[Closed] My red Saab 900 has been stolen - Gloucestershire - J129HFR

For what it's worth, the police have found it. Wiring desecrated and interior covered in petrol, but they failed to torch it.

Genius at work, failing to torch a car covered in petrol.

I'm sure I can fix it - glad it's coming back 🙂

Won't it forever stink of petrol though ?

Good luck with it mate it looks a nice car.

Great car, I had one years ago, hope you get it sorted

nice car mister.. shame it got messed up in the theft process.
Never got to the 900T giddy heights, just a 900S. Loved it.

Hope it gets restored OK.
Clearly not theft proof though :/

It probably will stink of petrol - petrol is a relatively nice smell, but only in moderation. Wish they'd tried to set fire to it with something that smells nice like WD-40 instead.

I suspect I'll end up changing the carpets / sets. Main worry is mechanical trashage - just have to see how it goes. Lots of work has gone into it, not prepared to let some scumbags ruin it for me 😛

They are nice old tanks, these. This is a 900S too, high-boost silliness is (was) planned once the engine has done a few k miles (I built it about 2500 miles ago :roll:) - so it's only running about 0.3bar. If it was running full boost, they would've almost certainly trashed the gearbox.

She's a beauty mate, glad you got her back!

You may have a fight with the insurance!

Fight them all the way and keep that lovely car on the road!

Great news you've got it back. I had a F reg 900 T16 Aero. Loved that car, it ran till 285K then it started to rust at the bottom of the window pillars. So I sold it to a lad who worked for the Forestry Commission and he was going to rebuild it. Still got the Official SAAB 900 Workshop Manual just in case.

I bet you'll be pleased to see it back. You should be able to get a replacement interior from a Saab breaker.

I had 2 of these .Lovely cars and good fun when running 1 bar boost.
At least you can have ago at getting back to pre scummmer condition .
Interiors should be available via Ebay or Saab specialsit breakers if needed.
Check the seat squabs for needles as some skanks leabe little presents behind.
Shame to see nice tings getting taken but it seems to be endemic recently , we got our unit down at work last week.

Thanks folks, I appreciate the support - there're quite a few people around here who will be able to help me with bits for it, so I should be in with a shout of sorting it out. Good thought about the needles. Gross, but I'll be on my guard!

It's still in the recovery compound at the moment - I'll see if I can have a look at it tomorrow. The recovery firm is in the Forest O'Dean, so I can at least fuse it with a nice ride 🙂

Inbred - this one is a young'un at a measly 164k. I hope to do many more...!

Hope it's ok, such a classic...

I've loved all my Saabs.

Nice to hear that you'll have it back - but nicer still to hear that a car like that is in the capable hands of someone that cares enough to spend the time on it rather than just writing it off.

I drive a shed of a 93DT, it does 50mph which is better than some arsehattery 2014 eco vectra I was forced to drive ever did and that heap used to turn itself off whenever you stopped!

Saabs are great, good to hear you got yours back!

I used to work for a Saab dealer and I had a couple of those, a red G reg full turbo which had the most lag of any car ever.

It was like floor the accelerator, nowt there, nowt there, nowt there, geezzzeeee Christ is it going......

Had a T16s on a F plate that was originally spec by that guy Al fayard bloke who owns Harrords for one of his senior managers. Think it had a receipt of something stupid like £25 k as original bill of sale back in 89 😯

Best cars in the world - as evidenced by how many of them still used as daily transport. I've has 4 16Ses, which were all storming, plus my beloved 900 Carlsson (which I drove to 250K miles and sold still running, but which was never quite the same after some idiot drove into the side of it.)

But how come they stole it? What about the gearbox lock? Normally the only way to break that was to sit in the back seat and deliver a well aimed kick.

Trust you'll be able to get it fully cleaned and rebuilt under your insurance policy? Contact me via here if you want to know of good Saab specialists with lots of bits. I know most of em!

NICE car. Keep an eye out for an interior from one thats breaking. Or buy a spares or repair one to keep as a backup/donor for other parts too. The petrol will be in the seat foam.

