Someone stole my Saab Collection! (part 2)

Last week I brought you a series of photos from Markus, whose family has some seriously cool Saabs. In fact, they were exactly the cars I’d have for a modern Saab collection of my own.

At the time, I remarked that a Sonett would make that collection absolutely perfect in my eyes. Markus saw the comments, and in poker terms, he’s seen my Sonett and raised me a 96 and a 9000!!!

Markus’ family run a dealership in Germany, so they’ve got some pretty good contacts when it comes to restoring and keeping automobiles. And haven’t they used those resources well? It’s a beautiful collection and as you’ll read below, we still haven’t seen all of it yet!

I’ll let Markus take it from here…..

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…..there are indeed stories to tell about the cars.

Let’s start with the oldest

The Sonett is from 1971 and was originally delivered to the States. To be a little more accurate the car was delivered to Los Angeles. My father was in LA 1984 with some colleagues to watch the Olympic Games and in LA, he had seen some Sonetts. Back in Germany he decided to call a guy he knew for importing cars from the US. There the story starts.

Together they looked for the perfect match and the found a red Sonett from 71. The car was shipped to Germany and the condition of the car was really bad. The car was undergoing restoration for over 5 years but it was never completed because of missing parts. In 2005 we found some missing parts that we needed (brake cylinder and some other parts). So the car went from 70 percent done to 90 percent done. Two things we still could not to find. The front and rear bumper EU style. In late 2006 we contacted a guy in France who heard that some guys near Stockholm would start to do a series again with the old part presses from Saab.

So for now the car is ready to roll again, in nearly 100 percent condition. We have to install the original emblems in front and rear and then the lady is completely done. To the color. The original base color was red. But my dad decided that the Burnt Orange original paint would fit the car a lot better. So it is one of the original colors and I must say it suits the car very well.

The 96 is from 1978, it was first delivered to a Swedish customer in the Smaland area. There the car was more like the third or fourth car that you own. It has an original mileage of 49,886 KM. We bought the car in early 1994 so we are now the second owner. The car is in absolute brilliant condition. It was allways kept inside and has never seen a lot of rain or salt on the road. It’s now registered on Historical German plates and if one of us has the time to move it we only drive it around a little.

The 900 Turbo S is from 1991, the car was first delivered through our dealership so we know the car from the very first day. It’s first owner got the Independence Edition 022/366 last week. 😉

The second owner was an older teacher who died one and a half years ago and one of his last wishes was that we will get the car back and restore it. The condition of this car wasn’t that nice. But as you can see on the pictures the car is back to it’s former glory after 9 months of restoration. So for this car we are the third owner. The car was delivered on 15 Inch Three Spoke wheels. But i like the 16 Inch Super Aeros much more and there were 4 left in Nyköping so I ordered them. 😉 The mileage of this car is 147,130 KM and we are the third owner.

The black 1993 Convertible that I sent you the pics from, a couple of weeks back, is interesting also. This car is first hand. We have had it since its first day. The car is in absolutely stunning condition. It was one of the last delivered cars here in Germany from a series called ‘top edition’ and it’s equipped with an airflow kit and the grey wheels. And it has the LPT Turbo. The was never driven in the winter. It’s a summer only car and the mileage is 61,560 KM. First hand as we say here in Germany.

The 9000 CD Griffin is a MY1996 but still has the 2.3Turbo. In Germany you couldn’t order the 4 Banger anymore for the griffin model in 96 but we had a customer who really wanted the old engine and not the V6. So we did a lot of calls to the offices in Trollhättan and in the end we were able to deliver a MY96 9000 Griffin with the 2.3Turbo Engine. This car later became my first car. I got it for my 18th birthday. I am the third owner. Mileage is now 175,670 KM. And this car is also in perfect condition.

The ’99 Viggen is also a car that my dad delivered himself to one of his customers. The car was kept by our customer until the end of 2009. He had cancer and died one day, quite suddenly. He often asked me before he died if I wanted the car back, should he ever decide to sell it. I replied with a clear yes and his wife knew this. So we started negotiating a price that she should get for the car but in the end she decided to keep the car. I was very unhappy but I understood why she would keep the car.

I decided to look for another Viggen but could not fine a suitable one. Then nearly 14 months later in early 2011 she called me again. She asked me if I was still interested in the car. I replied yes again. So we negotiated again and this time I got the car. It was very well looked after for all the time it was driven. But the 14 months of standing around were not that perfect. But a little work done here and there and it looks absolutely brilliant again. I am the second owner here and the mileage is 233.890 KM with its second engine and gearbox.

The Turbo X is also a car that we have owned from its very first day. It’s one of the 90 cars that were delivered here in Germany. The car is equipped with all you can get from the factory, except for the sunroof. Over the last 2 years I got everything for the car that you can get from Hirsch. The car now has only 23,450 KM on the clock because I don’t really drive that much.

To the Colors of the Cars.

The Sonett: Was Red, now Burnt Orange, Interior leather Black
The 96: Dorado Brown, Beige velours
The 900 Turbo S: Scarabee Green, Leather Black
The 900 Convertible: Black Metallic, Leather Black
The 9000 Griffin: Scarabee Green, Leather Beige
The 9-3 Viggen: Lightning Blue, Leather Black with blue accents
The 9-3 Turbo X: Jetblack, Premium Leather Black

So I hope that’s enough info about these particular cars. We still have some more that are not listed here. 😉

And for the Octoberfest I think I will take the Turbo X and show him where he was born. 😉

Click any of the images in this post to enlarge

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