The saga of Saab’s demise has been dragging on for so long it’s hard to keep up – and to keep caring. I for one want the company to survive, but each day there seems to be another update, be it a phantom bid from a Chinese suitor almost certain to be rejected by GM, or more news about how things are ending in disarray in Trollhättan. You become desensitised. It’s been a sad and sorry (seemingly) final chapter for a car company many of us care about, but the overload of information desensitizes you and I to the plight of Saab – and its employees.
But if anything is going to get your attention, it’s that the entire content of the Saab museum has been put up for sale by the administrators. This is the reality of bankruptcy: everything is being flogged. That means the Ursaab, one-off prototypes and contents, to the trailer the museum used to move cars around. It’s sobering and saddening.
Below are just a few of the highlights from over 100 vehicles up for sale. The administrators are taking bids up until midday on Friday 20 January 2012, on individual cars or the whole collection. Here’s hoping a wealthy individual wades in. If not to save the company, then at least to secure the future of these historic cars. Where’s a Chinese car company to make a bid when you need one?
The full list of cars up for sale is downloadable as a PDF here.
By Ben Pulman/@thebenpulman
1946 Ursaab
1956 Saab 94 Sonett
1966 Saab 97 Sonett 2-T
1967 Saabo Husvagn
1969 Saab 99
1980 Saab 900 ‘Safari’ prototype
1981 Saab 900 Cabriolet Targa prototype
1989 Saab 9000 limo (with just 156bhp)
1989 Saab 9000 ‘Solstad’ (a pick-up for the museum)
1996 Saab 900 SVO (esentially a Viggen prototype. Fans of torquesteer only)
2001 Not a Saab, but a Heco trailer the museum uses
2001 Saab 9X concept
2006 Saab AeroX concept
2008 Saab 9-X BioHybrid Concept
Okay, that was the good stuff. Now the bad…
2004 Subaru-based Saab 9-2X
2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer-based Saab 9-7X
2006 Cadillac BLS
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