I’ve just been scouring the web, though, and here’s the best that I can bring. And there’s some that I can’t without seeming petty and picky, but suffice to say there’s some real nutty stuff going on in the automotive blogosphere right now.

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Greg Abbott called it in comments the other day:

GM is trading now at $5 a share, which is so low that the market believes it is insolvent.

If GM does manage to survive without filing bankruptcy, that stock price will surge (once the market realizes that survival is in the cards).

So those of you who are into gambling, this is a high-risk, high-reward proposition on the table.

GM’s shares rose about 33% the next trading day. A nice day’s work if you can get it.

* You’re a big boy now, so don’t blame me; Invest at your own risk.

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Some strange news about Saab has been doing the rounds. Hard to know what to make of this. Sounds like thoughts only at this stage:

“This could mean that Saab 9-5, Opel Zafira, and a new generation of four cylinder engines could be developed and manufactured in the U.S.. Klaus Franz sees a risk in the fact that American engineers don’t understand what the European buyers prefer. A spokesperson at Opel in Rüsselsheim declined to comment on this. In an interview with Der Spiegel, Carl-Peter Forster says that no decisions have been made [on this or on other more general things?]. Further, some parts for Opel and Saab could still be developed in Rüsselsheim [is this Forster's words?]. Klaus Franz expect a decision within a few months.”

That translation is from CTM and comes from Swedish magazine, Ny Teknik. A few other sites are running it as well but I’m really unsure as to what it might or might not mean in the long run.

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Eggs is teasing me on Flickr with convertible pictures. I’m guessing it he’s playing around with possible entries to the Saab Pride book.

Note the groovy convertible mechanism covers. I wasn’t aware of these until Drew B recently showed me them on his new green convertible.

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Why test a Saab 9-3 against a lincoln MKS?

I don’t know, but here’s the verdict:

The 9-3 is a clear winner in terms of performance driving. It would knock the socks off the MKS on pretty much any track test you would administer. But when it comes to styling, the MKS does the sock knocking, with its elegance and maturity. So, we are forced to call this one a toss-up. If you’re more into the driving experience, get the 9-3. If looks matter more to you, get the MKS.

Each to their own, I guess, but I’ll take the 9-3’s styling over that ugly loafer any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

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And here’s a good road test piece on the Turbo X, from Saab’s home-away-from-home in Colorado:

Whether you choose the Turbo X sedan or SportCombi wagon, you’ll drive a world-class car that can run with some of the best sport sedans and wagons in the world, but with a sense of practicality that can only come from Sweden.

I can’t believe these aren’t sold out yet.

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Saab have lost their podium position at Gaywheels, ranking an almost lowly #6 on the searches there.

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It seems GM and Carlos Ghosn’s Nissan may already be quite advanced in merger talks. Nissan dealers are now treating their customers like some GM dealers do.

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And news for you Aussies out there….

It seems the actions of various motor companies have borne fruit. A number of high profile car companies withdrew from the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney, which started last week, because the couldn’t justify the high cost of two displays per year (one in Sydney and one in Melbourne).

It seems the powers-that-be are relenting, with the announcement of negotiations that may see the Sydney and Melbourne motor shows alternate each year, a-la Paris and Frankfurt.

Makes sense, kinda.

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- Keep your camera in the car. I missed many great photo opportunities because I didn’t have my camera with me.

Just this morning, as I left for an intra-state trip for work, I glanced at my point-and-shoot camera and then kept going about my business, not giving it, nor Wulf’s comment, another thought.

Two hours later, I regretted. ALWAYS CARRY YOUR CAMERA.

As I drove north I made the mandatory pitstop along the Midlands Highway in a spot called Campbell Town. I pulled up behind a gleaming open top Triumph. The driver was outside the car and smiled as he looked back, saying something to his co-driver. Just then, another gleaming tourer pulled up beside him and they chatted for a bit. As I got out of the car, I noticed a vintage Porsche 356 on the other side of the road, all done up in race paint.

