Matchbox Saab 9000 Turbo: A Rad Matchbox

Let's continue our Matchbox story into the late 1980s. The year is 1982, and the Lesney company is facing hardships, like bankruptcy. The company was looking for a way out, and the Universal Toy Company, owned by David Yeh would purchase the "Matchbox" name that year. Along with the "Matchbox" name, he also acquired a few of the castings and rights to produce the Lesney models. Yeh also officially renamed the Matchbox brand as "Matchbox International Ltd." At first, production of the cars remained in England, where the original Lesney Matchbox cars were produced, but in 1985, production moved to China. 

It was during this time that Matchbox would see a rise in many new castings. Initially, they were using many of the old Lesney castings to keep costs down at the England factory. Case in point, the 1985 reissue of the Sonett III we dicussed in the previous entry. However, when production was moved to China, it became cheaper to produce castings, thus allowing more funding for new castings. Around this time.

In 1988, the Saab 9000 Turbo model was introduced to the Matchbox lineup. It was slightly larger than most other models, at 1/60 scale. Like the Saab Sonett III, the 9000 also had a special feature, having the ability to open the front doors. 

The 9000 was initially introduced in a shiny dark red with yellow plastic accents, as seen in this collection. 

Several models followed, first with a blue 9000, also in 1988, with racing decals. This model is pretty rare, and is valued high on the collector market. 

Next up was a model in white, debuting in 1991, with red and yellow "Saab" decals, seen here in this collection too. This model is fairly common, and isn't valued too high on the collector market. 

A blue and silver model appeared in 1992 in a multi-pack, and these two are both hard to find as well. The last Matchbox 9000 appeared in 1997, and is arguably the most collectible model of the Matchbox 9000s. Finished in cream, the model features fine detailing (painted trim and headlights) and rubber tires with chrome plastic rims. That would be the final year Matchbox produced the 9000. 

Currently I have two examples of the 9000. The first released model in red and the third released model in white with "Saab" decals. Both of these cars came into my possession in completely different ways. 

The red model was originally my cousins, which I have distinct memories playing with as a child. I remember being able to open the doors and how the red paint was always in poor shape compared to the rest of my cousin's collection. It was also distinctive because my grandparents owned a Saab 9-3 and 9-5, which I remember thinking it looked very similar to those two cars despite having no idea what a 9000 was at the time. 

When he got older, my cousin gave up most of his toys, and I inherited most of his cars, thus the 9000 was officially mine. Although I inherited the collection at a time before I developed my passion for Swedish cars, I kept the 9000 around in my collection as it always reminded me of those early years at my grandparent's house, playing on the coffee table with my cousin's cars. 

The white 9000's story is less intriguing, but I'll still share it. I at first thought the only Matchbox Saab products were the Sonett and the 9000, so I looked on the Matchbox wiki page to investigate if there were any more. As I found out, the only models were indeed the Sonett and the 9000, but what I didn't know was that there were several other examples of the 9000. Looking on Ebay, I found a very nice example of the white car, and purchased it. For only $10, it was quite a steal compared to what other older 1980s Matchbox cars go for. 

Like the Sonett, I'm very impressed that Matchbox made the 9000 as a diecast model. Although the Sonett seemed like more of a left curve compared to the more contemporary Saab models of its era, I can see why Matchbox went with the 9000. The 9000 debuted in 1984, and by 1988, it had been pretty successful. 

The 9000 was a sleeper car, and was marketed as a car that could out pace some high end sports cars, like Porsches and Ferraris. Compared to the 900, which was starting to show its age, since it was a car designed in the 1970s, the 9000 was modern, and I like to think Matchbox saw its sportiness and modern design and thought that it would make for a cool model to produce. 

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