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Junkyard Gem: 1989 Saab 9000 Turbo

Saab got a lot of sales out of its 99 and 99-based 900 models, but a bigger and more modern car became necessary in order to compete with other European manufacturers in the executive-car market. This car was the 9000, and examples are getting very hard to find nowadays. Here's a 200,000-mile turbocharged 1989 Saab 9000 in a San Francisco Bay Area self-service wrecking yard. Other than Mercedes-Benzes and Volvo 240s, I don't see many junkyard 1980s European cars with better than 200,000 miles on the clock. The owner or owners of this Saab loved it enough to keep it in nice shape for a good 30 years, and it drove more than 7,000 miles on average during each year of its life. The engine is the same 160-horsepower turbocharged Saab H that went into the 1989 Saab 900 Turbo. This engine is descended from the Triumph Slant-4, which Americans knew best as the power under the hood of the Triumph TR-7. Members of this engine family remained in production from 1968 through 2009. It has the five-speed manual transmission, which was starting to become an unusual transmission choice for U.S. car buyers by 1989 — even in Saabs. The Scania badging on Saabs went away after 1995. I see plenty of Saab 900s during my junkyard wanderings, but 9000s aren't so easy to find in the big U-Wrench yards in 2018. I'm not sure what's going on with the fabric in this car's door-panel inserts. Saab went with the same ignition-switch location as everybody else with the 9000, rather than the "traditional" spot between the front seats. Naturally, Saab purists were so outraged by this that they ordered another round of surstromming and swore to stick with their two-stroke 96s for the next 30 years. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Ballet in 3 acts for 8 SAAB 9000 Turbos. Featured Gallery Junked 1989 Saab 9000 Turbo View 18 Photos Auto News Saab Automotive History

Vampire Weekend singer responds to burning Saab controversy [w/video]

Last week, we tipped you off about Vampire Weekend and their new music video for the song Diane Young, a short film that consists entirely of setting fire to two perfectly nice-looking Saab 900 automobiles. The indie rock band's video - viewable by scrolling down - predictably triggered the internet ire of classic car enthusiasts - Saabophiles in particular - and word of the unrest eventually got back to the band itself.
According to music site Spinner (nb: owned by Autoblog parent AOL), the group was "stunned" at the backlash - enough that lead singer Ezra Koenig felt compelled to respond himself. According to Koenig, the band was under the impression that their record company was "looking to purchase the cheapest, oldest cars possible; they weren't trying to buy a beautiful perfect condition car." By way of apology, Koenig even goes so far as to note that bandmate Rostam Batmanglij is a keen fan of Saab.
Other reports have claimed that the cars may have been purchased under false pretenses, sold by owners who "wanted to see them go to a nice new home," but Koenig takes issue with that characterization, countering that he understood that the cars had substantial electrical problems.

Spyker files $3 billion lawsuit against General Motors over Saab's demise

"Smack." That's the sound of Spyker's process server dropping a big ol' pile of legal documents on the doorstep of The Renaissance Center, home of General Motors - or wherever GM's attorneys live during business hours. Contained therein is a Complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and demanding a jury trial, that seeks $3 billion in damages due to "the unlawful actions GM took to avoid competition with Saab Automobile in the Chinese market." Spyker accuses GM of "tortiously interfering" with Saab's business relationship with Chinese automaker Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile (Youngman), actions that Spyker CEO Victor Muller (above) said "deliberately drove Saab Automobile into bankruptcy."
(From Wikipedia: "Tortious interference, also known as intentional interference with contractual relations, in the common law of torts, occurs when a person intentionally damages the plaintiff's contractual or other business relationships.")
The interference in question specifically refers to the very last potential deal, called the Framework Agreement, that Spyker worked out with Youngman. With lots of GM engineering embedded into the 9-4X and 9-5, The General had the right to approve any Saab partnership that would involve the transfer of GM intellectual property. Spyker had been rebuffed over every previous deal with a Chinese firm, including two bids by Youngman, due to GM concerns over its IP getting into Chinese hands and having to face Chinese-market competitors using its technology. The Complaint alleges that the Framework Agreement would have put a firewall around all GM IP - Youngman would only work on Saab's Phoenix platform, said to be just about free of GM tech, and would have no access to 9-3, 9-4X or 9-5 technology until after Saab ceased all ties to GM.