Saabs have become increasingly rare on the roads in recent times, but if you miss the days when Trollhättan’s products were somewhat common on the roads, a walk around this Saab cemetery heaven posted by Hyperpack over at CC’s Cohort may help with your longing.
So let’s see what we’ve got around here, shall we?
This post ’87 900 turbo convertible seems to be a recent arrival, though the open hoods suggest its innards are most likely already serving as donor parts.
Is this the Saab face you grew up with? It’s mine.
In hatchback or notchback form, this droopy profile is the one that screamed “Saab” from a distance back in the day.
For those who a “regular” Saab ain’t rare enough, here’s a 9000. Rare then, rare now; even in junked form.
The 900 of the ’80s on the left, vs. the one from the ’90s on the right. Already going mainstream, but not overtly so, and that burgundy feels so ’90s correct, especially with its peeling-off qualities in display.
My apologies, but I can’t recall what Saab’s eco-friendly credentials were back then. But if not fully eco-friendly, they certainly seem to have been bird-adequate. Either that or these chicks are fans of Trollhättan’s products.
Oh, wait, now that I see the nest is in one of those late GM-era products. Not Saab enough for many, but quite a Saab-y find for these birds.
More late Saabs. Depending on your preferences, a Saab-tastic view, or one filled with Saab-ness.
One last look to this “Saab Heaven” at Rocky Mountain Garage in PA. A place where “…good Saabs go to share their parts, keeping living Saabs driving on the road.”
True that.
Is that straight six resting and rusting without a valve cover, in front of the black 9000, from a Saab 9-7X?
The 9-7x was a tarted-up Chevy Trailblazer. The Atlas six-popper was DOHC and 4-valve per cylinder. That one has only two valves/cylinder, and pushrods/rocker arms.
Kinda thinking the 9-7x got the LS V8 rather than the Atlas Six. But I don’t know that for certain.
I have always liked the 900 even though I have never driven one and only ridden in once. The reason I like it seems to elude me still to this day. It was so very common in the Bay Area in the 80’s.
Thats more Saabs than Ive seen at all in recent years, most of the Saabs I have seen are dead from something road going versions are rare here.
I find it sad that so many appear to be in decent shape, no wrecks and some rusted out .
Pops had two SAAB two cylinder wagons in the 1960’s, quirky cars that did very well in the snow .
The owner of a VW shop I worked in during those heady says when the SAAB convertibles were new and hot bought one, I was amazed at how quickly they lost value .
I don’t know of they were good or bad cars but many in California were junked before ten years, none with any visible damage .
-Nate
“I don’t know if they were good or bad cars, but many in California were junked ten years ago, none with any visible damage.”
The weak point of these cars was probably the transmissions. Both automatic and manual.
Well, and they weren’t particularly rust-resistant either. At least not in the way you’d expect from a car from the North.
would have been a 3 cyl 2 stroke, 2 cyl was only in the very first 92s iirc.
I would have like to see some Saab 95/96’s, but I suppose that in 2025, that’s too much to ask for, even in junk yards.
I am seeing a gal who drives a GM-era SAAB 9-? convertible in triple black. She recently lost use of the car for several months when the ECU failed, which required sending the dead ECU to Sweden so it could be cloned onto a replacement unit. It was not only a long process, but also costly. She really loves that car.
Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen a 9000 in a few years. 900s are still around – I saw a convertible this week, and an early-80s hatchback last month… but 9000s have completely vanished.
I miss Saab and wish they were still around. Love those 80’s and 90’s for sure. I was selling at a GM dealership when they purchased Saab. I was really hopeful that we would get the brand to sell, but that never happened.
I suppose that junkyards – even specialty ones like this – tend to wind up where they wind up, but I will say that if this were in New England (where it seems that a disproportionate number of still-running Saabs live) it may do even better business than there in PA.
The lack of tires on the bird’s nest car is kind of odd. It’s as if someone junked it but decided that the tires were worth more than the rest of the car. That’s saying something.
I will have another installment of Saab Heaven that I will write up sometime. Let’s just say it involves a quartet of Sonett’s🤯
I just happened upon a Sonett3 sitting in a gas station parking lot in my town. It’s in beautiful shape, and hasn’t moved in two weeks. This gas station does service but I don’t know that I’d bring something as rare as a Sonett there for work; I’m still scratching my head over this.
Still miss Saab and its special cars.
