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Re: We're talking just verts here. Posted by Larry West [Email] (#1140) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Larry West) on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:13:19 In Reply to: Re: We're talking just verts here., Tim, Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:54:02 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
All Saab Production convertibles were constructed from the factory floor up as convertibles.
The ONLY "Top Shop" versions were the prototypes.
Classic 900, NG 900 and OG 9-3 Convertibles were all built in Uusikaupunki, Finland at the Valmet plant, and the NG 9-3 (based on the Sport Sedan) convertibles were built in Austria. They started there just like they started at Trollhattan - as pieces, or even rolls of steel.
It's possible that many stampings were done in Trollhattan (presses and tooling are very costly), and then shipped, I don't know for sure, but they definitely were NOT building whole cars in Trollhattan and shipping them to Finland or Austria just to install the roof mechanism, or to convert sedans.
The Valmet plant is a complete auto production plant. From stamping metal, to welding, to paint, etc. Valmet has a very versatile plant, able to intersperse highly varied platforms on a single assembly line. When I toured the plant in 2001, they were building 9-3 Viggens, CVs and Porsche Boxters, one after the other down the line. The only place the lines were different was in the body and paint shops. Once the body got the paint, it was all one line.
In the C900s it is very easy to see the added in steel members for strengthening the chassis. That chassis already had been in production for a long time, and this was the easier way to do things. On the 900/OG 9-3 and the NG 9-3, the convertibles were engineered in the same computers that engineered the sedans, so it's likely harder to see the additional metal.
Don't forget that when Saab decided to go into production with the Convertible back in 1984 that they figured that they'd build maybe a thousand or two, and be done with them.
Oh, how wrong they were!
_______________________________________ Current: 2002 9-5 Aero Kombi Cosmic Blue 2000 9-5 SE sedan, Imola Red 1990 900S Rose Quartz, Auto Past: 1999 9-5 LPT Combi 1999 9-5 LPT sedan 2002 9-5 Arc 1990 900 5-speed 1986 900 turbo Convertible 1991 9000 turbo 1980 99 GLi 1986 900 turbo 1986 900 S 1991 900 turbo 1984 900 turbo 1976 99 GL
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