Saab Cars Magazine #2 by saabcarsmagazine

SAAB CARS MAGAZINE #2

SAAB

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE SAAB CAR MUSEUM

CARS magazine

OFF ROAD

FUTURISM

The toughest Saab in the World’s toughest rally!

The Masterpiece of Björn Envall – the full story!

ENGLISH EDITION #2 2019

The multi-talented Sixten Sason

Saab Classic Cars ENG edition #2 2019

UNDER THE SKIN

THE 16-VALVER

HIRSCH 9-5!

Saab 93F dissected – lots of wonderful mysteries!

How the 99 EMS became a rally beast!

We drive the press demonstrator 16 years later.

Welcome to Webshop.saabparts.com If you are looking for Saab Original parts?

The story continues â&#x20AC;Ś.

With over 70 years in the automotive industry, Saab Automobile has produced many models that today are recognized as icons. Just because Saab as a car brand has passed away, does not mean that our mission is over. On the contrary, our work is now more important than ever. We need to keep the Saab heritage alive and take care of the cars that are still in use every day or even just for pleasure. Together with our authorized workshops around the world, we do everything we can to keep your unique Saab running. Join us on the journey. Join our MySaabCarOnline

Visit us at Saabparts.com The exclusive supplier of Saab Original Parts

Contents

112

58 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 3

Contents 44

The story of the first Saab 99 brochure photos.

8 Unfortunate discharge

64 Erik Carlsson and the Baja 1000

It could have been much worse when the car transporter went off the road.

Toughest rally. Toughest driver. Toughest Saab.

78 Saab 99 1969

10 Lucky loading

Best looking girls at the office and a handsome Saab PR guy were the models in the 99 promotion photos.

A number of Saab 93s set out to go west, but first they must get on board, one at a time.

12 The Saab 95 & the inflatable mattress When sleeping in cars became desirable, soft accessories were introduced.

14 Saab 9-5 Hirsch

This Saab had over 300 bhp thanks to a small outfit in Switzerland. We discover the press demonstrator.

80 The stripped 99X7

Just imagine how much Saab you get for just 5 000 SEK!

22 The multi-talented Sixten Sason

Sixten Sason, Sweden’s leading industrial designer did a lot more than just designing the first Saab car.

26 The Cuban survivors – Saab 93

Pure Saab Spirit Stubborness and ingenuity combine to keep the Swedish relics running.

34 Another day at the Saab garage

We meet enthusiuasts and ordinary people at the grandest Saab service garage in the Swedish Capital.

38 Saab Sport & Rally

The place where hot cams and odd sun hats were big sellers.

44 Trip In a brown V4 to Russia!

Karelia receives us with an almost friendly smile and we discover the world’s best antistatic belt.

58 The craziest rally team of the north We go to the 1970s in the wild traces of Mack Mysing.

2019 The Cuban time machine

26 4 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Carpets get ingrained with dirt. Smoking in the car is dangerous. A clock ticking is stressing. The new luxury is no frills!

84 We secure a bargain 9000 CD

Top condition for just 5 000 crowns! It only now remains to get rid of the stale cigarette smell inside.

90 We fix a bargain 9000 CD Don’t miss 6 Start 26 The meets 29 The clubs 112 Peter Bäckström and the 9000

”Go-faster bits and an over-inflated quilt jacket”

Eh, it was a bit more than just the cigarette smell. One door was smashed in. Fixed by Jon Remmers.

92 Saab 99 EMS Rally!

16 valves for the future. Peter Bäckström admits that Volvo was the inspiration!

100 Cross flow for the V4

Saab’s most famous tuning part proved a nightmare to re-manufacture. Thanks to skill and perseverance, it was a success!

102 Saab Sonett II

Yellow as the sun and with the sky as the roof!

106 The Saab 93 exposed

A close look at the secretive demo of the Saab Museum.

112 The Saab EV-1, the future promise

We test the foremost dream car of all times and chat with its creator, Björn Envall.

102

SAAB #1 GONE DIGITAL!

ONLY 9€ DID YOU MISS OUR FIRST ENGLISH ISSUE?

Saab Cars Magazine is initiated. Detailed. Curious. And inviting. A special magazine that reflects a special car brand. From Saab 92 to 9-7. You now have the opportunity to get our first issue – in digital form!

www.saabcarsmagazine.com/digital

The Saab Spirit – part by part

ou can ponder repeatedly on the famous Saab spirit. Although nebulous, there is perhaps a hard core that can be described and analysed in simple terms. I have tried many times. To escape another try here and now, I will just point to Part Number 320211969 (formerly 8754964). It refers to a 3D printed helical gear wheel that you can comfortably hold in your hand. A real gem in greyish white nylon. I was shown its prototype that lay in a desk drawer at Orio, the company in Trollhättan whose objective it is to keep the world’s remaining Saabs running. For that purpose, Part Number 3202111969 is essential. It is the speedometer drive gear for the 9000. That it had been unavailable for a long time was known to Orio through its statistics that in turn is the basis for cost assessments, engineering, testing, material procurements and everything else that a spare parts company does. As a spin-off from the original Saab Automobile Company, Orio operates in that hard-to-define Saab spirit. It is very noticable when we enter its holiest chamber – the Saab design and drawings archive. Many decades of advanced research and brilliant ideas are stored on micro fiches deposited in a few metal archive cabi-

nets. I am convinced that they glow in their corners, those cabinets. Or it's just my hallucinations. When newly made spare parts are being displayed on a table and the conversation turns to casting technology and surface finish, the very special Saab passion and pride are intensified, confirming that the Saab car history has not come to an end. It continues, in another form. The Saab spirit not only lives on, it is stronger than ever before. This conclusion is arguably slightly flawed, but there are strong bonds between us Saab enthusiasts – expressed in its most extreme form by those admirable Cubans who keep their 93s running under the worst possible conditions. The spirit to carry on regardless and refusing to even think of switching to another make of car, that’s also an ingredient in the final definition. You are assured to find more evidence of the Saab spirit in this second issue of the Saab Car Magazine.

