How long have I been a SAABER? 

Longer than I care to admit. I had to think about this for a while.  Decided
to reply.  Hope you all find it entertaining.

My first brush with a Saab was in 1968.  A friend had an 850GT.  We had a
bunch of interesting cars, Pugeot, Borgward, my MGA (1500 twin cam) a
Porsche 365, a Goliath, Volvo P1800 and 122S, TR3a, a GTO, Chevy 409, ah the
good old days...

In early 1970 I bought my first Saab, a rusty 93F, maybe a 1960, for $100.00
Put in new plugs and drove it until the floor pan cracked all the way
across.  I knew this because when I let the clutch out I could feel the
pedals move away from me.  I had made friends with the local Saab dealer,
Bob Malm in West Boylston, MA.  This began a long series of engine/body
swaps.   Eventually I bought a nice '63 96 for about $250.  It needed new
rubber donuts in one of the inner drivers.  I fixed that but they didn't
last long.  I think it took a couple of times before I figured out that the
seal on the trans was letting oil leak onto the rubber.  Fixed that and
decided to change the trans oil.  there was about 2 ounces left in the
trans.  Filled it up with new oil and drove it.  Those 3 speed transmissions
sure were tough! (remember this).

Eventually I bought a 1965 Monte Carlo 850 from Bob Malm for $500.  Drove it
for a couple of months before it was rear ended by a drunk in a Dodge
Challenger.  The rear bumper was pushed in to the rear wheels.  The spare
deformed the tank enough to break the filler neck off.  We rolled onto the
roof without scraping either side.  Slid into a gas station on the roof and
nose of the hood and stopped 5 feet short of the pumps.  One of us crawled
out the hole where the rear window had been.  I rolled the driver's window
down (up) and slid out that way.  The Dodge crossed 2 lanes of oncoming
traffic, the sidewalk, 18 inches of a 24 inch brick wall, climbed a 4 foot
embankment, took down a front porch and slid back into the road and hit a
phone pole.  He was so far down the road that at first I thought it was a
one car accident.  The fire trucks came to clean up the fuel spill.  A tow
trick was trying to roll it back, but it kept spinning around like a top.  I
spotted an acquaintance in the crowd that had gathered, and he and his
friends and I rolled it back onto its wheels by hand.  A couple of days
later a friend of mine and I went to the tow lot.  We pried the bumper off
the tires and cut the fuel line from the tank and stuck it into a 1 gallon
SAAB Hi-M can full of gas.  The twin pipes were bent shut so we cut them off
under the door.  Fired that puppy up and headed home.  I had 1 headlight,
the opposite diagonal tail light and no seat back (broke in the accident.)
The 'windshield' was an 8 inch slot in front.  I sounded like 200 chain saws
running in unison.  It was 20 degrees out.  I passed a police car on the
way.  He did not pull me over.  Wonder what he thought?

The drunk's insurance company called and told me that I had no tail lights.
I told them there was still one working and they could see it and that I
thought their client was at fault and had nearly killed us.  They gave me
$600 and let me keep the car.  I found a '65 95 body in good shape.  Another
engine/trans/running gear swap and I had a (the only?) Monte Carlo station
wagon.  Getting the 4 bolt 96 drums on the wagon's rear axle was a chore.
For a while I had 4 bolt disks in the front and 5 bolt drums in the back.
Carried 2 spares.

I sold the wagon and bought a '66 96  It had a bad inner driver, which I
fixed, but not before it ripped the front shock mount loose.  That was just
the first of many 96 shock mount repairs.  This car had a 4 speed and it
disintegrated.  Boy, these Saab transmissions aren't very strong, are they?
(Remember this.)

Sold the '66 for some money and some stereo equipment.  Bought a '64 96 with
a bad engine.  I built up a motor with a 750GT crank, Solex 2 bbl carb and
the famous single overhead fanshaft.  That car sure could yump!  It had Koni
shocks and a GT exhaust.  When they moved the radiator in front, well that
was the beginning of the end in my book.  I started to do a lot of traveling
for work, and one day I came home and it was gone.

All of this brings us to about 1973.  Whew!  After I 'lost' the '64  I went
out and bought MY FIRST NEW CAR!!!  A 1973 Triumph Spitfire.  Enough said.
I sold it a year later and bought a 1967 Sonnet, SN 000240.   Now that car
could Yump!  The floor pan started to get pretty bad about a year later and
I couldn't find anyone I felt could fix it, so I got a nearly new '74
International Orange 99 EMS.  I had the Sonnet registered until 1979.  See
http://members.aol.com/cooperjr/SonnetII.htm
 About 5 years ago I met Tom

Donney and thought he'd give it a good home. Try
http://www.donneysaab.com/son32.htm


I had the EMS for about a year when it was called upon to make the ultimate
sacrifice.  'We' failed to negotiate a curve and hit a pile of boulders in
front of a tree.  The car was totaled but the 2 occupants escaped without
serious injuries.  Enough said here, too.

I bought a '68 Deluxe V4.  A lot like the Monte Carlo, but with a cast iron
weight in the front.  This gets us to about 1978.  I traded the V4 in on a
'73 99 EMS (Copper Metallic).  This was the point where I learned about 99
cylinder heads.  Also tore up the transmission.  Not very strong, are they?
Sold that one and bought a 1976 1/2 99 EMS Type II.  This was a major
improvement in the yumping department, better than any other 99 or V-4, in
my opinion.  The head went bad.  I had it welded up and a valve job done.
The transmission had a chronic leak.  Eventually it needed an overhaul,
probably from running with too little oil (before I got it, of course).
Boy, these transmissions are pretty weak!  Still leaks after the overhaul.
I put a makeshift dipstick on it and go.  

