Minneapolis Street Sighting: Saab 900

Saab has always been one of those brands that's overlooked in the car community; either people know about them, and are obsessed with them, or people have no clue what they are. When I was very young, I thought Saabs were supposed to be exotic, since in Kansas Saabs were not all that common. I used to think same of Volvos, too, but as a kid, I thought the Saabs always looked "sportier" if you will.

Some of my friends in the UK, or even on the West Coast of the United States have asked why I care about "old Saabs"; I am a guy from the mid-west--specifically Kansas, where everything that isn't a mainstream car brand (luxury or not) goes virtually unnoticed.  I did see these 900s from time to time, but common they were not. Even the newer ones are less so.  Oddly enough, the latest-gen 9-5s are starting to become common-- but this generation is still about as rare as a 1990 Honda Civic anything here. And for that reason alone, I shot--not to mention I thought it was a turbo at first glance. But I was wrong, sadly; it's just a "normal" 900 in a fairly decent color scheme.

I still like this; I've always been a fan of off-color car, particularly with trim the same color as the body; this Saab fits that bill quite nicely. Unfortunately, this examples from pretty bad paint bake, most notably on the rearmost part of the vehicle. While the rest of the 900's brown paint looks great--especially for a Minnesota car, the rear quarters could definitely use some help. With the exception of this odd discrepancy, the rest of the car looks great!

The stock plain white wheels are no longer here, either (thank God!), and have been replaced with prettier rolling stock. Minilite-style wheels are the equivalent of American Racing Torq Thrust wheels for foreign cars (and some American cars), and shown here in bronze, they look fantastic. I've never seen this combination before, but it certainly looks the business.

Inside, the old Saab looks great as well; I can't remember exact details of it, but I remember it looks nice, especially for a 900; it seems that almost all of the older Saabs I see have terrible interiors--but it appears that this one bucks the trend.

I know this isn't a rare Saab, and it isn't in the best condition, but to me, it's still worthy of photos. I like this example, and I'm going to pay more attention to these cars from now on.