CLAES JOHANSSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

A MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO SAAB. AND SAAB ONLY. Klassiker OK Förlaget AB PO Box 23 800, SE-10435 Stockholm Editorial Claes Johansson +46 (0)8-736 12 46 claes.johansson@klassiker.nu Carl Legelius +46 (0)8-736 12 43 carl.legelius@klassiker.nu Contact Phone: +46 (0)8-736 12 60 saab@klassiker.nu, www.klassiker.nu www.facebook.com/klassiker.nu Graphic design Jan Olsson, jan@silodesign.se English translation Bo Legelius, bo@legelius.se Contributors in this issue Joakim Bergqvist, Peter Bäckström, Fredrik Nyblad, Jon Remmers, Po Tidholm, Gustaf Sjöholm, Per Hammarsjö, Per-Börje Elg, Kenneth Olausson, Johan Olsson etc. Advertisments Peter Kollberg, +46 (0)735-04 91 24 peter.kollberg@klassiker.nu Traffic Ingela Cassidy, annons@klassiker.nu Production manager Karin Inghe, +46 (0)8-736 12 38 karin.inghe@okforlaget.se Visit our web shop www.klassiker.nu/shop Publisher OK Förlaget AB, Niklas Carle +46 (0)8–736 12 19 CEO & Marketing Director Marjo Köhler +46 (0)8-736 12 22 marjo@klassiker.nu

Latest news on my own cars: Saab 9000 T16 ”Wennlo” has been sold – perhaps after all it was too modern for me. I rather focus on my somewhat slower Saabs: the 95 Mobile Home, built by a small company in northern Sweden and also my never ending project and teen age find, a 93 of 1959.

6 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Techical information Print: Uniprint 2019, Tallinn ISSN:1652-2931 © OK Förlaget AB

Advertisement from: Road & Track 1967

Saab Spirit

8 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

TOTAL COLLAPSE PHOTO KARL-ERIK SKATT

There are dangerous roads. And there are lethal roads. Few roads ever have been so bad as the E3/E70 through the province of Skaraborg in Sweden. Very trying even for professional drivers, perhaps worst for the usually very skilled truck drivers. A special peril for them was that a railway bridge over the road was too low for high loads. A detour on a winding and narrow side road was thus necessary. The driver of this Motor Transport Ltd rig had just approached the worst part. Fifty years later we can only speculate on what exactly caused the disaster. Did he lose control when he pushed his turbo charged Scania-Vabis 75 Super through the narrow and hilly bend? Or did the road once built for horse and carriage collapse? Perhaps the driver was too busy filling his pipe? Ten seconds of distraction are enough to lose a cargo of brand new Saab 2-strokers. We can only pity the poor driver who probably saw the disaster unfolding in his rear view mirrors. Ka-boom! The rig swayed and a terrified Saab 95 broke loose from its holding clamps and fell off the upper ramp of the rig and landed upside down among a bunch of trees perfectly grown to catch an upside down Saab in their midst. The Saab in front of the first casualty got stuck between the rig and another tree. A disaster, but it could have been a lot worse. Only three of the new cars suffered body damage. This accident was one of hundreds at this perilous bend now long gone. Karl-Erik Skatt used to have a fleet of rescue trucks at his repair shop not far from this infamous stretch of the road. When conditions were extra bad in winter, he used to have one of the trucks permanently parked at the bend. To secure proof of the incidents often required by insurance companies, Karl-Erik always brought with him cameras for stills and movies. For this we are thankful today. In his archive, we discovered the picture of this spectacular Saab somersault occurring in the winter of 1963â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1964.

TEXT FRANS JOHANSSON

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 9

Saab Spirit

ALL ABOARD PHOTO BOHUS LÄN MUSEUM/ARNE ANDERSSON

We are at the port of Uddevalla on the West Coast of Sweden. The photo was shot on July 22, 1957 by Arne Andersson who was a staff photographer at the local newspaper Bohuslänningen. It shows 127 new Saab 93s waiting in neat rows to be loaded on board a Stockholm line freight vessel whose name we can only guess. On the bow, the letters OW are discernible. Behind the freight liner, the tug boat TYR is moored. It was built 1954 in Falkenberg. A few boys ride their bicycles along the quay over and over again. Two gentlemen having arrived in a Mercedes 180 and a VW respectively are involved in conversation at the aft of the ship. There is also a glimpse of a 1957 Opel Rekord. On the quayside but outside the photo, 273 more Saabs are waiting to be loaded with the same destination – Boston, USA. The year before, 1956, Saab had become popular in the USA as the result of its total victory in ”The Great American Mountain Rallye”. USA would soon be Saab’s largest export market. The Saabs on the quay are crouching like lemmings about to migrate from one season to another. Each car has a neat information sticker on one rear side window.The Saab logo is prominent as is the chassis number. Originally, the factory shipped Atlantic export cars from the port of Gothenburg but later switched to Uddevalla, closer to the Trollhättan plant. All the cars waiting to be shipped are 93s of the first type, retrospectively called type A. It was replaced in September 1957 by the 93B fitted with a one-piece windshield, flashing indicators instead of semaphores and improved front seats. Looking carefully at the photo, one can see that these cars have divided windshields but no semaphores. The rear end with extra reflectors close to the number plate lamps are special for the US market. Total production of the Saab 93 in its building period 1955–1960 amounted to 52 731 units, of which 9 847 were built for the 1957 model year. TEXT CALLE CARLQUIST

