Hello! first post here but no stranger to forums. Tried a quick search which came up with nothing, as have almost all of my google searches.

I picked up a Saab 97x last week for $500. 80,000 miles, immaculate interior and body except for front end damage from an accident. Hood is buckled, bumper cover and support mangled but still in some sort of reusable shape. Pushed radiator into fan/fan shroud. Mechanical parts are no problem for replacement. Body parts are seeming be quite the challenge though. Now which leads me to my next question which may seem strange. Chevy Trailblazers of this era are a dime a dozen around here and the junk yards are full of them. How compatible are front end body components between the two? I can pull the front fenders, hood, bumper cover, headlights, grille, and other associated parts for less than buying a new "saab" hood. I'm not worried about resale value, this is vehicle #9 for me and my wife likes it for how clean the interior is which means we will keep it until the wheels fall off and i'll scrap the rest. but for now I'd like it to look like a somewhat complete vehicle, even if it is a frankenstein in the end. any thoughts/ideas/opinions? Dont worry, fire away you wont hurt my feelings lol.

Thanks!!
Red

 

Before you spend all the money on this, have you had the frame checked? Sounds like a pretty good wallop on the front end! I would think an entire front clip from a TB would work, but don't quote me on that! I'm going to give you a link to a guy that just rebuilt a 97X, he could probably answer your questions much better than I can! Good luck with it!
https://gmtnation.com/forums/threads...rebuild.22823/
(And guess what? He lives in Colorado!)

 

I appreciate the info! Luckily the impact seemed to ride up and over the steel crash bar and really just did cosmetic damage. I see no damage or indications of damage to any of the frame horns and beyond. If it comes down to it I can sell the brand new tires for what I paid for the whole vehicle so I'm not too worried about wasting money on it. I figure its worth a shot to see what can be done with it since its so friggin clean other than the obvious. Id hate to part it out already without trying to piece it back together.

 

I hope it all works out for you! I would think that a TB front clip would fit, but not sure how the body lines would match up. Wish I could be of more help there.

 

Thanks for you input!! This project is being put on the back burner for now until I can do some more research and try to source original body parts. Ive got a '68 Thunderbird that needs to get finished and put on the road first anyways. I will update this thread as I can when I finally start working on it more.