My Swedish Crush: Saab 900 SPG
We all start from somewhere right? Whether that be a hobby, career or hell, even birth for that manner, there’s a genesis to everything we do in our lives. Occasionally we have the liberty of knowing the details of that event yet sometimes, we’re not so fortunate. Luckily in at least one aspect of my life, I can pinpoint a series of events in my mid-teens as being pretty pivotal in my automotive masochism. And they all involved one model of car….a Saab 900.
Now to be clear, this didn’t completely start my obsession wheeled vehicles that consume petrol. I had long been interested in anything mechanical and mobile from an early age. Some of my fondest memories as a child were getting to sit in a Semi Tractor (Lorry for our overseas readers) and loving all the buttons and dials as well as growing up with my Dad owning a K5 GMC Jimmy with the 6.2 diesel and airbags for some ballsy towing. I adored any chance to deal with a mechanical item that I could. But this was an innocent, ignorant love. It had not yet been perfected.
By the time I reached Junior high, I had graduated to adorning my walls with all manner of car posters, almost to the point that my walls were more akin to wallpaper than painted sheetrock. Some honorable mentions of the collection were a Pagani Zonda, a purple Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, a Hummer H1, a Lamborghini Diablo among ohers. Quite the interesting collection in retrospect, but this is all I had. Growing up in a very average middle class family, I had never had amazing car opportunities. Yeah, I would always drag my parents along to any local car show I could and yes, my dad did always and still always has a dream of owning a Black ‘69 Camaro (Think the exact car in Better off Dead for a good image), but I didn’t have any encounters sporty or exciting vehicles in person. That is, until high school.
I have a friend named Alec who I met in high school. His father Shon was a Saab Master Mechanic and fanatic, therefore leading both of his sons to drive Saabs as their first cars. Shon in particular had acquired a quite interesting 1990 Saab 900 SPG for Alec in Talladega Red. I had heard whispers of this car even since junior high as it had needed work and was their long term father-son project, and this car in particular is where my first experience with the Saab brand started.
I drove a 1989 Mazda MX-6 to school which was quite fun for me being relatively uncommon and a two door which naturally to any teenager always translates to “sporty” despite the fact it was FAR from that exciting word. Alecs Saab on the other hand….well, let’s just say it definitely excited me far more.
I mean hell, again it’s got two doors, a Turbo, It’s a bright, bold Red, was fixed with a loud exhaust with the typical Saab burble, and as many of us did in our younger years, an obnoxious sound system with 2 12” subs and more speakers than I have fingers. It was irresistibly exciting and as we irregularly hung out, I began to have more experiences with the car and even driving it briefly on one occasion, I became entranced by this odd swedish, turbocharged meatball. As Alec tinkered with the car, I got to experience the feeling of boost for the first time, learned how to adjust turbo pressure and timing, saw firsthand how having more than one individual in a car drastically affected the acceleration performance and even how a seemingly archaic, 300k+ mile car could bring the fizzy excitement to me like nothing I ever had experience before. I began to think like a car enthusiast, wanting a vehicle not just for transportation purposes, but for fun.
For the sake of Brevity and to keep these cars to their own articles, I’ll be brief with the next few years. After graduating High School, I had a 2002 Ford Focus for a time which was owned by my parents and then made my first exciting purchase. A 1991 Audi 200 20v Avant (pause for breath after that lengthy model name) which I had helped a friend purchase and then bought from him later, then a 2003 Audi S6 Avant. Both of these at some point may get their own articles as they have many tales of their own to be regaled, but suffice it to say, I had mostly forgotten about the Saab 900. It was a fleeting glimpse in my eye a couple times a year, akin to an old childhood friend who had long since faded from history.
Then one day in September of 2015, I randomly ended up on a website called Saabnet.com. This is a mecca for all things Saab, being a combination forum, information hub and classifieds page. And by God's Grace, I ended up in the Saab 900 Classifieds section. To this day, I don’t recall what brought me to the madness of clicking through a website I had never been to before in search of a car and I most certainly at the time had no right in buying or owning one. A single old Euro beater was more than enough of a monetary black hole for a slightly older child living on his own making only $12 an hour, but something called me there.
Upon the top of the “Cars for Sale” section in the classifieds, there was one Scandinavian Chariot that stood out to me. An Edwarian Gray ‘88 900 SPG, located outside of Boston Massachusetts with unknown miles, 3 owners, allegedly in good running order and for quite the attractive price of $2700 which was a bargain even at the time. In that moment was when I decided to say “screw it” and dialed the phone number to call Nate, the owner.
After initial pleasantries and informing him of the reason for my call, we proceeded to have an hour long conversation about the car and all of the many little details. Although the miles were unknown, it was alleged with documentation to be around 300k. Nate had owned the car since 2004 and had cared for it quite eccentrically. I was also informed he would trust the car to drive anywhere and that it had been saved from most winters as it was his “fun” car with some minor modifications to add to the dynamics, namely shocks and springs.
I had some thinking to do. I told Nate i would get back to him but that I was highly interested. Around this time, i had already taken time off work to do a trip with friends but that had fallen through, but the funds were the primary issue. I visited the bank the following day and got preapproved for a loan that also included enough money for me to fly out and acquire the car, but Nate insisted on cash and after some conversations with the Nate, bank and I, the bank somehow miraculously agreed to give a 20 year old cash for an auto loan on the other side of the country. I don’t think I could replicate that feet again.
