In the January of 2000 I had an interview in New Jersey. I hadn’t been interviewed for a long time and breakfast with the VP of Engineering had gone well but I had known that the rest of the day would be tougher. The first interview went well with a friendly Irish guy, who asked simple questions and set me at ease. I was feeling better… until his final comment as he walked out the door “they sent me in first because I was the easy one!” returned me to my nervous state.
Two more interviews and then my host suggested we should grab some lunch. We picked up another guy and headed to the Mall. “I recognise you, you’re the guy form the website aren’t you?”. My host started laughing and the new guy just shook his head. Apparently it was a sore point, but that guy and I have been friends ever since.
After lunch I had another few interviews and then the day ended. It felt okay, but I had no idea whether I would get the position or not, so the next morning when the company provided realtor showed up and asked how much I had to spend I was totally confused. The good news was that a couplde of weeks later I had accepted an offer and was starting to prepare for my new life in New Jersey.
My UK house was sold, the Audi sold back to my dealer friend and the Mercedes blown up, so it was time for my first car in the US.
I looked at many options. Credit history is a problem for people moving to the US so I looked at what I could buy with cash; A Jeep Wrangler maybe? or an old Mustang (not a great dog car)? how about that nice red Saab Turbo? It was only a three door model(that’s a two door hatchback to any American readers), but that was okay. My dog had loved the Audi and the seats could go down if needed, and most importantly this car had 185bhp and a manual gearbox s0 it should be fun! My Dad had always been a huge Saab fan “great seats” he always told me. I had always believed in BMWs but I couldn’t afford one and this Saab was there, on the forecourt and in my budget..
Leather seats, solid build, aircon and that nice big turbo! What more could I want? (Well I suppose it would have been nice if it had been capable of putting that power down in the wet..) so it became my first Saab.
Dreams, cars and dreams about cars 
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