saablog

Ten years ago this month, I had a very momentous experience. I bought my very first Saab.

It was October, 1996. I had graduated from college in August, and started work at Intertek (known as ITS at the time) the same month. My 1988 Mazda MX-6 base 2-door sedan, as sporty as it was, was getting rough around the edges. It had recently stranded me in the suburbs with a dead alternator and battery, and I’d done it no favors by involving it in two accidents during the two-and-a-half years I owned it.

I was shopping for a replacement car. It would be a 2-door, priced around $20,000. I test drove all sorts of cars; older BMW 3-series, 1^st generation Saab 900 convertible, Honda Accord and Toyota Camry (!gasp!) 2-doors, and the new Mazda MX-6. My parents owned my dream car, a 1995 Saab 900 SE turbo coupe, that they had bought new from my erstwhile summer employer, Bill Hazelett Saab. Their beautiful 900 was black with black leather interior, 5-speed manual transmission, absolute perfection on wheels.

 One weekend in October I was home visiting from Portland. That weekend my parents were installing new windows in their house, the weather that weekend was just like we’ve had this week in Seattle, sunny and warm. On Saturday morning, I rolled out of bed (at a certainly late hour) and started looking through the Seattle Times Autos section, for interesting cars to test drive. In the small-print ads, I found it. 1995 Saab 900s, 3 door, 5 speed, black, heated charcoal cloth upholstery, 30k miles, at Carter Saab. $20000. Bulls-eye! I phoned the dealership, and went for a test drive later in the day.

I drove the car, and liked it pretty well. It had the optional roof-rack crossbars in the trunk, as well as a 6-disc CD changer. It was very clean and shiny. It had the V-6 long-spoke wheels which I didn’t love, but those were better than the plastic wheelcovers which were standard on the 900 S in 1995. I drove it, and left very excited but undecided. The salesman had my name and phone number, and knew I was in town just for the weekend.

I talked over the purchase with my parents that evening, and we decided that if I could get the car for some price (which now escapes me), that I would buy it. The salesman called me on Sunday morning, and asked if I was still interested in the car. I said I was, he agreed to my price, and that was it. I’d just agreed to buy my car.

I was a member of Washington School Employees Credit Union through my mom, and they had the best car loan rates. I did an over-the-phone application for credit using their high-tech (for 1996) phone-computer system, and then my dad and I went to Carter Saab in my cleaned-out MX-6, which had I washed and emptied it to be traded in. I was a little sad, it had served  me well. My dad fished the title for the Mazda out of his filing cabinet, and off we went.

This photo, which I scanned in, was taken the day the MX-6 was traded in, just after I'd cleaned it up. . Check out my hot shoes... those are purple Converse hi-tops. My grandfather helped me clean the car out.

We got to Carter Saab, and I took another test drive, with my dad along. Then we headed in and filled out all of the paperwork. I was able to prove Oregon residence, so I didn’t have to pay sales tax. I remember that it took an eternity for the paperwork to be processed. It was late afternoon by the time we got out of there.

On the way back to my parents’ house, we stopped at my brother’s house near UW to show him my new car. I think he was a little surprised that I’d just bought a $20k car, as he was still in college. He may have been a little jealous, and may have been wondering why I chose that particular non-turbo car. Whatever. He’ll surely comment and let us all know what he really thought.

I scanned in this photo too, from the original Polaroid print. The Polaroid was my work camera. The car was very new in this photo, as I got the license plates within a few days of buying the car, and there are no plates on in this photo.

Back at my parents house, we confirmed that two black 1995 900 3-doors do really look alike, only the sportier wheels and spoiler differentiate them on the outside. Then I loaded up my stuff and headed back to Portland, to surprise my housemates with the new car. The trip down I-5 was so fun in my new car. I used the cruise control to ensure I wouldn’t get a speeding ticket.

   Click on these scanned photos to enlarge them. Writing on the back indicates they were taken in December, 1996. This was in front of the ITS office in Beaverton.

That afternoon ten years ago, I bought the car over which I have spent more hours obsessing than any car before or since. I grew to love the car (which I called Thor-Bjorn), and it fit me more comfortably than any of our current cars; I’d say it is the most comfortable car for my body to sit in. The biggest upgrade I gave my 900 was new 3-spoke wheels in early 1999, which (in my opinion) greatly improved the car’s appearance. When I sold the car in May of 2004, on the same day we picked up the V70R, my heart was very heavy.  Over the years I owned it, the 900 reached 157,000 miles.  The miles weren’t all trouble-free, but I look back fondly on my time spent with the 900.

This scanned in photo was taken in early July, 1999, on the northern California coast when Ani and I were on a camping trip. Thor-Bjorn looks SO sporty in this shot!

 February, 2004, Cle Elum. So sporty.

When I arrived at Salt Lake International Airport Wednesday evening, I spotted two identical Shelby Mustang GT-H cars parked in the Hertz row, with their gold stripes over black paint. Both Automobile and Car and Driver had write-ups about renting the GT-H, and they seem like a lot of fun.

