Car Details
« Back to RegistrySharice Johnson
- City: Clayton
- State: CA
- VIN: 99781026098
- Model Year: 1978
- Build Date: May/1978
- Mileage: 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers)
- Color: Grey
- Original Owner: No
- Owner Since: 2010
- Running: Yes
- Current Use: In Restoration
Very nice exterior, rebuilt engine, and restored interior (except needs a replacement headliner).
HistoryNOTE: This car was originally added by Karen Graham of Rocklin, California, mother of the owner, Billy Graham. Karen had the car from 1994 until 2009 when she gave it to one of Billy's close childhood friends. Here is the original entry she provided:
Our son bought this car as his first car at age 16 in 1987. We told him it was out of his league. He rolled burritos for a summer at a burrito shop in the San Francisco Bay area to prove us wrong!!. He then took a job at a Saab mechanics shop as a helper to get the work done on it. He went on to become a Saab mechanic and he personally received calls from around the San Francisco area as his name grew ....He rebuilt the engine ( bored it out...redid the electrical, painted it, lowered it and made it his first love....
Billy was then diagnosed with malignant melanoma at the age of 21 and died at the age of 22. Diagnosed in 1992 and died 1994) We kept the vehicle for the now 13 years..had some work done on it to get it running again, from sitting for the first 10 years after his passing.
From his death the William S. Graham Foundation for Melanoma Research, Inc. was brought up and is now known as an international name for public awareness and education on melanoma.
visit: www.bfmelanoma.com Bill's Saab is on the site. It has deep sentimental value to us...and we are not sure what we should do with it. How much it is worth? Is it considered a "Specialty Car" now due to its age?
We want his "baby" well cared for..he wouldn't even let us turn it over while he was with us!!!:>)
SPECIAL NOTE FROM KURT HOFFMANN
Update: 4/19/2010 The entry above is the original history entered by Billy's mom, Karen. I am grateful to still keep in touch with Karen and she recently gave me an update on Billy's 99 Turbo. She had given the car to one of Billy's friends when she and Billy's dad Dan moved back east.
The friend passed the car along to Billy's former fiance Sharice. She met Billy when the car was literally in boxes in his garage. While dating him, she spent an entire year watching the car be rebuilt from the ground up.
She is now restoring the 99 Turbo.
Learn more about Billy on the Saab 99 Turbo blog.
Images
