This week’s Saab Sighting Of The Week was quite a suprise when I received an e-mail over the weekend. This photo was taken by a camera phone (note it’s a bit wavy), of the Saab History 1992 Saab 900 Turbo Project that found a new home late last year in the West coast!

It was nice seeing this photo as I could see the critical “Made In Trollhattan” by Trolls sticker, the classic New England Saab Association Sticker and Saab-Salomon stickers and of course the Saab Rally Lights on the front, a throwback to Saab’s rally days.

I think it looks quite happy out there, in a good and resourceful new home with great year-round weather enjoying some nice travels in the area.

A thank you to the individual that shared this photo with me. I think the one who sent me this photo, did not know that this was once owned by Saab History, thinking it was just a random Saab sighting as it was not from the owner.

I am happy to inform you that Saab History has managed to sell the 1992 Saab 900 Turbo to a former Saab Dealer here in the United States.

This former Saab dealer is very excited to be receiving this restored vehicle and makes a pledge to store it, preserve it and treat it well.

As a send off to the new owner and for us here on Saab History, I put together this promo video of the car showing how good it looks & drives as the last chapter of Saab History’s time with it.

I thoroughly have enjoyed this vehicle and I am excited to see it go to such a good home.

Photo Credits: Saab History

For Sale: 1992 Saab 900 Turbo 5-Speed 3-Door Hatchback.

This is as classic as it gets for the Saab 900, it’s a second to the last year of the classic Saab 900 Hatchback.

This Saab has no rust as it has been in Florida & Virginia it’s whole life until I transported it to Maine in 2008 directly to an indoor storage facility.

Since it has been up here, it has been driven once a month in the spring, summer and fall only, every few months since the restoration was completed in August of 2008. It is been started up every month and run for 20 minutes in the winter season while in the storage facility (with the door open of course).

It has not seen any snow nor does it once again have any rust whatsoever. Only 117,000 miles on it, restored at 114,000, so I’ve only done 3,000 miles in a year and have had three oil changes over that year at 1, 2 and 3,000 methodically since the restoration.

I am selling this vehicle that I spent so much time to restore last year and hope that it will go to a good home. Interested buyers only, please contact me at your earliest convenience.

It is ready to drive away, complete with a recent inspection sticker. It is good to go!

Contact: Click This Link To Send An E-mail

Maiden Voyage: 2008 Saab Owners Convention, Devens, Massachusetts

VIN: Available Upon Request

1st Owner – 0 – 60,000 (Florida)
2nd Owner – 60,000 – 114,000 (Virginia) * All Records On File
3rd (Current) Owner – 114,000 – 117,000 (Maine, Indoor Storage) * All Records Of Restoration On File

Original Owners Manual Included In Original Manual Holder
* Saab Bentley Workshop Manual Included
* 1992 Saab Dealer Product Detail Booklet
* Additional Turbo, Saab & 16Valve Emblems.

Engine: 2.0 Liter 4-Cylinder Turbo

* Cylinder Head – Fully Rebuilt
* Block – Fully Rebuilt & Checked
* Water Pump Replaced With OEM Saab New
* Alternator Brush Replaced & All Bushings With New
* All Seals, Gaskets In Entire Engine Replaced With New incl. Front & Main Seals
* All HVAC Checked, Radiator Replaced With New Saab, A/C Needs Charging Only
* All Fans Work, both Low & High Speed
* New Battery Installed
* Both Engine Mounts Replaced With New & Inc. Transmission Mount

Transmission: 5-Speed Manual
Fully Rebuilt With Saab Master Tech – Click Here For Photo

Clutch:

* Clutch Replaced With Original OEM Saab
* OEM Clutch Saab Slave Cylinder Replaced
* OEM Clutch Master Okay

Brakes: ABS Disc Brakes

New Pads & Rotors All Around
Calipers Checked And Flushed

Exhaust: Rebuilt and POR-15 anti-rust applied including manifold

Steering & Axles:

*New Steering Rack installed
*Both C/V joints rebuilt and axles checked.
*All Steering & Suspension Bushings Replaced With New
*New Tie Rods Installed
*New Upper & Lower Ball Joints Installed
*Front & Rear Springs & Shocks Not Needed To Be Replaced
*Professional Alignment Done immediately following all suspension work, Receipt For Proof to 900 Turbo specifications
*POR-15 Through All Axle pieces, and all lower steel and other items.

Wheels:

* Fully Straightened and professionally painted OEM color. 4 New OEM Saab hub caps purchased to add to wheels. – Click Here For Photo.
* Tires – 4 Michelin MX4’s have another season left to them.

