Billy Graham is the young man featured on the Saab99Turbo.com poster. You can also read about him on his Registry page.

What follows is a bit more about Billy’s story from conversations I had with his mom and dad, one of the many special experiences I’ve had running Saab99Turbo.com.

Not for Everyone. Essential to a Few.
Billy Graham’s father Dan remembers coming across his young son in the living room reading a giant SAAB repair manual of all things. The sight of his son absorbed in this thick document was particularly strange since it was hard to get Billy to read
anything.

“I want a SAAB,” Billy excitedly told his Dad. Dan quickly brought his son back to reality, suggesting it would be more realistic to get an old VW.

Dan described to me how Billy walked sullenly to his room, his Mom saying to Dan, “You just took away his dream.” He went into Billy’s room and sat down with his boy.

“Billy, this is America. You can have anything you want. But you have to be willing to work for it. If you want a SAAB, then I’m sure you can figure out a way to get one.”

Within a few weeks, Billy had a job in a burrito factory. His mom Karen remembers the smell of refried beans as soon as he’d walk through the door over the next year.

The day before his 16th birthday, Billy bought his first car: a 1978 SAAB 99 Turbo.

As with most SAAB owners, Billy’s love for this car went above the normal call of duty. He taught himself to work on the car, apprenticing with a local mechanic until he could perform most of the work himself. Eventually he earned a reputation as a decent SAAB mechanic, working on SAABs from around the Bay area. As for his own SAAB, Billy lowered his 99, rebuilt the engine, repainted it, and increased the boost. His 99 Turbo was chosen as the ‘Car of the Month’ in his high school newspaper in January 1988.

In 1992, Billy was diagnosed with malignant melanoma (skin cancer) at the age of 21. Billy - and his family - were determined to fight this disease. What had seemed like a pesky mole, however, unbelievably took its toll and Billy died on March 2nd, 1994 at the age of 22.

We at Saab99Turbo.com are grateful to carry on his spirit and the love of special things that make life worth living.

Dedicated to Billy Graham: August 5, 1971 - March 2, 1994

Just wanted send out and update from Saab99Turbo.com.

Hemmings Article
Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey I sent out in early
December. With your help, Dave LaChance wrote a great article about the
Saab 99 Turbo. It is out in the February 2010 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car magazine.
The nice 6-page article starts on page 80. You can find copies at most Borders and Barnes & Noble stores.

The 39-Saab 99 Turbo Collection
I spent a good amount of time in December helping one of our members add his collection of 39 Saab 99 Turbos to our Registry. View the impressive collection on our site. I’ve also started a series of articles about this collection in the Saab 99 Turbo blog called the ‘Saab Addicted‘ series. More to come soon on these.

Saab 99 Turbo Classifieds
Also want to remind everyone we have FREE classifieds. This is open to anything related to Saab 99 Turbos so please feel free to spread the word. I found a website that sells Saab 99 Turbo t-shirts, so I even put that on there.

Saab 99 Turbo Videos
I added a Saab 99 Turbo Video section to the website. I just have a few on there for now, but feel free to send me any videos you think should be on there.

High Mileage Saab 99 Turbos
If you have a car on the Registry, please update your mileage and also please check to confirm you have correctly indicated if it is in miles or kilometers. If possible, anyone with high mileage cars, please add a photo of the odomoter like our high-mileage leader Jeff Henderson (510,000 miles) did. This helps add legitimacy to these listings.

Saab 99 Turbos On The Road
Also wanted to remind everyone about the ‘On The Road’ page of the site. Anyone with a 99 Turbo registered on the site, just check the box ‘On the Road’ next to any images you upload that show your car ‘on the road’ and it will appear on this page.

Lastly, if anyone is interested in advertising to our members, please let me know, or pass along our site to anyone you think could benefit from advertising on Saab99Turbo.com.

Kurt Hoffmann
Webmaster
Saab99Turbo.com
Not for everone. Essential to a few.

I noticed early on that Saab owners more than other auto fanatics are particularly known for liking to have multiple Saabs. I, for example, have 3 (I would have 4 but my wife made me sell my 1982 900 when I got my 99 - and actually I’d have even more, budget permitting).

Even among Saab owners, though we have a very special collection here. And finally, thanks to a serious effort by me and our member who prefers to be known only as “Saab 99 Turbo Heritage,” we now have all of his 39 (that’s thirty-nine!) Saab 99 Turbos on the Registry. Click here to see all 39 of our member Saab 99 Turbo Heritage’s Saab 99 Turbos.

Next on our list is to complete adding photos for every car and also to complete any missing information, mostly mileage. I appreciate everything this member has been teaching me about these cars. As I said to him, I only discovered the 99 Turbos in 2005, so I still have a lot to learn. Adding his cars has given me an opportunity to continue learning more and more about the nuances of the various 99 Turbos that are out there.

One of my favorite cars is the first Saab 99 Turbo he bought that started the bug of what is certainly the largest collection in the world. I’m especially looking forward to getting the photos of that special 99 Turbo on there.