10 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 11

Saab Spirit

12 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

AIRY COMFORT PHOTO SAAB CAR MUSEUM

Exactly tailored for a Saab 95. The deep blue inflatable mattress is different from all other air mattresses generally available. It is tailor made for the space created in the Saab 95 when the rear seat is folded. It goes without saying that it is an original Saab accessory. In the accessory catalogue of 1966, it was priced at 98 SEK. The air mattress was the pinnacle of a long line of accessories aimed at creating a bed in the rear of the Saab 95. It all started because one selling point of the 92 was that two could sleep in it provided the seats were moved about and placed on special wooden supports and crossframes. It wasn’t all that easy, but better than sleeping in a leak-prone tent on stony and uneven ground. Towards the end of the 1960’s, most people’s vacation funds allowed more than just the bill for petrol or rather petroil as the two-stroke fuel was sometimes called. A hut rented for the night at a camping site. A meal at a roadside inn when the boiled eggs brought from home had finally been devoured. A couple of summers later, one could sit on the veranda of a cosy inn and smile about how all the bags and other stuff had to be shoved in under the car to make room inside for the bed and giggle about how cosy it had been to sleep in the car. TEXT CLAES JOHANSSON

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 13

14 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

YODEL-

LADI-

HOO! It is 2002 and that the Saab 9-5 is the second most sold new car in Sweden is no surprise to any knowledgable person. Finally, an alternative was offered to those Saab enthusiasts seeking an even better design and more brutal performance. A special from Switzerland. Hirsch! TEXT & PHOTO GUSTAF SJÖHOLM

he rev counter shows 2500 revs in fourth gear when I floor the go pedal. The turbo gauge reacts immediately and the speedometer needle almost explodes. The engine noise stays rather subdued but takes on a new, almost explosive verve. My smile gets broader and I feel truly elated being pushed back in the super comfortable seat. I realize that we just passed 100 mph so I quickly change up to fifth. Turbo boost is quickly restored – 110 mph, 120... – People don’t fully understand Saab Turbos

until they have driven one, Erik Punt says just a minute after I let off on the accelerator. Only then are they able to grasp the whole essence of what Saabs are all about. Erik’s eyes are shining when his Saab is taken all the way up to the its limit. The car is a 9-5 Hirsch Sports Combi of the very first model year. Time to pause for a while and turn time back 17 years, or preferrably 22 years to get to June 16, 1997. That’s when the very first Saab 9-5 rolled off the assembly line at the Trollhättan works. The successor to the Saab 9000 was a large and

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 15

impressive long distance tourer rapidly rising in the Swedish sales statistics.This applied not least to the estate version – Saab’s first since 1978 – that soon become the family first choice. The long awaited Aero version was introduced

Spoiler alert in the rear view mirror. Real Saab fans always recognize the special front spoiler unique to the Saab 9-5 Hirsch...

two years later and featured the nerve and sharpness lacking in the standard versions. Most important was the new turbo with its over boost function increasing turbo pressure for 20 seconds in cars with manual transmissions. Different chassis calibrations as well as stiffer bushings made the 9-5 Aero significantly safer and easier to handle on winding roads. This was in clear contrast to the visually impressive 9-3 Viggen that suffered severe criticism for its soft chassis settings and low acceleration powers. Without doubt the best model ever built in Trollhättan and the most prone to make you lose your driver’s license were some of the comments by the magazine Teknikens Värld in September 1999. But the story didn’t end there. Far from it. At the time when the Saab Turbo models enjoyed record sales in Sweden, there cropped up many tuning firms dedicated to

16 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

make them run even faster while still staying glued to the most undulating roads. It didn’t take much to drastically increase the performance of any Saab model and at the same time improve its fuel consumption. Saab owners were offered everything from chip tuning to complete turbo kits as well as suspension upgrades. This writer has in fresh memory the joy of tearing off the cover of just arrived fan magazines to read about the latest tweaks to keep the Saab Turbos running away from competitors on the tracks. This was around the year 2000 and the most admired driver was probably Thomas ”Gullabo”Jansson. Tuning companies at the time were Speedparts, BSR, Nordic Uhr and Maptun. They all had their tricks to tweak engines and supply various go-faster bits and pieces. Officially, Saab never commented on third party tweaks and improvements, but in the spring of 2002 there was a response – Saab acknowledged in a press release that many Saab drivers desired improved performance. Hence, Saab would offer tuning parts developed by the Swiss tuning company Hirsch Performance AG

The Hirsch deer debuted only after a couple of years into the cooperation with Saab, but Erik Punt couldn’t resist fitting one to his early car.

