Saab cabrio history

The first prototype was presented at IAA Frankfurt in 1983. It was this one :

Beautiful, isn't it ? No wonder, it was a success, so the preparation for serial production has begun. It took 3 years and the serial production begun in spring 1986. The engines of Saab 900, ranging from 144HP to 185HP were pretty reliable. Here you can find mileage which these engines accomplished. The top 50 ranges are ranging from 600.000km to 1.5 million kilometers ! Without any sentiment to the past, where you can find present engines running these distances ?

 

Photo Credit: Mike Parris / Winding Road / saabhistory.com

One of the ads from the past. Typical 80-ies video ad. LOL.

                 

In 1989 Saab was acquired by General Motors. It was a sad day for Saab. GM as a global and process driven corp had no understanding of the potential and customer loyalty of Saab. But Saab was still alive and remains until now. 

Saab 900 NG cabrio : 

In Saab cabrio history that meant Saab 900 NG (New Generation), presented in 1992 and with serial production in 1994. Still very nice and very saabish, but Vectra chassis. Whatever, here it is : 

This one belongs to Michal, a member of our Saab club in Slovakia. More pictures of Saab 900 NG (New Generation) cabrio are here, this time from appearance in a mini film series.

In 1998 presented and in 1999 produced came the first generation of 9-3 Cabrio. Saab claimed many changes were done. It looked like this one : 

It was produced until 2003, when the second generation came. A bit different and with several facelifts and improvements it is produced until today. This is what I have, year 2007 : 

Of course I had to try if the "all season convertible" marketing is true. The handbook says you can open the soft-top roof until -5°C. At this picture it was -3°C and the ride on tha back roads was very very cute. Heating on 3/4, heated seat and everything is fine. A wind deflector is even a bigger improvement, but this will be covered in one of the next posts.