I'm Only Fooling the People Who Don't Know a Saab from a Plymouth

Until I decide to get a new hood badge for the 900, I took the old one off, painted it black, the paint did not stick, so i cleaned the badge, scraped off the old flaking Saab logo, and restored a Plymouth badge and glued it all together to make for a rather confusing front fascia.

I needed a paper towel, aluminum foil, sharpies to color match, and the badges and silicone caulk.

I used the sharpie to smooth out the foil.

Bumpy side to smooth side, just takes some time.

Restored color the the blue part of the badge.

Formed the foil to the back of the emblem where the chrome came off when I took it off a minivan.

Siliconed it together.

Picture of it on the hood coming soon.

My Generation at the Chicago Auto Show

It may be a little too early for me to reminisce about when I was younger, when I just turned old enough to vote!, but isn't that why any guy buys an older car, because he was younger when the car was new, thus driving it now, makes him feel the age he was based on the year of the car. This post is based on year one of my life, and before that. Here is a little geographic bio of mine, I live in the Chicago Suburbs and love going to the auto show, any show involving cars for that matter. Here are some press pictures of the 1997 Chicago Auto Show, and because this is a Saab blog, all this information is relevant to my cause. If you read any other word I write, I am very self involved in learning about anything I do or what I am apart off, and referencing movies, people and historical events to my life to have a base of when and where I grew up, If that's not too much information at once, there is a little more, but lets get back to Saab's.

Look at this layout of the new model year, sedans, wagons, convertibles and a classic 96 in the center.

Here is the show in 1994, when the Saab 900 received a new look since 1978, in 1993, the new 1994 900 came out and lasted until 1998 when the 900/9000 cars where changed to the 9-3 and 9-5. Forever claiming the first generation the "classic" generation.

Saab 900's Spotted on Seinfeld

Throughout the 9 years of the Seinfeld series on television, there has been so many laughs and situations otherwise everyday people can run into. During most of this, cars were involved, Elaine driving a Ford Taurus, Georges Buick Regal and Skylark, the Pontiac GTO, his Dads Mercury Monarch, Jerrys Dads Cadillac Fleetwood, and most importantly Jerry's many black Saab 900 Convertibles.

Here are the results of a search of the many scenes where a Saab 900 was in, most pictures are in the same episode, but not in order below.

Jerry and George seen behind a new 1997 Saab 900

Kramer jumping on the car Jerry will buy.

Kramer backed into Jerrys car.

Stuck in traffic

Kramer and "that other guy" car salesman getting food but no gas, to see how long they can go with the slash below the E.

Newman and Kramer chasing Tony in Ohio on there way to Michigan for the bottle deposit.

At a funeral for Elaines made up assistant.

Driving

Jerrys dropping Elaine off before the Saab acts up, and Jerry sees there is all sorts of food stashed under the hood after letting Kramer and Newman borrow the car to go to Price Club.

Jerrys mechanic Tony tearing out of the garage.

More trafffic

Chasing down a former girlfriend.

Tony tears Jerry a new one telling him everything he is doing wrong to his car.

These are all the scenes in which a Saab 900 was used in the show.

Seinfeld Reference: Can't be Said Any Better than by Jerry

Jerry Seinfeld is a car guy, and has a particular interest in Saab, explained in Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and shown in numerous episodes of Seinfeld, and finally comes out in this clip, when taunting on lookers that "Black Saabs Rule!", before driving off.

Seinfeld Reference: Jerry's Car Gets Stolen

In this episode of Seinfeld, Jerry and George enter the apartment talking about how Jerry's car got stolen right outside his building, Jerry calls the number of his car phone, and the thief (voice- Larry David) confesses that he stole the car, and will not give it back.

Seinfeld Reference: Jerry Goes to His Mechanic

In this episode of Seinfeld, Jerry goes to his mechanic (Brad Garrett) to see what is wrong with his car, Tony the manic mechanic goes off on how Jerry abuse is explained as "wear and tear".

Later in the scene, after Elaine comes to get John F. Kennedy's golf clubs out of the trunk, Tony peels out of the garage in the Saab to later be chased down by Newman and Kramer in a mail truck in Ohio.

Seinfeld Reference: Kramer Test Drives a Saab 900

In the same episode from the previous post, Kramer took it upon himself to take a thorough test drive of the Saab 900 Jeery bought.

Seinfeld Reference: Jerry Goes to the Dealership

Seinfeld has to be one of the greatest television series of the 1990's, and after being off the air for nearly 20 years, still brings so many hours of viewing pleasure! Both in the show and in life, Jerry Seinfeld loves cars, particulary Saab, and in this episode, Jerry and the gang go to a European car dealer so Jerry can get a new Saab 900 convertible. In this seen, Jerry is being stiffed by Elaines former boyfriend David Puddy.

Rust and Damage Repair: Part 3

I am now making some progress, and ready to begin the restoration of the rear fender and bumper. I finally took the bumper off, I didn't want to pull it off and risk braking something. but it successfully came loose and will be put back on with no problem.

Cleaning off and removing all the big parts of the old patchwork and cleaning any loose paint and metal flakes and pulling off damaged pieces.

More small surprises

Looks good at this angle.

Cleaner than before and easier to work with the bumper off than to try bending it out of the way.

Look forward to future installments of the cosmetic repairs.

Dashboard Headlight Switch Adjustment

I know these posts are starting to get out of order based on the work that I am doing, I found this and realized this work was done a few weeks ago, I did not get a chance to fix the air vent yet, but I managed to pull the dashboard out enough to connect the headlight switch back to the knob.

I am now left with the air vent assembly.

Although I connected the knob back to the green switch, the headlights and fog lights do not work, only the turn signals and brights for now.

This?

Rust and Damage Repair: Part 2

          I guess I will be posting updates pretty frequently with the extended time frame I have for rust removal before parts come in the mail to really get things moving. Since yesterday, I have not done much, but continue to remove the rust from the driver side rear quarter panel. I found out that this side of the car had to be fixed sometime by the previous owner and I will fix it again.

          I also started to clean up the gas cover, and have to replace the gas cap. More will be covered later.

The tools I used to do this work were a screw driver, a blunt pair of pliers (for hitting), and a box to collect falling debris, and a spray bottle of water to keep dust and particles down.

Side

Tailgate

Gas cover

Rust and Damage Repair Part:1

Looking at what I did today, this is going to have to be a multiple installment post of the rust removal and body reconditioning to this Saab, as it can't be seen to well with the picture above, I dug my way in deep with the rear corner panel as to find its not what its lead to believe.

Seen here, the rust doesn't look to bad, if this was metal, but poking a screw driver into the hole, I see this is not metal, but filler, bondo, something happened here that I am going to have to look into that was covered up, until the rust ate through the filler, and was exposed for me to find how bad it looks underneath.

Its not oozing, I was spraying it all down with water to keep dust down and pieces from flying around in the air.

Under the panel is a piece of metal, that is easy to wiggle up and down.

Everything falling out

Shoveled up off the ground.

I did not even get to the hatchback as it looks pretty bad, but at least its just metal, simply remove the infected area, and work from there. The body panel that I looked into today is a long term investigation and will check back soon with more results.