Under the bonnet, it looks like just any Saab 9-5 Aero. The script ”Saab Performance by Hirsch” is found on the hefty four piston front brake calipers and also on the characteristic exhaust end pipes, the signum of the model.

as a quality alternative to spurious third party efforts. Saab’s liaison with Hirsch was not new – on the

contrary. As early as 1967, the Swiss Georg Hirsch had acquired the Saab dealership in Gallen, about an hour’s drive from Zürich. After several company restructions and mergers, the focus finally became Saab engine tuning and upgrading. Hirsch Performance had the engineering and marketing skills required to develop and market advanced products in fairly low volumes, Thomas Lindskog emphazised in 2002 when Saab Performance by Hirsch was introduced. As it had been the practice of Saab to do all design work in-house, it was somewhat controversial to have an outside firm develop a new model even though it was based on an existing one. In the 1990s, Thomas had worked at Volvo participating in creating the T-Yellow special. He recognized the similarity with the Hirsch special. Great responsibility was put on external suppliers. What they could supply was decisive in design and development of the special model. Saab had great confidence in their quality assu-

Effectively, Hirsch became the Saab tuning department rance procedures. The cooperation with Hirsch also came to influence Saab’s future engineering work. The Hirsch special took the Saab enthusiasts by surprise. This was the first time Saab worked with an outside tuning firm. Effectively, Hirsch became the Saab tuning department. Hirsch was the exclusive supplier of official Saab styling and tuning parts and accessories and they were covered by regular Saab warranties. The very first Hirsch developed Saab model was most suitably introduced at the 2002 Geneva motor show. It was a Sport Combi available with 280 or 305 bhp and distinguished by

special wheels and exhaust end pipes. The Saab enthusiasts were jubilant. The owners of existing Saab 9-5 Aeros could take their cars to Saab and have them upgraded to 280hp. Those preferring 305hp had to order a new car that was specially upgraded at the Saab works and registered as a Saab 9-5 Hirsch, although it couldn’t be delivered until early 2003. As Saab choose not apply for official type approval of the Hirsch special, each car had to be individually tested and approved which explains the delays in delivery. A jewel, my friend John Argelander called the new Saab 9-5 Hirsch when he floored the accelerator in one of Saab’s two press test cars, a silver grey 305 bhp SportCombi, testing it for Auto Motor&Sport in late winter 2003. The new Saab top model was lowered ten millimetres and was easily recognised by its 18 inch wheels and the discreet styling kit with prominent exhaust end pipes. Perhaps because it was just a four cylinder car that Saab wanted half a million SEK for that more or less all motoring writers fussed about exorbitant pricing. SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 17

Erik Punt has a great affection for Saab cars. His friends often ask him why he is driving around in an old Saab. A question that easily gets answered by him taking them out for a spin to demonstrate the famous ”Turbo kick”.

With a 305 hp engine and all options, the Hirsch special cost 200 000 more than a regular 9-5 Aero. – It was a niche model with full specs and part of the idea is high pricing, it makes it even more special, Thomas Lindskog explains and mentions that Volvo shared this philosophy with the ultra high priced T-Yellow special. The 9-5 Aero came soon on TV4 Plus in a comparison with Volvo’s high performance model V70R. Six years later Erik Punt in Gothenburg discovered the feature on Youtube. He watched it over and over again. Having grown up in a family driving nothing but Saabs, the products of Trollhättan were familiar to him. Despite the 18 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

visible Hirsch features being very subtle and Erik at the time being only eight, he knew that he would one day have a Saab 9-5 Hirsch. When I was close to 15, my father started in earnest to look for a Hirsch Saab for me, Erik says. The search also included the iconic 9000 CS Aero, but they seemed non-existent. One day however, a friend of Erik called and told him about a silver grey 9-5 Hirsch for sale in the south of Sweden. At the time, Erik was with his family on a ski holiday in northern Sweden and the other Punts refused to interrupt their holiday just because he wanted to buy a car. Fortunately the car was still available when they returned home and within a few weeks the silver grey Hirsch Saab was safely parked in the Punt family garage.

– I was overjoyed having been able to secure one of the very few existing Saab 9-5 Hirsch cars. The fact that it turned out to be the actual car shown in the TV4 feature made it extra special, Erik says. Having driven very long distances myself in a Saab 9-5 Aero, it feels very special to encounter Erik Punt’s Saab 9-5 Hirsch. It is extra special because the early Saab 9-5s are not held in high regard, the survivors being mostly clapped out family cars or backyard tuned wrecks. The new car scent is still noticable in Erik’s car and the quality leather upholstery made me overcome with feelings like I had when young – just get in behind the wheel and drive, drive, drive... To the far north of Sweden or the very south, doesn’t matter, just drive... activate the night panel and floor it in the overtaking

The unique Saab 9-5 Hirsch (305bhp) • Larger turbo(Garrett TB28) and intercooler • Upgraded Trionic engine management • Stiffer dampers and springs,lowered 10 millimetres • 18-inch rims, Pirelli P Zero Rosso 235/40 • Spoiler front and rear, special side skirts • Mesh grille trim • Sports exhaust system, sports catalyst converter • Separate tail pipes • Facia panel and sills in grey carbon fibre • Leather covered door handles • Aluminium pedals drilled for weight reduction