I’ll never forgive GM for Saab’s disappearance. The 900 was an icon, along with the Volvo 2-series.
Nick D – I understand the ire towards GM, but it is IMO misplaced. When GM bought their first shares of Saab (1990ish), Saab was desperate for a partner to continue forward. The 9000 shared chassis didn’t pan out as Saab expected, and they were sinking fast. When GM bought controlling shares a few years later, Saab was still on a life raft and had not yet turned a profit. In looking at it from the distance of time, Saab’s market demise started right around the rise of Acura, Infinity and Lexus – brands that offered near-luxury entry models with greater reliability and value hold. Saab always appealed to contrarians, expanded as a fashion statement in the late ’80s, and became just another near-luxury brand in the ’90s. The 9-2X, 9-7X, and lastly 9-4X were last grasps at the straw.
I’ve owned a 9-3 Aero convertible since 2007; it’s a great car but man getting specific parts is hell. I’m actually passively seeking an interested Saabista youngster (do they exist?) to take over to enjoy the car more than I have recently.
Here’s a great, balanced read on the demise of Saab: https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/4864437/Who_killed_Saab_Automobile_Final_Report_December_20_2011.pdf
SAAB engineering did a lot to keep their character, they spent a lot of $ to do so. SAAB. Trionic was considered one of the best EM systems and key to the success of the Turbos, SAAB having some of the best, no other GM had it. Having owned many from ’67 to ’11 in family (still have 3), of course we love the 93/99/900/9000 best but if not for GM SAAB would have been gone by the mid-90s most likely.
I’d consider the wonderful and rarely seen 2010/11 NG 9-5 to be their last gasp, what a lovely car.
My 1981 900S “notchback” was an end-of-year demo purchase from a dealer abandoning the line; blue metallic with that nice upgraded interior, it was basically identical to Aspen’s police cars of the same year. I was 22, and man, was I proud of that car.
Stolen off the street in L.A. in 1988, it was somehow found, stripped of its interior (and my beloved golf clubs, snif) but otherwise intact.
I found the “Saab heaven” of the day in Hemmings – IIRC it was in New Jersey – and they shipped a replacement (from an ’82, I suspect) in a rail car to my guys at Swedish Motors in L.A. Only change was interior-color arm rests instead of black. Good as (worn) new.
Kept it a long time, until 1993. I’d buy another.
I always loved the 9000, never had use for a car that big but have always been a fan of that sort of 5-door hatch.
Never owned or even ridden in a SAAB. But as a child of the 1970s and 1980s, I always liked them. My 9th grade English teacher had a beautiful gray 900 sedan with leather interior. I’d walk by it in the parking lot just so I could look at it. I wish they were still around.
With 5 giant USA auto plants around here and tens of thousands of auto workers with enough income to buy new cars and all of them getting employee discounts to buy their cars and those new cars eventually becoming the used cars around here, I seldom saw any foreign cars here except in magazines. And no Hudson factories nearby, so don’t recall any of those around, either, although apparently they got nice looking again by ’55-56. Also never saw a Saab around here. No Volvos or Opels except a friend had an Opel GT because, I guess, it looked kinda like a Corvette and was cheaper used.
Hyperpack posts some amazing finds in the Cohort.
Occasionally I’ll see a Saab around still. Usually a GM-era convertible, strangely enough.
We were looking at that weird Cascada thing yesterday; how would a GM-Saab convertible compare? I assume the Astra base would make the Cascada smaller (I’ve never seen one), but these GM-Saabs don’t seem that big yet they were on the larger Vectra platform, so…?
Growing up in the ’80s, there was a small independent repair shop in my hometown of Point Pleasant, PA that specialized in Saabs. While not as bountiful as these pics, I have vivid recollections of the shop and the lot next door being stuffed to the brim with Saabs of various vintages. Always thought they were quirky but cool cars. Love the distinctive exhaust note of the 900s as well.
The 8 valve motors (up to about ’87) had that distinctive sound, the 16v not as much.
I have a sub 95 bio fuel 2011 took it into the mechanic because the coolant level was low. Well they moved the car to put the coolant in and to tell me the water pump out on my new leak and then I came in and asked me how to start the car explained it to them and then they came in and said to me your car is not starting. It was dead. It had power. The battery was good, but it’s was dead. There was no way it was starting and now I don’t know what to do and they don’t know how to fix it. Can anybody please help me?