I've long been a fan of Saturns. Specifically the pre facelift S-series. Love them, I've owned something like 7 of them. At one time I 'collected them all' by owning a coupe a sedan and a wagon. For a time I worked in a saturn only junkyard. Between Saturns anf fieros I had been driving for almost a decade before I owned a metal bodied car.
But I haven't had a saturn in like 15 years. The itch is still there, and with the rise of radwood I kind of think somebody should be preserving them. I'm kicking around the idea of getting a '94-'95 twincam wagon, 'restoring it' stuffing as many options as I can into it and maybe throwing on some period correct mods and using it as a light daily/ C&C car.
The concern is its an orphan. Parts are getting scarcer and I honestly don't see a huge restoration market opening up... ever. I fear losing a daily because an alternator dies and no replacement can be found, or alternatively being the guy with 4 engines, 5 transmissions and 30 totez full of parts in my garage just in case.
What is it like living with an unloved orphan,
I have yet to have an issue finding mechanical parts.
Body parts are more problematic.
ddavidv
UltimaDork
6/9/23 7:16 a.m.
When these get hit, they go to the scrapper. The owners who still have them usually cry. They were good cars, but were never really an enthusiast brand, so there isn't a following to keep parts flowing like, say, a Fox Mustang.
A good friend of mine dailies a Saturn Astra if you wanna talk about orphans. At least the old S series sold well enough to be in junkyards.
I would think that Saturn crossed to many other brands as far as common parts go.
A quick peruse through Rock Auto shows most parts are still available.
Toyman! said:
I would think that Saturn crossed to many other brands as far as common parts go.
A quick peruse through Rock Auto shows most parts are still available.
Saturn, the real ones at least, shared no parts. They were their own thing.
4 engines, 5 transmissions, and 30 totes full of stuff.
What is weird is when they get orphan enough, the market dries up so the parts have no value. That is when you buy other peoples' hoards for scrap value or even less ("just want to see it go to a good home")
AClockworkGarage said:
Toyman! said:
I would think that Saturn crossed to many other brands as far as common parts go.
A quick peruse through Rock Auto shows most parts are still available.
Saturn, the real ones at least, shared no parts. They were their own thing.
Even for things that had no REASON to be different. The one that sticks in mind is that GM standard VSS signal is 4000 pulses per mile. Goes back to having a 4 pole sensor on a 1000RPM/60mph speedometer gear.
Not Saturn. 7000 pulses per mile. Why? Because, that's why.
I think the power steering pump was generic to other GMs but that's it. I think I can still replace the seal in my sleep.
The whole point of the Saturn experiment was to do things differently. If we do something one way, don't do it that way. Try stuff and tell us what works.
The lemons team I'm on has a couple Saturns that we race. We have 1 wagon and 2 sedans. 2 DOHC and 1 SOHC, and one with a pontiac GTO front end.
Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself said:
I have yet to have an issue finding mechanical parts.
Body parts are more problematic.
My mom crashed her '99 SC1 last year and didn't want anything other than another S-series, so we replaced it with a nice looking but neglected '01 SC2 found on FB marketplace 90 miles away. Mechanical/electrical parts have been easy to source, but the local junkyards no longer have S-series parts like they did 3-5 years ago. I couldn't find any of the interior switchgear anywhere and ended up disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling the original stuff.
Love the S-series. I had one, my wife had two, my mom has now had two.
When my wives last parent died, her neighbor came over and said "Well, guess you're and orphan now."
Dude I worked was a big Saturn fan x 25 years as DDers. Might still have a race car he's working on.
He sent me this when I sent him a Subaru auction.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1995-saturn-sc1-2/
In reply to Datsun310Guy :
ooh.
1995 is the best year, IMO, because it had the old bodystyle with the new dash.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
'95 has the best interior but the '94 wagons still had a polymer roof.
I really thought about buying a used and need of rebuild 94' wagon with a 5-speed manual a little while ago. Saturns are rapidly getting into the "Beloved E36 M3box" tier with how absurdly light some of the coupes are.
In reply to AClockworkGarage :
So did the '95s. At least the wagons, anyway. (Forgive me for not washing my SW2 in a while)
The real advantage to the newer dash was the airbags, as that meant you no longer had to deal with the annoying motorized seatbelts in the earlier models. (You can retrofit the later belts, however, at least in the wagons and sedans)
MrStickShift said:
The lemons team I'm on has a couple Saturns that we race. We have 1 wagon and 2 sedans. 2 DOHC and 1 SOHC, and one with a pontiac GTO front end.
Oh, we're gonna need pictures of that.
buzzboy
SuperDork
6/10/23 4:45 p.m.
I bet one of these would be great with a 3cyl Kubota...
I had a 97 SC2 5 speed Purchased in 2008 and put over 100k on it in 4 or 5 years . Suprised how much I liked it. At the time there were plenty in the bone yard, but the are getting really thin up here in the north now. Most s_ series are 30 years old now.... mechanical parts are easy to get, body and interior, not so much. Buy a nice one.
My recent Saturn SC ownership experience is documented here. It was quite an adventure. I got into the forums and Facebook group communities, dealt with a massive parts lot that came with my car, and eventually met someone I call "the Saturn King" who owns 19 of them and owns a massive hoard of parts. There are some very active true Saturn diehards out there keeping these going.
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/emergency-backup-saturn-02-sc2k-challenge-car/184437/page1/
I also owned a 2008 Astra hatchback, which was an orphan in a different way.
EricM
SuperDork
6/17/23 8:30 a.m.
I had a 1993 sl2 5speed blue-black with sunroof that my wife and I bought new, ordered from the factory, while we lived in Hawaii. I miss that car every day. We traded it in on a minivan when we had our second child.
It's interesting that there are so many fans here now. Where are you guys everyone time I sell one of these?