All of that happened over the course of Friday the 18th, and Saturday the 19th. I booked tickets to fly out on Monday the 21st, informed my family over dinner on Sunday that I would be flying to Boston on Monday morning and buying a car on a whim and then hightailing it back across the country on a two week road trip. My family was somewhat used to my antics at this point so the reaction wasn’t as extreme as one would think, but still surprised. Nonetheless, my journey began.
The flight was simple. One connection, land in Boston and then take a bus about an hour west to Worcester Massachusetts, where I would be picked up by Nate. This all went according to plan (Thank god) and after a drive to Nates house, I beheld the car that was to be mine.
I test drove the car and was instantly sold. It felt rock solid, the boost roared to life past 3,000 RPM and it was exactly what I dreamed of. Unbeknownst to me, there was a gargantuan pile of documents included with the car, around 250 pages to be exact, plus almost every spare part I could imagine needing on my long drive home. Nate even offered some extra door panels and a transmission, but there wouldn’t have been room for it all. After signing documents and saying pleasantries, I set off on my way home.
To keep the trip brief, I initially drove through the night to visit a friend in central New York state, then spend 2 days in Washington DC with an old friend, 3 days in North Carolina, 2 days in Tennessee, and several other sporadic stops as a saw fit. I was able to do many things that have become commonplace in my life such as visit The Lane Motor Museum for the first of many times and put endless miles of enjoyment on my car.
To put it lightly, the car was a masterclass in doing exactly what it was told, only having one small issue in Washington which was simple a loose clamp on the Diverter valve, but after reattaching that, there were zero issues from then on out. The car reliably delivered 26 MPG and many smiles all the way home. In the 10 days I was on the road, I put 3,548 miles on it and *may* have hit 105 MPH. All The While the car performing like it was a breeze with the only time i was uncomfortable being a particularly hot and humid rainshower on the Blue Ridge parkway made worse by the lack of Air conditioning in my particular car.
On that trip I learned many great things about the car. It drives odd, but is easy to master once the quirks are realized. It has a stout mechanical feel. Everything is somewhat direct in interaction for both better and worse. Even the door latches make an absurdly loud click upon actuation. For such a small car, the amount of stuff I took back with me was astonishing and it handled it with ease. And besides the slightly harsh suspension, the thick high sitting seats kept me quite comfortable through it all.
My particular car as I have come to learn has quite a few extra bits for an OEM+ type of feeling. I already mentioned the Airconditioning delete, but that was a fairly extensive removal of compressor, condenser and evaporator for a healthy weight and complexity reduction. It also has some Euro only parts such as dual exit exhaust, solid core intercooler, factory lambs wool seat covers, and rode and still currently rides on Koni Reds with H&R springs for a healthy 1” lower ride. Even with that, the car is far from eager necessarily, but it is predictable. Nothing is surprising, and it communicates the road well enough to make good decisions.
After getting home, the car was in my regular daily rotation between it and my 2003 S6. Besides a few very minor issues, mainly being batteries every other year due to their shitty placement right next to the turbocharger and a few other odds and ends here and there, the car was started and drove every time I have needed it to. Unforeseen maintenance items have literally been limited to a clutch line and master cylinder replacement ($100), some quick fixing of some boost solenoid wiring, one bad window switch and a few lightbulbs. There was one self caused incident involving a curb, resulting in replacing the steering rack, control arm and wheel but the car was fine even after that.
I’ve shared this car quite a bit with quite a few of my friends, 10 of which including my dad have ended up buying Saabs of their own. They really are some type of an infectious disease of a good kind. You end up learning to love them in a weird way. Their quirks and defects give them personality and there is quite literally nothing else that pilots quite the same way with the huge wrap around windshield and tank like metal structure. It’s uniquely flawed in an endearing way.
I’ve added my fair share of flavor to it over the years including some light exhaust work, factory Louvers, a slight stereo upgrade and cupholders which was unsurprisingly not a thought in 1980s Sweden, or almost any auto manufacturer of the time for that matter. All of which have drawn me closer and closer to it.
Starting in 2018 and at around 340k miles, the car retired from daily duty as I had my Stinger and got much busier, but has still been reliable and willing every time I have called upon it. At this point though the tale gets a little sad.
The car is long overdue for several large maintenance items. When I say “maintenance” items, I mean this: rust. The car has never been repainted, never been in a reportable accident, has the original windshield, seats, turbo, bottom end etc. Amazingly it all still functions, but at 350k miles now (to the moon and halfway back) she’s tired. It has moderate rust in several body panels and even some holes in the spare tire well and rear fenders. Although pretty much all of the rubber has been replaced throughout the years, a lot of it is due to be done again. The moonroof fabric is sagging. The clear coat has crows feet for days or is missing in some areas. The SPG trim needs painting etc. The list goes on.
The car has aged gracefully, but is clearly aged nonetheless. I’m aiming in the next couple of years to put it under the knife and do a mild restoration. Get all of the rust out, run through every item under the hood and bring it back to it’s former glory. It’s lived a good full life, one of many adventurers and I’m sure the last thing it expected was to have it’s 4th owner be an early 20’s hellion experiencing for the first time old school turbo ownership and loving every minute of it.
With all of that being said, I’m excited for new beginnings. I’d rather dump money into this car than find a different one. My plans don’t involve anything crazy, just bringing it back to it’s former glory and possibly getting it healthy enough to track for the fun of it. This is by quite a margin the car I have kept the longest. It’s hard to believe it will be 8 Years this September. And if you will pardon me for the cliche given Saabs aeronautical history, clearly time does fly when you’re having fun. And now since I have far too many pictures of my car, here’s a large hodgepodge of extras that weren’t in the main article.
