The red 1983 Saab 900 Turbo three-door in TC Robertson’s South Carolina collection is no longer waiting for an open-ended restoration. Robertson’s August 16 Instagram update states that the complete cars remain available through September 7, 2026. Anything left after that date is scheduled to be scrapped. Parts buyers will be admitted during the final three days, from September 5 through September 7.
That deadline changes the meaning of Robertson’s latest tc.drives video. His selection of ten cars worth saving is not a preview of ten restorations he has already committed to completing. It is a request for outside buyers and enthusiasts to remove the strongest candidates before storage enforcement, transport costs and scrap contractors decide the outcome.
The Saab is one of those ten. It retains its manual transmission, original dashboard, switchgear, Turbo grille badge, period alloy wheels and keys. Robertson also gives it something many cars in the collection lack: a traceable first-owner story involving a Spartanburg County schoolteacher. Against that, the footage shows broken glass, extensive exposure and body deterioration serious enough to require inspection before anyone can call it a viable restoration.
A Five-Day Deal Followed by Six Months of Transport
Robertson first encountered the collection in June 2024 through a Facebook Marketplace advertisement for old European-car parts. The seller mentioned BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo and other makes, but repeated inquiries received no answer. Robertson eventually sent a deliberately oversized proposal: he would buy every vehicle on the property.
The offer produced a response. With help from his friend Aaron, Robertson arranged the money and wrote the check five days later. The transaction gave them approximately 200 abandoned project cars, but ownership was the simple part. Moving the vehicles from the wooded property to a rented holding lot took about six months.
The inventory includes roughly 40 BMW E30s, about 25 BMW 2002 and 1600 models, Mercedes-Benz W126 sedans and SEC coupes, E34 Tourings, Peugeot 505 Turbos, Volkswagen projects, two-door Jeep Cherokees, several turbocharged Saabs and the manual Volvo diesel. Robertson documented the scale of the purchase in an earlier video about buying all 200 cars. Swedish outlet Carup later highlighted the Saab and Volvo, but the subsequent deadline makes this a live disposal story rather than another survey of an unusual private collection.
The Saab at 14 Minutes and 20 Seconds
Carup describes the red car simply as a 1983 Saab 900 Turbo coupe. The footage permits a more exact identification: it is a US-specification three-door hatchback, or Combi Coupé, with federal bumpers, side-marker lamps and the long rear hatch. Calling it a two-door coupe would confuse it with the separate two-door sedan body offered in the Classic 900 range.
Robertson repeatedly identifies the car as a manual, and a 1983 US Turbo in this configuration used a five-speed transaxle. The visible 24-hole wheels are consistent with the period. There is no reason to speculate about an SPG or another higher-output derivative: the North American SPG program came later, while this car presents as the regular eight-valve 900 Turbo sold for the 1983 model year.
Robertson frames the Saab as a contemporary of the Porsche 930 Turbo. That should be understood as his description of its performance standing, not as proof that the two cars were direct market rivals. The Porsche was a rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports car at a very different price. The Saab offered its turbocharged performance through front-wheel drive, four adult seats and a large folding-seat cargo area. Its challenge to conventional sports cars was based on usable overtaking performance rather than matching their layout.
What the Camera Confirms
Robertson says the Saab’s glass was intact when the collection was acquired. Vandals later entered the lot and broke it. The current footage shows the rear hatch glass missing and side glass broken, leaving the tan interior open to South Carolina rain and humidity. The dashboard, controls, manual shifter and center-console area remain present, while the keys are reportedly still inside the car.
The exterior needs more than cleaning. Much of the red finish has failed, corrosion is visible around the hood and the hood skin appears perforated. The grille, Turbo badge, front spoiler and large federal bumpers remain, but those visible components cannot establish the condition of the load-bearing structure.
A serious buyer would need to inspect the front suspension mounting areas, lower control-arm attachment points, inner wings, driveshaft tunnels, floors, sills, windshield structure and rear axle mounts. Water entry also places the wiring, carpets, rear trim and headliner at risk. Getting the engine to turn is useful information, but it does not answer questions about the Bosch fuel system, turbocharger, cooling circuit, clutch, brakes or gearbox after years of inactivity.
The Schoolteacher Story Gives This Shell an Identity
According to Robertson, his research connected the Saab to a schoolteacher in Spartanburg County who bought it new and drove it until his death. The car then passed through an estate, moved through a used-car lot and eventually entered the previous collector’s stock before Robertson acquired the full property inventory.
