Thanks 'nuther Bob,paul,Skid and David.
My mechanic-who's worked on Saabs and recommends them-said there's absolutely no sign of collision repairs or repainting.He crawled off his exercise wheel ,said the mileage wasn't tampered with, peed in my hand,inspected the seals,then crawled back in his cage to comprehend quantum math equations.Between bites of Hartz brand kibble he gave me the go ahead,then dismissed the Cannes Film Festival as hollow pretense.The paint is even all around.
I Carfaxed it-untampered mileage,one owner,no accident history.Not sure how accurate Carfax is,but it's comforting nonetheless. She's an automatic,and it said the transmission had been serviced as recommended.My mechanic,having pooped in his water dish,noticed this when he inspected it.He said "actually it was a good sign".
So ,all that accomplished I took the plunge.Runs like a top and was reliable on a Florida-Maryland trip and averaged 26mpg(US).Driving these pups feels more like flying,huh?
To answer your question,the dealer wasn't a Saab dealer.He was from Maine though(ayuh) and like a lot from up there,preferred them.Had the ones he sold worked on at a local Saab dealer.
Probably the cheap price (9,000) is because they're hard to sell here.It verges on bodunk,and most are unfamiliar with the marque and buy BMW's,Mercedes, and Volvos.There's just a small,albeit fanatically loyal following.
To those of you in the UK;yes,we Amurrrcuns abbreviate 1,000 as K for whatever reason.Idiosyncratic as iced tea?
thanks