The opposite of a used up car isn’t a new car, it’s one that’s never been used. A car’s life is usually pretty straightforward, from the dealer lot to commuting or family car life, passing through a handful of owners til it’s either in good enough shape to become a classic, in bad enough shape to get scrapped, or in any kind of shape to become a hobby.
For various reasons, there are glitches in cars’ timelines and some of them fall from the loop completely, never to be titled or even bought in the first place. While some people mothball new cars (think Buick GNX or something else perceived as a future rarity), there are dealerships and garages that end up shuttered, still retaining cars that do not get driven on the road ever.
A couple years ago, Mercedes wrote up the story of a 117-mile, 2002 Ford Focus that was part of unsold new-old-stock from a Ford dealer that ceased operating. This week, Saabplanet reported that two Saab 9000 Turbos were found inside a dusty garage in Italy. The two cars were discovered and rescued by marque specialists Zanetti Omero after they received a tip from members of the Italian SaabWay Club.
The Saabs are a 1987 9000 CC Turbo and a 1988 9000 CD Turbo, that were seemingly stored with just a handful of miles on the clock. The 1987 pre-facelift, five-door white car has 242 kilometers and the blue sedan just 61 km, which is less than 38 miles. Neither the Saabplanet article or the Facebook posts really expand on how they were left behind and never registered, but save for some mildew on the seatbelts and the lost headlights on the white car, they appear to be in as-new condition – once the storage dust is washed off.
Most 9000s of this age have had their front wings turn crusty and their leather seats become beef jerky, but it’s always interesting to see something like these two cars pop from the folds of time and space. These were great cars when new, and they marked a special time in Saab’s history, offering a lot of turbo power and cabin space with a bunch of quirky details thrown in the mix.
Over a decade ago, I got to see something similar. A vocational school near me had gotten a new Fiat Croma way back in 1989 for a training car, presumably for diagnosing vehicle electrics and electronics. This isn’t a jab at Fiat’s build quality, even if Cromas did suffer from myriad electric problems and their dashboard displays did look a bit like a bit of Christmas tree cosplay.
The Croma was a platform sibling to the Saab 9000, too, as it was part of the Type Four pack of cars that were unveiled in the mid-‘80s. The other two cars were the Lancia Thema and the Alfa 164, and it’s likely the Saabs have survived in biggest numbers. The Fiat was the cheapest of the four, even if Saab pricing was usually adjusted very carefully in Finland so that they would always appear favorable when the state was looking for fleet vehicles.
The school Croma was never registered on the road as it was sold tax-free for educational use with its VIN scraped off. Over time, the Croma accumulated less than 1500km on a dyno before the school finally auctioned it in 2021. Someone got it for less than three grand.
As it had been inside a school garage for over 30 years, it had gotten some cosmetic damage here and there, and the ad mentioned the wiring likely being worn in places due to students practicing on it. I saw it in person in 2013, and it was moderately dog-eared then.
Finally, for those looking for a Lotus Elan of their own after reading yesterday’s post on the Kia Elan that’s currently on BAT, there’s a never-driven 1992 Elan M100 Turbo for sale in Belgium. It has all of 607km on the clock (that’s 377 miles), and looks like it’s been a static display object all its life. Even the Michelin MXX2 tires look 1992, and they were OEM tires for the Lotus.
It’s spotless and seemingly faultless inside out, top to bottom, and the Car and Classic ad even includes video of it running. It’s the Turbo version with the full 167 horsepower, and British Racing Green is an interesting color choice for a rounded ’90s roadster.
The Lotus is for sale in Belgium, for a perfectly reasonable 29,000 Euros or $34k; that’s £25,000, which in 1992 pounds Sterling would be just £11k. Keep in mind the Elan cost twenty thousand pounds new, and the 2026 price isn’t unrealistic at all.
The Focus, the Saabs, the Lotus Elan, and the Fiat Croma all have a question mark hanging on them. What do you do with them or any car in similar old-but-new condition, if you end up buying it? The Focus was for sale for a whole $20,000 in 2024, and while that’s a lot for a 2002 Focus, especially one you’d need to refresh a bit, you could feasibly still use it for its intended purpose as a commuter car.
The Saabs and the Lotus are different, as they seem destined to go into enthusiast hands with little enough use to keep the miles low, but they’re still enjoyable on sunny Sundays. The Croma? It would need to be a museum piece since it was made unregistrable from the get-go, and using a structurally relatively well-preserved car for parts would be a waste.
What would you do?
I had a dark gray ’88 9000T 5-door. It was the best looking (IMO) car I have ever owned. Seeing the interior shot almost brought nostalgic tears to my eyes. I rented a non-turbo 9000 5M in 1988 and drove into Stockholm from Arlanda. I was smitten.
Unfortunately, 5Ms were hard to find in the US and in 1998 I settled for one with the 4-speed ZF automatic and that did take away some of the fun. Overall, it was a nice car although not as quick as I expected and thirstier.
I put about 25K relatively trouble-free miles on it before selling it off once I saw the new 2001 A4 Jetta TDI. Also a good-looking car. IMO.
None of these is more expensive than a new car. But it as new have it checked out and drive it
I want that blue Saab something fierce.
With very few exceptions I would drive the crap out of it.
It would have to be really interesting to me and with no big price hike over an honest driver seeing as what would be required to get it on the road and I’d still worry about electrical issues from corrosion and vermin. Cars are meant to be driven. I have no interest in saving them as “investments” or running a very small and boring museum.
