Description
The Barber Saab Pro Series was a one make, may the best driver win, racing series that ran throughout North America starting with the 1986 season through the end of the 1994 season when Saab-Scania of America, Inc. exited the series. Saab-Scania of America, Inc. bought two of the 40+ Barber Saab Pro Series race cars that had been built by Mondiale cars from Skip Barber when they left the series. They bought VIN#045, a complete car in ready to run condition, and VIN #003 (mine) a car that had been raced through several seasons and then turned into a "roller" show car for promotional displays. Robbie Buhl convinced the series to sell him his winning car after his 1989 Championship season. These three Barber Saab Pro Series cars are the only known "survivors" as the remaining 30-40 cars were converted to run Dodge V-6 engines for the Barber Dodge Pro Series that ran in the 1995-1997 seasons and then all the cars were sold to a driving school in Mexico. When last I spoke with Robbie Buhl he still owned his car. VIN #045 was sold out of the Saab collection during their bankruptcy to a well known Saab collector/restorer in the mid-Atlantic area. VIN #003 is the car I bought from Saab Cars USA, Inc. when I was the Director of Communications there as GM was in the process of moving Saab's US Headquarters from the Atlanta, GA area to Detroit, MI in 2004. The Barber Saab Pro Series car is a tube-frame constructed Mondiale chassis with a Saab 2.0-liter, 4-cylinder, 16-valve, turbocharged engine producing approx. 225HP transmitted through a Hewland gearbox. Being a one-make series, the powertrains were well UNDER-stressed and known to last for 3+ seasons as raced without any failures. This car would make for an excellent, very durable and economical to run, while also historically significant and extremely rare vintage racing car.
History
This car competed in the Barber Saab Pro Series for several years starting in the first season in 1986. It was turned into a "roller" of a show car used to promote the racing series during the last couple seasons of the series. The chassis' of all Barber Saab Pro Series cars were constructed by Mondiale Cars out of Ireland while many ancillary components like the front and rear wing structures, etc. were fabricated for Mondiale by SPA in England. A great overview of the Barber Saab Pro Series, the many great drivers that started their pro driving careers in it and the champions of each year of the series can be found on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_Pro_Series.
Recent Competition History
Raced by many upcoming professional drivers at the start of their professional careers like Juan Pablo Montoya, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Townsend Bell, Robbie Buhl, Justin Bell, Juan Manual Fangio II, Robby Unser, A.J. Allmendinger, Kenny Brack, Derek Hill, etc.
