PITTSFIELD -- It wasn't a girl that caught John Fiorini's eye back in the early 1980s, it was a car. A Saab, to be exact.

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Fiorini, who owns Performance Automotive on Parker Street (Pittsfield, U.S.), became enamored with the quirky Swedish-made automobiles that have ignitions located between the front seats, and engines placed in the opposite position from American-made vehicles. Ninety-nine percent of the vehicles he services are Saabs.

"Just from working on them I fell in love with them," Fiorini said.

But the thrill that Fiorini felt for Saabs began to wane after General Motors took control of the Swedish automaker in 2000. Now, as the owner of the only authorized Saab service center in Western Massachusetts, his excitement is back.

In February, GM sold Saab to Spyker Cars, a little-known Dutch car manufacturer. According to Fiorini, Spyker has indicated that it will return Saab to Sweden, "and make a Saab a Saab again."

Spyker even changed its name to Saab Spyker Automobiles.

"When they signed the papers in February, we were able to tell our customers that 'Yes, Saab is saved and it's going back to Sweden, and it's going back to its roots,' " Fiorini said.

"Basically, the reason that people bought Saabs is because they liked the car and they liked the peculiarity of it," he said. "They're different. The true Saab people know that and they'll live with the idiosyncrasies."

Those Saab "idiosyncrasies" began to disappear under GM, which purchased 50 percent of Saab-Scania in 1994 before taking control of the entire company 10 years ago.

"They just ruined the brand, I think, trying to change it over to a GM car," he said.

Spyker hired several former Saab employees in upper management who were let go by GM, Fiorini said. Company chairman Victor Mueller met with Saab dealers in Boston recently to outline the company's plans.

"I went up to speak with him and found him to be a very approachable person," Fiorini said. "Listening to the other people on the stage -- and what they were thinking -- they all seemed upbeat and excited to bring the brand back to its roots. It was a very informative meeting."

In January 2009, GM announced that it would stop manufacturing Saabs if it couldn't find a buyer for the company within a year.

"It was pretty tense," said Fiorini, who opened Performance Automotive in 1987. "One day they were closing. The next day they weren't. Then they were. The uncertainty -- and the fact that GM didn't communicate with anybody about what they were doing -- was unsettling."

All that's changed.

"There are some reservations about it," Fiorini said, referring to the sale. "But the fact [Saab] is not with GM anymore, that's a good feeling."

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