SAAB 9-5 AERO HIRSCH (305 HP) 2003 Price new: 489 200 SEK (Sedan) Engine: transverse mounted straight 4 cylinder,16 valve DOHC. Turbocharged, intercooler. Compression ratio 9.3 to 1. Capacity 2290 cc. Max power 305 bhp (224kW) @5 500rpm. Max torque 420Nm @ 2 000-4 000 rpm. Transmission: Front engine, FWD, 5-speed manual, automatic optional. Chassis: Coil springs, anti-roll bars. Front and rear struts. Steering: power rack and pinion, 2.9 turns, turning circle 10.8 meters. Brakes: ventilated discs front and rear, four piston calipers front, ABS. Wheels and tires. 225/40ZR18, alloy rims, width 8”. Performance: Top speed 250km/h, 0-100km/h 6.4 seconds. Sources: Saab Car Museum, Saab press releases, contemporary press tests, interview with Thomas Lindskog.

lane, that’s what the 9-5 Hirsch is all about. The German Michael Mauer knows all about this. He was head of design at Saab for four years and then moved on to Porsche. When at Saab, he commuted between Stenungsund and Karlsruhe. His Saab had no top speed restriction and he always made the 1 300 km in one go. He only stopped for petrol, by necessity quite frequently. In city traffic, the Saab 9-5 Hirsch is not edgy, nervous or noisy at all. The Saab pecularities remain, like the rather sloppy gear change and the heavy flywheel keeping revs stable at gear changes. Today, that’s more charming than irritating. The luxurious seats ventilated by built-in fans make for a higher seat position than standard.

This in combination with research proving that the 9-5 had very high crash impact resistance made its owner feel at the top of the world in the most safe way. The old press and TV demonstrator has clocked up 140 000 kilometres, but is still in better than decent condition as Erik says. He has spent many hours polishing it. He has now calmed down a bit, but the car is still very good looking. The only deviation from standard specs are the stiffer rear suspension bushings and racing front brake pads. – When all the clapped out examples and amateur serviced ones have disappeared from the roads, I am convinced that the 9-5 Hirsch will mirror the value rise of the Saab 900 OG, Erik confidently says.

To activate the night panel and floor it in the overtaking lane, that’s what the 9-5 Hirsch is all about

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 19

THE WORLD OF SASON A multitalented industrial designer making soulless objects come to life, Sixten Sason was more then a mere stylist, as proven by the Saab models 92, 93, 95, 96, Sonett 1 and 99. TEXT & PHOTO CLAES JOHANSSON

BASIC STUFF, SLIGHTLY MORE LUXURIOS A sensually curved frame made it stylish, but still easy to manufacture. Sixten Sason always designed for rational manufacturing as well as style. In 1957, the Roulette moped by Husqvarna was introduced, soon followed by a stripped economy version called Popular. Sason’s close cooperation with the artist Pierre Olofsson made for elegant, sometimes spectacular colour schemes. We are all influenced by the Saab 1970s era.

Sason was active into the wee hours, always fighting imminent deadlines and constantly having new and fresh ideas. His fast pace was set in his early youth. A wonder kid with indisputable talents. In the 40s and 50s, his sketches and ideas started to turn into real products fit for post war Sweden’s flourishing economy created by expanding and resourceful industrial developments. Sason was one of the era’s foremost designers. He was able to turn dreams and futuristic visions into everyday products, making them look attractive while still retaining their usefulness. All his products had a clean and original character with a friendly look. This style of his was noticable in all his designs, be they for the Saab 1965 front grill or the electric waffle iron well known to every Swedish child of the booming 50s and 60s. It is interesting to follow the confirmed freelancer making the transformation from the soft streamline styles of the 50s to the sharp and angular expressions of the 60s. It may have been different products and manufacturers but the overall theme and the general direction was always the same. What might he have come to show the world, had he not passed away at the early age of 55 ? What would our cars have looked like today? Fifty-two years have passed since Sason died. Still, the fruits of his innovative brain and his gifted pen retain their brilliance – from the futuristic visions in the tech magazines of the 1930s, the X-ray drawings of Saab aircrafts, the stylish moped embellishments and, last but not least, the beautifully curved windshield of Project Gudmund.

THE SOFT MECHANICALS The basic shape of electric sewing machines was directed purely by function. The only embellisment was the name of the manufacturer in a stylish script in gold. Having made some very futuristic design proposals in the mid-40s, finally in 1953 Sason designed a new basic sewing machine for Husqvarna. It was a friendlier and more subtle version. In its characteristic silvergreen colour, it became a long-lived and loved symbol in the Swedish households of the booming 1950s.

20 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 21

A SWEDISH SUPER CLASSIC It was to a high degree the engineering mind and analytic ability of Sason that enabled the famous camera of Victor Hasselblad to be finalized for civilian production just after WW2. The camera body was adapted to a complete system of exchangable lenses, a set-up suitable for its original use for aircraft surveillance by the Swedish Airforce in WW2. Sason perfected the design of the camera housing and came up with the idea to turn the film slot 90 degrees, an improvement not thought of by the Hasselblad engineers.

FEATHERLIGHT CAST COMPONENTS Husqvarna was at the time an ultra-high-tech company as well as a traditional manufacturer with its roots in casting and mechanical engineering. For Sason, an ultimate environment. In 1956, his now cult status cast and enamelled pots and pans reached the market. They were called Blå Vättern after the second largest Swedish lake. Their airy elegance is most noticable in the pre-production black wooden mock-ups.

SHARP CREASES While today’s hissing irons look like over-inflated teflon sneakers in bright coloured plastics, the Sason press iron had the cool look of his trademark, restrained elegance. Precision and progress. The advanced location of the temperature dial unfortunately didn’t make it to production. These irons are still highly regarded but can – with a little luck – still be picked up for a song at the local car boot sale.

