OK, so it’s probably more escapist denial at this point, but I thought that a brief interlude will remind us that Saabs will still be around for a long time no matter what happens in Detroit, Washington, Trollhattan or Russelheim. Let’s all go to our happy place….

All are from Golfhunter’s Flickr stream…

First, there’s this unbelievable two-door 99 with a body kit. This is why I chose Jeff’s photos for this little breather.

I like the shock of red above this 9-3…

We never seem to give the 9000 enough love.

Finally, I’ve always wanted a 5-door C900. They are very, very rare here in the US. This one is a great example (now that I’ve gotten the right picture here — thanks, Joe!):

This is Jeff’s 99. It isn’t a 900. I think that you can see why I picked the wrong picture based upon the thumbnails!

We haven’t had a Saab O The Week entry for a while. Time for that to change.

I love old Saabs and I envy those who have them. More than that, I envy their dedication to keeping them in extraordinary condition because I know that as much as I’d like to, I’d never be a worthy custodian of such a car. I know they would deteriorate if under my care, much as I might try.

So it was a pleasure to see these pictures arrive in my inbox earlier this month and come to know that there’s yet another worthy custodian out there.

This is Kurt K’s 1969 Saab 96 V4. A classic of the early Saab era and one special car, with only 38,000 miles on the odometer.

Here’s a little of Kurt’s story:

I am a longtime Saab owner going back to 1980 when I purchased my first Saab – a ’76 99 GL 4 door (with 90,000 miles) in Topaz Yellow when I was a Senior in High School here in New Jersey. I loved the interesting history of Saab and how rare they were; oncoming Saab owners used to flash their lights at me. My parents were ecstatic because they thought it was safe and great in winter. I traded my moped and got full value for it from Reinertsen Motors in Denville, New Jersey. Back then, it was a 1 car showroom.

I am still driving Saabs – my most recent purchase is a ’07 9-5 Combi 60th Anniversary Edition (Jet Black) which I also bought from Reinertsen Motors – which continues to be a wonderful stand alone dealer but now has a large showroom with multiple service bays. Len Schrader, one of the principals, races both a 96V4 and 99. Kjell Skavnes, the fellow who sold me my 99 contines as a dealer principal as well. Over the years, I’ve owned many other 99s, classic 900s and a ’79 V4 imported as a grey market car.

Thanks to Kurt for sharing his story, and for taking great care of this classic V4 Saab.

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Every day there are new Saab photos appearing on my Flickr feed. I show the occasional shot here, but I take notes on the best ones and save them up for a Flickr dump like this.

For the previous Saab Flickr dump, click here.

You know I love good Saab photography. This is some of the best:

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From Schenkelhuber

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From Varroproduction

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From Bennorz

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From Erikskantze

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From Theron Hemsell

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From Sam Gibson

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From KPTyson

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From Renovator

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From Erik Nygren

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From Sebastian Gustafsson

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From Erik Nygren (again)

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From Beatkeung

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From Rixoon

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From FreakyLeo

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From Tazio35

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From occasional visitor and commenter, PJGH

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From Fabvt

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From Christov3

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From MrMarco

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Not a car, but a Saab Safir. From Saab Safir

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Captions “We are Swedish. We drive Saabs” Simple.

From Metaliene

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From Michael Banovsky

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From Masgod

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From Mediahuis

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he he.

Made you look!

Saab have a long history of hybrids, from the wide-bodied 99-96 hybrid called the Toad to the twin-engined hybrid called the monster. They also had a plug-in hybrid convertible a few years ago, but we don’t like to talk about that one.

From Flickr comes another Saab hybrid. This is the kind of hybrid you build your darn self when you’re darn sick of those darn mechanical pop-up headlamps!!!!

It looks like a job well done, thought the jury is still out as to whether it was a job worth doing. There’s something that’s just not quite right there.

Thanks Robin!

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