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Cars SAAB

Erika the 1989 Saab 9000 Carlsson

In April I picked up a 1989 SAAB 9000 Carlsson from a chap in Birmingham, though it was originally registered in Belfast. It was sold as in daily use, with a MOT ’till October. A nice rolling restoration, so I thought. As soon as I saw the car it was obvious it would need a lot of work, so I probably shouldn’t have bought it, but as always happens when I buy a car, I was smitten and hadn’t bought a return train ticket. The real fun started as soon as I set off and slightly touched the brake pedal, at which point the ABS went mental, chucking the car about left and right. Somehow the seller had been driving it like that?! Located and pulled the ABS fuse, and gingerly drove her the rest of the way home to begin the inspection.

First job was to repair the collapsed driver’s seat. Forgot to take any during photos (never attempted a project thread before!) but here’s the finished result, after replacing the base, swapping in a newer cushion and heater element from another set and stitching up the split leather.

While the interior was out, I started to pull back the carpet and that’s where things got bad.

The back arches and shock mountings were pretty much completely replaced with a combination of fibreglass with sheet steel glued on top.

Rotten suspension mount
This is the exact moment I decided to throw in the towel

When I found the back axle was hanging on by a prayer, I decided to throw in the towel and break the car.