One day as I'm shifting from 2 to 3, I hear this loud BANG! RAP RAp Rap rap.
There's a cloud of steam behind me a destroyer'd be proud of.  Green water
is pouring out of the seam of the resonator.  A helpful passer-by suggests I
need a head gasket.  I don't think so.  I have it hauled over to my friend's
garage.  He can make Saab heads from aluminum welding rod.  I pull the head
off.  The number 4 chamber has a hole the size of an exhaust valve face.
The exhaust valve is sticking out of the piston like a nail.  I pull it with
a claw hammer.  There's a 1/4 inch hole right through the piston.  'Leave it
here and I'll see what I can do', he says.  I come back 2 days later and
he's reconstructed the head and welded the hole in the piston shut.  I'll
never know how he got a good ground on that piston.  I put the head back on
and it runs.  There's a bit of piston slap, but what the heck.

1000 miles later, it's time to re-torque the head.  One of the head bolts
snaps off.  I'm beginning to think this car is jinxed.  (Oh, I forgot to
mention the night I came out to find the driver's door bashed in so the
window wouldn't go down.)  Anyhow, I decide to fix everything.  Out comes
the power train.  (Did I mention it's air conditioned?)  Off comes the head.
Out come the pistons.  Now I find out that SAAB used two types of pistons
that year.  Mahle and Karl Schmidt, if I remember correctly.  The local Saab
independent shop, where I work, has a crate full of Mahle pistons.  The car
has Karl Schmidt pistons.  I negotiate a trade:  3 extremely rare and
valuable Karl Schmidt pistons for 4 Mahle pistons.  In they go.  I also pull
the inner driver/bearing retainer from the trans to try and cure the leak.
Get it all back together.  Piston slap is gone, leak is gone, car is for
sale.  It's 1981.  I keep the Type II steering wheel.

I pick up a solid 1972 99 with a carb.  It needs an engine.  No problem.  I
also put gas shocks, a rear anti-sway bar, a good stereo and all new ball
joints.  Turns out to be a pretty good car, except that it has one of the
Spitfire's bad traits: vapor lock after a lot of idling on hot days.  An
electric fuel pump in back cures that.

In 1982 I got a call from an old friend who bought a factory demo 1978
Turbo.  He's run it out of oil and trashed the engine.  I get it for about
$1500.  Turns out to be a very early Turbo.  It has an external oil
thermostat, which, according to the parts book is '1977 only'.  All 1977
Turbos were notch backs.  This is a hatch back.  Anyhow, the thermostat
housing was leaking and that's where the oil went.  This turns out to be a
cornice problem.  (Sound familiar?  Did I tell you that the person who
bought the '76 blew the transmission?  I ended up paying half of the bill,
by choice).  The number 3 rod is welded to the crank.  The block got so hot
it needs to be line-bored.  (SN on the block was 120.  Should have kept it
but I didn't.  I may know where it is, though.)  I reuse the head, cam and
blower.  I have the trannie overhauled for good luck.  Sold the '72 and put
the '78T on the road.  That blower went a total of 120,000 miles, 40 of them
after it was run out of oil.  The head (original) still lives today.  I
still have the car, although it's not being driven.  I drove it daily until
1990 and my father-in-law drove it on weekends until 1997.  It's got about
190,000 now.  It's water injected and can make about 12 lb. of boost.  Beat
the pants off of a 1995 SPG.  I don't recall ever needing to be towed.  And
it sports a genuine 1976 EMS Type II steering wheel.

In 1985 we (wife's car) got a 1985 900S.  Bit of a slug, 1984 engine and
1986 gearing, but a good, solid driver.  One day when she was driving home,
all the water came out.  Turned out to be a rusted-through freeze plug.  Why
me?  Then there was the time the thermostat came apart and jammed shut.  Did
someone charge the cooling system with battery acid?  Then there was the
time I pushed the clutch pedal down, heard a bang, and it stayed down.
Pulled it home to find out that the seals in the slave cylinder had wedged
the slave in the fully extended position.  PITA getting the thing to let go
so I could get the clutch out.  90 minute job took all day.  Except for all
that, we had 100,000 happy miles from that one.  Sold it to a friend and he
put another 50 K.

We replaced it with a 1995 Saturn Wagon with all the fixin's.  She never
liked it and we traded it in a year later for a '96 900S.  She liked that,
but it, well, it wasn't too reliable.  And it somehow went out of alignment
to the point where it needed a trip to the frame rack.  We sold it this
summer and are currently Saabless, save the 99T.

Still with me?

So, my favorites?  Well, a lot of them were pretty neat.  I think it's close
between the Sonnet and the '64 96 750GT'  If the Type II EMS had been
reliable it would rank pretty high too.  And the 78T, well that set the
standard in my book.  The 900 T's were more civilized, but, well, let's take
it to the track.  The '72 99 was a lot of fun, although it wasn't an
acceleration champ.  Bring on the Griffin and my winning lottery ticket.

John

• Saab Ten year anniversary!!!!!!!!, Aktie9, Wed, 15 Dec 1999 14:17:20
  • RE: Saab Ten year anniversary!!!!!!!!, John Cooper, Mon, 27 Dec 1999 11:51:55
  • RE: Saab Ten year anniversary!!!!!!!!, Juan Burgos Fernández, Tue, 21 Dec 1999 10:07:54
  • RE: Saab Ten year anniversary!!!!!!!!, Masur, Joshua M, Thu, 16 Dec 1999 08:35:29
  • Re: Saab Ten year anniversary!!!!!!!!, Simon_Creek, Thu, 16 Dec 1999 08:35:10
  • Re: Saab Ten year anniversary!!!!!!!!, Ernest V. Linek, Wed, 15 Dec 1999 16:08:18

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