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Here is the latest addition to the collection of 30 Saab 99 Turbos in our Registry for a single owner: #13 of 30+ Saab 99 Turbo’s.

We also added a pretty image to one of the previous listings. It’s letter from the Saab marketing department about this Limited Edition, 5-door Saab 99 Turbo. Click here to view the listing.
Here is the letter’s content:
Dated: 13 October 1978
To: Turbo Dealers
From: SAAB marketing Department
Content:
Gentlemen,

99 Series - 5 Door Turbo - Limited Edition

We have now received the ‘Type Approval’ certificate for this model.

As most of you are aware from various ‘leaks’, we only have a limited number of just over 100 of these, therefore they are and will become “collectors pieces”.

The 5-door Turbo is:

In Cardinal Red Metallic

GLE specification, with the addition of:
Manual gearbox.
Turbo wheels.
Rear and front spoilers.
Stereo radio and stereo cassette player.
Sun Roof.

Retail price of £6,350

We are now awaiting your orders. These cars will receive no publicity or normal promotion but have been mentioned to the press.

Yours sincerely,

R.S. Clements
Marketing Manager

December I’m dedicating my efforts to helping one of our members get all of his Saab 99 Turbos added to the Registry. It’s taking quite an effort because he has more than 30 Saab 99 Turbos. I’m curious if this is the biggest car collection of a specific make and model.

He’s asked to remain anonymous so you will find the listing under the name ‘Saab 99 Turbo Heritage.’ Here is the latest addition to the Registry, a black 1981, right-hand-drive Saab 99 Turbo originally from the UK.

While I love the hatch on my 1978 99 Turbo, there’s definitely something cool about the sloped back of these models. His photos really capture the beauty of the red interiors. Stay tuned for our daily additions to the list.

In closing, I welcome any comments about other fanatical Saab collectors out there. I’ve heard of some brothers in either Oregon or Washington who I believe collect old 2-stroke Saabs. Please share your stories.

Congratulations to Steve Wade of Saabs United. Great to see you on CNN.com. Click on that link for a great article by Steve giving a good snapshot of the current state of affairs of Saab and reflecting on the history of the company.

Something’s telling me that things are going to work out the way they are meant to be for Saab. It is certainly exciting to see all the energy around Saab and reading the posts and comments. Nothing like something dying to bring out all the previously missing appreciation.

Part of me feels I should be caught up in all the excitement. But maybe it’s my health, or the stress of my profession and family issues, but I find myself feeling my place is to continue where I’ve been - enjoying my Saabs and my own personal Saab experience where I can. If Saab ‘dies,’ none of that is going to change. I’ll still be driving one of my three Saabs through the mountains every week. Tinkering on them and finding repair parts when I can afford to. And working to keep improving this site.

This month I’m focusing on adding the Saabs of one of our members who has more than 30 Saab 99 Turbos. It’s going to take me the rest of the month if not into January. But it’s been a hell of a lot of fun along the way.

Well done, albeit sobering, article on CAR magazine website:

Saab: 1947-2009? Gavin Green pays tribute to Saab

Have your own thoughts on these strange times for Saab or the history of Saab? I welcome your input. Send me your stories/comments/etc. I’ll publish them here as a story or compilation of everyone’s input.

Here’s the latest release as of 11/25/09 on status of the Saab/Koenigsegg

Read ‘Koenigsegg Group AB Terminate Agreement for Purchase of Saab.’

These are interesting times for us Saab lovers with the possibility that Saab could actually be shut down. Although, despite the current dire situation, I don’t see that happening. While Saab is not in a good place, there are too many people who absolutely love Saab. The tricky part about Saab is that, especially these days, the volume of people who are going to buy a Saab is not as large as some companies would need them to be. But within that group are people that are more dedicated than any other auto brand could claim.

Personally, if Saab were to close tomorrow, I’d spend the rest of my days driving cars built before 2010. There just isn’t another brand that does anything for me. But when I get in one of my Saabs (1978 99 Turbo, 1988 SPG, 2001 9-3 Viggen) everything just feels right. I know I’m where I’m supposed to be. It’s the styling, the performance, the passion and thought that went into the car. It’s participating in something that is different. It’s part of a commitment to live life with a conscious commitment to doing things the right way, even when that’s going to require more effort and less immediate reward.

So my guess is that things will be uncertain for a while, but ultimately Saab is going to land in the right spot. I believe GM did a lot of good for Saab. I personally love my Viggen and there are a lot of other GM-produced Saabs that I would love to own. But admittedly there were drawbacks to Saab being run by GM. That’s why the possibility that Saab could be returned to Sweden is so exciting. That’s where the spirit of the car came from.

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thanks, Swade at Trollhattan Saab,

This is a great article I hadn’t seen.

http://www.trollhattansaab.net/archives/2008/12/saab-turbo-x-vs-saab-99-turbo.html