In the 1980s John Gardner gave Bond a new car: a silver Saab 900 Turbo, fitted out with gadgets. The Saab 900 Turbo is an unexpected Bond car, and a good one: quick, practical and quietly odd, which suits a man who prefers the right thing to the obvious one.
In the books
The Saab arrives in Licence Renewed (1981) as the new James Bond car, customised by CCS with gadgets. It is back in For Special Services (1982), where it is nicknamed the Silver Beast, and again in Icebreaker (1983). It is Bond’s own car, not a pool vehicle, and the books return to it three times. The cars on screen are a separate story; start at the films.
The details of the Saab 900 Turbo
The engine. The turbo was a 2-litre four-cylinder, said to be derived from a Triumph design, canted at 45 degrees and mounted longitudinally in a front-wheel-drive car, which is unusual. Wikipedia gives the early Turbo as 135hp; the later Turbo 16 was rated at 175PS before catalytic converters.
The shape. The 900 Turbo was sold as a three-door hatchback, where the tilt-up rear lid counts as a door in Saab’s own reckoning, and as a four-door. Car and Driver, testing the 1981 car, praised the seating position, with seats at dining-chair height, and called a Saab a first-class travelling compartment.
Owning it now
Production ended in 1994, so this is a second-hand search. We have linked an eBay search for the exact name, and it is worth looking for a 900 in silver or grey with a documented service history. As an indication of prices, one 1989 Saab 900 Turbo Convertible sold at Bring a Trailer for US$11,250 on 16 September 2026, and an Edmunds search showed an average of US$7,454 across 14 used 900s at the time of our research. Inspect the bodywork and ask what has been replaced, as you would with any car of this age. The gadgets are fiction, and we would not try to fit them.
Specifications
| Model | Saab 900 Turbo, classic generation (1978 to 1994) |
|---|---|
| Bodies | Three-door hatchback (tilt-up lid), four-door and five-door |
| Engine | 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo, canted 45 degrees, longitudinal |
| Output | 135hp (early Turbo); 175PS (Turbo 16, without catalytic converter) |
| Appears in | Licence Renewed (1981), For Special Services (1982), Icebreaker (1983) |
| Status | Out of production; found second-hand |
Background on the model is on Wikipedia.
Questions
Which Bond car is the Saab 900 Turbo?
It is James Bond’s personal car in three John Gardner novels of the 1980s: Licence Renewed, For Special Services and Icebreaker. It is not in the films.
What is the Silver Beast?
It is the nickname the car carries in For Special Services, the second Gardner book to use it.
Is the Saab 900 Turbo still made?
No. The classic 900 was produced from 1978 until 1994, so a car today is a pre-owned or collector purchase.
What did Bond’s Saab have that a normal Saab did not?
Gadgets fitted by CCS, and heavy-duty Dunlop Denovo tyres that stayed sealed after bullet hits.
More cars from the books and films are in Vehicles.