Exterior: Professionally painted in Cirrus White – Click Here for Photos

* New Corner Light Lenses Added
* Rear Lights Replaced If necessary and cleaned
* Vent Covers Included & Painted To Match Body
* Brand New Front & Rear Bumper Covers To Replace Old With New Chrome Trim also purchased From Saab Dealer
* New Fog Lights Including Lense & Bulbs & Covers in addition to stone guards additionally supplied (not shown)
* New Saab Wind Deflector Added (underneath Thule Ski Rack Fairing)
* All Badging Front & Rear Replaced With New Emblems
* New Antenna Mast Installed & Fully Operational
* Added Removable Non-Damaging Hella 550 Driving Lights Connected To Additional Upside-Down Fog Light Brackets hovering over bumper cover.
* Both Headlight Wipers/Washers Are Fully Operational After Restoring Both Motors. New Headlight Wiper Blades Installed From Saab.
* New Windshield Wiper Blades Installed

Interior: Rust Free Interior fully stripped and restored- Click Here for Photo

* New Dash Installed, crack free
* New Front & Rear Pioneer Speakers W/Integrated Tweeters Installed, OEM To Fit
* Front Radio & CD Player Checked, Cleaned and All Lights Work (No wiring butchered, etc. ie. Original)
* Brand New Ignition Lock Installed (No longer available from dealer)
* Front Seat Backs & Bottoms Restitched And Leather Cleaned & Protected for all seats
* New Headliner Properly Installed Completely Including Sunroof
* Entire two-piece carpet completely removed and properly cleaned and reinstalled, smells like new and no VOCs
* All 4 Original Carpets Cleaned
* 4 Original Saab 900 Rubber Floor Mats Purchased In Tan Color Included On Top Of Existing Carpeting & Rugs.
* All Switches are fully operational and window motors & assemblies have been fully serviced with new grease.
* Both Seat Heaters Work and Have Been Properly Tested

Accessories:

* Original Thule Ski Rack With Proper Closed End Gutter Feet With Thule Sweden Fairing
* Original Extremely Rare (Saab) Rubber Trunk Matt
* Original Saab First-Aid Kit (Red)
* Original Vent Covers (Mentioned Above, Painted To Match)

http://www.saabhistory.com/category/saab900turboproject

Photo Credits: Ryan / Saab History

This weekend, I finally got the opportunity to take the 1992 Saab 900 Turbo out for the weekend and snap some photos. I must say, this being the third weekend in 2009 to drive the car, totaling 6-days over the course 9-months, I was unsure how I would feel once I get behind the wheel of it. It was a good weekend weather wise before the fall arrived, and it just seemed to be the right time to check it out and drive it for a few days.

As I had to jump it after I uncovered and rolled it out from the storage facility bay, the engine started up and got up to operating temperatures just like it should. There was no drama once I headed out onto the highway, but it felt strange. The strangeness was either the financial debt that continues to hang over my head that I took on rebuilding the car last year, or the feeling that if anything happened to it while driving it, I wouldn’t know exactly how to respond. Those two factors significantly hampered what I had hoped for as a “fun driving experience”. The fun driving experience for a classic Saab 900 as we have realized, includes, a 5-speed turbocharged engine outfitted in the 3-door hatchback coupe. That combination or grouping of design and engineering components after many years have been reclassified as “classic”. Today, these are the desirable configurations that many die-hard Saab enthusiasts seek out when looking for a Saab that looks like a “Saab” as we know it. If the circumstances for owning the car were different, I may have enjoyed the driving experience. It’s challenging with the circumstances, but I do enjoy driving it even with the financial burdens that I have surrounding it.

While driving the car on the highway, my Wife noted that here and there we received smiles from other motorists, perhaps because of the combination of design and engineering configurations all wrapped into one package and the fact that it looks like no other car on the road. Throughout the entire drive both picking up the car and driving it back, I did not see one other Saab 900 of this vintage anywhere on the road as I returned home and that just started to get me sad, but then again, it’s reality driving a car from 1992 in 2009. However, this was New England, the place where Saab started and were at one point ubiquitous, although today, it’s just not quite that way anymore unfortunately. That did make me feel briefly proud in keeping one of these on the road, but at what cost both financially and personally? Was it worth it for me and my family?

I can tell you this though, I am happy that I did take the initiative to take on this project because it allowed me to explore the possibility of restoring a car that in retrospect, had a strong amount of sentimental and emotional nostalgia since it was the first vehicle that I met my Wife in (white 3-door Saab 900), twelve years ago. So as the story went, when I got the e-mail from my neighbor back in November of 2007 while living in Washington, D.C. that they owner wanted to sell it, I think my heart took over and my Wife and I acquired it for this reason. Over the past year, the sentimental nostalgia has certainly worn off and the emotional connection to the car has significantly dwindled due to lack of driving it being in a far-away storage facility, to all of the credit card debt that I face each and every month as a result of restoring and storing it, and the fact that if anything bad happened to it, I don’t know what I’d do.

The restoration process as I briefly covered here last spring was quite a trying time for me. From the early stages of the economy starting to plummet, the multiple trips up to New England to work on the car being away from my Wife, the looking for a new place to live and to work in a new city that I was unfamiliar, were altogether extremely trying for my family. As I started to get about 2/3rds of the way through the restoration project during this process, I started not only questioning the reason for restoring the car, but also for us relocating back to New England where we first met. When I made this realization, it was clear that when one spends too much time and resources looking back, there are equal and opposite repercussions when one wants to also move forward towards the future.

