[aireeca]

I think you're missing this. They held a public auction at the headquarters in Detroit with crated new engines and wheels and tools. Think SOC parts tent at bargain basement prices according to Jalopnik.

The "auction" wasn't much of an auction. One expects an auction to be orderly - and in a bankruptcy, one expects there to be rules designed to help engender the highest possible bid. That wasn't the case here.
Instead of an auction it was more like a fire sale - as groups were led through the now almost empty headquarters on a first-come, first-serve basis. If someone in one of the first groups bid for an item, if it met the reserve price, it was theirs.

That meant that not only was anyone who showed up late totally screwed, but it meant that the auction company wasn't going to be making very much money.

Luckily, I was able to glom on to an early-arriving group by promising I wasn't coming in to bid - only to observe.

Our group was led to the back of the facility and a multi-car garage filled with what was left of the dead Swedish brand's U.S. headquarters worldly possessions. There were stacks of tires, rims, testing equipment and even a couple of engines.

It was there that our group descended on the carcass of the automaker like vulture, looking for whatever tasty morsels we could scavenge.

I saw a pristine crated Saab H engine sold for a couple hundred dollars. Next to the crated H engine was a two-arm engine hoist - each arm holding a GM turbo V6 engine.

The two engines, hoist and all went for just a few hundred dollars to the guys from Motor City Resales Co.

 

[jk88]

Yeah I saw that this morning. SCNA had to liquidate. Effing ridiculous the way it was handled, but this was more or less inevitable with the mothership listing badly in the water, Mediterranean cruise style. It's certainly not good, but I don't think it has any relationship to the current bidding in Trollhattan...

 

[jk88]

PS - I think the Brightwell situation today is much more ominous...

 

[aireeca]

Yeah I saw that this morning. SCNA had to liquidate. Effing ridiculous the way it was handled, but this was more or less inevitable with the mothership listing badly in the water, Mediterranean cruise style. It's certainly not good, but I don't think it has any relationship to the current bidding in Trollhattan...

Here's just a thought...so, when events like this come up (although that might be it except for one other), why not have some dealers in the know (basically anyone in on pushing SCNA into Chapter 11) post this up for enthusiasts such as on this board?

Doesn't make sense, right? We're all a bunch of cheap assholes, right?

Not so fast. If things had actually gone for closer to market value at that auction, that is potentially more coin in the dealers' wallets when everything is said and done. Potentially.

 

[turbocon86]

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,
From Scandinavian land of snow,

When you awaken,
in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush of
quiet birds in circled flight,
That cradle you as you take flight.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.

 

[jk88]

Here's just a thought...so, when events like this come up (although that might be it except for one other), why not have some dealers in the know (basically anyone in on pushing SCNA into Chapter 11) post this up for enthusiasts such as on this board?

Doesn't make sense, right? We're all a bunch of cheap assholes, right?

Not so fast. If things had actually gone for closer to market value at that auction, that is potentially more coin in the dealers' wallets when everything is said and done. Potentially.

Yeah not disagreeing this was handled very poorly. Along with the Heritage auction, and very nearly the Saab Museum auction.

I guess I was just responding to your link text "It's really over" in the Party's Over thread, and hoping to reassure you with a reminder that the folding of SCNA is wholly separate from Trollhattan.

 

[Moonracer]

The saab stuff was small change at the sale. Most were there for the office eqipment. My wife went to it and it was alot like storage wars, there were a few preferential buyers there who got first dibs on most of everything. She was number 34 and said just about everyting was sold when she was alowed in the building. They took people through 2 at a time. And as far as posting it up here! She posted about the heratage cars and just cought greif about here post. I told here to post this and she it wasn't worth her time after the last post. For sale post nazis here are pissing people off IMO.

 

[jk88]

For sale post nazis here are pissing people off IMO.

What are you talking about?

Her post, which wasn't even really an ad so much as an alert, was not touched by the moderators, and Mike Saunders' post was a sarcastic joke. If she had said "It's not worth it for me to post there because TSL has about $18 of dispensable income between them" I would agree.

As for people being pissed off about info we require for actual sale threads -- which hers was not -- too bad. It's not too much to ask for people to provide photos and relevant info up front when selling an item. This is just common sense.

As I tell people who PM me after their incomplete thread has been deleted: this place has next to no rules. The one place we do ask you follow a few is when selling stuff.

I would think you of all people would understand and appreciate what we are trying to accomplish there.

 

[aireeca]

Yeah not disagreeing this was handled very poorly. Along with the Heritage auction, and very nearly the Saab Museum auction.

I guess I was just responding to your link text "It's really over" in the Party's Over thread, and hoping to reassure you with a reminder that the folding of SCNA is wholly separate from Trollhattan.