Further afield was a classic BMW 3.0 CSi and an Alfa Spider. Filling up at the petrol station was a Healey and another look back across the road revealed more Porsche 911s than you could poke a stick at. A Ferrari Dino GT finally finished off the feast of classic metal.

What I’d come across was the morning tea break for competitors in the Melbourne Mille, an annual event of 1,000-plus kilometers that’s usually run in Victoria (the southern most state of the Aussie mainland) but was being run this week in Tasmania for the first time.

There were around 35 machines in all and they were touring the state in a clockwise fashion for just short of a week before getting back on the boat and heading home.

Two regrets: not being able to join them, and not having my camera on hand to share the experience here.

Wulf, your lesson is well learned!

And for those of you thinking of visiting Tasmania some time in the future, it’s worth clicking that link and studying the ’supplementary information’ for some hints as to their route. It’s a fantastic drive they’re embarking on, full of wonderful roads and God’s own postcard scenery.

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I am laughing about the timing of this post — I promise you that I did this only Thursday: I left my name and phone number on a Monte Carlo 900 ‘vert that had new leather and carpet with the note to all me if they ever wanted to sell.

I’ll be interested to see how this turns out. It’s certainly worth a try.

I’m sure Saab nuts aren’t the only ones who do this in respect to cars, but I think we’re probably pretty good at it. It’s the nature of following a brand that inspires a lot of curiosity and interest.

My first experience with a local Saab club member was chasing him down one of the city streets here in Hobart. He drove past in a 99 Turbo very similar to my own so I swung a U-Turn and chased him down the street!

I’ve only ever done two leave-behinds like Eggs’ one. One was a note on a 1971 Saab 99 here in Hobart. They didn’t ever call and I believe they still own the car.

The other was a TS business card left on the windscreen of a beautiful black 900 convertible here in Hobart. The emailed me back and we’ve had a few emails back and forth, though no contact. I’m sure that we’ll cross paths given Hobart’s small size.

So…..have you ever done a leave behind? And if so, how did it go? What did you do? What’s the silliest length you’ve gone to and what’s the best (or worst) outcome?

Comments are open…..

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Yes, there are even some good Saab sales stories out there.

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One market where Saab sales have been defying the global trend is the Russian market.

During September 2008, there were 133 Saabs sold in Russia, which is 125% up on the same month last year, when only 59 were sold.

Year to date, they’ve sold 1,014 Saabs there, which is 84% higher than the 551 sold to September 2007.

It’s a relief to have some pleasant Saab sales news from somewhere. Thanks Alexey!

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There’s no Saab sales singled out in the press release, but GM’s Latin America, Africa and Middle East section (known as GM LAAM) have just recorded a record third quarter of sales. In fact, they’ve had 20 consecutive quarters of growth now, which is a good thing I guess.

And as an aside, I think it’s amusing that they’ve called it GM LAAM instead of the more complete and accurate GM LAAME

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Saab in the UK are having an employee pricing sale. You get the employee pricing discount, as well as a bonus offer of either 0% financing (someone forgot to tell them about the credit crunch), a finance deposit allowance or a trade in allowance.

The employee pricing discount on a 9-3 Vector TTiD sedan is £2,753.00, which brings the price down to £23,117.00

All the details are at Saab GB’s Home of Saab Offers.

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Potential Saab owners in South Korea are getting in on the act as well. I can’t get all the details as it’s a subcription article at Just Auto. The blurb reads as follows:

GM Korea has announced that it will be offering to pay customers’ acquisition taxes, as well as throw in free navigation systems and special discounts for selected Cadillac and Saab models until the end of the month.

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And Aussie Saab owners can still benefit from a special extra Saab loyalty bonus if they trade up to a new Saab.

The bonus is so secret that they’re not advertising, preferring to contact those they perceive as potential buyers by phone. I haven’t even been able to convince one of my contacts to divulge the amounts on offer, such is the secrecy.

