{"id":1181,"date":"2019-09-15T03:01:41","date_gmt":"2019-09-15T03:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intermarque.org\/?p=1181"},"modified":"2019-10-16T03:30:21","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T03:30:21","slug":"a-saab-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intermarque.org\/index.php\/2019\/09\/15\/a-saab-story\/","title":{"rendered":"A SAAB story… UPDATED!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2013 Andy Lindberg \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 12 I picked up my new 1969 Saab 96 and drove it 500 miles home. On August 12 Linda and I were driving Sobby the 300+ miles home from my brother\u2019s new home in Rockford, Illinois. We\u2019d taken the freeway down and had run into horrendous traffic jams in southern Wisconsin. So a different route back seemed like a good idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the man who jumped off the\ntop of the building passed the tenth floor, they asked him why he did it. He\nanswered, \u201cIt seemed like a good idea at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We took Hwy. 20 west from\nRockford, through Galena and into Dubuque, Iowa. There we bumped into Hwy. 52\nand took it north for about ten miles to the ROAD CLOSED TO THRU TRAFFIC sign\nand found ourselves back on Hwy. 20 for the detour. Finally we were headed\nnorth again and stopped for lunch in Decorah. The rain eased off long enough\nfor us to walk three blocks to the highly over-rated Swedish caf\u00e9. We ate\ninstead at the local co-op where we heard other diners swapping lies about how\nthey had bought a Saab like ours for $400 and it took them through four years\nof college. Raindrops appeared again as we left town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hwy. 52 is two-lane blacktop\nhere and we passed through Harmony and Fountain. We didn\u2019t make Chatfield. The\nlight rain became a deluge and Sobby lost his footing on a downhill curve. I\nfroze and traction never returned. We slid across the southbound lane (thank\ngoodness nothing was coming) and onto the shoulder. The shoulder was not\ngravel, however; it was newly mowed slippery wet grass. Since it had a downhill\nslope away from the road, we kept going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And going and going. When\nSobby was maybe 30 feet off Hwy 52 and eight feet below it, we entered the\ntaller brush. In addition to providing horrifying sound effects and slowing us\ndown a bit, the tall brush hid the increasing angle of the hill that Sobby was descending.\nAs we moved sideways, the left door murdered a one-inch diameter tree. Finally\nwe stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
There’s a Saab in there someplace!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The view was not good. There\nwas brush all around. We couldn\u2019t see the road to the right of us. Since Sobby\nwas leaning to the left, I got a good view out the driver-side window. Beyond\nthe bent-over brush that seemed to have stopped us, I could look straight down\nto an eight-foot drop. I didn\u2019t open my door. Could we have climbed out Linda\u2019s\ndoor? Maybe, but it didn\u2019t seem time to push our luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Do I look discouraged? At least the rain stopped.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It was cell phone time. I\ncalled 911 and they said they\u2019d send out a trooper. Linda called AAA and they\nsaid they\u2019d send a tow truck. We never saw the trooper and the tow truck driver\nwent past us three times before he spotted us buried down the hill. It was a\nlong drive towing Sobby home to his garage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Back home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Where he sits today. Hagerty\nsays he\u2019s totaled and they\u2019ll give me the guaranteed value and take the title\nand the car. Or they\u2019ll let me keep Sobby and give me the guaranteed value less\n$800 salvage value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What am I going to do? Kenny\nRogers once sang, \u201cYou gotta know when to hold \u2018em, and know when to fold \u2018em.\u201d So is Sobby a winner to rebuild or a parts car loser? I don\u2019t know. But today I\u2019m leaning towards trying to\nfill the inside straight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UPDATE!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

October 9: Sobby is back and feeling good. His right front suspension has been rebuilt and the damage to the driver\u2019s side looks like new. Couple trim pieces and the outside mirror are still missing but that\u2019s minor compared to two months ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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