Not solely is at the moment’s Good Value or No Cube Saab a drop-top, but it surely additionally has efficiency chops, because it sports activities the moderately uncommon Viggen bundle. Let’s see if that makes its value something price getting labored up over.
A standard idiom derived from baseball is to “swing for the fences.” Which means to place one’s all into an effort. In selecting $34,750 because the asking value for the 1974 BMW 1802 Touring we checked out final Friday, the vendor providing that 02 actually was swinging for the fences. As fascinating and well-presenting because the automobile appeared, most of you felt that value to be a whiff, sending the Bimmer again to the bench with a 92 p.c No Cube loss.
Do you bear in mind what occurred to caricature Little Orphan Annie when Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks took her in? Sure, she nonetheless had the creepy, useless, soulless eyes of a Haitian Zombie, however she additionally received to expertise what a lifetime of wealth and luxury could possibly be like.
That’s the identical expertise that Saab acquired when the foundering Swedish firm realized its savior in Basic Motors. Not relegated to decades-old chassis or these co-developed with 30 different market rivals, Saab was capable of store throughout the Basic retailer, selecting up a platform solely utilized by different members of the GM household. Saab was not an orphan. It was now a member of that international household.
In fact, all good issues should finish, and identical to Annie getting dumped again within the orphanage by Warbucks’ nasty spouse time and time once more, Saab finally returned to the streets, a chilly and lonely orphan.
However earlier than that occurred, the corporate popped out cool rides like at the moment’s 2000 9-3 Viggen convertible. The 9-3 of this period was based mostly on the competent company GM2900 platform, which additionally underpinned, most notably, the Opel Vectra and Saturn L of the period. Hey all people, bear in mind both of these?
This one occurs to be each the convertible model and the fascinating 5-speed Viggen (thunderbolt) version, named after Saab’s Viggen fighter jet. Which means it rocks a Volvo RM8 turbofan with an afterburner for mach-2 capabilities, and…. wait, that doesn’t appear proper.
Really, the Viggen (automobile) received a turbo 2.3-litre (B235R), blessed with a much bigger intercooler, higher-flow exhaust, and distinctive ECU mapping. Initially making 225-bhp, the 2000 mannequin 12 months version received an additional 5 ponies only for poops and giggles.
To make that added poop extra giggle-worthy, the Viggen additionally was imbued with a stouter clutch, beefier half shafts and CV joints on the entrance axle, and suspension upgrades to make the automobile deal with the highway in addition to it did the engine. On the time, the Viggen was the quickest highway automobile Saab had ever constructed.
This one has all that, and the photographs within the advert do proof the distinctive Viggen cam cowl brand and physique equipment that supposedly improves aerodynamics over the usual 9-3 by over eight p.c.
On the draw back, the automobile rocks a considerable 169,000 miles on the clock, and the vendor claims it may stand some paintwork as a result of “the paint has its share of scratches and blems.”
Apart from that, there don’t appear to be any vital points with the automobile. The highest seems to work because it ought to, and the vendor claims it’s “in any other case good to go proper out of the field. A clear title and the promise of nice top-down driving are further points of interest.
The vendor has set an asking value of $3,950 for the Viggen. That’s a $500 discount from a earlier try and promote, or so the advert claims. Was that sufficient of a drop?
What do you say? Is $3,950 for this 9-3 a cut price? Or is that this a Viggen that’s nonetheless too friggin’ costly?
You determine!
Seattle, Washington, Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.
H/T to FauxShizzle for the hookup!
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