Posted on 12/19/2011 10:49:22 AM PST by Lockbar
Car maker Saab ran out of time Monday when its Dutch owner filed for bankruptcy, calling time on a nine-month battle to rescue the struggling Swedish marque.....
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
A friend in my 1969 Iowa City days owned a two stroke Saab that had over 200,000 miles on the clock. Yeah, there was a whisp of smoke that followed the car but he still owned it last time I was in town for a football game about five years ago.
Er, that would be me. Had three of them and loved ‘em: solid, spacious, fun to drive and with the 5-door hatchback you could carry about anything.
We currently have three SAABs, and an ‘89 Ford Lariat 1/2 ton pick em up truck. Prior to that we had SAABs, and a custom built ‘67 Ford one ton crew cab long bed. We had that old truck for twenty years.
Would probably still have that old truck, but then I got old, and it hadn’t any power anything on it. All manual including the steering.
Nissan? Toyota?
I knew a Flight Instructor when I was an airport bum kid that would give me rides home in his with the 3 speed on the column, man what a machine for the senses! The later Saab's were so ahead of their time, many pilot types I know loved the aviation influence.
Damn shame GM tried to turn Saab into a Buick or Olds, rather than turn Buick or Olds into a Saab. Without getting into it, I saw GM take it over, and I could see that they didn't know what to do with it....
“I never did understand why the yuppies have a love for this car.”
When they first were imported back in the ‘60s they were incredibly high quality, well designed cars that reflected the aircraft engineering skills of the parent company. The yuppies later seized onto the Saabs based on that old reputation, but it was already pretty much gone. LOVED the old one we got in 1967 when I was a kid. It was very different from the later ‘luxury’ sedans.
http://i33.tinypic.com/mvghzb.jpg
My 2000 convertible turns 245 horsepower. In the Rockies, accelerates up long climbs; passing all but the hemi powered pick up trucks. But I’ll take the size and 28 mpg as a compromise. Plus I only paid 9K for it, four years ago.
As long as the electrical systems hold, it will be with me.
Many conservatives drive a Saab. They were the safest cars on the road in the day. Built like Sherman tanks. The front engine was designed to collapse downward and out in the case of a front end crash. The sides were steel reinforced and it was one of the first front wheel drive cars. These babies could survive significant car crashes wherein the passengers and drivers walked away. And these cars were built to last. I live in the northeastern part of Washington State where snow and especially, ice are huge problems in the winter. In severe winter conditions, they are unbeatable. I have had Saabs since 1981 and still have a beautiful mint 1990, 900S three door hatchback in red. I am also a conservative.
“In the Rockies, accelerates up long climbs; passing all but the hemi powered pick up trucks.”
I drove my Saab from Washington State to Tucson, Arizona in December one year. We hit a huge snowstorm in the Rockies of Idaho. There were semi trucks off the side of the road chaining up. The snow was fierce by the time we started climbing the first pass. My little Saab, with NO chains, got up those mountains without a problem. On the flip side of the pass, we were driving through snow banks two and three feet high, again without issue. I can’t imagine driving any car other than a Saab. We will keep my current Saab (1990, 900S three door hatchback) running as long as we can.
(I've owned two SAABs, both pre-GM. I won't say who I voted for in 1972, but Nixon was trying to get me killed at the time, and I took it personally.)
If you are from SoCal- you don’t know what REAL LIBS are.. up here in Northern CA where are fruits and nuts don’t grow on trees we haev REAL LIBS. They can tax you and screw you out of your retirement with out even breaking a sweat! ;-)
As for Saab - I read an article last week in Aviation Week that they had just had a major win for the jet. Don’t remember where or the details.
“Damn shame GM tried to turn Saab into a Buick or Olds, rather than turn Buick or Olds into a Saab. Without getting into it, I saw GM take it over, and I could see that they didn’t know what to do with it....”
That pretty much sums up the management philosophy of GM, which had to shed Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab, instead of develop and sell innovative, vehicles the public wanted.
