Are you sad that SAAB is going to die?

[HopeHoops]

Poll question: Are you sad that SAAB is going to die?

[Generic Brad]

1. What a SAAB story

I shed no tears for the automaker.

[HopeHoops]

2. LOL - I forgot to use that one.

[Capn Sunshine]

3. Favorite custom plate on a 900T

SAAB STRY

[HopeHoops]

13. OUCH!

[Condem]

4. Sold a 04 Saab Convertible, today.

Really. A very nice car.

[Monk06]

6. Ten years from now you're going to kick yourself.

[Condem]

9. Nah, Monk.

It's what I do for a living. I never take it personal.

[Capn Sunshine]

16. actually, ten hours from now, the Buyer is going to kick himself

[Monk06]

19. Well most of the rare collectibles were undesirable in their day. I mean the Triumph Spitfire?

What a piece of crap that was yet the Brit
collectors will do anything to save one of
those rust buckets.

[HopeHoops]

28. Aren't they known for launching push rods through the engine block?

As I recall, that's just the obvious symptom of the timing chain snapping at high RPMs.

[Monk06]

37. When push rods seek life outside the engine it's usually a crank bolt failure not a top end issue

When timing chains fail the valves do the dance
of death on the top of the piston. This will
usually ruin the piston and the valves but the
rod rarely breaks in that situation

At any rate the Saab convertible in question will
become collectible because 1) It's a convertible
2) The company no longer is in business so there
won't be any more manufactured

Check the price of any collectible car and the
convertibles always the rarest and fetch the highest
prices. Example in 1979 I had a 1935 Plymouth couple
that I paid $500 for less engine and transmission. The
same year the Victoria Classic Car Museum bought a
1935 Plymouth Convertible complete and un restored for
$20,000.00. Plymouths were not as popular with hot rodders
and collectors as Fords in the fifties and sixties so they
ended up as scape metal. As a result Prewar Plymouths fetch
high prices in complete restored or un restored condition...

Other examples of highly valuable makes that were unpopular
in their day but very rare now; Nash, Terreplane, Frazer, Hudson
50s Packards, Essex, Chrysler AirFlow, Edsels and a host of others.

These marques now fetch very high prices even though they were lemons
in their time.

[HopeHoops]

38. That's just something a Triumph fan told me in like '78 or something.

I've never had a catastrophic engine failure.

[Monk06]

41. My Triumph lemon story also related by a friend is that the trans had weak syncros

resulting in frequent transmission replacements.

The Spitfire was also notorious for rust damage
due to the poor steel quality and metal prep
typical of all 70s cars.

Not disputing your story. Just saying if the
rod failure you discoed happened it would be
due to the piston jamming against an open valve
due to the broken timing chain. It's possible
that in a high rev situation the jam would cause
a rod to let go.

There is a Top Gear episode where Jeremy Clarkson's
Masarati suffers a rod failure. Completely destroying
the engine which puked engine innards all over James
May's Lamborgini. Very funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOYmiA1ZoFE&feature=fvw

Blown engine at 2:30 in

Back to the Spitfire.... the Brits will spare no expense
in restoring one of these cars in spite of their poor
performance and build quality.

In our day if someone owned a Spitfire we would ask,
"So you couldn't afford and MGB then?" Another sports car
from the sixties and seventies that people turned their
noses up at was the Datsun Fair Lady 1500, now a much sought
after and rare classic.

[HopeHoops]

42. "puked engine innards"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[pscot]

5. I thought the Chinese

were going to pick it up, not that I care.

[Capn Sunshine]

7. I drove my 900 Turbo to Texas from California

I pulled over at the top of Cajon Pass just to give the loaded car a breather, and I opened the hood to check things out, and the entire turbo mechanism, all of it , glowed orange like an alien attached to the rest of the motor.

Made it all the way to Houston without incident. Except at a truck stop in New Mexico in the middle of the night when it drew a crowd of jacked up bored truckers. Took it in for a Jiffy Lube oil change and they said "no way are we touching THAT THANG. Whut the hay-ell ( hell has two syllables in Tejas) is that Thang?"

The hood opening "the wrong way" was the first off putting thing.

Now, some of you live in Houston, you know what we were dealing with. There was SO MUCH HUMIDITY that the clutch plates rusted together because I didn't drive it for about two weeks. So I lost the car to one of those scammin' mechanics so prevalent down there. My own fault. I told him I was moving and that the car carrier was picking the car up in three days, so he needed to fix it ASAP. So of course, he didn't. Then what? Gave up the car in exchange for "work performed" Fuck.

[HopeHoops]

14. Sorry, but that's one ugly fucking wagon on 4 wheels.

[Capn Sunshine]

15. Oh, most definitely

It was weird, like Scandinavian stuff. It was to automotive design as Ikea is to furniture.

