The Saab 900 Finlandia is a very rare, extended ‘high executive’ five door combi coupé of the Saab 900 model, built by Valmet in Uusikaupunkii, Finland:
It was in fact based on the 99 Finlanda, that first saw the light in 1977, as a stretched 99 with an extra window in the B-pillar:
This 12 window car had the full GLE package and was 25 centimeters longer than the regular 99. But this wasn’t actually the first stretched 99. A one-off notchback was built in 1973/1974 in Malmö for the Finnish president Urho Kekkonen:
This car must have been quite a job to build, because although it was 5 centimeters shorter than the later Finlandia, there wasn’t just a widened B-pillar, but the rear doors were longer, so those had to be specially constructed.
In 1978, the 99 Finlandia got all doors stretched by 10 centimeter, making 20 centimeters of extra space for the rear seat passengers:
The same formula was used when puttig the 1979 900 Finlandia together, as is seen on the top of this page. These 900 Finlandias were armored cars with double glass and some of the most illustrious accessories.
With the Saab four door notchback seeing the light in 1980, the Saab 900 CD is presented, as the successor of the five door Finlandia:
This sedan also had stretched doors, like the 900 Finlandia. From that point in time, the name Finlandia wasn’t used anymore. It has never been cleared up what CD stands for, although common sense would indicate the meaning of ‘Corps Diplomatique’ of perhaps ‘Classic Design’.
In 1983, a unique one-off – yet original – 900 CD five door was built to order:
So, to put things on a model year timeline:
1974 One-off stretched 99 notchback +20cm
1977 99 Finlandia with widened B-pillar + 25cm
1978 99 Finlandia with stretched doors front +10cm and rear +10cm
1979 900 Finlandia with stretched doors front +10cm and rear +10cm
1981 900 CD with stretched doors front +10cm and rear +10cm
1983 One 900 CD five door
1986 900 CD final model year
To keep things plain and simple, in this register all Saabs 900 with five doors are registered in the 900 Finlandia section, the Saabs 900 with four doors are registered in the 900 CD section and all stretched Saabs 99 are registered in the 99 Finlandia section.