Tally Red is single stage. That appears to be clearcoat failure, so you've got a respray for whatever reason.

This is what faded factory paint looks like: Nicks '90 Saab 900 SPG - brianleedyphoto's Photos

 

Right, that was my thought also. All the more reason to run a carfax!
This would have been sprayed very early in the car's life if so. I need to do a much more careful accident search. Where the paint has worn thru on the roof, I can see primer, and then metal. The exposed paint seems to match the look of faded factory paint- it almost feels like someone sprayed clear over the factory paint. Hmm.

 

it almost feels like someone sprayed clear over the factory paint. Hmm.

people do some WEIRD stuff.

I wouldn't doubt for a second that a clear over the stock paint is exactly what you've got.

Poke around and look closely for places where they would have masked off things while painting, and look for a transition from clear to no-clear at those mask lines; around the hatch seal, windshield seal, door handles, etc. Stuff that would have been a massive pain to remove, simply for painting.

 

I concur. The stock red paints were single stage and prone to fading. Someone tried to bring the shine back by clearing it, but didn't prep the base properly.

 

Nice score! I have had 3 talle reds and each one has had some really weird stuff done to it - the first was turned into an airflow ricer and shown with the local ricer club. The second had a front end collision (totalled, but settled out of court and kept title), repaired, and flipped by a guy so dirtbaggish that he actually had a printed carfax that he gave me as proof that the car had a perfect record - It was printed BEFORE the accident! And the third was a parts car - it had been nailed while parked by a drunk mustang driver. All three were advertised as "perfect" and needed almost full restoration (except the parts car which was promptly parted out).

That said, I still get sucked into buying them. Can't help it. They're just so purty!!!

 

Yep, now I'm seeing exactly where it's been sprayed. Only the roof, hood, and top half of the driver door. 80% of the clear is gone- only a few patches remain. If I could just scrape the last remnants off, the car would almost polish up. The totally worn through spots on the roof would remain, but it would sure look better than pink. Maybe there's some hope of avoiding a full respray, at least for a while.

 

Cool score! :clap:

 

I agree, looks like someone tried to spray clear over the single stage. Which won't work, it'll fail.

Maybe try pressure washing at a hard angle to see if the clear starts lifting off. If so keep at it, then see what you've got to work with.

 

The clear may also be lacquer. You MAY be able to get it off with lacquer thinner without harming the factory paint too bad. Try dabbing on some lacquer thinner in an inconspicuous spot and see if the clear lifts.

 

Wow, nice score Paul!! Can't wait to see this in person.

Finding a solid straight car is the tough part - Paint is easy. Not cheap, but easy

 

Awesome.

 

Does anyone think wetsanding this in the trouble areas would help?

 

So I got about 2/3rds of the clear off yesterday using a razor blade. A bunch of it just peeled right off. The last few spots are really stuck, so will try a few more things soon.

First though- gotta figure out this oil leak. I'm hemorrhaging oil- leaving big slicks wherever I park. I damn near slipped and fell yesterday unlocking my door. I know it's a saab, but this is a bit much!

 

So I got about 2/3rds of the clear off yesterday using a razor blade. A bunch of it just peeled right off. The last few spots are really stuck, so will try a few more things soon.

First though- gotta figure out this oil leak. I'm hemorrhaging oil- leaving big slicks wherever I park. I damn near slipped and fell yesterday unlocking my door. I know it's a saab, but this is a bit much!

I had the same problem on my '80 once. Turned out one of the lowest inner driver bolts had worked its way out and the tranny oil had pretty much all found its way to my driveway.

 

You won't know where its leaking until you get under it and really look around. A C900 can puke oil from a hundred different spots. Most common are the crank seal behind the harmonic balancer, inner driver o-rings, and the power steering drain/return line.

Park in a place where you see no oil at all, and when you shut the car off, get out and start looking. If its leaking that bad, you'll see the first drop hit the ground soon. From there you can at least start to locate the source.

 

When looking for leaks, especially really bad ones, I like to get the car up on stands, SECURELY, and start it. Cars leak in different places when the are running, due to oil pressure. I find stuff faster that way.

Just be sure the car is secured properly and not sketchily propped up.

 

crack!

The good: Paid Atomic Auto to fix my oil leak since I was just too busy and fouling the environment isn't my thing. I've managed to scrape a lot of the clear off, but more to go. Headliner, C pillars, sunroof, and door cards are all reupholstered.

The bad: Atomic spotted a cracked lower control arm. Better fix that ASAP before I hear a loud bang and stop suddenly. For the record, if anyone wants to see where to look for this crack:

The ugly: I decided to pull the carpet to start replacing my driver seat. Found two problems, one normal and one unexpected.

Normal: rust due to floor rusters :frown: It's the only rust on the whole car, but I know what lurks under that paint.

Next up, this explains why my drivers seat felt a little wobbly. The rail the seat bolts to is cracked thru, and obviously has been for a while. How the hell did this happen? Don't believe it is crash damage, so is it metal fatigue? Bad install at some point?

Any suggestions on fixing? Clearly welding will be involved. Leaning toward installing the Viggen seat I picked up, maybe permanently if it's cheaper to weld new mounting points while repairing this rail.

 

Just weld that shut and be done with it; its fatigue of some kind; maybe earlier on that was the only bolt holding the seat down and it weakened?

For the floor rust, scrape the rubberized undercoating from the inside, and find out how big a patch panel you need. That's a very common spot to go bad, and easy to fix believe it or not. I've done several in that spot.

 

Overall this looks like a very clean car! Great find! keep it nice.