So if you’re here in Oz and you have a Saab to trade up, ring your dealer and ask for the super-duper special loyalty bonus.

Then email me and tell me how much it is

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First up, the model quirks. Assuming that most of us enjoy some time actually working on our cars, I offer this mini rant on our collective behalf:

What are automotive OEMs thinking when they make these cars??

I’ll fill you in on the details that lead me to this exclamation:

- Did you know that it takes no fewer than three different tools to remove a 1999 9-5 headlight? A Phillips-head screwdriver (two different sizes, but who’s counting?), the medium-sized Torx (I think that it’s a 20) and a 10 mm socket or nutdriver! That’s not counting what ever you plan to use to pry that silly plastic anchor/screw combination out of the grille slot. I’m completely at a loss. If you can fill me in, I’m in your debt.

Here’s where the bonus from the previous owner comes in: during this episode of my recurring game of mechanical hide-and-seek for that critical fastener or bushing that I’ve dropped or bumped into the engine compartment or dash opening, etc. I found a Craftsman 7mm box wrench on the skid plate/air dam under the front end of the 9-5! Bonus!

- Last week, I looked at a 1990 900 Turbo Convertible that I found on Craigslist. I planned to use it for parts, but, after looking at it, I decided that it needed many of the same parts that mine did. My thoughts then turned to restoring it because it’s a lot better off rust-wise than mine is. I kept coming back to the same roadblock: to work on the transmission, you’ve got to take the whole darned thing apart. There is no way around this. My friends, this is the price we 900/99 aficionados pay to play: the transmissions aren’t particularly delicate, but when they go they cost a bundle to fix because you’ve got to remove the engine and transmission as a single piece to work on them. In this case, the car needs a head gasket, but the owner doesn’t know that the auto tranny is about to go, too. I know this only because he described the “way the car acted” before the head gasket blew. Suffice it to say that his transmission was slipping. I would put a 5-speed in, naturally, but it would take forever and lots of money. Too much. (Please don’t regale me with the “you can do it without removing the engine you just have to jack up the engine three inches and then you wiggle it out, etc. I’ve known one person that says he’s done just that and he swears that he’ll never do it that way again — it takes longer and accomplishes less.)

- Because I replaced my 9-5 stereo with an aftermarket unit without disconnecting the battery first (I should have, I know), I now have to take the darn thing to the shop for a reset of the airbag warning light. It’s a known issue — work on the 9-5 (and maybe others) electrical systems without disconnecting the battery and the airbag warning will come on. What a pain! This has not reset over the past four months or so (one person advised me that it would go away in 10 or 15 start/run cycles) and it certainly can’t be reset by a simple ODBII reader/reset tool. This is a job for the GM/Saab programming system only. Could this be avoided?

Rant over.

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To see that the TS T-shirt brings success in all endeavors of life, see here.

For your very own TrollhattanSaab gear, click here. I heartily recommend it. Ivan’s done a great job with these, take advantage, Christmas is just around the corner!

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Going green. I’ve seen myriad shots on Flickr lately of green Saabs that really appeal to me. Most of them are the old-school Saabs in Europe where green is obviously a more popular color than here in the United States. Personally, I really like the Malachite Green available on the C900, and there’s one here to show what I’m referring to…

A retro pic from Belle’sDaddy, a brand-new 1980 Saab 900 in Malachite Green.

A magnificent old 96 in green from Hans Viveen:

Of course the obligatory Saab 92 in green from Jeff:

Finally, from regular reader Al_Aero comes this beautiful Abbott 9-5 in a great shade of green. This is the one that inspired this little gallery. I would certainly favor this color for my 9-5 because it not only looks great on the car, but it is unique as well. Kudos to the owner. Well done.

Why?

My dream collectable Saab has come up for sale - a 1973 Saab Sonett III.

