Introduction

Last year I went searching for a Saab 99. The itch of a Saab addict is hard to settle for good. I had set my mind to build up a 99 with a 900 B202 engine in place of the original motor. Daily driving a 94 9000 Aero was a blast but I missed the two door hatchback (three door) 87 900 SPG that I had driven in high school and college. I decided the 99 should be a three door with a sunroof.  That basically meant I was looking for an 77-78 high spec car... GLE, EMS, TURBO.

I chased various leads until February of 2013 when a man in Charlotte NC listed a 78 Turbo for sale. The car had sat in the woods for six years. Previously it had been "G-stock regional championship four times." His plan was to return the car to Autocross, but persistent fuel system issues eroded his affection for the project.

A phone call was placed and without seeing the car in the metal it was on a car carrier headed north.  

Unfortunately it got dinged on the leading edge of the hood in transit. It also lost the top chrome piece of the grille. The air dam was also cracked. 

I was sad about the damage but all in all the car was remarkably solid with none of the typical 99 rust spots!

The more I looked at the car the more I felt guilty about cutting it up for the H-motor swap. This was a pretty solid, mostly original 78 Turbo. Its one of four thousand 99 Turbos brought to the USA. There are probably a couple hundred of these cars running around North America today. Between my own internal rumblings and the strong objections of some fellow Saab nuts, I decided this was not the car for my hot rod project. 

That was about a year ago. The car has been sitting due to an increasingly crazy work situation. I won't say much more then my job was destroying me. I needed to refresh myself. 

So I've decided to refresh the 78 Turbo and drive it cross country to the Saab Owner's Convention in Oregon. The SOC is in August, I have just about three months to get the car into condition to make the trek west.