Oh yeah? Tell that to Ally Financial....Europe owes them a lot of money and they're trying to make a big mess for everyone over here. I'm sure Moon knows all about this.

The saab stuff was small change at the sale. Most were there for the office eqipment. My wife went to it and it was alot like storage wars, there were a few preferential buyers there who got first dibs on most of everything. She was number 34 and said just about everyting was sold when she was alowed in the building. They took people through 2 at a time.

Ugh. That's terrible and a waste of everyone's time. Aren't auctioneers supposed to try to get top dollar for things? The most confusing things I've seen at the two dealer auctions I went to were them splitting up into two auction groups operating at the same time in different parts of the facility. (That wasn't really that bad, just had to know where what you wanted was and hang out with that fast talker.) Another auction had this right-of-refusal-at-payment system or something. Basically, the folks who had hired the auctioneers could say, "Nope, too low" to the selling price and that was that.

Oh, there was that place that advertised the diagnostic stuff and then withdrew it without telling anyone and hid it in plain sight in the paint booth during the auction. That was silly.

 

[jk88]

Oh yeah? Tell that to Ally Financial....Europe owes them a lot of money and they're trying to make a big mess for everyone over here. I'm sure Moon knows all about this.

Again, I think we're talking about two different things. I'm saying whatever happens/happened with SCNA is unlikely to be a tell for discontinued negotiations, nor a harbinger for what happens to the brand in the coming weeks, ie when you equated the auction to "it's really over."

GM's continued unwillingness to license anything to anyone is the real death knell.

 

[aireeca]

Again, I think we're talking about two different things. I'm saying whatever happens/happened with SCNA has no bearing, nor is it a harbinger, for what happens to the brand in the coming weeks, ie "it's really over."

GM's continued unwillingness to license anything to anyone is the real death knell.

Well, I was actually just referring to the whole auction scene. That's never a good sign. But, there was a popcorn machine there, so they should have seen it coming.

Too bad companies can't write wills for if they go under. Instead, everything ends up in probate, I mean, bankruptcy court where it's a fascinating, painful read.

 

[jk88]

Too bad companies can't write wills for if they go under. Instead, everything ends up in probate, I mean, bankruptcy court where it's a fascinating, painful read.

For real. The museum in THN should have been put in a separate trust years ago. Especially when they knew things could head in that direction, it boggles the mind...

 

[jk88]

BMW should just license the SAAB name, buy out SAAB Parts AB, and start from scratch. Is there any other clear path to a restart?

 

[bruceinmiami]

The delete in this thread, why. My enjoyment suffers so...

 

[mike saunders]

The delete in this thread, why. My enjoyment suffers so...

Syntax win on multiple levels....:th_MySaab900Like:

 

[JLausch]

BMW should just license the SAAB name, buy out SAAB Parts AB, and start from scratch. Is there any other clear path to a restart?

IMO Trollhattan needs to stay, and the Phoenix platform deserves life, so while i agree they need to start fresh in some ways, going from scratch isn't the best way IMO.

 

[mike saunders]

IMO Trollhattan needs to stay, and the Phoenix platform deserves life, so while i agree they need to start fresh in some ways, going from scratch isn't the best way IMO.

I agree...but going with Phoenix would be starting from scratch, since any new buyer would basically be sitting with a thumb up its corporate ass until the platform was fully tested.

And that's only for the 9-3-sized version.

So Saab would try to re-enter the market with a limited lineup, the major reason why it was fuster-clucked for years. It's like walking into a Baskin-Robbins and being able to choose between vanilla and French vanilla.

That's why Youngman and Brightwell had such hard-ons for the existing 9-3 architecture and the 9-4X.

 

[JLausch]

Well from what i understood, the 9-3 could be used, just not the 5 and 4x. Its going to be a rough restart regardless at this point. Either way it needs to be done properly with lots of hype and marketing/pr. They also need to not do model refreshes once a decade....

 

[jk88]

IMO Trollhattan needs to stay, and the Phoenix platform deserves life, so while i agree they need to start fresh in some ways, going from scratch isn't the best way IMO.

Yeah that's more what I meant. It has to be Swedish. Made in THN. And if Phoenix can be used, that's terrific. But they'll probably have to give up the 4x and the 5 like you said, along with all GM licenses for any new cars (which they prob wouldn't want/need anyway). Sad though, the 4x/5 will be true orphans.

It could be done. Apparently bidding is now closed and they have some press conferences scheduled for this week? I'm probably not up to date on things.

 

[Snabb SAAB]

The delete in this thread, why. My enjoyment suffers so...

I was being childish. I came back to delete my stupidity but jk88 got there first.