Given the choice of putting a 200 hp turbo-four into a Buick, or putting an old GM 160 hp six in the Saab, GM would blow it every time.
That low rpm torque, from Saab’s turbo was my automobile awakening.
America is in decline, partly because of inept top management in our once great industries. GM is a prime example, along with banking/finance.
Everything you said was true TS..
But GM was a warning shot for SSI, Medicare and Medicade and before those 3 ,The City of Detroit.
All are violating the Accounting Equation and have Liabilities far greater than their Assets and have no way to fund them.
Next up for State Restructuring if they can't do it or Chapter 9 is Detroit...
I’m going to have to send my doctor a sympathy card. She’s going to take this hard. It’s all she’s driven in the years that I’ve known her.
Gubermint Motors killed the deal. How do you like them Chicago apples, Saab?
Oh, I know about NorCal libs. I'm originally from there, and half my lib family lives there now. I won't argue about them being a more purified version of the breed, but their SoCal comrades are nearly just as bad. They're all nuts.
Oh, I know that not everyone who drives a Saab is a lib. It's just that the marque been a preferred brand of the left for a long time.
I guess this is going to turn into another car wars thread. I'm in the American made camp, myself, but I honestly don't care what anyone else drives.
My dad was a USMC aviator and he bought one of the first ones sold in Jacksonville, NC (Camp LeJeune). It was a pale blue ‘65 two stroke wagon. We had that car for years. Finally sold it when he was stationed in Honolulu where the SAAB dealer had closed just before we moved there and when the master cylinder went out and he had to order one from Colorado he decided to part with it. 6 months later the SAAB dealership reopened in HNL.
I’ve owned two, an ‘88 900 with three speed auto and a ‘99 900 with a five speed. (First GEN “GM SAAB”). I loved the ventilation system in the “Classic” ‘88 900 because you could set it so that hot air came out of the foot and side vents and cold outside air from the center console vents so you could be warm on your body but still have cold air in your face to keep you from getting drowsy on long closed up winter drives. I’d like to find a “Classic” 900 in good condition with a 5 speed manual.
The ‘99’s from the early/mid 70’s were great cars as well.
My neighbor called his car the “sorry Saab”. ‘nuff said!
“Gubermint Motors killed the deal. How do you like them Chicago apples, Saab?”
That is because GM is worried the Chinese would get their IP, thinking GM’s IP is worth much.
That is old, old thinking on GM’s part, because
1. The Chinese can and will steal it anyway, and
2. IP ain’t what it used to to. Technology changes so fast, that you win by designing, building and SUCCESSFULLY marketing it, quick enough to get the $$ out of that timeglimpse while it is hot.
Take too long, and technology is worthless.
I suspect Saab’s technology is obsolete right now. People, know how, plant equipment can be adapted to other brands.
GM is not the world leading, effectively managed company it once was, much like many other US firms.
It should not surprise anybody, and it won’t be remedied by a few political slogans.
Companies, governments, institutions, and individuals in the US have rested on their laurels. Like “we are big, strong, successful because we are big, strong, successful forever”
Until we get stupid, prop up corrupt, ineffective, obsolete products, people, institutions, companies, etc.
Prop them up with like “Too Big to Fail” for autos and banking, for instance.
Institutions, like AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) went down with Arthur Andersen’s complicity in the Enron scam.
Recently the NAR (National Association of Realtors) messed up four years of statistics, for reasons unknown unexplained. Probably because computer programmers have taken prescedence over old fashioned analysts.
The military allows a PFC to handle top secret information, who them turns it over to Wikileaks.
Medical cost is driven by the huge opportunity provided, since so many got insurance at work, and started abusing the system. My wife arranged a female surgery for cash total of $10,000 which would have been $30,000 to $40,000 if billed to insurance.
Government is the problem, not the solution.
Let GM and banks fail, to sort out the inefficient and stupid players, instead of forcing taxpayers to subsidize the stupidity.
Too Big to Fail rewards mediocrity, which is the level at which a lot in the US is operating.
ANYBODY is better than Obama, and I will vote for the GOP nominee. Period.
</rant>
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