Brian L, knowing my fetish for Sonetts, sent me this ad from Craigslist. This Sonett is for sale in the San Francisco area. It’s white with a tan interior, has had a recent engine rebuild (only 1,000km ago) and it’s for sale for only $2,500 so I only need to rob a small bank!!

The photos aren’t very big and there’s none of the interior, nor is there any comment as to the condition of the floorpan, etc, which can be a problem with these. But at face value it does look OK.

This would be such a unique car here in Australia and I absolutely love to drive on for myself. It’s a small V4 engine but the car’s so light I can’t imagine it’d be anything but fun.

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Earlier this year, GM offered to fly me Business Class from Sydney to Detroit for the North American International Auto Show, the show where I saw the unveiling of the 9-4x.

I ended up saving them around $4,000 by flying economy instead (yes, they really do spend that much on airfares - wanna save money, GM? Fly like the rest of us!)

To GM: If you feel like making up the difference, here’s your chance!!

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There are several colours in the spectrum that have been used sparingly in Saab’s 60 year history. You won’t find too many orange Saabs, for example, save for a few Sonett IIIs and 99s during the 1970s. Yellow is another rare colour, but it always looks special on a Saab, and in many instances, it’s because the Saab itself is special.

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In the beginning…

Yellow first made an appearance on Saab 95s and 96s in the mid 1960s. This was a time where colour was king and companies weren’t afraid to paint with a bold palette and a strong brush. Saabs from this time featured interiors with bold reds and cool blues, a far cry from the neutral greys that dominated the 1990s.

In the early 1970s Saab reintroduced yellow with a color called Brilliant Yellow, an example of which can be seen below on this Saab 96 V4.

These initial yellow Saabs were standard cars. In future years, a yellow Saab would come to signify something rather more special within the range.

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Saab Sonett

Yellow also featured as a colour for one of Saab’s more different cars - the Sonett.

There’s nothing else quite like the Sonett in Saab’s history. The Sonett name started life with the Saab Sonett Super Sport in the 1950s. Only six were ever made and none of them were yellow. But if you look around Saab’s home city, Trollhattan, during the Saab Festival it’s quite likely that you’ll actually see a yellow Sonett on the streets there. It belongs to a Saab devotee and is a handbuilt replica of the original Sonett.

The Sonett II featured a strong shade of yellow, and the Saab Sonett III featured a color called Mellow Yellow. An example in that colour can be found at the Saab Museum in Trollhattan today. This isn’t that car, but a fine example, all the same.

Photo: Liftarn

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The 900 Turbo S convertible.

In the early 1990s, Saab introduced a new, fully equipped version of it’s very successful 900 Convertible - The 900 Turbo 16S. There was a similarly designated model in the hardtop 900 as well.

The Turbo 16S Convertible got directional alloy 3-slot wheels and seats from the Saab 9000 that even included an option for electric adjustment of the driver’s seat.

For the purposes of this story, however, the Turbo 16S Convertible saw the introduction of a new color for the Saab 900 - Monte Carlo Yellow.

The new color was striking to say the least. In a time where metallic silvers, greys, greens and blues were crowding the streets, the solid, non-metallic Monte Carlo Yellow stood out like a beacon.

Unlike the SPG (or Aero) model that was around at the same time, the Turbo 16S convertible had the dark grey body kit of earlier 900s, rather than a full body-coloured kit. Perhaps it would have been too much if they’d gone the full Monte?

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Saab 900 SVO concept

The SVO (Special Vehicles Operations) concept began life in the mid 1990s with the “next-gen” Saab 900. The end result of the project was the Saab 9-3 Viggen that would follow, but the immediate fruit of SVO’s labour was the SVO concept vehicle - painted in Monte Carlo Yellow.

This vehicle was first shown in 1996 and provided a big leap forward in terms of the performance editions expected from Saab. In essence it was to the NG900 as the Aero or SPG was to the classic 900. The only problem being that it wasn’t in production, and wouldn’t be until 1999 when the Viggen was released.