No title history, registration file or original purchase documentation is shown in the video, so the ownership chain should remain attributed to Robertson rather than presented as independently verified. Even with that limitation, it gives a potential buyer a practical research route: the county, the reported occupation of the first owner and the sequence through the estate and dealer.
That provenance matters because the car is otherwise close to becoming an anonymous parts shell. A better-preserved family-owned 1983 Saab 900 Turbo recently sold for $14,750. The result does not establish the value of this damaged project, but it demonstrates what a documented manual 1983 Turbo can represent once condition, history and completeness are known.
Why the 1983 Turbo Specification Matters
A US-market 1983 900 Turbo used Saab’s 1,985cc eight-valve H-series engine with Bosch mechanical fuel injection and a Garrett turbocharger. American output was approximately 135 hp SAE net, rather than the 145 hp DIN figure generally associated with European-market cars. The number is less important than the boost-control system Saab fitted around it.
Automatic Performance Control, introduced on production Turbo models for 1982, used a knock sensor to regulate boost near the detonation threshold. That allowed the engine to adapt to variations in fuel quality without forcing the driver to manage boost manually. The system is a major reason the 1983 Saab 900 Turbo APC occupies a distinct place between Saab’s early turbo experiments and the later 16-valve Turbo 16 and SPG era.
Robertson says Saab had become the world’s largest producer of turbocharged cars by 1983. The useful corroborated milestone is that Saab had sold approximately 100,000 turbocharged cars by that year, a figure also recorded in the Classic & Sports Car buyer’s guide. His separate claim that one in three Saabs then carried a turbo is not necessary to establish the importance of the model and should not be repeated without stronger production data.
The Manual Volvo 240D Is the Other Swedish Priority
Robertson reserves some of his strongest language for a manual Volvo 240 Diesel with electrically controlled overdrive. The car appears substantially more complete than the Saab, retains its original wheel center caps and has a notably tidy cabin. His team has already managed to start its engine.
The specification is genuinely unusual. Volvo introduced the 244 GL D6 in 1979 with the Volkswagen-developed 2.4-liter D24 inline-six, becoming the first manufacturer to offer a six-cylinder diesel passenger-car engine in series production. Volvo’s own heritage material identifies the D24 and its Volkswagen origins. Robertson says he intends to do everything possible to save this particular Volvo.
The contrast with the Saab is revealing. The Volvo may be close to becoming mobile after mechanical recommissioning, while the 900 first needs dry storage, replacement glass and a structural assessment. In a 200-car operation, that difference determines which vehicle can be moved quickly and which requires a buyer with a trailer, covered space and a supply network.
Cash for Clunkers Destroyed 677,842 Vehicles, Not Millions
Robertson uses the 2009 Cash for Clunkers program to explain why many older enthusiast cars have disappeared. His underlying point about mandatory destruction is relevant, but the scale quoted in the video is inaccurate. The US Government Accountability Office report records 677,842 credited vehicles, not millions. Only 94,834 were passenger cars; about 85 percent of the trade-ins were trucks or SUVs.
The program required participating dealers to disable the trade-in engines, after which approved facilities had to crush or shred the vehicles. A 1983 Saab was already outside the program’s less-than-25-year eligibility limit in 2009, so this particular model year was not directly exposed. The relevance is the permanent loss of later vehicles and usable components, not a claim that the South Carolina Saab escaped the same scheme.
September 7 Turns Preservation Into Triage
Not every car in the lot deserves a full restoration. Some have fire damage, missing drivetrains or corrosion that makes reconstruction irrational. Those cars may preserve more value as organized donors supplying glass, trim, panels and mechanical components to better survivors. Robertson acknowledges that distinction himself.
The 900 Turbo should receive an informed inspection before anyone makes that decision. It is a manual 1983 three-door with a reported one-owner beginning, an unusually complete cabin and many model-specific exterior parts still attached. Its broken glass is recent vandal damage rather than the original reason it was parked, which makes its present exposure especially avoidable.
Robertson is asking interested buyers to comment on his September 7 inventory announcement to receive the complete vehicle list. Prospective buyers still need to confirm the Saab’s title status, price, exact collection arrangements and whether another buyer has already reserved it.
At the time of writing, no public update confirms that the red 900 Turbo has found a new owner. It has survived its first owner, an estate transfer, a dealer’s back lot, years of outdoor storage and a bulk purchase that removed it from the original property. The next transfer must take place by September 7 if the car is to remain a restoration question rather than become a source of parts and scrap metal.
Sadly, the Saabs are probably going to end up getting scrapped since they’re asking $1500 a piece for them. I really appreciate them trying to sell things before the crusher comes, but those numbers are too high.
I believe he’s got 2 9000s
Hope it can be saved..!!!