Sadly, my reservation was with Avis, for a standard mid-size car. I got a Pontiac G6, the first G6 I’ve rented since they were introduced, and a welcome change from the fleet of Tauruses (Tauri?) I’ve been renting lately. The G6 is a nice upgrade from previous Pontiacs, this one even has a sun roof, though it’s gold exterior color doesn’t go well with the car’s shape.

 The devil's gold Pontiac. Check out the license plate.

Since I arrived during the dinner hour, I decided to have dinner at Salt Lake’s Metropolitan, one of the best (in terms of both ambience and food) restaurants I’ve found in Utah. I ordered one of their house margaritas, a vegetable dish, and an appetizer cheese plate. It was a pleasant meal in a typically empty Utah restaurant. Parking had been at a premium on S. Broadway (300 S), so I parked two blocks away on 300 S near the intersection of 300 W.

When I left the restaurant, I headed north on 300 W to get to North Temple, where I turned left to make my way to Interstate 15. Between 300 W and 600 W, North Temple is a bridge that rises above grade to drive over a rail yard. On the first half of the bridge you’re driving significantly uphill, on the other half you’re driving significantly down hill. There is a traffic signal at each end of the bridge.

 I turned left at this intersection, to head across the bridge shown in the photo.

I’m not sure whether there is a speed limit sign on the bridge or not. What I am sure of is that the bridge looks like a highway, so it doesn’t feel like a city street with a 35 MPH speed limit. Coasting down the second half of the bridge to the red light, it isn’t hard to exceed 35 MPH. Officer Smith of the Salt Lake Police Department clocked me at 48 MPH coming down that bridge. He and two of his motorcycle police buddies had a speed trap set up, and they pulled over three of us as we pulled away from the light at 600 W.

After checking my license and registration, Officer Smith came back with a traffic citation, written for 5 over the limit. He couldn’t tell me the amount of the citation, he referred me to the web site on the ticket, www.slcgov.com/courts/traffic.htm . He told me to drive safely and enjoy my visit to Salt Lake. Right. I think he pretty much ruined a visit I was already not happy about.

 click to make the image bigger

I haven’t had a speeding ticket in almost 10 years. My only other speeding ticket was in autumn of 1996, shortly after buying my ’95 900 S. I was returning to Portland from Seattle on a Sunday evening, and was clocked by the Washington State Patrol traveling 78 MPH in a 65 MPH zone at milepost 66 on I-5. I didn’t really mind, I thought it was a little funny, a speeding ticket in my sporty new car, paying the “speed tax” on a road where I sped (and still do speed) regularly.

I don’t feel the same way about this ticket in Salt Lake. I feel like a victimized tourist. Maybe that’s a bit extreme… but I was ticketed in a revenue-producing speed trap on a thoroughfare where I was driving the same speed as other traffic. It’s not the $92 fine (amount obtained from the web site) as much as it is the fact that this will mean points on my license. The other thing that really bugs me is that we have fast, cool cars, but I didn’t get a speeding ticket in any of them. I got a ticket in a friggin gold Pontiac.

On my way to the airport, I decided to investigate, and to try to get out of the ticket. It turns out there are two 35 MPH speed limit signs on the bridge; one right at the beginning, and one right up at the top. But I was correct in my recollection that North Temple has a faster speed limit. In the block after this bridge, the limit goes up to 40 MPH. About 4  blocks later it increases to 50 MPH.

After seeing all of this, I went to the Salt Lake City Corporation Justice Center. Yes, the city is a corporation. Privately held by the LDS church, I'd surmise. For any traffic offense in Salt Lake City, you have the right to speak to a hearing officer about the ticket. I waited my turn and talked to Jason, my hearing officer.  He said that is a common place for people to be stopped for speeding (evidently he's in on the scam). He said it was unfortunate that I tried to rely on memory for the speed limit on North Temple, as there are two speed limit signs posted on that bridge. He even knew where the signs were, he must get a lot of people contesting the ticket in that speed trap.

He told me the fine is $92, paid without pleading guilty to speeding. There was no way to reduce the fine since the officer had written the ticket for 5 MPH over even though I was actually 13 over. I asked whether I could keep the ticket off of my driving record, and he told me I could make a "Plea in Abeyance", pay $50 and go to driving school, a one-hour class with a test at the end. Or I could pay the $50 and take the test without sitting for the class. Since the class was at 7:00 PM and my flight was at 7:30, I couldn't go. I decided to pay the $$ and take the test.

It was a written true/false driving test, with 20 questions. You could miss 4 and still pass, but miss 5 and you fail. It took me less than 5 minutes. I missed one question, about whether you need to stop for a school bus with flashing red lights if you're traveling in the other direction on a divided highway. In Utah, you don't. I'm sure that you do have to stop in Oregon, and I answered the question saying you must stop.

So that was that. I paid my $142 dollars tithe to the Salt Lake City Corporation and I'm done with it. That's money that came right out of the "900 upgrades" fund. Now I've decided to boycott Salt Lake City. That does mean I'll miss out on the only restaurant I really like in Utah, but that's OK. If I have to go to Utah for work, I'll stay in other cities, eat in other cities, etc. I've never had a client in SLC proper, so it won't be a big hassle to me. But it will make me feel right in my own petty little way. My friends, I ask you to also BOYCOTT SALT LAKE CITY!