22 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

A NEW ERA – THE CORNETTE Clean boomerang shape with a squarish outline – the 1960s were just around the corner. The moped manufacturers were not late in picking up Sason’s ideas. ”For those seeking the bold and the extreme”, the ads proclaimed at the Cornette moped introduction in 1959.

THE VERY MODERN HOME In the 1950s, household appliances were becoming cheaper and easier to use and also more attractive to look at. But it was not until 1963 that Electrolux established a design studio of its own. Before that, the freelancing Sason was responsible of making the products look good. In 1957, the Z70 vacuum cleaner was introduced, a popular classic of high quality and racy looks.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 23

FINS AND FENDERS The Husqvarna Corona moped was introduced in 1958, perhaps the oddest moped ever to come from a Swedish manufacturer. It was aimed at adult buyers looking for comfort and style. Freewheel was one feature. The Swedish market was probably not ready for the advanced styling. An attempt to market it in the US under the name Glider was made but was unsuccessful â&#x20AC;&#x201C; despite even more sheet steel!

SHINY AND COLOURFUL FOR THE WORLD MARKET

Objects: Collections of the author and the Husqvarna Design Museum. Featured mopeds also from the collections of GĂśran Martinsson.

24 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

A housewife was expected to know how to polish floors. A bright shine signalled good care and hygiene. The speedy floor buffer B9 was one of Electrolux biggest sellers up to the end of the 1960s. Its styling was gradually simplified over the years.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 25

VIGGEN AT VALLÅKRA It has not escaped Saab fans that the Saab 9-3 Viggen has turned 30. At the classic Vallåkra Saab meeting in 2019, the iconic aircraft was displayed at the Enoch Thulin airfield close to Helsingborg.

NORDIC CLUB LIFE If you run a classic car, it is a smart move to join the club catering for your make or your very model. Members freely exchange information and otherwise hard-to-get parts might be available. Fun events are arranged and favourable insurance rates are often offered. These are the Saab clubs in Scandinavia. Svenska Saabklubben has more than 4 000 members and local sections all over the country. All Saab models are catered for. saabklubben.se

THE HYBRID OF THE MICRO CONSTRUCTOR As Jerker Sandberg of Timmele, Sweden, in complete silence rolled in at the display area, people were speechless – a Saab three-wheeler? It was SCM’s sister magazine Moped having brought together all the finalists in the Annual Kustomizer competition in which Jerker had won second prize. The Kustomizer Competition is very simple but also very strict. A number of renowned customizers are each provided with a brand new Sandelco motor, a light and robust two-stroker made in Asia. It is the common denominator of the participants’ projects. In the six months project time ending

26 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

at Easter, the four finalists had worked on as many themes; high-tech hub steering, three-wheeler drifter moped, classic board tracker – and streamlining! – I’ve always had a weak spot for Saab shapes and wanted to experiment a bit with epoxy, Jerker says and continues – I found a lot of frigolite thrown away in a forest. I began by sketching the profile in full scale on a sheet of thin masonite board. Using that as a side section, I started to glue frigolite boards on both sides. I then cut the frigolite by free hand to my intended exterior shape. After

that I covered the shape with several coats of epoxy. I smoothed the surface out with filler and painted it. In the process, the frigolite was scraped off from the inside and and the openings for windows cut out. A lot more difficult than it sounds. The chassis was built with a junked four-wheeler as a basis. The wheels were made in a water cut machine. Jerker then followed up with a rear hybrid power plant either as a two stroker or an electric motor driving the single rear wheel. Saab-like technology but mostly Jerker Sandberg ingenuity!

Östgöta Saab-klubb has about 170 members, mostly from the Östergötland province. ostgotasaabklubb.com Club Sonett Sweden is for owners and other fans of the Sonett. About 400 members. sonettclub.se Saab Turbo Club Sweden counts more than 2 000 members and is the club for all lovers of turbocharged Saabs. saab turboclub.com Saab-klubben is the oldest club in Denmark catering for Saab enthusiasts.saabentusiasten.dk Saab Klub Danmark was founded in 1992. saabklubdanmark.dk Suomen Saab-klubi has about 4 000 members and welcomes all Saab models. saabclub.fi Saab Asyl is a Danish web club for all Saab aficionados. saabasyl.dk Gammelsaabens Venner is a Norwegian club for everyone liking Saabs. gsv.no Saab Turbo Club is a Norwegian club that despite its name is open to owners and fans of all Saab models with or without turbo. www.saabturboclub.net

Photo: Simon Hamelius

ROGER IS ONE STEP AHEAD, AGAIN!

