The series of sales of Saab’s classic cars at astronomical prices continues. We are witnesses that in the last six months, as many as five or six Saab classics were sold on the global market of classic cars, the price of which was around 50 thousand dollars, ie euros. Never before have classic Saab cars achieved such high sales prices.
It was exactly the same with the Saab 900 Turbo SPG car that was sold this week through an auction on the Bring-a-trailer website. There were many interested people, but it took a lot of money to buy this exceptional car. Many will say that only a special group of people can understand why Saab was special, and see the reason why architects, professors and people with similar professions were behind its wheel. Okay, maybe they are, but it is also an indisputable fact that the Swedish carmaker was in a great crisis in the late 1980s, and the question is whether it would have survived at all if it had not received much-needed investment from General Motors.
One of only two Saab models in the period was the Saab 900. It debuted in 1978 and although it borrowed a lot from its Saab 99 representative, it was also considered a relatively modern car. The car was available as a two- and four-door sedan, then as a three- and five-door hatchback, and finally could be bought in the form of a convertible. What made the Model 900 famous was its turbocharged engine, so although it was not the first or the only one at the time, it more or less functioned without a big “turbo hole”, which was a rarity during the early years of this industry.
The subject of today’s story is a special edition called SPG, which was sold in the period from 1985 to 1991. In Europe, the model was Aero, while the Yankees adopted three letters as an abbreviation for Special Performance Group. Such pleasure was by no means cheap, and the copy from today’s story cost as much as 30,395 US dollars as new, or about 63,315 “greenbacks” in today’s value of money. For comparison, this was more than was required for the BMW M3, but it should be mentioned that Saab also offered more equipment without any financial compensation.
For those who don’t know so much about the Saab 900 SPG/Aero, here is some information to remind you. For that amount of money, the customer received a 2.0-liter turbo gasoline with 185 “horses”, modified suspension and larger brakes, and power was transmitted to the front wheels via a five-speed manual transmission. That was enough to accelerate from standstill to 100 km/h in 8.5 seconds and a top speed of 208 km/h. During the seven years of production, only 7,113 units will be sold, of which the rarest is the one from 1991, when only 254 customers opted for it.
The 900 from today’s story is from 1991 and has so far only 67,000 miles on the clock (about 107,200 kilometers). It is located in the largest city in the US state of Oregon, Portland. It is said to be relatively well equipped with 15-inch wheels, sunroof, air conditioning and a premium audio system, for that time.
Now the former owner said that this is only one of 105 specimens that left the factory in black that year. It was originally sold in New Jersey, and after that it had owners in Colorado, Arizona and now Oregon. Although he has never been in a car accident, the documentation says that there was a certain problem in terms of mileage during the 1990s, and that the number on the clock may not be completely accurate.
At the end of the auction, on April 7, the last offer was $ 57,000, and at that price, the car went to the new owner. As you can see in the photos, the car is exceptional, and those who have seen the car live say that it looks even better than in the pictures.
Actually, there was a red convertible that had around 130 miles on it that sold in the US for $145k.
Mine was the first Aero 900 (SPG version) into AU.
It was supposed to be the ‘show’ car at the Sydney International Motor Show in October 1987, but arrived too late to be there.
Instead, a mocked-up prior model was substituted.
Took delivery of mine later that month.
It was black too, but far prettier than this example, as I’d specked it with the Arizona-coloured interior (Code G33 – Arizona Tan), which was simply stunning.
In the first two weeks of ownership, on my way home from a late-night finish at work, I was pulled over by a highway patrol officer.
When I asked the reason, he said my registration was showing up as unregistered. (Obviously not true!)
By the attention he was giving my car, I believed it to be otherwise.
When pushed, he admitted that he really wanted to check out my car. He’d never seen one before, or anything so striking.
We had a good chat, and he wished me well with such a beautiful car.
(He’s probably driving one today).
I have one in the garage😉