Down On The Street, 1970s, 99, 1978, alameda, malaise, saab, sweden

1978 Saab 99GLE

The Saab-loving conspiracy theorists still seem to think I've purposely excluded their favorite cars from this series; after all, in a city where there seems to be a Volvo 240 for every five citizens, wouldn't you expect to see a lot of Saabs as well? Well, no; in these parts, a Volvo in front of your house 25 years ago made a statement about your beliefs, while a Saab just said, uh... well, that you drove a Saab. Thus, old Saabs are scarce ('90 and newer ones are plentiful, of course), and it took me months just to find this somewhat boring '85. But now you suspicious Saab-o-philes can rejoice, because I've found a pretty straight 99 in Alameda's West End!

This car sold new for nearly 8 grand, only about $1300 less than a BMW 320i and almost $1500 more than a Volvo 244.

Yes, it's a 4-door. I swear I'm still combing the island for a showroom-condition Saab 93, but until I find it you're going to have to take what Saabs you can get.

Anyway, this car is in pretty good shape, and it's obviously someone's everyday driver. That's always good to see with a 30-year-old machine.

First 150 DOTS Cars

9:00 AM on Tue Feb 19 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,325 views
30 comments

Comments

AustinMiniMan at 09:10 AM on 02/19/08
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I've always loved the look of the windshields and grills on those... it's like "dorky chic".
franzouse at 09:10 AM on 02/19/08
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Sweet ride, I thought it had a turbo but apparently its got fuel injection instead.
JantheMan at 09:12 AM on 02/19/08
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Sweet find ant it is far from boring....look at it. It has the "fotbollsfälgar" (soccer rims) The color must be rare also.....Brilliant...
Uncle Trash at 09:27 AM on 02/19/08
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Yes!

Yes yes yes yes yes yes!!!

Thank you.
FreeMan at 09:28 AM on 02/19/08
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@AustinMiniMan: "dorky chic" is the perfect description of these.
Paul Y. is Going Dumb... at 09:50 AM on 02/19/08
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Wow, this is nice. I think I've seen one SAAB 99 in person ever, and I am pretty sure it was dead.

Older SAABs are horrifyingly dorky, but in an endearing way.
POLAЯZSMAЯTAMINO at 09:55 AM on 02/19/08
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Jag fick 99 problem men en Saab aint ett!
graverobber- Same... at 09:57 AM on 02/19/08
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Now that's fugly in a good way. I really like the wrap-around windscreen on these SAABs. These had the bass-ackwards Triumph TR-7 motor in them didn't they?
JantheMan at 10:10 AM on 02/19/08
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@POLAЯ: Ord!@graverobber: Ja!
Uncle Trash at 10:14 AM on 02/19/08
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@graverobber: Yes indeedy. Belts at the firewall, clutch in front. Slant 4 setup.
thatguy01 at 10:44 AM on 02/19/08
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Nice catch on the 5-door. Now, go for the 2-door EMS.
POLAЯZSMAЯTAMINO at 10:51 AM on 02/19/08
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@JanTheEcobooster...if Odin will: Uttrycka till ditt fostrar!
PeteJayhawk at 11:02 AM on 02/19/08
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@POLAЯ: You're calling SAABs bitches?
sos10 at 11:06 AM on 02/19/08
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I always thought these Saabs looked like if the workers forgot to look at their Ikea building instructions when they were assembling the car and used a mismatch of components.
FLB at 11:09 AM on 02/19/08
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Aaahhh... At last, a DOTS Saab that's an actual SAAB and not a pseudo-Saturn/Opel...

Thank you, Murilee!
brandegee at 11:11 AM on 02/19/08
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Great find! Not sure what's more sad, that this is probably more fun to drive than my '01 9-3, or that griffin badge on the hood is intact, whereas on both badges on my car, the paint has literally fallen off.

@graverobber: Fortunately, the B motor was built in Sweden, not Liverpool, so it didn't fall apart right away.
POLAЯZSMAЯTAMINO at 11:17 AM on 02/19/08
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@PeteJayhawk: No, no, no, no, I'm calling bitches, Saabs!

Fear not citizen JayHawk, for I loves my Saabs and I loves my bitches!
Uncle Trash at 11:21 AM on 02/19/08
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@brandegee: That badge must've been added later, because they didn't start appearing on cars until '85. Could've been stuck on there yesterday.
Murilee Martin at 11:31 AM on 02/19/08
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@JanTheEcobooster...if Odin will: Fotbollsfälgar! That's the Word of the Day!
JackMaz at 12:30 PM on 02/19/08
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Look at that front overhang! It's what Audi is just getting around to today.
HansStuckJr at 12:42 PM on 02/19/08
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Needs more rub strips.
TurboBrick at 01:26 PM on 02/19/08
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These things will run pretty well even without oil, a female friend of mine had a '76 and that dipstick had just a drop at the end when I checked it. The pedal arrangement is quite interesting, they're centered like someone installed them one step too far on the right.
Novaload at 01:26 PM on 02/19/08
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Needs the little horns from Saabs Gone Wild race team.
NotACoolGuy at 01:40 PM on 02/19/08
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@FLB: Saturn/Opel my ass. Why don't people get the difference between platform sharing and badge engineering? Christ. The 9-2x was a Subaru. THAT'S badge engineering. The 9-3 is NOT an Opel or a Saturn. It's an Epsilon. Big difference.

Anyway, the 4/5-door 99s always looked a little weird to me, with that stubby nose and odd rear window. Same with the 4/5 door 900s, only without the stubby nose. Anyway, this is a pretty cool car. Maybe the next one will be a turbo!

Heck, take some pics of the 90's ones, they look exactly the same as the 80's ones, other than the angle of the nose.
fooler at 01:42 PM on 02/19/08
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I've always secretly loved SAABs for the last few decades.
2 years ago I bought my first one, a '99 9-3 2 door Viggen, for my wife.
Now we both have the SAAB bug. I'm now looking for a SPG for my garage or even thinking about getting a new SportCombi and garaging the Viggen. One thing for sure is that I will have this Saab and hopefully another for years to come.
Uncle Trash at 02:45 PM on 02/19/08
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@NotACoolGuy: The DOTS car that he was referring to wasn't even an ng900 anyway. It was an '85 900 which had more or less the same platform as this 99.
JantheMan at 04:15 PM on 02/19/08
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@POLAЯ: Yes!! I shall express my featuses!!
PaulE at 04:44 PM on 02/19/08
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Nice 5-door 99; they're getting to be very scarce, anywhere. For that matter, decent classic 900s are getting scarce, fast. At least if the water pump gears strip, one can transplant a 900 drivetrain "easily" enough.
JonathanS at 06:24 PM on 02/19/08
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Beautiful 5-door - love those opera windows & soccerballs!
lws1984 at 04:54 PM on 02/21/08
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@PaulE: 900's have to be the second-easiest Saabs to work on. First easiest being the entire 93-through-96 models, moreso.

Pity this doesn't have the Euro-spec headlamps.
Too bad it's not a Turbo either, although 99 Turbos are harder to find than left-handed screwdrivers.