1993 Saab 900S

The owner had de-badged the decklid of this super-clean '87-'93 Saab 900 making precise identification tricky. With the alloy wheels I'm thinking it's a 900S and the Ruby Red color I think marks it as a 1993 model.  I'm not enough of a Saab nerd to pick up the subtler details.

The normally-aspirated 16V longitudinal inline four under the hood had received a displacement bump for 1991. Now called the B212, the 2.1L made 140 horsepower.

It was photographed with a Canon EOS-1D Mark III and an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens in April of 2024.

1991 Saab 900 Turbo Convertible

Saab's 99 evolved into the 900 for the 1978 model year. Like its predecessor, it had a longitudinally-mounted four cylinder motor up front, driving the front wheels.

The 1987 Saab 900's got a facelift, with integrated bumpers and a more aerodynamic nose.

The 1991 900 Turbo, like this Beryl Green Metallic convertible, had a 2.0L 16V turbo inline four, while the normally-aspirated models had a slightly larger 2.1L displacement. Now rated at 160 SAE net, the 900 Turbo was actually a fairly sprightly car for its era, with zero-to-sixty timer in the low/mid eight second range. The convertibles were burdened by an almost 300 pound weight penalty over the coupes bumping the 0-60 time to about nine seconds with a manual.

This one was photographed in June of 2024 using an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH zoom lens.

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2011 Saab 9-5 Aero

The 9000 started life as the least Saab-y Saab. Wanting an entry into what is referred to as the "Executive Car" market in Europe... "Midsize" to us Yanks ...the Swedes partnered up with Fiat and went in on something new for the the brand: A car with a transverse front engine layout.

Roomy and still having a distinctly Saab interior and powertrain, the 9000 sold here in the US from '85 through '97 before getting replaced by its successor, the all-new Saab 9-5. By this time the Swedish carmaker was half-owned by General Motors and so the new sedan relied heavily on a platform and mechanicals shared with both Opels and the US-market Saturn L-series sedans.

The first generation of the 9-5 remained in production for over a decade itself before being replaced for 2010 with the second, and final, generation of the model. By this time the auto manufacturing world was still reeling from the effects of the Great Recession and GM had been looking for a buyer for Saab for a while.

Spyker bought the company, and with it the new 9-5. The new car shared little of the essential quirkiness that made a Saab a Saab. Built on the same long wheelbase variant of the GM Epsilon II platform as rental fleet stalwarts like the Chevy Malibu and Buick LaCrosse, its Swede-ness was only badge-deep.

A 2011 Arctic White 9-5 Aero, like the one in the picture, had the 2.8L turbocharged General Motors LAU V-6 making 300hp. The crew at Car and Driver tested a 2011 9-5 Aero XWD and recorded a 6.3 second zero to sixty run and a 14.9 second quarter at 97mph. The fun continued until the governor kicked in at 158mph.

At the same time, the testers noted "Awfully expensive for a Buick LaCrosse, could use more power for the money." It didn't matter, though, because in a year, Spyker/Saab would stop paying vendors, declare bankruptcy, and Saab automobiles would be no more after 2012.

This one was photographed with a Nikon D7100 and the excellent 16-80mm f/2.8-4E VR zoom lens in July of 2022.