Spray it down with a hose, and then throw it on Bring a Trailer for more than it’s worth
Can one really ever get the mouse pee smell out of barn finds?
Yes use tiger Urine. Of course now the car smells like tiger Urine and you can’t get rid of that smell.
Yup
Takes about a year.
Dead opossum smell maybe a bit longer unless it’s been there for a while.
YouTubers or museums. Those are the only two buyers that would justify the cost of regular cars with such low mileage
I bought a 13-year-old Suzuki TU250X with 2 original miles from the original owner. They bought it before knowing how to ride and then never wound up using it. I let it sit for a while and eventually put in a new fuel pump/filter, injector, battery, and cleaned up some rust in the tank (note: I found so many screws and bolts in there. I definitely wasn’t the first one to try to tidy up that tank). It ran like new after that, so I flipped it to someone who was still learning how to ride and seemed like they were actually going to take it places.
This is like my find! I haven’t bought it yet, but I know of a Super Motard with 9.2 kms. I’m constantly toying with the idea of buying it.
There is enough love from saab for them to be display pieces. There is that guy in the UK throttle house? I think that has an old saab dealership he is redoing for his business while trying to keep true to the history of the saab dealer. Those two car seem like a perfect thing for him to have in the former show room.
Pass on it, unless it was given to me for free. Fluids, hoses, belts, tires, possibly wiring… no thanks.
This is a commonly exaggerated fear and depends highly on how/ where it was stored / abandoned. Sure, it will take a significant amount of cash to replace the components you mentioned but if stored / parked in a dry area out of the sun, after some rehabilitation via putting some miles on it, it will be fine, speaking from personal experience. If it was left out in an open field next to a swamp in Florida, then you’ll have issues.
One or both of those 9000s? Clean them, get them sorted and road-ready, then drive them. I dailyed 9000s for several years, and had a different one around here for nearly 20 years as a weekend toy and do-all hauler. I was okay with letting the last one go a couple years back, but I’d happily welcome another 9000!
I would wash it and sell it at auction for the price of a decent driving example. The list of components that’ll be roached from sitting will somehow be longer than the total of the car’s parts.
If it’s that Saab 9000, it would be my new baby, of course. And I would love it forever and ever.
Would you love it, and kiss it, and pet it, and call it George?
Only people of a certain age (50, here) would know and appreciate that reference! LOL
Surprisingly, I’m in my 30’s (37) and know that one well, but mostly because Looney Toons were played non-stop throughout the 90’s. They’ve seemingly disappeared since.
Since they haven’t lived a proper car’s life, I would change the fluids and immediately put them into daily taxi use, and see how long they last. Cram a lifetime of a regular car’s use into just months!
Gotta make them catch up!
It depends for me where it was sitting and if has been started at all over the years and regular fluid changes. If it has been sitting outside it’s entire life on grass or somewhere else similar where a bunch of moisture would have been getting up into the car and rusting the underside no thanks. Been sitting in a temperature controlled building sure.
The first thing after a wash is to check everything rubber or plastic. Neither age particularly well, especially without use. Then fix what needs to be, then drive the thing.
Also watch out for signs of mice. I don’t like mice. They’ll get into anything, chew through everything, and poop everywhere.
You left out “change every fluid possible.”
I’d change the brake hoses, coolant hoses, and serpentine and timing (if used) belts no matter what.
It’s not the years, it’s the milage.
I would write up a “Barn Find” proposal for car you tubers, and shop it around for $10,000 with very specific conditions on how they rescue them without ever really taking possession. I’d then roll them back into my “barn” let them six for six months and find another You Tuber to “Barn Find” one of them, and then the other. Not wash or rise, but definitely repeat every few years. Maybe even acquire a few more cars and “barns” to grow my new side hustle.
This is not my original idea. Credit: Unicorn Circuit on MCM2.
There are dozens of us!
Glad to see one of the 37!
I’ve never done anything close to that extreme, but the closest I’ve come was a mid 80s Town Car with 40,000 miles that had been sitting in an old lady’s garage in Florida for 8 years. That was new tires and an oil change and then drove it 1200 miles home with no issues at all. However, the next 18 months was spent chasing one leak after another as seals started randomly failing one at a time, along with brittle plastic pieces under the hood deciding to start crumbling
Change the oil, inflate the tires, commence driving, carefully respecting the break-in period.
Die of anguish with I realize applying that my pithy Internet take to an undriven car vastly oversimplified what a lot-rotted car really needs and that every fluid or mechanical linkage that’s supposed to be separated by rubber is likely on the road on the exact spot that I hit the first bump or made the first turn.
IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!
We have top men working on it now. Top. Men.
Fools. Bureaucratic fools.
What’s that!
The Ark of the Covenant.
Well how do you know?
(Pause) I’m…pretty sure…
… THAT’S the cup of a carpenter.
Junior, let it go..
You tell ’em Porkins
I would resurrect those Saabs and drive the wheels off them. I LOVE pre-facelift 9000s, and never managed to own one.
You, sir, have good taste.
I try. And they were damned good cars in many, many ways, even if a bit half-baked in others, and rather too expensive at the MSRPs they never sold for. Saab was ahead of their time in so many ways, 40 years ago who would have ever though that the STANDARD entry to mid level luxury car motor nearly across the industry would be a 2.0L turbo?
I would record everything about the restoration process if the car has a cult of followers, new fluids, tires, and send it. But I would never pay exhorbitant prices since the car sitting there means there is also a lot of work to do to bring it back and that money you will never recover it.
Clean those babies up, new fluids, new tires, drive em!!!!!
The only proper answer…