I stumbled across a listing for a 2000 9-5 Aero in need of rescuing recently, it had a split oil pipe and couldn't be driven, it's owner was also in the process of moving to Albania so wanted it to go to another Saab fan.

I've been looking to do a budget build for a while now, but never found the right Saab, I think this could be the one. The listing said it had been well looked after and owner maintained for the past few years, receipts for parts seem to suggest this is true, however, the sump hadn't been dropped and cleaned as listed and the new exhaust from Sweden, wasn't actually the correct one for an Aero.

However, it's original owner had specified the Aero beautifully in my eyes; rare heated and vented 'prestige' leather interior, upgraded audio and even a rare glass sunroof, all in immaculate condition too. The dark wood dashboard was beginning to delaminate, so a beautiful, light wood replacement in a satin finish has been food to really enhance the retro feel.

It also arrived with a set of Saab Double Bridge 17 x 7.5 alloys fitted, although I like them, the build calls for something a little more special, so a set of 19" Hyper Silver VXR alloys have been sourced which look absolutely stunning on the 9-5.

The metallic silver paintwork is generally in good condition, although one of the rear arches has suffered a large scrape and one of the doors has a nasty scratch on it, but overall I think it’ll clean up beautifully. The underbody has a few areas that will require a bit more work; around the drain holes mostly, but other than that, a good wire brush and Waxoil will get it back to a good standard again for an early gen 1 9-5. It also has a 100% MOT pass rate; 17 MOT's with not a single fail.

I'll bee listing all costs at the end of the build, but wanted to prove to myself that a beautiful Saab Aero could be created on an economy, I'll be scrounging a few parts where I can and also utilising some of my finds, including a Hirsch rear boot lip, Hirsch back box and a few other goodies to make it feel a bit special again.