JFK Jr.’s ’94 Saab Is Up for Auction. You Should Buy It

The late John F. Kennedy Jr., in addition to being the subject of countless menswear moodboards, a hit Ryan Murphy series, and, hey, a new coffee table book written by yours truly, was one of the most stylish guys in 1990s New York. Between his American-dynasty pedigree, chiseled good looks, and impossibly thick head of hair, not to mention his eclectic wardrobe of preppy classics, funky gorpcore, and Armani suits, it’s not hard to see why. It should come as no surprise, then, that he also had excellent taste in cars. Throughout the ’90s, JFK Jr.’s whip of choice was a 1994 Saab 900 SE Coupe, a quirky Swedish sports car that embodied everything that was great about ’90s style, down to its hunter green paint. Fortunately, for fans of oddball vintage autos and JFK Jr. alike, it’s currently up for sale via RR Auction, and the bids are rolling in.Sporty, sophisticated, and eccentric, the Saab 900 was to JFK Jr. what the pink Cadillac Fleetwood was to Elvis, or the Porsche 935 was to Paul Newman. An consummate outlier in the American car market since the ’50s, Saab’s popularity peaked in the mid-1980s when its weird, angular designs and quirks(e.g., the ignition was next to the handbrake) found a following among design-obsessed American yuppies. Combining the Scandinavian sobriety of a Volvo with the postmodern flair of a Memphis sofa, Saab loomed large in ’90s culture: Jerry Seinfeld’s TV alter-ego drove one, as did Niles Crane, Dana Scully, and Clark Griswald’s humorless neighbors in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.JFK Jr. in 1997. Lawrence Schwartzwald/Getty ImagesDuring the tail end of the decade, when JFK Jr. and his late wife, publicist Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, were fixtures of Lower Manhattan life, the couple was frequently photographed driving in the Saab near their Tribeca loft. With its sporty-yet-economical turbocharged four-cylinder engine, a sleek leather interior, and a custom set of aftermarket aqua-blue padded ski racks mounted to the roof, it embodied JFK Jr.’s characteristic blend of aristocratic, athletic, and bohemian to a tee.JFK Jr.'s green 1994 Saab 900 SE, with a current bid of nearly $30,000 and rising. Courtesy of RR AuctionAccording to Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, “what makes this lot so special is it's not some Maserati or something flashy like that—it's a practical car that was a part of his everyday life. For Kennedy, “the choice of this car, as opposed to a Mercedes or something, speaks a lot to his style.” This particular Saab—which JFK Jr. purchased new from Zumbach Sports Cars in Manhattan for $29,841.21 in the summer of 1994, and owned until his death in 1999—comes to auction via Kevin J. Hynes, a screenwriter and longtime friend of Kennedy’s who worked with him at the New York DA’s office in the early ’90s. According to the auction listing, the car had been left at Hynes’s Westchester home in the days following Kennedy’s fatal plane crash. In 2000, Hynes then bought the car from the Kennedy estate in 2000 for $6,000, and sold it for $12,000 two years later. Its third owner is said to have started up the car regularly, but judging by its overall condition and the looks of its odometer, which shows just 30,650 miles, it seems it hasn’t hit the road in a long time.The Saab, which was listed with a minimum sale price of $15,000, is part of a RR’s Fine Autographs and Artifacts auction that also includes a tweed hat worn by the elder JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald’s overcoat. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 20 bids have driven the price close to $30,000. “We’ve sold a Hummer that belonged to Tupac, and a Cadillac Escalade that was used by Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, but I didn't know there would be such an affection for John F. Kennedy Jr.’s Saab,” says Livingston. “It’s already exceeded our estimate, and there’s a lot of interest, so it could go for a lot more than where it is right now.”The Kennedys, seen here in 1998, were frequently seen driving in the Saab near their Tribeca loft. Lawrence Schwartzwald/Getty ImagesGiven its provenance and climbing auction price tag, whether JFK Jr.’s Saab ends up with a car collector, a Kennedy buff, or someone with a keen appreciation for peak-1990s style, one hopes that whoever buys it will be well-equipped to give it the treatment it deserves. That is to say, this is a car that deserves to be street-parked in Tribeca, driven to Vermont for ski trips, and otherwise treated like the ’90s style icon it is. A backward Kangol cap and an “I TOLD YA” tee are optional, but highly recommended.