RadioFlyer's 1980 900T

[Jordan]

Dont forget if you switch dashes you need the correct a-pillar pieces to go with it.

[SalemSaab]

Nice work! Love the color and the seats.
Not a big 900 fan, but love to see the B-motors, especially a Turbo 3-door.

but thanks for robbing Oregon of yet another clean classic SAAB, ya jerk.
Surprised we have any left.
Sounds like you had a typical Oregon roadtrip experience though

[RadioFlyer]

Actually, i really enjoyed Oregon. I'm originally from Vermont, so it felt much closer to home than dry, desert Utah. Cool people, interesting terrain, moist environment. I would love to spend more time there. Though the skiing here in Utah is hard to beat. And I'm glad to rob any state in the union of a good, clean running Saab! To date I've robbed Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Oregon, California, Virginia, Florida, and Utah. But I've gotta say, Oregon was my favorite trip yet.

In regards to the dash repair, I tried recovering one in vinyl a few years back in an '87 SPG. I filled the cubby with a custom cut particle-board insert and then covered with stretch vinyl and glued/stapled it into place. I sold the car, but the jerk never paid - I was trying to help a friend in a pinch and he turned out to not be a friend at all. Anyway, I found the car last year, 4 years after the sale. It had been abused, crashed, rusted out, and left to rot behind a barn. ... But the dash still looked great!!! The stretched vinyl totally worked and held up (see pic below from last year when I found the car). I may go back to that if I can't find another good method.



I have heard of Just Dashes. A guy posted on TSN a few years ago about his experience. He loved working with them and had his dash done with a much better closed-cell foam that was supposed to hold up to anything. Sounds like it was really costly though. I found one with no cracks recently for under $200. Wish I could buy it, but I'm too afraid it would be damaged in shipping.

So I guess for now, i'll stick with the dash cap.

[hutch]

I did the old faux suede routine in my 85 because of how destroyed the dash was. It's certainly an improvement but its by no means perfect, it's really tough to get a piece of fabric big enough to cover the whole thing and be able to contour correctly, at least for me. The way I ended up there had to be a fold in the fabric somewhere so I hid it in the corner of the dash that gets covered up by the door panel.



And one without the flash on


Like I said, not perfect and looks a bit boy racer but in my opinion at least it is a hundred times better than an ugly cracked dash so it was worth the day or so effort.


Edit: and I forgot to mention what I did with the cracks in that dash. I had always heard that you should drill a small hole at the end of the crack to stop it from spreading so I did that and then filled it in with some jb weld or equivalent. It's obviously covered up but I didn't want it to get any worse and also I didn't want little waves in the fabric so I wanted to fill them in with something.

[RadioFlyer]

Interesting. I have seen that dash before and you're right - it definitely looks better than the cracked dash. Nice work! When I did my vinyl wrap, I only went down half way. So I didn't have to worry about the trouble areas. I think it looks a lot better your way. How has the suede held up to fading, water, and stiffness?

[RadioFlyer]

Okay, time for accessories. A couple of months back, I had acquired two SPGs for parts. When it came time to send one to the scrapper, I called up a good local parts yard that offered the best price and would pick up the car themselves. The flatbed driver, as it turned out, was a Saab enthusiast who was in the process of restoring an '86 900 turbo! We talked for hours. During that time, I was able to pull out of him the locations of some awesome 900s. One place he suggested was a private yard where he said there were three early 900s, one with a set of louvers. I went down and to my joy there were 2 1985 turbos and a 1983 turbo. All of them were low mileage and looked as if they had never been touched since arriving there decades before. I got to know the owner of the yard who had been waiting for years for a good Saab enthusiast to come along, and talked him into a great deal for everything I wanted. I found the following:

Early accessory gauge console with working gauges and senders!!! One of these was advertised soon before I found this private yard. The guy asked $400 on a Saabcentral ad . I wrote and offered him $50 and he never responded. It ended up selling on ebay for $270!!! I paid $35 for mine



Accessory speaker grilles with tweeters!



