Saab Replay founded in 1996

2006 Saab Replay founded Ben Rono moved out of state and planned to close the shop! Randy Roche couldn’t see this great community go belly up, and decided to SAVE SaabReplay in 2007. It was a no brainer for Randy, he was born into an automotive family with a lifetime of professional automotive experiences. He’s somehow had his hands in almost every corner of the automotive industry. From European restoration to industry creative designer, SCCA racing to designing proposals, for Title racers. Randy bought his first car at 14yr old, a 1968 VW bug. He bought it from a school mate’s older brother and drove it illegally on the highway to the auto-body shop he worked at after school. His goal was to have it completely restored by his 16th Birthday! He attended as many VW and Porsche racing events as he could in a season!

Growing up in Bucks County PA USA surrounded by a huge Porsche culture and home of HOLBERTS RACING! His VW experience grew into Porsche restoration and customization with Auto Styling International in Warminster PA. This when and where all those ugly 80s Porsche body kits were trendy!! Randys also worked at a local automotive electronics company. Here, he moved from Mobile audio to the Bosch ECModule remanufacturing department, where he tested, repaired and learned about the ECMs for SAAB!! This was his first look into the Saab world! Soon after he met a new friend Tim Borka, who owned an 87 Saab 900s, which would be Randys gateway drug into the Saab hole. Then, one day, another TIM (Everett) offered him a 86 Saab 900s for $500!! Hell yeah! His Saab enthusiasm grew and grew until eventually he found himself owning multiple Saabs, 2 of which he still owns today (a 900Tconv and 92 9000 aero)… SideNote: by 16ys Randy owned 3 VWs already!

Today, Randy grew Saab Replay, taking over the next door building to make a mini Saab museum showroom/ social space. He bought out other local Saab shops, hosted yearly events, etc. SaabReplay was going strong until Mid 2019 when a new Kaiser development project in Berkeley sparked big change! The city had an old zoning law in place (minimum parking requirement for some development projects). Instead of modifying the antiquated regulation, the city council took the side of demolishing our Iconic building for a parking lot!! So we had to move! Yet, on the other side of Berkeley’s page, they are pushing for less cars and more public trans, scooters and bikes! So why allow another parking lot, across the street from yet, another parking lot.

A city community benefits package insists developers give some money back to the effected community. In form of (but not limited to) parks, trees, sidewalks, DISPLACED BUSINESSES and residents, etc. This money could have helped us relocate within Berkeley. Here is the catch, Berkeley council hates the car business. Making it impossible for us to relocate in Berkeley and utilize that CBP money! WTF! So we had to shop around, in a market where start ups and cannabis biz dominates the commercial / industrial real estate zones demanding big deposits. We were forced to move to Oakland. A new city, has all new red tape, permits etc. While the legal stuff was getting wrapped up, we had to put everything into storage. During this time our BIG 26ft Box truck was stolen (full of our toolboxes, equipment, computers, office, etc) …OUCH!

We found a Temporary workspace while our cars and inventory are stored at a warehouse not suitable for a public shop.

Then COVID hit!! After loosing the Berkeley CBP money, our insurance eventually denied our claim, So we had to idle through 2020 burning through our moving funds instead of taking government money. We made it to 2021, lets start things up again. Then, Randy’s Saab Replay office bag was stolen from his car in front of the shop, at night, in the rain on a dead end street. Even after another setback, we still remain hopeful and dedicated to this silly Saab world. Now, we are rethinking how we do business going forward, with more debt, less tools & equipment, and no public location.

We need your support so we can support you! We are dedicated to keeping this thing going. We are the few, we are SAAB!