A SAAB dealership that was left abandoned after the car brand went bankrupt has been searched by a group of urban explorers.
The eerie showroom recently featured on the YouTube channel Forgotten Buildings.
In the video, the curious YouTubers can be seen entering the building through a gap in the wall, and coming into a long-abandoned room covered in dirt and muck, with paper, trash and boxes scattered across the floor.
Curiously, plants are still growing in the corner of the room, presumably due to water getting into the building through the ceiling, while a creepy children’s slide is propped up in the corner.
But most amazingly, the centre of the large room is taken up by three unsold Saab models.
The Saabs, which appear to be 9-3s – the final cars the Swedish marque built before they entered financial difficulties – are missing their wheels, lights, and other valuable parts.
But their original price tags remain, showing that the cars were once on sale for around £9,000 before the dealership closed.
Further on, the group discover the entrance to the shop’s basement, where they’re met by dozens more motors and even a small van.
According to Drive, the dealership’s history is clouded in mystery, although they claim the story has been roughly pieced together using dedicated Saab blogs.
Said to have opened in 1972 as a family business, things quickly went south when, as Saab began to experience financial difficulties, the dealer’s owners’ health began to fail as well.
It seems this led to the dealer owner’s brother being left to run things – which quikcly resulted in the business floundering before the global recession ultimately caused it to go bust.
Saab Planet believe the business was supposed to be liquidated in 2010, while Saab bit the bullet in 2011.
However, for reasons unknown, the dealership’s sell-off didn’t happen, and the facilities were left vacated.
Saab models were once a regular sight on UK roads, but recent data from Scrap Car Comparison suggests they run the risk of “disappearing from UK roads” alongside other discontinued brands such as Rover and Daewoo.
They claim Saab has seen a 71% ownership drop over the last 10 years.
This comes as a retro BMW E34 M5 was recently found abandoned in a garage of a mansion.
Untouched since 2008 and covered in dust and grime, the retro Beemer features a black finish and a stylish ivory leather interior – but no one knows why it was left behind by its original owners.
In other news, Volkswagen is set to shut at least three of its factories in Germany and lay off tens of thousands of staff.
The German car-making giant will also shrink its remaining plants and cut staff pay by 10% in a deeper-than-expected overhaul of one of the world’s most recognisable brands.
