J.A. Ackley
J.A. Ackley Senior Editor
9/1/24 9:46 a.m.
feature_image

Want to relive the glory days of Saturn? This might be your shot, a 1991 Saturn SC that’s purported to be one of two factory-backed teams in the SCCA Showroom Stock class at that time. The other car was said to be crushed.

The seller says it appears just like it did after its last race, minus front seats.

The …

Read the rest of the story

AClockworkGarage
AClockworkGarage Dork
9/1/24 11:14 a.m.

Oh jeeze, it really is a '91. Complete with the horrible motor mounts.

300zxfreak
300zxfreak Reader
9/1/24 1:19 p.m.

Truthfully, I don't need that......at all.

maschinenbau
maschinenbau GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
9/1/24 3:12 p.m.

That thing has been for sale locally for at least a year now and it's still overpriced. I would be curious what it actually looks like now after sitting so long.

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/1/24 3:14 p.m.
AClockworkGarage said:

Oh jeeze, it really is a '91. Complete with the horrible motor mounts.

I worked at a Saturn dealership and I never saw one although I knew they existed.  (Not too many people take 10 year old cars to the dealership for service)

I remember replacing many, many engine mounts.  If the '91 was worse...

Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter)
Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
9/1/24 3:20 p.m.

The upper motor mount was a 40,000 mile service item on my 97. Took 5 minutes and cost 20 bucks.

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/1/24 3:25 p.m.

In reply to Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) :

The '91 was entirely supported at the bottom, they didn't hang the timing cover off of the inner fender like '92?-up.  Memory says that the subframes still had the leftover mounting points for the '91 layout for a while after the change.

RacingComputers
RacingComputers GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
9/1/24 9:10 p.m.

HERE IS MY SIGN

 

SLOW CAR SLOW

prodarwin
prodarwin MegaDork
9/1/24 9:46 p.m.

I always wanted to combine the 91 and 92 + mounts.  The 91 mount location would facilitate a better performance engine mount. 

BenLikesCars
BenLikesCars New Reader
9/2/24 2:08 p.m.

It looks like a very entertaining car. I don't know if it qualifies for vintage events, but it should. 

 

I wonder if this is one of those things that will look like bargains in five to ten years.

J.A. Ackley
J.A. Ackley Senior Editor
9/3/24 9:31 a.m.
BenLikesCars said:

It looks like a very entertaining car. I don't know if it qualifies for vintage events, but it should. 

 

I wonder if this is one of those things that will look like bargains in five to ten years.

This should be eligible for vintage events. I also wonder if the perspective will change five to 10 years in the future. Nostalgia certainly has a way of changing one's vision.

drmindbender
drmindbender New Reader
9/5/24 1:34 p.m.

Wow. The worst "sporty" car ever in full race livery! I had the pleasure of banging around town in one of these for many months. Relative to other cheap cars out there at the time, it was a blast to drive. No power, no grip...the only thing helping it rotate was the handbrake. The only redline indicator was the rev limiter, no tach...and if you hit it, your momentum was gone. My wife and I bonded over her little Geo Storm, and remember it fondly. We had so much fun in it I ended up buying a clutch for it.

prodarwin
prodarwin MegaDork
9/5/24 1:36 p.m.

I honestly can't tell if many of these posts are bots or not

glueguy (Forum Supporter)
glueguy (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
9/5/24 1:36 p.m.

Man I miss the good ole days

define "factory backed"

wvumtnbkr
wvumtnbkr GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
9/5/24 5:41 p.m.

Oh boy.  This is not something I would deem as fun racecar material.  I Raced against some of these in lemons and champcar.  Even in those fields the drivers had to drive in their mirrors.

racerfink
racerfink UberDork
9/5/24 9:20 p.m.

In reply to drmindbender :

They raced Peugeot diesels in showroom stock endurance racing in the 80's.  This Saturn is certainly more sporty than that.

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/5/24 10:01 p.m.
drmindbender said:

Wow. The worst "sporty" car ever in full race livery! I had the pleasure of banging around town in one of these for many months. Relative to other cheap cars out there at the time, it was a blast to drive. No power, no grip...the only thing helping it rotate was the handbrake. The only redline indicator was the rev limiter, no tach...and if you hit it, your momentum was gone. My wife and I bonded over her little Geo Storm, and remember it fondly. We had so much fun in it I ended up buying a clutch for it.

You drove a different SC than I ever drove.  Every SC (every Saturn, I think) had a tachometer.

 

They were much, much more sporty than contemporary cars in part because they had practically no bushings in the suspension.  The subframes hard-mounted to the shell, the steering rack hard-mounted to the subframe, and the TCAs and such had bushings just large enough to put a little rubber in them.  This was hell for NVH (why no S series ever had larger than 15" wheels and most had 14") but great for handling.

 

 

....unless you think the SC was related to the Geo?  The Storm was an Isuzu Impulse.  The SC and other S cars were a 100% clean sheet design, even for things that didn't need to be different, like how all GMs had a 4000 pulse per mile speedometer EXCEPT Saturn, which was 7000 pulse per mile. 

When they were made, they had the highest domestic content of any car sold in the US.  Only the A/C compressor was an imported part.

You'll need to log in to post.

Our Preferred Partners
nM866eT5xTYHrUFk0gJOVBpR7DSWV5jhRpuH1mygLZH4PYXAwaJq2jQ04awWtO2o