GARDEN PARTY AT MARTIN’S Martin Boglind has realized what a lot of people have not.The most advanced and successful Saab models are at a fast rate vanishing from the streets. Right now, only seven percent of all the OG900s sold new in Sweden remain. The five first model years and the last one are the most depleted. Martin is on the register with 13 cars and all of them have the earlier upright front. Most of them are 900Turbos – two Combi Coupes 1979 and 1980 respectively, 3-door variants from each of

1980,1981 and 1982. Further, he has got one sedan each of 1981 and 1983. As if that was not enough, the garage also houses one each of GLs, Gli and EMS. The jewel of the collection is a stretch CD at present subject to a meticulous restoration. Follow the lead of Martin – save one more or preferrably several more OG900s. Read the whole story of Sweden’s most ardent Saab 900 collector in Klassiker 1/2019. You can order it here: www.klassiker.nu/shop

FORGED PISTONS FOR THE 92

More than 20 years ago, I repeatedly wrote in various car magazines that the early Saab 99 was bound to be a future collectible. With many articles totally devoid of irony, I tried to reach out, but it ended in a total vacuum. No response, except from Roger Forssén in Norrköping. He cared for a blue ’69 having been in his family. ”Supernice model”, he said at the time. An engine overhaul and several journeys later, his enthusiasm hasn’t faded. With his blue 99, Roger has become a kind of goodwill ambassador for the 99. Finally, the early cars are starting to approach iconic status while yet not being super hot on the market. Early adopter again, Roger! Lately, you have also recognized the great ness of the 900/9-3 of the years 1993–2003. Really good ones can still be found, or? – A lot of people don’t think them worth collecting. Thus, you can find immaculate ones for very little money. Exactly like the 99s 25 years ago. You have acquired an unbelievably nice 9-3!

– A coincidence really, but it felt absolutely right. A very basic 3-door with 130 bhp. No options at all, not even a radio. Plastic wheel covers. A one-owner car feeling brand new. Did you find it on a net site? – No, the cars there are usually run to the ground. The recond company I use told me. I think it is better to search outside the normal channels. I do believe that the 900/9-3 generation will reach collector status. For me, un‑ touched original condition is everthing. So we will know for sure in 20 years? – A lot earlier, I hope! CLAES JOHANSSON

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WHEEL COVERS IN THE WORLD?

Niklas Enander, an engineer at Husqvarna, is spur-

At the 2017 Saab Festival, a previo-

red when someting is said to be impossible. Like the tale that the Saab 92 engine cannot be souped up. All tuning efforts have always been directed at the 3-cylinder. Through his hobby business XP, he is selling performance parts for the 92, including a set of gearbox cog wheels solving the roughness of the factory box. XP has just launched forged performance 81 mm pistons for the 92. Six sets will be manufactured. Height will be less and the gudgeon pin moved 3 mm closer to the piston top for better flow characteristics. With 3 to 4 millimetre piston shaving, the power is expected to rise from 25-28 to approx. 35 bhp, jolly good! The kit is expected to be priced at 5 900 SEK. Contact; niklas.enander@ husqvarnagroup.com

usly unknown Saab 9-3 SportSedan special model was displayed. It was called TurboEdition and it was replete with features linking it to the first Saab 99 Turbo.The sporty side strips above the sills were very similar to those of the first US model year Saab Turbo. A classic design Turbo boost gauge was prominent in the centre of the instrument panel. The most obvious tribute to the first Saab Turbo however, were the alloy rims being modern interpretations of the classic Inca wheels. Nevs’ original plan was to build 1 000

cars, but in the end there was just one. It is on permanent display at the Saab Car museum in Trollhättan. Its wheels caught our attention when we were there last. Didn’t they look a bit flimsy? When the museum curator, Peter Bäckström, didn’t look, we removed the five wheel lug caps and the secret was disclosed. In a second, a plastic wheel cover fell down on the floor. The budget had not allowed tooling up for new alloy rims. Instead, the project team had to do with after-market wheels with plastic covers looking like the rims they had designed.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 27

SIGNIFICANT CUPOLA SAVED BY SAAB ENTHUSIAST It was about to be demolished. But that will not happen. It was one of the most unnoticed constructions in the Malung community. It had once been erected by the local Saab dealer, now saved by the visionary Stefan Elovsson. The cupola car showroom

was finished in 1975 and became some sort of a landmark. It housed used cars for sale, initially Volvos, and later Saabs. There was room for 15 bargain cars and the locals claimed that the inside felt almost like the Parthenon. The metal structure was repainted once, that was about all the mainte nance the Cupola had the benefit of. It actually came from the manufacturer ERA Production in Falköping as a kit for local assembly. Despite its flimsy appearance, it was well made and was properly put together. When demolition was imminent, the community architect contacted Klassiker magazine. It was almost like a cry for help. Dismantle and take home, for free! But use it for something worth while. A few people showed interest. It was Stefan Elovsson coming forward with a realistic preservation plan that settled the issue. After dismantling, the full structure will be put together again in Stefan’s back yard. A sanctuary once more rising to the sky. A mission of culture completed.

THE CAR FIT FOR CIRCUIT FUN Almost ready for the checkered flag. One Group 3 Saab 96. Red, lightened and completely irresisti ble. The final stages of its restoration are almost finished in this project run by the Saab Museum Support Organization. Project leader is Ulf G Andersson because it was he and a few more members who realized that the museum needed to add a classic circuit competition Saab. The emphasis of the museum is very much on the famous rally cars. But Saab also earned seven gold med als on ice and nine in circuit racing. The young car company benefitted tremendously from competition in all forms, not least regarding

two-stroke power tuning and engine durability. The most power ful early car was a 96 driven by Gösta Karlsson to victory in the 1962 Group 3 Swedish National. Thanks to donations and voluntary work, a replica is being built on the basis of a light blue car having competed in Cup 1000. Leaf thin windows, fibreglass body parts, four speed transmission and twin carbs – that’s the formula. NEVS has paid for fresh paintwork in Saab classic racing red that itself makes the car look eager to race! Read more at www.supportsaabmuseum.se. Donations are gratefully received!

