I purchased this car ("aka THE RED ROCKET") in September 2006 after a fairly thorough search for a Talladega Red 900 SPG across the country. This page will detail the many things I've done to the car, the goal, being to track the entire service/maintenance/history of the car. My intention is to keep the car relatively stock with minor improvements as needed. My criteria in searching for this SPG was pretty simple:

• COLOR: Talladega Red (only available in 1990 & 1991)

• INTERIOR: Original leather, hopefully in good condition

• STOCK CONDITION: Absolutely stock or very close to it

• NO ACCIDENTS: No accident history/major body work

• HISTORY: Needed maintenance records

• STORAGE: Car needed to have been garaged it's entire life

• CORROSION: No rust or corrosion visible

• ABS: No ABS problems / warning lights. 1990 US-spec SAAB 900's had ABS as standard... the systems can be problematic, and master cylinders are extremely expensive.

• DRIVETRAIN: Ideally a fully-functioning engine and transmission (however I was prepared to replace/rebuild as needed as I know these cars well)

• MILEAGE: Doesn't matter

I'd been leasing & buying cars (some nice, some not so much) and never REALLY liked anything I'd been driving. In the past, I'd had an 83 900 Turbo (my 2nd car) and an 85 SPG (amazing car) and an 89 SPG (sort of, it lives with my dad and is technically "his"). In high school I was flat out obsessed with my 83 900 Turbo.

Meanwhile a few years back at dinner with a friend in Los Angeles in 2003 or so, the valet pulled up... with his 1990-something Miata. Chick car. I kind of laughed... asked him why he drove the Miata. He said that a guy once told him "buy yourself the car you really... and I mean really... wanted your senior year of high school. It will make you happy." Something resonated in that advice, and I'd probably had too much to drink.

So I knew I wanted a red SPG.

I found a prospect on Saabnet.com's classifieds (best saab classifieds anywhere) and drove to Ohio to check the car out. Here was the advertisement:

Color: Talladega Red
Trans: Manual
Don’t worry about mileage on this car! Engine and transmission rebuilt at 149,000 miles ($3600+.) Lots of records! Always garage kept. No Rust! Car has factory red APC box. Upgraded radio and speakers. I planned on driving this car for many more years but I found a deal on a NG900 convertible and the wife wants to keep her A4. Imperfections: dash cracks (currently covered with a dash cover), some seat stitching separated (NOT torn or worn out, just starting to come apart at seems), headliner sags (headliner was replaced a few years ago, material is still perfect, adhesive failed.) Plenty of pictures available upon request.

So. The ad sounded promising. Hmm... I was now living in Nashville, TN. Ohio seemed far. But according to Mapquest, the car was in southern Ohio... right next to Kentucky... and that's only a 6 hour drive. Score. I emailed, and here's the pictures the owner sent back to me:
















From the pictures, I could tell it met most of my criteria. Things I noticed from above pictures were:

Car has a Saab accessory (very rare and $) whaletail, painted to match car with black rubber lip (+)
Leather seats look in great shape for a 17 y.o. car (+)
Someone has obviously painted the valvecover to match car (+/- but it looks cool)
Slight color mismatch (VERY slight) between front doors and rear 3/4 panels, indicating possible repaint of front of car. Most if not all T-Red cars have had problems with the top layer / clear of the paint flaking off, so this didn't really bother me too much
Engine and Trans were completely rebuilt approx 50K miles ago (+)
But receipt said "Grind valves" and you can't grind turbo Saab valves as it removes stellite coatings (potential big - if that REALLY was what it was)
Lame aftermarket foglights would have to come off ASAP (-)
No dents, body looks in great shape (+)
Bottom grey SPG trims look good, but like most, probably could use a refinish (expected)
Cool tinted windows (-)

Love at first sight. The owner's dad owned a Saab repair shop and there were all kinds of cool cars around... all looked like they were well taken care of. You know the saying... nice house, nice car (the idea that people who maintain their houses/businesses probably also take somewhat good care of their cars too).

I haggled the owner down a bit because it needed a new front engine mount (slight engine movement upon acceleration) and there was coolant on the drivers side floor (dead ringer symptom of a bad heater control valve). I bought it, ditched my Hertz Rental Car at a closed Avis Rental facility (it was Saturday, what was I supposed to do!) and drove the SPG home... fast... with no license plates through three states. I verified the car would indeed exceed 125mph pretty smoothly. Not the brightest idea.

I was finally the proud owner of a Talladega Red SPG, for the time being, it would be my daily driver (we were saving up to get married and just bought a house).

So I went from a $550 a month lease on an unmentioned and POS unnamed European car, ditched my idea of getting a V8 VW Taureg, and bought a 17 year old potentially-bitchy car. Am I crazy? My girlfriend (now wife) thought so, but she did like the idea that we could buy it and not have a car payment every month for eternity.

Anyway... so the SPG was added to the 'car collection' -- I'm determined to keep this car forever.