SAAB 99 in Friday’s 'Flipping Bangers'

Will Tricket and Gus Gregory decide they’d like to flip something Scandinavian. So start hunting the Internet auction sites for a SAAB 900.

When they can’t find one for the meagre budget they allow, they opt for an older SAAB 99. A car that has it origins in an amalgam of technologies from the front-wheel drive Truiumph 1300 and the rear-wheel drive Triumph Dolomite. Effectively, the 99 had an overhead cam 1,850 Dolomite-based engine sitting on top of a 1300-based front wheel drive gearbox.

The SAAB 99 they find looks all right from a distance, but up close it’s a mess with manky door cards and not running right. And there’s a cooling system problem (wasn’t there always with this engine?) Eventually they manage to fix the cooling issue and turn their attention to the look of the car. Flat aluminium panels give the doors the appearance of a rally car, and go-faster stripes outside give some eye appeal.

Then all that remains is to sell the car at a profit.

This is the last of the 10 part series all about is finding an unloved old car, bringing it back to life, and attempting to double the investment.

Previous episode covered transformations of classics from the Reliant Kitten to the BMW Z3, covering Morris Minors, VW Beetles, Renault 5s, MG Maestros and Skoda Estelles on the way.

Watch the show at 9.00pm on Friday at BLAZE on Freeview 63, Freesat 162, Sky 565 and Virgin Media 216.