Classic Saab 900 turbo pricing

Hey Everyone- I used to own a 85 turbo with a bunch of Group 6 upgrades a long time ago. I loved the car right up until it grenaded it's transmission. I really enjoyed the car and have noticed that there aren't as many around any more.

Tomorrow morning I am headed to check out the mother of all classics- 1993 900 turbo ce. The car has a rebuilt tranny and a numbe of records. The car has some info on the saabce.com site. The price seems very reasonable to me. It does have a rebuilt title though, but the info says it has been repaired to a high level.

I am wondering what the general market is like for these now-adays? The 1993 model is one of the most desirable years for sure. Does anyone think these will become a sort of neo-classic like the E30s are now?

What's the asking price? You can get a decent idea of Commemorative Edition prices by looking at Saabnet's c900 classifieds page -- scroll through them all. Some of these cars are going for pretty decent money (well, relative to other Saab 900s). The most expensive c900s in the used market appear to be the so-called "bumblebee" yellow convertibles w/SPG plastic (they are not, technically, SPGs).

It's probably worth a nice email to the guy who runs the CE website, who IIRC is pretty active on forums and owns a few CEs.

Regarding the rebuilt title: I would want to see damage photos. Also, as you probably know, the front fenders are welded on, so any front end work will need to have been done well to avoid rusting. If the repairs are decent, and you want the car, I'd say buy it. Frankly, a fresh transmission (WITH RECEIPT and rebuilt by a Saab indy) is a big plus.

CEs had a few interior parts unique to them, so be aware that replacing them could be $$, in case you'd be wanting to keep the car pristine and correct. (The distributors are rare, too.)

Regarding c900 rust, if you're not in a saltfree part of the world: look under the rubber at the bottom of the doors, the spare tire area in the trunk, the axle tunnels in the wheel wells, and the fender seams underhood. If you are serious about buying, insist that you be able to look under the carpets in the front footwells, which can rust well after water leaks are fixed because of the open-celled foam used for sound deadening.

I don't think the c900 will ever garner the enthusiast attention that the E30 does. There aren't many weirdos out there that love the car.

I'm a wierdo that loves c900 turbos! I'm not one of the sort that lusts after pristine original CEs or SPGs, I prefer to modify and tinker, so ordinary turbo models are what I look for.

I occasionally scan CL in the mid-Atlantic regions and have seen decent looking SPGs listed for under 2k. I haven't spotted any CEs, but I haven't been looking for them either. If someone were selling a CE and knew what it is, and how nutty some SAAB people are over them, they would probably list it on the SAAB network's classified section

I just got back from checking out the car. I got a few things mixed up from my original post. The car did have some rust. The hood and hatch should be replaced for sure. I am guessing it would be inexpensive to bolt on replacement versions from the boneyard. The right fender had bad cancer as well. It would be more troublesome to repair or replace. The rest of the car appeared to be rust free from what I could see.

The other nits were that the headliner was sagging and the dash had cracks. The owner had tons of receipts for mechanical work done on the car. The receipts had to total close to 10K in work. The transmission repair was about $3500 and the head gasket had been done as well. The car drove very nicely.

The car is for sale at $2000. I could tackle the hood, hatch, and headliner pretty easily. The fender gave me much more cause for concern. Any thoughts?

Why would the fender be a problem? Or is it a CE specific piece?

The fender is an issue because they are spot welded on. On most cars, you could bolt on a replacement one. It is a much bigger pain in the arse here and a body shop would have to be involved.

ALL 900s have crashed dashes. I have yet to see one without a cracked dash. All that matters is Severity.

I picked up mine.. very little rot (doors and hatch, but not the body) for 800. It also needs a transmission.. but only has 140,000 miles too with a perfect interior (aside from the cracked dash)

ccrelan wrote: The fender is an issue because they are spot welded on. On most cars, you could bolt on a replacement one. It is a much bigger pain in the arse here and a body shop would have to be involved.

What the.......

SAAB = Svensk Aviation AB = aircraft designers = fenders as stressed load bearing chassis members = welded to the unidody ;)

erohslc wrote: SAAB = Svensk Aviation AB = aircraft designers = fenders as stressed load bearing chassis members = welded to the unidody ;)

The bodies on SAABs built in the pre-GM era could almost be described as monocoque more than unibody. If it had rust showing in the wheel arches you need to check the area around the lower control arms for rot too, especially the RH side.

Traded some notes with the owner tonight. He confirmed the control arm area is good. He said he and a saab friend checked out the control arm area and it has been treated with some sort of POR15 like stuff.

I took a look at CL tonight and about pooped my pants when saw another 93 CE show up for sale two towns over from me. I am going to check it out in the morning.

Change your pants before you go ;)

In reply to HappyAndy: Yah, I worked for SAAB (computer division, Datasaab, go figure) from 1976-1978, some seriously technical folks.

it was also common to see welded on fenders in european cars. Fiat did it a lot.. You also have to remember that the fenders on a saab are NOT very big

Nothing to add except I love those years of 900 Ts. One recently came up in the salvage yard and overall it looked good to very good condition with the interior nearly flawless. I think I cried a little. After sitting there for a few weeks it's ripped to hell.

I think i need some Saab action for my next daily driver.

In reply to mad_machine:

Yeah, my Ford Capri has welded on fenders. Well, one of them was, the other side was replaced after an accident and the previous owner used wood screws to hang the replacement.

Two CEs for sale near you? Lucky.

Powar wrote: Two CEs for sale near you? Lucky.

The OP is in New England, I'm not to surprised. I will be surprised if the second one is in a lot better condition. I would think its worth the time to check it out though.

I went to check out the second car this morning. The CL ad listed the street address which they promptly deleted this morning. Fortunately, I remembered it and drove by the car this morning. It was not in great shape. It looked rougher inside and out. It was listed for $1200. If I had the chance to by the car I would think about to clean up and resell. The car was not listed on the CE registry. I didn't want to freak out the people by knocking on their door at 10:00 on a Sunday morning, too.

I am going to buy the original one that I saw yesterday. It seemed like a surer bet to me and think it is very reasonably priced at 2 grand. I feel much better knowing that the car is mechanically sound from the thousands of dollars shown on the receipts. It should be pretty easy to clean the car up aesthetically. The paint was good and it will shine up nice. The seats will benefit from some leatherique. The headliner isn't a big deal and I will tackle that myself, too. Finding a black replacement hood and trunk hatch should be pretty easy. The fender repair will be the most time consuming issue.

Here are a couple pics:

In reply to ccrelan: nice wheels!

Nice, that one looks in great shape. Love those wheels. My one has no rust, but the paint looks like hell. And I don't really have any motivation to respray it, since it's such a beater.

What was special about the CE?

For $2k??!?!?!

WANT.

I need to find one of those foam wings to test fit on my car, actually.

Very nice!

The wheels are not what came with the car, and they're pretty rare, offered only in the Accessories catalog. IMHO they are nicer than the original directionals.

Re: headliner -- a sagging or trashed headliner is at least as common as a cracked dash. Search Saabnet for replacement instructions: http://goo.gl/VN3YU.

@Luke -- clicky for CE info: http://saabce.com/1993CE.htm

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: For $2k??!?!?! WANT. I need to find one of those foam wings to test fit on my car, actually.

I have a few of them. Shoot me a PM or something next time you're coming through Louisville.