PICTURES: SIMON GOLDSWORTHY
I think I was always destined to have a Saab. My dad had a Saab 95 estate when we were kids, so I grew up sitting in the back of that. And I do mean right in the back – the estate had an extra row of seats in the tail facing backwards, and there were four of us kids. Two of my siblings didn't really like sitting in the back seat, but I loved it so that is where I mostly ended up. On shorter runs there would be two of us in the back, but when we were going on holiday or a longer trip, I'd be in there on my own surrounded by luggage.
Saabs were a bit of a niche thing when dad had them. Before getting one, the family transport had been a Humber Hawk estate, but dad has an engineering background and he said that whenever he saw a Saab they were going fast, so he quite fancied one. And of course, I was young and impressionable so even though I started off riding motorbikes like so many people did at the time, the idea of getting a Saab was always at the back of my mind. Being young and fancyfree, I wanted a saloon rather than an estate, and one day in 1987 I saw just such a vehicle in the car park of Sainsbury's – broken down and with the bonnet up! I went over to talk to the owner, (Andy, who has now turned into a great
