1992 Saab 9000 Griffin Edition

While I was waiting at a red light today, there was an old beat up Saab 9000 ahead of me. The rear seats were piled high with empty plastic grocery bags and the fabric on the thick C-pillars looked like it had been chewed up by a pit bull. But what fascinated me the most was the discrete badge just below the passenger side taillight:


What was it? It was a special edition model of the Saab 9000 CD Turbo sedan. In America, only 400 were imported in 1992. Each car had a sequential model number badge on the dash.

According to a New York Times car review, this was Saab's flagship. There were no options. Everything was included. It was the most spacious imported luxury sedan available. Its 2.3 liter turbo 4 was fast. But the price of $42,000 (over $62,000 in today's dollars) was a bit steep. What did it come with? A gold card that could be used at dealer shops to receive free scheduled maintenance for three years, driver's side airbag, seat belt pretensioners, ABS brakes, traction control, a cellular phone that can be removed from the center console, a CD changer in the trunk and a CD head unit in the cockpit, separate AC for the rear passengers, heated and power mirrors, headlight washers and wipers, one-touch driver's power window, trip computer, and a warning for black ice when the outside temperature reaches a certain threshold.

It did not come with cup holders.

Judging by the condition of the Saab I saw today, my guess is that none of the features I just listed work on the car right now.

CKY