My 9000 CD Carlsson!
The Story.
We went shopping in December 1998 to replace the '89 9000i S with auto-box (I
don't like autos), possibly with a 900 T16S of the same era.
After much searching around and a few misleading trips we went down to St George
Saab in Bristol who were advertising a Trent Saab modified 900 T16S for
sale. Unfortunately when we got there the engine was in pieces
:-( However to avoid a wasted trip we had a look around
at what else was in stock. Whilst wandering around the lower level of the
show room Tanya saw bright red roof in a far corner and asked to go look
at it. As it was a CD (saloon) version and we were hatch-hunting we
ignored it but let her go with the strict proviso she looked with eyes and not
fingers!! A little while later, as we were looking at an L reg CSE
she wandered back and asked who the old driver was who came to all the shows
(her words not ours - sorry Eric!!). We asked who she meant and she said
the man who drove the funny smelling cars and gave out all the prizes. The
penny dropped so we asked if she meant Eric Carlsson and why. To which she
replied his car was over in the corner, the red one she'd looked at.
After we'd stopped laughing we asked her how she knew it was Eric's car; the
response we got was "Its got his name on it" I think I
broke the record for crossing the showroom floor. Lo and behold - the red
CD I'd dismissed earlier was indeed an 1990 CD version of the Carlsson
range!! Much soul searching and bank-balance evaluating later she was
ours!!
The Pictures.