Stockholm - Spyker Cars of the Netherlands emerged Tuesday as the favourite to buy Saab, the troubled Swedish subsidiary of US giant General Motors. "I have a sense it's possible," GM chief executive Ed Whitacre told reporters in Detroit, Michigan, of a possible Saab sale to Spyker.
The US carmaker is to decide on Saab's future by the end of December, failing which, GM's board will close Saab, Bloomberg financial news reported, quoting Whitacre.
[www.spykercars.nl]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2009 11:04PM by Buck.

I once rode in one in the late 1970s.

My Saab story?
I spent about a month at a music workshop in northern Sweden 'round 1989 or so. I noticed that most cars were either Saabs or Volvos.
And most cars seemed to be about 20-30 years old. And most were pulling some sort of trailer.
And none seemed to have any emissions equipment. When one passed you could still smell it 3-5 minutes later.
That's my Saab story and I'm sticking to it.

We have had three Saabs. Two 75's and one 73'. They were special cars built from a mixture of parts from Swedish,English, and other sources. The engines were adapted from the English TR-4 and turned 180 degrees with a transaxle added underneath. The clutch was in front next to the radiator. Electrical was Bosch which had relay problems all the time. They were one of the first cars with the extended dash and sloping windshield. The 73' has disc brakes all around and folding rear seats. At some point Saab turned the engine, added turbo and became an just another car.

I liked their camper...



And the airplanes...



And arming the world!

Saab and Volvo were both unique lines of autos, it was sad to see them engulfed by giant automakers who had no feel for their niche markets.

When they started producing SUVs under the Volvo brand name it was clearly over. So now Volvo becomes a Chinese owned brand and Sabb - who knows?

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"Who's more foolish - the fool or the fool that follows him?" - Obi Wan Kenobi



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2009 02:35AM by RgrF.

We had a '99 and it was a piece of junk. In warm weather the power locks wouldn't work-I'd be locked in the car. The wheels "seized". I had a flat and the rim was stuck to the wheel. I had to lay down UNDER the car and kick the wheel to get it off. Toward the end of the lease, the shift lever wouldn't shift out of Park no matter how hard I pushed on the brake pedal and when the car was picked up at the end of the lease the guy took half an hour to get it into Drive. Thank God it was a lease.

My grandparents owned Saab's starting in the 70's until they died in the early 90's. Loved them, and would bust through the hills around Danbury CT like bats out of hades.

Now ? Yeah.. just another GM car.

I had an '82 900t, ,94 9000 Aero (my favorite). Still have: 99 9/5se (just died, I think...), and a 2006 9/5 Sport-Combi (out of warranty in 4 days)

Still have a '92 900 3 door and a 2001 9-5 wagon.
They've had their problems, like any other vehicle, US or foreign, but we do like them both.
I hope Saab survives.
I want a Sonnet X.

I learned to drive in a Saab 99E. The Sonnets are cool.

i almost ran into one today.

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almost bought a 900S convertible, 1986. the first model, one of only 400.

[www.trollhattansaab.net]

then my dealer decided to be a d!ck and take bidders instead of selling it to me like he promised.

Almost bought a 1974 Sonnet once. V-4 power.

[en.wikipedia.org]

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I'm not a bad guy! I work hard, and I love my kids. So why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to Hell? -Homer.

My brother had a mid sixties urine yellow 96 with the two stroke I3.

trail of blue smoke meant it was running right.
I had a litany of jokes about that car and can't recalll one of them.

There is a God, because the carb caught on fire and it burned to the ground.

We love our '99 9-3 convertible. I bought it on CL this past summer with a salvage title with the intent of restoring it and giving it to the wife to drive. We put just as much into it as we paid for it and so far it's been worth every dime. The car is a blast to drive aggressively or to cruise. Yes they have their quirks. It builds character.

However, an indy Saab mechanic is a must!