My Dad broke my gearbox lock on my silver T16s. Was picking me up from a ski holiday at Gatwick and yanked out the key without it fully in reverse.
Lots of screwing around in the short stay car park at Gatwick , but eventualy got it going. Needed a new barrel in the end which was a reasonable £25 iirc (2001)
The only cars I have ever sold for a profit too.

Thanks for the kind words everyone 😀

I didn't manage to see it today - the recovery firm is closed at the weekends, which is handy. Took the Inbred out for some swampy goodness instead.

Not sure how they managed to steal it - I've never tried too hard to provoke the gear lock so I don't know how robust it actually is.

Nice to see there are so many 900 believers on here. Excellent taste in cars 😉 So many people seem to have such positive memories of them.

They're so good at so much stuff. And they look cool. And sound great. Love everything about them (except getting to the oil filter, which is a right mofo) - I'm a fan.

I'm hoping to get it done on the insurance - it has only been on the road for 4 months after I'd spent over a year cutting rot out and putting shiny stuff on it! There's a great specialist in Bristol who I use when I need bits for it, so I'll see if the insurance will cover them doing the repairs. If not, I'll get busy with the spanners...again!

Best of British luck to you.

My dad has had a Saab on the drive since before I was born and I am just under 40 now. Lovely cars the lot of them although only one was not an n/a engine!!!

A friend once said to me that all Saabs should be aubergine - slow to cook then done all at once. Made me smile but was never sure how fair it was.

Great to hear it is back and mostly intact.

Would like to think the twoc'ers had 2nd thoughts about torching it and not the fact all the lighter gas had been used shooting up in the back.
Lottery win car for me but only in black:)

Nice car.

Keep it.

@thooms
For the record was it Brockworth? I'm guessing your at the top of the hills round ere?!

Have fond memories of trundling through snow in the 900S, high winds and snow on the road didn't bother it at all, weight and FWD did the necessary work. And heading off on skiing holidays, car loaded up with 5 adults, boots, gear for week, skis on rack, running late for flight out of Glasgow - belting through on the M8 at 5am, no trouble at all.

Was hard worked before I got it and think it suffered. Lasted pretty well until a car pulled out on me on rural road in Northumbria, then stopped - I couldn't work out which way to go or risk a skid sideways, so slowed straight as quick as I could. Wrote off the 900S (quite an effort in itself) with bulkhead damage. Should have seen the Fiesta I drive into though.. :/

v666ern - I am - couple of miles NE of Stroud. Very odd as it's not on the way to anywhere!

I imagine 900 vs. Fiesta would be a bit one-sided. The metalwork in them is ridiculous in places, there're points where it's triple skinned underneath which is why they rust in funny places.

Promised an update - unfortunately nothing has changed. Still waiting for SOCO to fingerprint it and cover it in dust, so I haven't been allowed to visit it and see what the score is. Feels like it has been an eternity! Hoping to get over there tomorrow if they get their act together, and we'll see what's what.

OK. Another (quick) update - I've got the car back...well, sort of.

It's at a tame garage - gave it a once over earlier and it doesn't look too bad. Bit scruffy, but I can definitely resurrect it!

They've made a right mess of the wiring. I HATE people who can't do wiring. If I was stealing a car I'd at least have the decency to do a tidy job of hot-wiring it.

Anyway - got it running and gave it a quick blast on the ring road - all good 😀

Engine and box seem fine, which is good. I'd be super annoyed if they'd ruined stuff in that department. But they haven't, so it's ok.

Damage seems to be limited to easily changeable things - they've really done a number on the gear lock. Completely broken - but they bent the 12mm thick gear lever in the process so it put up a good fight. Annoying though, as it was a rather nice short shift kit. Bah!

Ugh. Really annoying. And they stole my camera / sun glasses / lens / jump leads / head unit / Star Trek pizza cutter (you heard) - but at least it's in one piece and not totally ruined.

It'll be back - thanks for the kind messages 😀

That's good news - hope you can get it all repaired.

Glad you got it back geezer, that's a lovely car.
How did that work, are you buying it back through insurance etc?
Are you much out of pocket from this?

Nice to hear it's back and you've got something to occupy your time 😀

however:

MrNutt - Member
I drive a shed of a 93DT, it does 50mph