This is not your typical Saab story (get it?). It’s a story about the Saab in the woods. I first discovered this gem toward the very beginning of my first attempt to ride a section of a back country moto route between NYC and Eastern Canada.There is a section of this route that literally goes right though our neighborhood in the Catskills. It is precisely this section where one can find the Saab in the woods. Because of its proximity (and because the road is a good balance of fun and challenging), I frequently work this section of unpaved seasonal road into summer weekend rides.
Each time I ride this way, I slow down to admire the decomposing carcass of what was once a badge of yuppie-tude, haphazardly dumped in the middle of the woods over 100 miles away from anything resembling a big city, or even suburbia, for that matter. The subject in question is what appears to be an 80’s vintage Saab 900. At some point in June I was riding out this direction and finally had a real camera with me, so I stopped to get a few shots. “What’s so great about a Saab in the woods?” you might be asking. For starters: Scando design. Saab’s consistently unique Swedish styling told me exactly what this car was upon first spotting it, even before I stopped and inspected it up close. The design aesthetics of the car, coupled with the rust induced burnt-orange hues of sheet metal completely devoid of graffiti, with all of the original unbroken glass still intact makes it a unicorn of sorts. It is abundantly clear that somebody just discarded this thing in the middle of the woods. But it feels almost like it was intentionally placed there, an objet d’art tucked amongst the ferns; Installed where only those few who find themselves on this road less traveled can admire it, bathing in afternoon the light as diffused by the deciduous canopy. I love it.