You look at the schematics and it's got labels like "Fnarg" "Flivscranz" and "Gnider" "snoogdlit" and stuff

[HopeHoops]

27. Actually those sound like generic mechanic's terms.

"We're going to have to replace the fnarg and the gnider needs to be aligned. There's a lot of wear on the flivscranz and you should consider replacing the snoogdlit before your next inspection."

[elshiva]

8. Glenn Beck Is An Asshole.

Bang ON!

[tigereye]

10. I was more sad about Saturn

but that's because that's what I could afford and never cared about Saabs. The only person I know who drives them is an old college friend from punk rock days, who became a rich lawyer and that's what he drives.

[Peregrine Took]

11. 'Just bought a beautiful black 9-5.

Its a fantastic car and we will drive it for many years to come.

[flvegan]

12. Yes. Lots of lost jobs there.

Not a particular fan of Saab, though had either Koenigsegg or Spyker bought them...that might have changed.

[gmoney]

17. Well, I hate the SAAB story...

Company gets swallowed up by big multinational, who can't run it or get enough profit out of it, so then they end up shuttering it or dumping it or otherwise wrecking it. People out of work, fewer choices in the marketplace, etc.

Didn't the same thing happen with Jaguar?

And Fender?

And countless others I don't recall at the moment.

[flvegan]

18. Actually, Jag is currently sort of a success story.

Ford bought them, and although they weren't profitable with them, they went from being "holy shit, what a piece of junk" to "wow, this is pretty nice...and it works!"

Now Tata owns them, so we'll see if that goes poorly. I will say that the XF which is new under Tata's ownership is an excellent car. They're still built in the UK, but some of the parts are being outsourced (naturally) to India.

[HopeHoops]

29. A friend of mine owned a Jag in the 70's. He had a lot of fun with it, but it was expensive.

As in "expensive to maintain". He said he once pulled into a dealership, parked and got out. The guy who greeted him said, "that will be $100, now may I help you?" That might have been a joke, but then again it might not have been. He also claimed that the rocker arms needed to be adjusted after every time you ran the engine. That was only partially a joke. At least the ones of the time were EXTREMELY high maintenance.

[Blue_Tires]

20. i cried all of my tears for Plymouth, Oldsmobile, Saturn and Pontiac...

especially Pontiac; the longtime renegade redhead stepchild of the General's family...

JZD r.i.p.

[HopeHoops]

30. Yeah, Pontiac is the one I'll miss.

I've got a 2000 Montana that kicks ass. Only Pontiac would put a hot engine in a minivan AND give it a sporty style. Although to be fair, it evolved from the Transport, which was an ugly ass moon buggy. Speaking of "ugly ass", what the hell were they thinking with the Aztec? (BLECH!)

The other one I'm sad about is Plymouth. They were using that line for "playing in traffic", so to speak, with design and style. The Prowler in particular was a thing of beauty. I read that they created it with line parts from existing vehicles. They expected it to be a disaster in the crash tests but amazingly it was a top performer. You wouldn't guess that to look at it.

[madrchsod]

21. i`ve owned about 25-30 saabs

great cars till gm bought them...

[HopeHoops]

35. If they were so great, why wouldn't one last long enough before you had to trade it in?

I generally get at least 15 years and 150K out of a used car before I look for another one - and all American cars by the way. I've still got a 68 Galaxie fastback that my late grandfather bought new and it will blow the door off of a Saab.

[fishwax]

22. I like Saabs.

I like the look (some of them are ugly, sure), and the ones I've driven have been fun to drive. And everyone I know who has had one has had good luck with them.

[Richard Steele]

23. I rode in a Saab once, so...NO. nm

[old mark]

24. Fuck NO! I nearly bought a used SAAB till my BIL told me of his

experiences with his. A very advanced powerful drivers car that is a real POS as well. Thousand dollar tune ups and all.

My recent terrible experience with my VW Passat, recently sold for scrap at a huge financial loss, has made me a confirmed Hyundai owner.

I have owned 8 European cars in my life, and have finally realised thay all sucked. Never again.

mark

[SoxFan]

25. Still Ain't A Beemer

[name not needed]

26. Yes, it's a shame this car will never see the light of day

[stray cat]

31. I loved my used Saab in highschool; and in an accident it saved my family serious injury

it was built to protect the occupants

[jakefrep]

32. Other - Yes.

Then again, I'm not one of those soulless bastards that thinks everybody should drive a beige Toyota powered by soy-based synthetic unicorn flatus.

[HopeHoops]

33. E-GADS MAN! You'll never get me behind the wheel of a Toyota!

[jakefrep]

40. Good!

I wasn't necessarily referring to you.

[Blue_In_AK]

34. A Saab driver in Anchorage

has a personalized license plate that says SNAAB. That always cracked me up.

[gordontron]

36. Sad day :(

[question everything]

39. Not going to die. At least, not yet

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4192735

(even thought as soon as was posted, was unwrecked)