's, all great cars. Probably owned 30 of these cars from the time I started driving up until you couldn't buy them anymore without them being OLD cars.

I had been Saab-less for 10 or 12 years, and I decided to bring a model 99 (preceding the 900) in from Europe, 5 speed, 16v 2.1L full pressure turbo and high compression motor, great fun.

The video was extremely well done, covering a lot of years and a lot of data. Nice to see it get some views.

[svandamme]

My mum ha 900 SE Turbo cab at home
she never really drove it with the top down cause people might see her and talk about her
and she never really drove it fast either just city shopping run stuff

Each time I borrowed it the darn thing ran a lot better when I gave it back
Blowing the pipes out as I called it.

above 180kph with the top off the wind sucks lower air pressure behind the windscreen makes your ears pop Any lady passenger typically begins to scream bout that time due to hair problems.. at 220 kph you don't really hear em anymore.

I really liked the cockpit of that car, the engine was pretty good
But it just torque steered like a mofo.. not really a great chassis for that toraue Especially with lowered springs and very low profile tires

[Steve Carlton]

I'm only part way through it, but it's really good. Loved the first SAAB 92! Kind of reminds me of the Porsche Type 64.






The "Carlsson on the roof" and Greta Molander stories were interesting.

The lifetime engine warranty story was great.

Looking forward to watching the rest.

[Steve Carlton]

Came across this article on the original 1946 SAAB 92001.

https://www.thecoolist.com/1946-saab-92001-ursaab/

[Steve Carlton]