Whilst the signature colors for the Saab 9-3 Viggen were Lightning Blue and Black in most countries, the US also got versions in Silver, Red, and in Monte Carlo Yellow. The original SVO concept vehicle now resides in the Saab museum, in Trollhattan, and is surprisingly accessible!

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The Monte Carlo

Saab made a limited edition model of the original Saab 9-3 called the Monte Carlo.

Production in the Australian market, for instance, was limited to 50 units and worldwide production stopped at 195 units. The car featured the 2.0HOT engine, woodgrain trim with black leather, and each of the Australian editions wore an individual number on the passenger side dash.

The car was identifiable not only by it’s colour, but also by a small Monte Carlo badge on the rear, below the tail lamps.

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A new convertible - a new colour

The Saab Convertible has become the signature modern Saab, and Lime Yellow was undoubtedly a distinct signature colour to launch it with back in 2004.

It is, admittedly, more Lime that Yellow, but it certainly is distinctive and imagery of this particular car was commonplace in Saab promotional material at the time of it’s launch.

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New for 2008 - Lynx Yellow

The latest Saab to get dressed in yellow is the 2008 Saab 9-3 Convertible. Whilst this shade was widely referred to as Saffron Yellow in the lead up to its release, Saab Sweden called for a change prior to release, and the color was thereby officially named Lynx Yellow.

Well, it will be called Lynx Yellow in most markets, at least. The German market like to specify their colors according to what they think their clients will relate to, and they renamed the colour Inca Yellow, to stir up images of the gold held by the ancient Incas. This isn’t the first color to receive a different name in Germany, where the very deep, dark Nocturne Blue is known officially as Sapphire Blue.

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BUT……

I bought the Alfa with the idea of doing some more track work in mind. It’s supposed to save my current Saab from the same fate as my last one and be my inexpensive track car that won’t stress me too much if it gets compromised in some way. Of course, if it does get damaged or fall to bits, I’ll be devastated, but that’s another thing all together.

This Sunday there’s a track day being held by the Mini and MG car clubs of Tasmania. It’s going to be at Baskerville Raceway here in Hobart, which is where my last incident occurred. You can bet I’ll be taking the corner into the straight very carefully.

It’s a track day rather than a training day, which means there’ll be stopwatches in action and no limits (aside from those imposed by the need to get home at the end of the day). I’ve got to install a fire extinguisher this weekend and it’ll be my first time driving in a helmet.

The car’s now running as follows:

* Koni red shocks at rear
* K&N Air Filter with cold air intake
* ECU chip from Alfa tuner, Squadra
* 2.25 inch exhaust with hi-flow cat
* Continental rubber

The breathing changes and the Squadra chip have made a fantastic difference to the car. It’s quite a bit more responsive now and sounds like a mad Italian symphony when the revs get up there.

* not my actual car, but close enough

It’s running very nicely right now, and I’m getting a service done this week with the brakes getting looked at and replaced if necessary. I’ll do a cooling system flush on Saturday and all should be right to go on Sunday.

It should be a bucketload of fun. Hopefully there’ll be some video and it won’t be anywhere near as embarassing as the last one

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The pundits are squawking like never before about the talk of a merged GM and Chrysler.

AutoExtremist Pete DeLorenzo has even broken his midweek pattern of commentary for a weekend rant that’s worth reading (once you get past the “monumentally stupid” and “I told you so” bits).

When you have one company that has too many models, too many divisions and too many dealers, how could you possibly think that combining that company with another company that has too many models, too many divisions and too many dealers would be a good idea?

Jerry Flint has also broken out the writing slate for a piece on the matter:

General Motors needs more plants, more workers and more dealers like it needs to bring out a new Hummer model that gets five miles per gallon.

Robert Farago of The Truth About Cars decided to side-step the entire issue and just criticize former buddies at Jalopnik for their coverage. Actually, Farago’s been doing a lot of that lately, picking fights with other websites. It’s a huge waste of everyone’s time and I’m surprised his “best and brightest” haven’t told him it’s amongst the “worst and dullest” writing he could get in to.

