I was recently re-introduced to my favorite car brand. Though to describe Saab merely as my favorite car brand probably demeans it. Thinking myself too manly to get all excited, I'm embarrassed to reveal that driving the damn thing made me grin like an idiot. Having generated some momentum, I decided to dig out my old photographs of my first (and what I thought was my last) Saab and experienced a peculiar something-like-a-Volkswagen-commercial-but-in-scandinavian nostalgia-fest. The resulting output from the exercise was the determination to memorialize my prior experience. So here goes...
During my high school years, I was driving home from work one night and saw a very different car lined up in the Smiths parking lot; that's where local folks "parked" their cars informally to display them as "for sale". Since I am the price sensitive type, the $400 price tag was the primary draw for my cheap ass. Well, that, and the fact that I was struggling with my own identity (ok, I was a "waver"... probably well after it was cool... if it ever was) and the oddness of the car was a definite draw as well. Hell, I'm the guy that bought a Ford Pinto thinking with a thousand dollars I could build a Lamborghini from a kit on the Pinto chassis... good lord, I'm an idiot.
The Saab in the parking lot was a mustard orange, and had a dented rear bumper and a slight resultant deformation over the driver side rear wheel well, but was cool as hell none-the-less. It had sheep skin seat covers, and a hood (...er, bonnet) that lifted forward instead of the conventional way. And, of course, it had a key mounted in the floor between the front seats, damn!
Long story long, I managed to buy it... I don't remember if my dad helped me come up with the four hundred in scratch, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did (he's a great guy.) I remember driving home, and was amazed at how loud it was. A feature I was sure was not normally associated with the in line four cylinder, despite it's propensity to operate in the higher RPM range. The problem was a hole in the exhaust manifold.
The exhaust manifold was my first rude introduction to the difficulty of obtaining parts for a Saab. It's no GM (ha ha ha... even after GM bought Saab the parts and service literature are still frustratingly difficult to get. Frankly as much as I love the service at the dealership, I'm a do-it-yourselfer. I don't want to pay someone else to fix something I believe I can fix myself. But I digress (again),