Ezra Dyer gets a Saturn Sky Red Line back on the road after a long layup

Ezra Dyer gets a Saturn Sky Red Line back on the road after a long layup

Roger, the father-in-law of Car and Driver senior editor and columnist Ezra Dyer, gave him a Saturn Sky Red Line for free on the condition that he haul it away, Dyer wrote. After the tires were inflated and fresh gas was added, the engine started, and the digital odometer showed 43,000 miles.

The long layup had left the tires flat-spotted, the battery would no longer hold a charge, and the air conditioning wasn't blowing cold. For Roger, this Sky was his first new GM car since a disappointing 1982 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta.

Dyer fitted Pirelli P Zero tires and had the wheels aligned. He also changed the engine oil and recharged the air conditioning system.

Accessing the Saturn Sky Red Line's battery required removing the right front fender. Dyer only partially unbolted the composite panel, tried to bend it out of the way and damaged it.

In 2007, Dyer took Roger for a ride in a Dodge Viper test car and described the Saturn Sky Red Line as offering 80% of the Viper's capabilities for 30% of its price. About a month later, Roger bought a new roadster for less than $30,000, though the comparison remained the author's personal assessment.

Dyer liked the agility of the rear-wheel-drive Sky Red Line, with its 260-hp turbocharged engine, manual transmission and limited-slip differential. The cheap interior, lack of storage space and poor visibility no longer strike him as such serious shortcomings.