18 Comments
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Ataraxis's avatar

It’s funny how many of the homely cars of the past had some charm or appeal, whereas the homely cars of today are just ……… homely.

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linearphase's avatar

Not a 95, but growing up in the 60's our next door neighbor had a 2-stroke 96 in a pale yellow. He was a volunteer fireman and when the siren went off a mile away, he would bolt out of the house and rip away in a blue haze, never slowing for the left turn corner 200 ft from his driveway. I swear he was on two wheels in the corner.

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Adam 12's avatar

I am Adam 12 and I endorse this Post!

As the owner of a 96 and 900 SPG I hope to one day be cool enough to own a 95 or a two stroke 95 or 96.

Keep it up Tom.

So what would you do if Saab was still around, you were in charge, and you had to make a new model and had just finished three G&T’s and had just lest a dinner theatre?

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Sir Morris Leyland's avatar

Great question...and remember that SAAB IS NOT LINCOLN :)

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Wes's avatar

Sadly unique cars such as this and in general will slowly fade. Nowadays the "mobility companies" just pack tech shit in a rolling billboard and tell you its great.

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CLN's avatar

Awwwwww, I love these!!!!

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AK47isthetool's avatar

I saw a Saabaru just the other day. What a waste.

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I COME IN PEACE's avatar

I had one, but not the Aero :(

It was a cheapo (not really) salvage title edition that replaced a MK V GTI. Before you call me crazy, the VW's mask slipped a few times (plastic part failures) plus I was supporting a lazy, borderline-personality-disorder wreck of a girlfriend (hindsight = 20/20) and I flipped it. So a lot of frustration was thrust upon said Saaburu. It took the abuse like a champ! Dark days....

I actually saw one of the last 9-5's a couple of weeks ago. Not a bad looking car.

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AK47isthetool's avatar

I will say two things about the one I saw: a) it was striking how Saab-ish they managed to make it look; and 0) I just found out they only made them for two years way back in 05-06, and this thing looked pretty fresh (and was still running) almost 20 years later.

The "waste" comment was regarding GM destroying Saab as a whole, not the Saabaru aspect per se.

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I COME IN PEACE's avatar

Can't disagree on both points. The Saabaru anomaly just looks better, even though the interiors were still basic Subaru. So no neato jet stuff.

I would love to have an old 900 but it would be too much of a challenge to keep it going. And I drive an 18 year old Land Rover.

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ChrisB's avatar

I had a Linear 9-2x as well, couldn't afford the aero model at the time. It really handled well, was quiet and comfortable.

My friend's roommate in college was from sweden and thought that the north american only saabs must've been very special and told me to never sell it. He never really grasped the concept of "rebadging."

I was planning to keep it until the head gaskets went and by the time it got to 150,000mi I had to keep a bottle of antifreeze in the car at all times, but it ended up being rust that made it fail inspection and drove me to sell it.

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Sir Morris Leyland's avatar

"head gasket"

Eventually, the Subaru shines through!

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Sobro's avatar

Brother Andy was lucky to see such a rarity. The last rarity I saw was the Weinermobile frying down I-70 in September.

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Todd Zuercher's avatar

Are the references in this article to “CC” referring to Curbside Classics?

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-Nate's avatar

Pops had two of these, both 1966 and both red .

He bought the first one new and loved it, I remember it was fairly quiet , I could hear the harmonic sound the roof rack made .

It got wrecked by the Dealer's Mechanic and soe years later in '70 or so he bought another same color, it didn't stay long .

Pops loved to short shift and I bet he fouled the spark plugs and then blamed the car .

-Nate

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Johnnyangel's avatar

Tom, I'm so so very tired of you bashing the "depressing website." So you parted on not the best terms with PN? So he might not be the easiest person in the world to get along with? Some of us like the site he created and still go there every day.

Why not grow up, show a llittle class, and give it a rest? This really detracts from reading your stuff ...

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Tom Klockau's avatar

Don't worry. When he dies I'll stop.

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Johnnyangel's avatar

Not likely. It’s even easier for petty small-minded people to speak ill of the dead.

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