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1989 spg $12,000?

6K views 100 replies 26 participants last post by  Jack Straw 
#1 ·
i wanted to put this out there my Boss has a 1989 SPG and hes thinking about selling it hes wants $12,000 for it. now remember before every one starts going OMG! 12,000! this car has 60k on the odometer and looks like it was PDI'd yesterday, i kid you not this car has sat in a temperature controlled storage unit since it was new. i CANNOT find a thing wrong with this car. i guess its tough to determine a price for a car like this without pictures but do you think 12k is a good price for a PRISTINE spg?

NOTE i will be driving it to Swedish Car Day for him (witch Iam ecstatic about :):) ) were you can see this beauty in person!
 
#7 ·
I could see 12k to the right buyer, some uber old fashioned Saab enthusiast. I'd be scared to drive the car if it wasn't mine. Imagine if you or him were to get into an accident? The battle with a claims adjuster to get proper value would be brutal since such a car is worth a high amount to a limited few. At either rate, that's sweet you get to drive it, work on it, etc. Very cool.
 
#10 ·
For my car I have it insured as a collector car or whatever it's called where I get to drive it no more then 5K miles a year, I have it insured for $45K. For me this was better then normal full coverage since with normal ins I can drive it however much I want but they go off of book value vs appraised value. Thus I would get totally screwed if I was in a accident!

My yearly ins premium went from under $800 a yr to $250 a yr which is another bonus :)
 
#11 ·
Would you spend that for my Commem? (its a rhetorical question: the Commem is NOT for sale....) It just depends, I guess. On what the buyer is willing to spend, on what the seller is willing to take to part with it.

Personally, in my case, $12 grand wouldn't be enough. But to the average guy on the street, my Commem isn't worth much more than the next classic 900.
 
#13 ·
I'm a 9K guy now but I had an '88 SPG. It was a great car 'til rust killed it. Doesn't the '89 have the better tranny? And didn't '90 have the f'd up EGR system?

FWIW, if the car looks like it rolled out of the showroom, why wouldn't it be worth that kind of money?
 
#20 ·
no modded car will ever be superior to a stock survivor car with low miles. so right there you can eliminate super spg's from this conversation of which is more valuable.

furthermore, a survivor spg gets a larger market of buyres than any modded car. a perfect example is that white arflow from new york. there is no better quality restomod out there. but its built to one person's vision. its a market of one.

finally, if the car is incredibly preserved and has some visual 'pop' to it, a buyer will eventually surface. but to get money like that you need to detail it thoroughly, take professional pics in good light, and advertise in several places including autotrder nd even hemmings and other car forums like 6peedonline and bimmerforums.

i would pay 14000 for an spg if it had undr 30k miles and was tally red and a true survivor. thats a rare car! closest ive seen is the gm heritage car.

the car in this thread is a 9-11 k car.
 
#21 ·
no modded car will ever be superior to a stock survivor car with low miles. so right there you can eliminate super spg's from this conversation of which is more valuable.

furthermore, a survivor spg gets a larger market of buyres than any modded car. a perfect example is that white arflow from new york. there is no better quality restomod out there. but its built to one person's vision. its a market of one.

finally, if the car is incredibly preserved and has some visual 'pop' to it, a buyer will eventually surface. but to get money like that you need to detail it thoroughly, take professional pics in good light, and advertise in several places including autotrder nd even hemmings and other car forums like 6peedonline and bimmerforums.

i would pay 14000 for an spg if it had undr 30k miles and was tally red and a true survivor. thats a rare car! closest ive seen is the gm heritage car.

the car in this thread is a 9-11 k car.
Which has regular 900 front bumper extensions ;)

And FWIW, I've seen cars with ~60,000 miles that have been stored their whole lives and look beautiful inside and out, but has terrible rust underneath from sitting in a garage (moisture collects). Just saying.
 
#25 ·
If you looked at is as "I'm going to buy this car, drive the wheels off it, and enjoy every second of it until it dies.", then damn straight I can see spending that kind of cash.

You'd spend that on a Corolla just off lease, and an SPG would last as long, be as reliable, be as good on gas, but be MUCH more fun to drive and turn far more heads.

you'd have to just be that guy that wants to buy an SPG to drive for the next 20 years......that's all.
 
