99% Perfect C900 3-door rolling body shell - FREE

[airsweden]

I looked into the cost of a uhaul one way and a tow dolly a few years back for a 99 I was interested in from Oregon, it was about $1200 just for the rental. Add another $600 in fuel and $300 for a plane ticket and it becomes a rather expensive not running car.


I do want this 900 though! Real bad!

Yeah, it is tough with an un-running car. Can't drive it, transporters won't take it and like Luke said, it gets expensive quick with all the flying and renting. Best thing seems to be finding a cheap, clean and solid car that at least just barely runs and have it transported. I wonder if that red '86 2 door that was for sale on CL is still kicking around Smell-A.

[max]

Cheapest way would probably be to take the van and the trailer and just take a roadtrip.

[SwedeSport]

Some transporters will take non running cars. My friend sold a 61 MGA sight unseen to a guy in Chicago. The transporter showed up to find the rear axle seized . The floors were completely rotted gone (wood floor), and the motor rusted solid. He used a floor jack under the pumpkin to roll it, and a ratchet strap as a come-along to pull it into the trailer behind the ferarri.

Some guys might be picky, but this guy wasnt, he said he moves alot of "restorable" cars. Said it makes up 50% of the business so why turn it away. You just have to keep on the phone til you find someone who will take it. At least this red Saab shell will roll freely.

[max]

I'd like to see them do that to a Saab.

"Where's the damn pumpk.... ah, sheeeit!"

[Hans]

The sad thing is, out here on the Left Coast, I see 900s (and have seen several 99s) like Drew's in junkyards all the time: perfect bodies with (most likely) shredded gearboxes, waiting to be crushed.

[SwedeSport]

Perfect Business plan for you left coasters... Buy up all the clean rust free shells you can get and either hoard them until they become unobtainable, or start distributing them to the rest of the world. If you can come up with a reasonable way to transport them it could be lucrative.

[Luke]

The sad thing is, out here on the Left Coast, I see 900s (and have seen several 99s) like Drew's in junkyards all the time: perfect bodies with (most likely) shredded gearboxes, waiting to be crushed.

On the flip side, the northeasterners have gearbox's o'plenty from parting out droves of 900's for rust for the last 20+ years. I have about 18 functional (albeit some better than others) gearboxes in the barn.

We need to pair some of these assets up! Preferably in my driveway

[SwedeSport]

sounds like a shipping container full of gearboxes should head west, and return full of rust free shells.

[99Super]

This is what I love about our SAABs. As long as they don't rust, you can rebuild them just about forever...
I see rust-free, solid cars in the junk yard all the time, many with no identifiable problems beyond cracked dashes, ripped seats and saggy headliners. Most just didn't sell on the lot or were traded in and just went to the auctions where they where bought (or given) to the junk yards.

Very sad.

john
Stockpiling 99s in rust-free Idaho since 1992...

[SwedeSport]

Wasn't the primary market for Saab the northeast? I'm sure they migrated all over the place. I lived in SC for a while, parts noone could get parts. In fact most couldn't tell you what you were driving unless they read your emblems.

[Crazyswede]

I found out that Ryder rents the dodge sprinter van....when I looked into the cost the big hitter as that you got around 200 miles for free then had to pay for every mile over that. It was a lot of extra money per mile....80 cents/mile as I recall. Gets expensive in a hurry.

[DeLorean]

We recently rented a Budget van down in Alabama with a tow dolly, a weeks rental with unlimited mileage, dropped off in PA. I think we put about 1000 miles on the truck. On the order of $400

[thereisnospork]

Hmm, assuming you have a hitch, just how bad of an idea would it be to try and tow it with another 900? I don't/haven't done any towing but if you could rig up the shell's brakes to work it seems like it might go reasonably well. Dunno if anyone makes a system for that though.

[Luke]

Hmm, assuming you have a hitch, just how bad of an idea would it be to try and tow it with another 900? I don't/haven't done any towing but if you could rig up the shell's brakes to work it seems like it might go reasonably well. Dunno if anyone makes a system for that though.

I did that once to get an 86 SPG home from about 5 miles away, I towed with an '80 8V turbo. I was happy that it wasnt 6 miles.

[Rallyho]

...I towed a 99 shell (no motor) on a UHaul tow-dolly, with an 85 SPG that had spare block/cyl head/spare wheels in its trunk from NC to NH one time...obviously not setting any land-speed records, but it worked fine.