$68,000 after 61 bids
A 1993 Saab 900 Turbo Commemorative Edition sold for $68,000 on Bring a Trailer on September 15, 2026, after a no reserve auction that attracted 61 bids, 22,005 views and 1,686 watchers. Winning bidder Mboislard entered the final $68,000 bid after abelperr had reached $66,500 only minutes earlier. The auction was handled by BaT Local Partner Wob in California on behalf of the owner.
The result is remarkable enough on price alone, but this is not a low mileage, untouched Commemorative Edition preserved exactly as delivered in 1993. The odometer shows 80,000 miles, the car wears 16 inch Super Aero wheels and SPG style lower bodywork, its audio system has been substantially upgraded, the engine bay has been refinished following corrosion repairs, and the underside has previously been stripped and recoated. Bring a Trailer also disclosed a red box APC and Stage 1 engine components.
Those details became an important part of the discussion because they make this sale considerably more useful than another record generated by an exceptionally low mileage survivor.
It is a genuine CE, but it is not in factory CE specification
The VIN, YS3AL35T8P2017507, appears in the long running Saab Commemorative Edition registry at saabce.com, where the car is recorded as Series #86/325. The registry was last updated for this car in February 2017, when it showed 74,400 miles and Matthew McGuire as the registered owner. More importantly, it also preserves information submitted by earlier owners going back to 2007.
That registry trail matters because several BaT commenters immediately noticed details that did not belong to the original 1993 Commemorative Edition specification. The factory CE used Black paint, tan leather, its own 15 inch directional wheels, a burled walnut dashboard fascia, leather shift knob and boot, lowered suspension and the familiar red box APC specification producing 185 hp. The factory specification did not include the later SPG ground effects, wheel arch extensions or 16 inch Super Aero wheels seen on this particular car. SaabCE also documents the numbered brass plaque supplied with each car.
That led to questions in the auction comments over whether the car was a genuine Commemorative Edition or a regular 900 Turbo subsequently assembled to resemble one. One commenter summarized the confusion by asking whether it was an original CE, an SPG or a Turbo with added equipment, while also pointing out the Aero wheels, SPG style cladding and initially absent visible number plaque.
The registry provides a fairly clear answer. The VIN and history identify it as CE #86, while the nonstandard exterior equipment is documented as later modification rather than evidence of a different underlying car.
That distinction is important. Authenticity of the vehicle and originality of its current specification are two different questions.
The SPG conversion was already documented in 2013
The most useful part of the registry entry is an update submitted in July 2013 by fourth owner Joshua Silliman. At that point the car had approximately 72,000 miles, and the modifications visible today were already being documented.
The entry specifically records 16 inch wheels, SPG ground effects, wheel arch flares, vent covers and smoked side indicators. It also states that the engine was removed and received a Stage 1 upgrade along with various replacement components. The engine compartment was stripped, corrosion was addressed, and the bay was then resealed and refinished.
The work went considerably further than cosmetic changes. According to the same registry record, the underside was stripped and re-undercoated, the interior was removed so that developing corrosion could be treated, Dynamat sound insulation was installed, the door cards were refurbished, and the suspension received control arms, brakes, rear axle components, springs and dampers.
That history is significant because it prevents the current configuration from being mistaken for a collection of changes made shortly before the auction. The SPG appearance and much of the mechanical refurbishment have been part of CE #86 for at least thirteen years.
The invoices for all of that 2013 work have not been independently reviewed here, so the registry entry should be treated for what it is, an enthusiast record based on information submitted by owners. However, the current BaT listing, the older registry entry and the fifth owner’s later description all tell substantially the same story.
The fifth owner’s listing fills in another part of the history
The current owner reproduced an earlier for sale description from the fifth owner in the Bring a Trailer comments. At that point the car showed 76,450 miles, still wore the SPG panels and arch extensions installed in 2013, and had both the 16 inch Super Aero wheels and a second set of Commemorative Edition wheels.
That description also records some later changes. A Carlsson style exhaust supplied by Steven Lewis in the UK was fitted in 2017, while the brakes received pads and rotors and the cabin gained a substantial audio system consisting of a Pioneer DEH-P80RS head unit, Focal speakers, JL Audio subwoofer and Genesis Profile GT5 amplifier. The previous owner valued that audio installation at more than $4,000. Importantly, the original Saab head unit, CD player and equalizer were said to remain with the car and to be functional.
The same description clarifies another detail that could otherwise create confusion when comparing the car with an original CE interior. The factory burled walnut fascia was already missing when the fifth owner acquired the car. He subsequently installed what he described as a mint condition, original looking replacement together with a matching glove box panel.
