A Saab in its natural environment

IKEA.

Bed frame, mattress, some shelves, an armchair, and associated ottoman.

Probably going to have to give in and ship the couch.

They really were such great cars.

I was just watching Saab clutch replacement videos. That's got to be the easiest clutch job ever.

In reply to nutherjrfan :

A fair counterpoint, though we don't have a lot of snow around here at the moment, and driving sideways on the Merritt Parkway and I-95 is generally frowned upon. Also, I'm pretty sure my GF wanted to get the furniture home intact. Come winter, the studded Hakkas will go on - hopefully we'll actually have some snow to play in this year.

In reply to Woody :

It's the only car I've had where I didn't dread the prospect of changing the clutch. It's not too bad for most service items, though there are some unusual packaging choices that make things awkward.

I kinda wish sometimes i had bought evans, these things are so cool.

Total clickbait...I love it.  

Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) said:

I kinda wish sometimes i had bought evans, these things are so cool.

I kinda wish I bought it back when my friend sold it. 

Woody said:

I was just watching Saab clutch replacement videos. That's got to be the easiest clutch job ever.

F10 Datsun.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I have done both. I give it equals just because I don't like to bend down into the wheel well on the Datsun.

Nice.

It always bothered me that the car they parked out front at our IKEA was...a Beetle painted blue and yellow, because, you know, a German car painted in Swedish colors somehow makes it Swedish.

The ease of changing a 99/900 clutch is to offset the pain of changing a crank pulley or steering rack...

Streetwiseguy said:

Woody said:

I was just watching Saab clutch replacement videos. That's got to be the easiest clutch job ever.

F10 Datsun.

Too uglier. 

In reply to procainestart :

There were no display cars - just lines snaking through the parking lot, looking just like an airport security line (remember those?), as people waited to get inside while doing a fairly poor job of estimating what six feet looks like. IKEA Covid-era pro tip: order online, then pickup in the dedicated lot where they wheel your stuff out to your car.

Having done the crank pulley on mine I would say it's tedious but not terribly difficult. Pulling the steering rack looks far less pleasant....

I love 900s! 

My best friend’s mom was obsessed with them growing up. She was a professor, so she had to be.

I think she had at least 5 of them, mostly turbo convertibles.

I sorta doubt I ever own one at this point, but yours makes me want one.

I'd like to drive a manual one. The auto seemed to shift at strange times, like in an intersection off camber in the rain. Almost hit that curb!

In reply to CyberEric :

While I hardly consider myself obsessed - this is the first and only one I've owned, and I really never considered them until a couple years ago - I'm also a professor, so perhaps it was meant to be.

In reply to buzzboy :

The manual isn't exactly what I'd call precise or refined, but it's probably better than the auto. I need to spend some more time tinkering with the linkage on mine, but even brand new I understand they weren't great.

You’re a professor?! You MUST own a Saab. It’s in your DNA. There are Saab whisperers making sure you buy one. It’s been decided by powers greater than any of us can cognitively understand.

The shifters were weird feeling even new. It’s part of the package.

In reply to CyberEric :

We academics have an oft-used saying: correlation does not equal causation. But as you say, this may defy rational attempts at explanation.

mad_machine (Forum Supporter) said:

They really were such great cars.

*are

Nice. I found the perfect lamp for my office at Ikea, but they don't offer shipping. So off to Ikea we go....

mad_machine (Forum Supporter) said:

They really were such great cars.

I've always had a craving to own one.  

02Pilot said:

In reply to buzzboy :

I need to spend some more time tinkering with the linkage on mine, but even brand new I understand they weren't great.

I have heard that the later ('91+ IIRC), 2-piece "dogbone" shifter couplers are an improvement over the earlier one-piece type, especially if you replace the rubber with polyurethane. Getting the shifter coupler removed can be an insanely frustrating experience: it's attached on the gearbox side with a tapered steel pin that is super-hard to remove. Then, when you break it because you screwed up bashing it out, you get to waste hours of your life, on your back, under the car, swearing...

(I come by my own Saab obsession via my dad, a professor who owned nothing but Saabs/Volvos when I was growing up.)

A solid choice; as a professor, I believe your options also include diesels from Mercedes or Peugeot. Or so it appeared from the parking lot at the bike shop near the U of O campus where I used to work.

Hearing a diesel parking, I'd think "hark, the sound of eccentricity."

Not that there aren't plenty of perfectly... concentrically adjusted professors. I suppose you can tell by their Saabs?

In reply to procainestart :

I've heard the same - in fact, I'm talking to a guy who has a parts stockpile about getting one. I've heard horror stories about the tapered pin. I'll probably buy a spare one, which in turn will guarantee that the old ones comes out intact.

In reply to Jesse Ransom :

I make no claims regarding my eccentricity or lack thereof. Most professors these days seem to drive aged Subarus or Toyotas, or take the train.

Different season, different natural environment.

Even with half-worn Hakkapelittas it's just unstoppable in the snow, and the heat starts to melt your eyeballs in about three minutes from take-off.