On the road again

My Saab is finally fixed thanks to a couple of heroic West Country Saab nuts. Waving farewell to friends John Green, Tony Parkhurst and Alex Rankin, I set off from Yeovil with more than a little trepidation late one autumn afternoon, on the long journey home to Cambridgeshire. This would be the first great test for a car blighted by countless mechanical problems, since buying it as a non-functioning ‘barn find’ two years before.

Stonehenge glowed in the low evening sun and for the first time, I felt a sense of wellbeing at the wheel. The 96 handles, too. With well-weighted steering and bags of grip, it’s not difficult to see why rally drivers loved it so much. As the road home became quieter at dusk, I booted it out of a roundabout on the A43 near Brackley.

A slap of thrust took me by surprise, as did the bark of that Jetex exhaust, and I found myself suddenly in the midst of some (admittedly lowspeed) steering wheel heroics. On one dualcarriageway roundabout, I caught an Audi napping. His natural ‘Audiot’ urge for victory overcame him and he regained his position in front with minimal effort but it felt like the Saab was performing as it should, at last.

It had taken time, with significant contributions from the likes of Matt Tomkins, Clive and James Jefferson, John Simpson and the lads at Rustbuster. Many enthusiasts helped and the final exorcism was performed by the pairing of John Green and Tony Parkhurst. What a beast we have created! And, crucially, it’s another one saved.