Restore an old Saab in T'land?

[jobin]

Drove a Saab 900 (1985) in USA for years.  Had a rebuilt engine so ran well.  Loved the car.  Now have seen an even older Saab, model/year unknown but certainly pre-model 900, rusting away in a farmer's field here in north T'land.  I drive by 2x per week so an getting curious. 

Sure getting parts for such a car would be a monster pain, but if car can be bought cheap enough then might occupy my time and interest for months. How about the work required to fix/rebuild a car here?  Would this be legal as I"m a farang? 

Any comments on car rebuilding welcome. 

[Anythingleft?]

Don't think there should be an issue as you would be doing it for hobby purposes probably best to sling that question to someone like Ubonjoen in the visa forum for clarification
As for the build then why not try to find two similar vehicles, one to use as a donor could save you a lot of headaches

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[Kwasaki]

See if the motor has not been written off has an engine etc  and not been scrapped,  forget how long it's left before Gov DLT give cars not re-taxed yearly the boot.

If your happy with results start doing research on web sites on Saab owners.

Great idea from " Anythingleft? "  especially involving the question asked.   

[overherebc]

For me 'restoration' can be looked at two ways.

If the car is the last single remaining car of its kind it must be restored as original with all genuine parts etc to look factory new.

If it's an interesting older car you can fix it up properly to make it look good and be drivable. The only essential exception to above for me is that it should really have the proper engine, not like an old MG etc with a rice burner engine etc.

Interior etc can be done however you like as long as you maintain parts from original like seat frames etc etc. Recover in pink if your wife likes it ? it can always be redone later.

 

 

[kartman]

Comments on car rebuilding a pre 900 SAAB, just buy the nice 94 900S on Kaidee for 59000B and save yourself grief

[melvinmelvin]

to OP:

 

man! would keep you occupied for way longer than a few months, start counting years

good project/idea though, SAABs are funny things

 

I see some SAABs on the highways around BKK, so they are here.

 

spare parts? my guess is that you would have to start looking at scrap yards in Scandinavia

 

 

[jobin]

Might look like this, in 2 years!  A good size for the small soi.

[canthai55]

In my experience, if you start with a good body, the mechanical restoration is not too bad. But if you need to do lots of rust repair, the time and $$$ involved is at times overwhelming. What year is the one you are looking at ?  Pic above - with a coat of paint and polished trim - would be quite striking.

[jobin]

Oops.  My bad.  I stopped yesterday, walked into the farmer's field and took a good look at the car.  NOT a Saab but rather an Alfetta, an Italian model of some Alfa-Romeo design. 

My first thought 'like a Fiat' and to be fully avoided.  But, just maybe, if cheap enough (plz, take it away!) i could consider.  The front grill work of both cars is similar from a distance, and seen through the weeds. 

Take a look at a showroom model.  The year of this is probably mid-70s but not sure.

[NickJ]

You would want a Thai to look into it for you. The price if you ask would most likely flabbergast you......

[jpinx]

Alfas rust like crazy, so most of your time would be on bodywork.  There's plenty of workshops around who are capable of fabricating most mechanical parts.  It's always do-able, but the question is why would you?  There are plenty of older cars (VW beetle in my soi from 1960's for example) that are running legally on the roads but would respond well to your TLC.  A car is *always* a depreciating asset requiring copious work and money, but I know the feeling -- I restored a 1935 MG PA many years ago and it's still going strong  several owners later.

[Cook my sock]

There's a classic Alfa specialist in Chiangmai called Lanna Cars. They restore Alfas from that period.