The current auction photographs no longer show the characteristic factory CE walnut fascia. The numbered plaque was also not installed on the console in the auction photos, although the sixth owner stated in the comments that the original CE #86 bronze plaque is still with the car, together with the original window sticker, CE sales brochure, original audio equipment, books, umbrella, service receipts and three keys.
For anyone trying to assess this car from photographs alone, those details make a substantial difference. The visible configuration is not the full inventory of original CE parts accompanying the sale.
Eight years and only 3,500 miles with the sixth owner
The consigning owner, posting as vonbeeler, identified himself as the sixth owner of CE #86. He said he had owned the car for eight years and added approximately 3,500 miles during that period. He also stated that it had not been driven in rain under his ownership and was never left outside for more than a few hours at local Cars and Coffee events.
He described the exterior paint as original apart from the engine bay and said the tan leather was also original. That aligns with the BaT listing, which specifically identifies the engine compartment as having been repaired for corrosion and repainted while noting that the Carfax report contains no reported accidents or other damage.
This is where the auction presentation becomes more interesting than the usual mileage discussion. At 80,000 miles, CE #86 is not an ultra low mileage specimen. What bidders received instead was unusually extensive information about what had been changed, when it had been changed, and which original pieces remained with the car.
From $40,000 to $68,000 in the same year
There is a particularly useful comparison from earlier in 2026.
On March 31, another 1993 Saab 900 Turbo Commemorative Edition sold on Bring a Trailer for $40,000. That car showed 206,000 miles and retained its original style 15 inch CE wheels, although it too had undergone a number of changes over its life, including replacement upholstery and a manually converted sunroof. It attracted 35 bids and 1,023 watchers.
That $40,000 result was already strong enough for seller Autogalerie-us to comment during the CE #86 auction that they had expected their result to remain the benchmark for some time. When CE #86 had already moved above $40,000, they openly acknowledged that the new car appeared set to surpass it.
The difference is substantial. $68,000 is 70 percent above $40,000, and the two sales took place less than six months apart.
An even closer mileage comparison comes from May 2022, when an original owner 1993 CE #182 with 81,000 miles sold on Bring a Trailer for $35,000. That car retained the factory walnut trim, original style wheels and plaque, making it useful precisely because it approached the collector car ideal from the opposite direction.
CE #86 therefore did not reach $68,000 because it was the most factory original example available. Its result came from a different combination: 80,000 miles, a recognized VIN and registry identity, a traceable chain of owners, long documented modification history, extensive mechanical work, original supporting material and an unusually detailed auction presentation.
The last hour explains the price better than a single winning bid
The bidding history also makes it difficult to dismiss $68,000 as one buyer simply paying whatever was required.
CE #86 reached $40,000 around midday on September 15. By the final hour it had moved through $46,000, $47,500, $49,000, $51,000 and $52,000. Multiple bidders remained active as the price advanced through $55,000, $58,000 and $60,000, followed by bids at $61,000, $62,000, $62,500, $64,000, $64,500, $66,000 and $66,500. Mboislard then entered the winning $68,000 bid.
That sequence is more informative than the final number alone. Several bidders continued to participate well after the car had surpassed previous Commemorative Edition results, and the final underbid was only $1,500 below the winning price.
It also happened at no reserve, so there was no seller imposed threshold waiting to be met. The market price was created in the bidding itself.
The buyer had been without a Saab for almost 30 years
There is one final piece of context worth retaining because it came directly from the winning bidder rather than from auction promotion.
The following day, Mboislard returned to the comment section and wrote that the purchase ended a period of more than 10,950 days without a Saab, just short of 30 years. He also thanked the seller and previous owners for the way the car had been maintained and said he intended to continue looking after it.
That does not explain the $68,000 valuation by itself, but it does identify the buyer as someone who was specifically waiting to return to Saab ownership rather than simply shopping the wider collector car market.
For CE #86, the more useful conclusion is therefore not that modified Classic 900s are suddenly worth $68,000. The result is much narrower and more interesting. A recognized Commemorative Edition with substantial period appropriate changes, a registry trail extending back almost two decades, surviving original material and extensive prior mechanical work attracted enough serious bidders to reach $68,000.
That is a very different benchmark from a price achieved solely through low mileage and untouched factory condition.
I had 308. Sold 11 years later for 92% of purchase price…and in only.2 days. 3rd person who saw it just wrote a check on the spot. No test drive either. It was my 6th Saab then on my 30th now…yes 30th