I the past I hangared my Cessna in a big hangar together with a Saab 91 Safir. After a flight an angry lady shouted at me "did YOU left the Saab outside?!". I answered yes (because I came with my Saab to the airport). I did`nt know then that her plane was a Saab too, and did not move her Saab outside the hangar either. To be honest, I did not like her Saab at that moment. A heavy machine compared to my light Cessna. But the story of the Safir was nice, because this one was built at the Schelde Shipyards (in the Netherlands).
After a couple of years the Saab stopped flying because of expensive maintanance. The Safir was dismantled and I thought, maybe someday I buy the Safir. Just for the collection. Called the owner but she (the Safir) was gone. Too late...
On the picture above you can see the Safir`s interior. Below the view from the cockpit. The Safir is a well built machine, capable for aerobatics (my Cessna is not). But quality had a penalty for the Safir: it`s weight. A heavy plane uses more Avgas and Avgas is very expensive (nearly 3 Euro per liter).
A Saab Safir belongs in the museum imho, a couple of years ago I was in the Mercedes Museum and saw that they have planes in their museum too. If the museum needs a "new" Safir, I`ve found one for sale for € 30.000 in Switzerland. The advertisement can be found here. For me this Safir is too expensive (I do not want to fly her because I have a plane already). But: Saabs are Swedish cars built with aircraft quality...
Click here for the nice picture of the Saab Safir inflight.