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DeLorenzo closes his editorial with an interesting snippet that’s doing the rumour mill around Detroit. Given that the GM-Chrysler talks are now all but over and extinct, Pete mentions the following:

….word is that GM has already moved on to renewed, serious discussions with Carlos Ghosn about the possibility of merging GM’s global operations with Renault-Nissan.

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Articles like this always make me scratch my head. Why is it that I can’t get a medium-to-long term test vehicle from Saab, yet somewhere in the world there’s idiots like this that have them dropped at their door:

‘Daddy,” my daughter said, her voice pitched somewhere between amusement and bemusement, “there are two men in black at the door.” That’s not information you want to hear at 8.30 in the morning. CID? Debt collectors? Undertakers? There they stood on the doorstep, inscrutably cool, like Tommy Lee Jones in Men In Black.

After a brief conversation, it became clear that they were not on the trail of fugitive extraterrestrials. Or so they said. Instead, they were delivering a Saab 9-3 Turbo X.

And so it goes. This is from The Guardian in the UK, by the way, and the article contains a total of just two paragraphs that deal with actually driving the Turbo X. The rest of it is the author’s stupid deliberations over what the ‘X’ might mean and how he’d like it to be used as a taxi.

There is no justice.

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To honour their 10th birthday, Google have released a reproduction of their search website from the earliest web index they could load up - January 2001.

Do a search on this retro engine and it’ll bring up results that reflect how the web was at that time. There’s no Trollhattan Saab there, of course, but there’s plenty of Saab stuff on there and if you look for a particular model (say, the 9-3 Viggen) it brings up a lot of road tests, etc, that were quite fresh at the time.

It also includes links to those original archived pages, where available.

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Andy Rupert is currently selling this 2005 Saab 9-3. It’s done just over 38,000 miles and the sticker price is $15,990.

It’s a 5-speed, with a two-litre turbo and the following features:

• Adjustable Steering Wheel • Air Conditioning • AM/FM Stereo • Brake Assist • CD Player • Child Safety Locks • Cruise Control • Daytime Running Lights • Driver Air Bag • Front Wheel Drive • Heated Driver Seat • Heated Passenger Seat • Integrated Turn Signal Mirrors • Intermittent Wipers • Keyless Entry • Leather Seats • Leather Wrapped Steering Wheel • Passenger Air Bag • Power Door Locks • Power Driver Mirror • Power Passenger Mirror • Power Steering • Power Tilt/Sliding Sunroof • Power Windows • Steering Wheel Controls • Trip Computer • Turbocharged • Variable Speed Intermittent Wipers • Vehicle Anti-Theft System

Click here to view Andy’s full used vehicle inventory, including this and many other Saab and Volvo vehicles.

Andy’s located in Willoughby, Ohio, and can be contacted on (440) 946 6900

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When I wrote about Dud Badges back in April 2007 it was a post that struck a chord with many of you. Fading and peeling badges is a common problem with Saabs.

Thankfully, State of Nine have an answer that’s tailored to this very problem: Emblem Armour.

From their web page on the product:

Who hasn’t seen a worn and scratched Saab logo on the hood Emblem? The culprits? Abrasive car washes, power washing, road salt, sand and UV exposure.

[The Emblem Armour protector] product is custom-cut to cover your specific Saab model’s hood or trunk Emblem, and protect it from wear. It easily installs over your existing emblem and is virtually invisible once you apply it. The thick clear coating acts as a defensive barrier to carwash brushes, sand and UV rays. (Please note: we always advise against ever using a power washer anywhere on your Saab surface since power washing pressure can cause more damage to your car then letting it sit dirty).

The Emblem Armour badge protector is hard wearing and preserves the color and finish of your Saab badges. It comes in a number of different sizes to suit different years and costs just $9.95. New badges can cost between $40 and $65 each.

Click here to visit State of Nine, or go direct to the Emblem Armour page.

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