A new record even for me! I pick up a new car, a truly seventies-tastic brown Saab with brown velour seats and stick-on wood trim, and it breaks down within two hours! It got me back from Didcot to Petts Wood, where I stopped for some fish and chips, and it refused to start outside the takeaway. Fair dos though - the previous owner had warned me that the battery was on its way out and I had a spare one in the garage from the Arsemobile anyway. First impressions are of a solid car, very comfy, but with a bolshy gearchange and some electrical weirdness - no horn or main beams, for example.
1-10-02
Let's figure out all that electrical oddness, shall we? Piece of cake - all the fuses had corroded but everything seems fine now that I've replaced them all.
24-11-02
Uh oh - my trouble free, rust free, solidly built Swede really blotted its copybook today. One of the rear suspension mounts pulled out of the bodyshell. I can't say too much more at the moment, but I'll keep you informed.
5-12-02
I think the previous owner was as unaware of the 99's dangerous condition as I am. That doesn't change my position towards it though - it will take a specialist to fix it, so I'm not going to. If you're a Saab 99 restorer, or if you need some spares, contact me and you can have the bloody thing. Turbo alloys, good interior, good engine, blah blah. Otherwise I'm scrapping it. £100 and it's yours - the alloys are worth that alone.
15-1-03
Too late. It's gone. The council took it away for scrap today. I was planning to strip it but I don't have much storage so I'm afraid I didn't keep anything but the grille, and the spares I was given with it - that is, heater matrix [14/07/06 - this is actually for an early 900 - thanks to Tony Bagg], front carpet, new oil and air filters, and some memorabilia - Saab sales literature and owners' manuals. Drop me a line if you want them.