...Come from the land of the ice and snow

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beckmannag
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:56 am
Number of Saabs currently owned: 27
Location: Lost in the tool path (ME/NH)
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...Come from the land of the ice and snow

Postby beckmannag » Fri Jun 12, 2015 10:46 pm

...AKA New England in a good winter.
Me&78-99t.jpg


How did it all get started, this involvement with Saab?

I’ll blame it on my brother.
Soon after he got his license, he decided that he wanted a 900T. Why? I really don’t know.


I think he found one through either the Want AD publication or the newspaper classifieds.
Life before Craigslist seems so primitive in retrospect.

Anyway, brought home a pale green ’79 5dr.
…With a salvage tag that went unnoticed since we looked at the car in the dark. Classic rookie error.

We took it skiing, and while blasting up I-93 to Lincoln, drastically exceeded the speed limit (turbo, yee-hah!), cracked the exhaust manifold, burned a valve, and did other sundry damage.

That was the start of my Saab fixing. Confusing at first, what with the RPN under the hood, but then I found I could get a lot done on that car with only a 13mm box wrench and #3pozidrive.

Which I took as an auspicious sign.

The engine eventually got weak, and someone had the bright idea to rebuild it.
Might have been my first overhaul, and got it back together just in time to haul a good part of the crew team out to Indianapolis for a summer regatta.
Trusting bunch…
Not the best way to seat the rings, but we got there and back without incident.

The 900 rotted away a few years later, but the motor lived on in my first ’78 99t.

It’s since been a long-term affliction/affection. I don’t think I could find a conveyance more suitable for what I do, and want to do, than the classic 3-door turbo.

Reminds me of a statement made by F.L. Wright, who famously suggested that one of his clients didn’t know what he wanted in a building until the architect provided it for him.

I’m not looking forward to the day I can’t get around in a c900.

I’ve been off regular car fixing for a few years to focus on other needful things, but look forward to getting back to the unfinished Saab projects.
Meanwhile, my regular work involves biomechanical considerations in the ski industry, and machine repair/firewood production in the off-season.
IMG_20140824_114214469_HDR.jpg

Client's stroker, Brother's Viggen. Interesting color coincidence.

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