I thought it was important to report on this reflection about this project today for a number of reasons. To begin with, this experience today, illustrated my interest to reconnect with a memorable time in my past. As a result of the project, it competed for the present, and certainly took time and resources away from my future. So the question I will be asking myself in the coming days and weeks and quite possibly months, will be if the pluses outweighed the minuses. If there is a positive result, then how will I be able to financially support keeping this car for the long term where I can enjoy it? If the result of this question results in a negative, how much longer will I keep the car and how will I feel when it’s gone?

Photo Credit: Saab History

This past weekend, I managed to get the classic 1992 Saab 900 Turbo out and have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of driving it over the course of memorial day weekend with my wife. You should have seen the nods we got on the highway, and interestingly enough, the majority of them from not Saab owners, but Toyota Prius drivers and passengers!

Three days of driving this classic Saab, really brought back the enthusiasm for the 900 Turbo, in contrast to the daily driver 1997 Saab 9000 CS. The handling, the passing ability, the visibility and the turbo rush were all unique characteristics reuniting me with the thrill of driving.

Outside of the driving, I took advantage of the Thule bike rack adapter, thanks to Saab USA parts, to carry our gary fisher mountain bikes for use through some incredible trails in New Hampshire.

The pinnacle of the experience was a trip last taken 10 years ago in a similar Saab 900 to an old drive in movie theater located in Northfield, Massachusetts which has been open almost as long as Saab Automobile has been manufacturing cars. The best moment was just after we arrived where we parked in between a minivan and an SUV. While we finished popping the hatch, folding back the seats and laying down to watch the movie under the stars, my wife said, “Wow, the classic Saab 900 really is the best!” It literally made my weekend!

Photo Credit: Saab History

There has been a lot of news lately, but I have to tell you, after reading through all of the paperwork, learning about the possible buyers for Saab, etc. it hit me that it’s really nice once and a while to drive a Saab you really like. Furthermore, I also believe it’s even better for you the readers, here on Saab History, to see some actual Saabs on this website once and a while instead of just far from exciting court documents and other such material.

This weekend, will be the first weekend of the year that I am taking the 1992 Saab 900 Turbo restored last year, out for its first drive of the season. After a nice list of work done by my mechanic this past week, it’s running well and I’m learning all of the lessons on what to do and what not to do when storing a vehicle indoors over the course of a cold winter.

“Waiting for my car to be completed over the past three weeks, was almost akin to waiting for Saab Automobile’s three-month reconstruction process to end, you knew their was a light at the end of the tunnel, you just hated the process.”

I am hoping to use this long memorial day weekend here in the United States, to reclaim my Saab driving enthusiasm through this classic Saab 900 Turbo, much like Phyllis Lamb in the Pacific NorthWest has in her 1972 Saab Sonett III.

I will report back to you about my experience early next week, and so I leave you and wish you a wonderful weekend yourself. Happy Saabing!

Photo Credit: Saab History

I will be taking off with my wife for Swedish Car Day 9 in the 1992 Saab 900 Turbo that takes place on Sunday, October 19th, 2008.

It appears that it will be quite a well attended event, including some special guest appearances from former NESA members.

It looks like the weather will also be incredible, so I wish everyone who is attending safe travels to this wonderful annual fall Saab event in New England.

Photo Credit: Saab History

Now that the 1992 Saab 900 Turbo Project has been completed, it’s time to thank everyone who participated in the project from December until just a week shy of the 2008 Saab Owners Convention.

I need to begin by thanking John Goguen of J.G. Service in Lunenburg, Massachusetts who, without his time, critical expertise, part availability and all around attention to detail during the duration of the last 9 months, this project would not have been possible.

I also need to thank Carl Levine of Granite-Embedded Systems of Portsmouth, New Hampshire who always made himself available during the most critical phases of this project and to him, I also owe a debt of gratitude.

Lastly, I want to thank my fiancee for supporting this project from the start until completion. It was our decision in December when we were living in Washington, D.C. to rescue this vehicle and I think after all of the time we’ve been away from each other, we are both happy with the results.

Saab History Prepares to travel to the 2008 Saab Owners Convention, now that the 1992 Saab 900 Turbo Project is complete, just one day shy of the opening day!

This project was quite an undertaking since I acquired it in rough shape this past December in rust-free Washington, D.C., but it’s finally done, and I’m a very proud owner of a beautiful 1992 Saab 900 Turbo!

Photo Credit: Saab History

The 1992 Saab 900 Turbo Project is now making some significant progress in terms of its exterior and interior reinstallation since the completion of the recent paint job.

This work is really becoming more and more fun here at this point, but I still have to now get the cylinder head back and reinstall it back on the block, replacing chain guides, etc, head gasket, then redo the HVAC system and inspect it, replace steering rack and tie rod ends cv/joint boots, replace brakes all around and replace and inspect all suspension items.

The final stages once those areas are tackled, will include the undercoating treatment, any remaining POR15 in the engine bay and of course, and placing the Saab-Scania badges back on in the “exact” order and configuration as they came from the factory in Trollhättan, Sweden back on February, 1992.

If you are interested in seeing some of the previous work of this project, please view the archive directly by clicking on this image.