It all began with taking our 1988 SAAB 9000 Turbo into the shop for a transmission fluid and filter change. Being that the previous owner had used Amsoil synthetic tranny fluid, I had raced all over creation yesterday to find some. And after spending $11 per quart, I was ready to make the transmission shift smoother than ever. And you know what? That’s exactly what happened. The transmission shifts better than ever and I found myself driving faster than I should and wondering what an upgraded APC box would do. There’s a guy in Wisconsin who said he could program my box to match the last C900 specs (185 hp) for $50. That sounded pretty good, but what about the tires, alignment, rust, and paint work that still needed to be done? Even without a calculator, I was beginning to wonder if it would be wise to sink $1000 into a car that probably would never repay me for the effort.
This afternoon as these thoughts were drifting through my brain, along came a customer with a thought-provoking trade-in. It was a little green Volvo wagon that looked pretty clean. The conversation was close enough for me to overhear. And as words like “high miles” and “hard to get much for it” reached my ears, I began to wonder if this might be a possibility. Not that the SAAB is a bad car, it was just time to consider a possibility. Long story short, I agreed to purchase the car today. It’s a 1998 Volvo V70 XC AWD with 161k miles. It’s in very good condition with no rust that I could see. With moonroof, CD, and heated seats, I think we got a pretty good deal, but I’m still left with one question to ponder.
Who wants to buy a 1988 SAAB 9000 Turbo?
After posting it on craigslist.org last night, I had multiple emails about the car. And after several offers, I sold it during my lunch break this afternoon. It all happened so quickly and in the end turned out to be a very good deal all the way around.