#26 ·
you'd have to just be that guy that wants to buy an SPG to drive for the next 20 years......that's all.
Anyone who buys it for that kind of money would garage it and buff it daily with the tender fur of freshly killed harp seals, and only drive it three times a year, and never above 50.

Collector cars get that kind of treatment, and should, but is a regular production late-80s Saab worthy of that?

I can see doing this to a 99 Viggen or a first year turbo 99 or even the first year SPG....but....
 
#32 ·
I personally like to see him get that price, but like everyone else is saying , it has to be to the right person.

I've seen the SPG on ebay that is high priced, but up close it looks like any decent $5000 dollars SPG, not the 12,000 or whatever that guy wants.

Plus low miles scare me more than high well taken care of miles. Lots of thing will probably need replacing unless the guy ran it often.

Please get some photos of it and post, as I'd love to see it. I can add it to my collection of higher priced SPG's that sold, so if something does happen to mine, i can have some ammunition for the insurance companies.
 
#34 ·
I wouldn't be suprised if he did get that for the car. Did anyone see the red SPG at the SOC that went for $5000. From what I saw it was a piece, I wouldnt have paid over 1500 for that car. It had over 200,000 miles SRS light was on, Paint was faded (I know it was red and reviveable but still) and I didnt look to see if there was any rust. I almost fell over when I saw that, It kind of made me want to go home and put my SPG back together to stock and sell the thing.... Well maby not I like going fast :evil:
 
#39 ·
we are all fans of the brand here...but to call them reliable is a stretch even when new. and to compare with a corolla -new or used - is absurd.

back on topic though, that spg looks awesome! how does it smell inside? like new saab? like rich old leather? or like old car sitting too long? it definitey needs to be presented better. it could use a good clay bar and polish, the underside cleaned, glass looks dowdy, hedlights polished, and some plastic/rubber dressing.
 
#44 ·
wheels, like any add-on can only hurt the curb appeal, but its easy enough to change back to stock.

what makes it a survivor car is the low miles, no bodywork or rust, and its this stuff that cannot be replicated. if this particular car is as good as represented, i'd pay 9k-10k for it. if it were a tally, then 12k because its my dream car.
 
#46 ·
100k miles? That's it?

Have you ever owned a c900? Seriously.... they're extremely reliable. I drove 50,000 miles without putting a dime into my first car. And the motor went on to live in the SPG with no problems.
 
#54 ·
All LH 2.4 ECU's can potentially fail. Worst offenders are 1988 900-S 16 valve, 1989 900 & 900-S, and 1989 900-Turbo. 88-89 9000's are a similar failure rate. 90-93 has a revised fuel pump turn on circuit that seems to fail far less often, and are a direct swap (900-non turbo, and 900-Turbos), however they do still fail. Anyone with an LH 2.4 car should always keep an extra ECU in their sub trunk, right next to the spare tire, assuming it does not leak.
 
#58 ·
lets not forget the apetite for motor mounts! puerto rico roads were too much for the c900. puerto rico heat too much for the nordic princesses. even our consistent stream of gm sedans were more reliable. of course, those gm cars fell to pieces while the saabs held up to the abuse, but to call a c900 reliable is a jk.

you know what cars were always reliable? any toyota honda and nissan.

you guys with the reliable c900s i suspect have sorted out your cars and are either forgetting repairs and preventively replacing known problems, or just drinking the coolaid.
 
#60 ·
I like people (Zach) trying to tell Tom what's what.

Spgeebee88 (Tom) has been working as a main mechanic at Village Saab for a while now. I think he knows a few things about reliability and common problems.
 
#62 · (Edited)
I like people (Zach) trying to tell Tom what's what.

Spgeebee88 (Tom) has been working as a main mechanic at Village Saab for a while now. I think he knows a few things about reliability and common problems.
x2,, Tom is the person i go to when i get stuck..... and i dont get stuck often

89's are known to have more troublesome ECUs than other years,, but simply put,, the number of failed 89 ECUs vs the number of good working ones,, is a very drastic ratio

id bet T7 MAFs are a much more common failure

As well as T5 TCS throttle bodys

or c900 transmissions........

ive delt with more ignition PCM failures, distributor failures than i ever have Fuel Ecu's and those parts are in all years

simply put, there are bigger fish to fry than a fuel ECU on a c900
 
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