1990 Saab 900 Turbo SPG: The Holy Grail of Swedish Cars

The Saab 900 Turbo SPG is what the SS badge is to Chevy enthusiasts. And like Chevy enthusiasts, some Saab enthusiasts will convert non-SPG 900s to SPG clones. The SPG looks like a typical 900, and to be quite honest, to the untrained eye, most people wouldn't know what they're looking at is a very important piece of 1980s car culture. The only physical signifier of a 900 SPG are the black body panels lining the bottom of the car, but going back to my previous statement about cloned SPGs, it may not be the case all the time. 

The 900 SPG appeared to the world in 1984, in Europe as the 900 Aero and 900 SPG in the US. The name "Aero" was already trademarked in the US, so Saab gave it the SPG name, which stood for Special Performance Group. Aside from the aforementioned black trim pieces along the bottom of the car, the SPG came standard with stiffer springs, suspension, larger sway bars, and the iconic Saab tri-spoke rims seen on this car. What made the SPG exclusive from other 900s was its special feature, known as the Saab APC control. 

The APC, or Automatic Performance Control, was revolutionary. It was the first ever boost and knock system on a production vehicle introduced in 1982. The APC allowed for higher compression towards the engine to improve fuel economy and performance. It also reduces engine knock by detecting controlling the rate of the boost level and pressure. The APC unit was mounted to the engine block, which allowed to determine the frequencies or vibrations that were produced when engine knock was occurring. The unit would then direct boost pressure to the turbocharger's bypass wastegate to bypass the gases traveling from the exhaust. This effectively lowered the boost pressure to reduce knock, and maximum boost pressure at 4500 RPM.

The SPG would leave the Saab lineup in 1991, when production of the 900 began to wind down for the next generation. Today, it's become one of the most sought after classic Saabs, and has spawned many tribute cars. Tribute cars being replicas of real SPG models. They aren't legitimate SPG cars, merely being a car to look like one. Saab only made 7625 of these in total, making them pretty uncommon to come by. They're around, but they fetch high asking prices. I felt very lucky to have found this one out in the wild in Providence.