Factory louvres (refinished before the picture)!!



While visiting my parents in Vermont around Christmas time, I discovered an original Saab roof rack with ski clips in the basement gathering dust and packed it on the airplane.




Then the Sport and Rally steering wheel. It had been gathering dust in the basement for a little while along with three or four other cool accessory wheels. The leather rim was baked and cracked, so I experimented with a couple of wheel covers before going with a leather wheelskins cover sewed on.

[RadioFlyer]

Then the lighting...

I scored a set of AutoPal H4 lenses at the Pick'n'pull for $6!!! Totally changed my world. Went from seeing nothing to seeing everything!

Then found a set of NOS in the box round Bosch rally lights with covers for $20 and another set of old NOS Bosch driving lights with covers for $25!! Refinished the bumper, grille, light bezels, and a turbo air dam and stuck them on... The car came with no wiring for the fogs, so I had to run two new wiring harnesses hooked up to the low beams and back to two switches that I mounted in Saab factory switch blanks and stuck in the dash where the AC button would go if it existed back then.

[RadioFlyer]

Then the wheels... These babies I found almost by accident in Sacramento two years ago while picking up an '87 turbo. The tires were flat and I wanted new rims. A guy on the TSN forums offered these. From what he said, there was a single dealer in Cali that in 1986 was selling the 900 turbo alongside Porsche 911s and wanted comparable sex appeal. So he added these rims to only the '86 turbo or SPG in that year. I have only seen one other set in pictures. They are 3-piece 15" JWL meshies and I had been saving them for just the right car.












Now with the faded paint and the sweet rims, I get teenage ricers with huge gauges in their ears pulling up to me in their dropped hondas with the paint sanded down to bare metal and clear coated drooling over my car.

[87 n/a]

The insulation under the knee bolster hung down exactly the same way in my 80. It bothered me for a while until I strung it back into place using fishing line.

Please tell me you did something with that radio in the pics...that thing is driving me nuts.
Rest of the car looks real nice.

[RadioFlyer]

Haha, not yet. I did replace all the speakers cuz they were falling apart. The radio works great though! I would love to get something that can hook up to the old-skool Saab factory equilizer and mount that in the top portion of the center console. Still undecided though. I just feel like sticking a new-skool deck in there might ruin the effect... Any advice?

[DrewP]

I actually like the radio. It looks 'proper,' two big knobs and a band scroll dial.

[87 n/a]

I would love to get something that can hook up to the old-skool Saab factory equilizer and mount that in the top portion of the center console. Still undecided though. I just feel like sticking a new-skool deck in there might ruin the effect... Any advice?

I too have one of the saab "dancing-display" equilizers, like my dad had in his 86 9000T. Always wanted to go for the nostalgia, but never actually installed it. If your 80 will be a daily driver, I would go for a newer unit. But if you are showcasing all your rare classic gear then you need the Clarion gear.

[Luke]

Man I really love this car. It reminds me so much of my '80 turbo. I miss it a lot, I went digging and found pictures I had scanned about 12 years ago.

front80.JPG (53.93 KiB) Viewed 4177 times

engine.JPG (69.15 KiB) Viewed 4177 times

interior.JPG (53.97 KiB) Viewed 4177 times

[RadioFlyer]

Hey great pics Luke! Looks familiar!

[RadioFlyer]

There are a ton of little things in the '80 that are different from other 900s. I think these are what turned me on the most, aside from the paint and the inkas. Like the stripe in the middle of the rear vent, the little yellow accessories in the interior, and the "lobster claw" seatbelt clips. The retro "turbo" glove box door and turbo gauge, the double-vented hood, and the 99-style seat skins. Not to mention the sound of the 8-valve engine. I'm so used to the newer 900s that little stuff like this is really cool to see.