92 IN GOOD DESIGN COMPANY Bruno Mathsson, Ralph Lysell, Gösta Thames, Stig Lindberg, Johan Petter Johansson and Alvar Lenning. And the products: Pernilla 3, Ericophone, Spisa Ribb, an adjus table wrench and the Electrolux Kitchen Assistant. And, of course, the Saab 92 by Sixten Sason and Gunnar Ljungström. The Swedish top achievements of the 1940s and 1950s, all depicted on one coffee mug. Buy it for 90 crowns at the Saab Museum shop. Be the envy of all at your next coffee break.

28 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Advertisement from: Road & Track 1964

PUBLICITY THAT STICKS A CAR TO LOVE

Sweden was the smart little country driving very fast in forest rallies, successful at the tennis courts and in the ski slopes. Saab was the small but smart car maker going its own way. It also handed out great stickers TEXT & COLLECTION CARL LEGELIUS

To chose Saab is to choose with the heart

STICKER THAT STRIKES A Saab 900 Turbo sticker on the school book bag was upmanship for the twelve year old. That it was made of paper stopped mum trying to remove it, because the bag would then look even worse.

THE SUPERSWEDES ROYAL PRICE Worth every crown, this sticker says it all, Saab is Swedish, we are ruled by a king, the cars are reasonably priced – and our currency has a swell name.

30 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

In 1979, Björn Borg won the title in Wimbledon for the fourth year in a row. In the same year, the Saab 900 Turbo was introduced. Could there be a more successful country in the world? Hardly!

HEY! LOOK HERE! Swedish efforts to secure Olympic games are never ending. Whenever another country succeeded, Sweden started afresh with equal vigour. Naturally, the best of countries in the world deserved the world’s largest sports event. We would probably win all the games too.

POWER TO SAAB The Crown again – typical 1970s rendering although it actually is from the 1980s.

THE FEEL OF QUALITY Thick, flashy and expensive looking, the 900 Turbo sticker is a great favourite of collectors. It still sticks on to any surface.

SWEDEN’S NEW CAR When Saab-Lancia 600 was launched 1980 in Sweden as the successor to the retiring Saab 96, no efforts were spared. No less than two different stickers were produced, really something!

TURN UP THE VOLUME Kalle Grundel and Stig Blomqvist both drove Saab 99 Turbos with verve and success at the very end of the two-wheel drive rally era. The main sponsor Clarion provided money and flair making a whole generation of rally enthusiasts stick to Clarion as the coolest stereo brand.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 31

CUBA LIBRE Cuba is famous for old, run down US cars, admittedly decaying in style. The same stubborness and ingenuity keep a number of Saab 93s running – with bully bumpers and engines from various sources. TEXT TOMAS ÅSTRÖM PHOTO DMITRY KOSTIN, RUNE MOKASTET, FREDRIK NYBLAD ET AL.

o travel report from Cuba is complete without at least one photo of a clapped out US car against the background of palm trees and brightly painted buildings. Supposedly 60 000 old US-made cars are still running on the island even though Cuba has been a communist one-party state for more than 60 years. The old European cars still remaining from before the revolution do not get much attention at all. They are not that spectacular, but they do exist. Amongst them, a number of Saab 93s! The car park of a country can say a lot about the state of its finances and politics. It is not often as obvious as on Cuba. A bit simplified, the Cuban car park consists of US cars of the 1950s, Soviet cars from the 1960s through the 1980s and finally modern cars predominantly from Asia. Before 1959, USA had strong political and financial influences in Cuba, evidenced by the large number of US-built cars still on Cuban roads. After Fidel Castro had brought the downfall of the dictator Batista, he confiscated land and industries owned by US companies and citizens. USA responded with strict restrictions on trade with Cuba. US cars could no longer be shipped to Cuba.That’s the reason why there are no US cars newer than1960 on Cuban streets. In 1962, USA invoked a total embargo on trade with Cuba.

In the year of the revolution 1959, one car im-

porter is said to have ordered several new cars of different European makes, amongst them a number of Saab 93s. The Saabs didn’t land in Cuba until the year after, 1960. Supposedly, they arrived on the boat LeCoubre that also brought 76 tons of arms and other military equipment. A large part of this cargo was demolished in an explosion in March of 1960. How many of the Saabs that were destroyed is not 32 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

The rumour that old cars have vanished from Cuba seems exaggerated known, but 60 of them are reported to have landed safely. Photos of some of those still existing indicate that they were 93Bs. It is said that there also were two 93 GT750, the holy grail of classic Saab models. After the US isolation of Cuba, Castro got closer to the communist party and came to turn to the Soviet Union for aid and support. Through favourable trade agreements with Russia, Castro could speed up the change to communism. Soviet gained not only political influence but also a strategic presence close to the USA. This also led to Soviet-made cars being imported to Cuba. They were not intended for the general population who had to make do with the cars remaining from before the revolution. The state handled all import and sales of new cars. The citizens needed special permits to buy a or sell a car, even used ones. Because of the US embargo, very few new cars

could be imported. Practically no spare parts are available for the cars that existed before power was seized by the communists. That’s how the Cubans learnt to fix seemingly hopeless wrecks with home made parts or parts adapted from different car makes or from boats or anything else that could be made to fit. In the year 1991, the Communist Party decided to promote tourist trade, successfully as it turned out. One effect has been that new cars could be imported again and also spares for the old ones. With Raúl Castro’s seizure of power, the state financial control eased and diplomatic relations with the USA were resumed, although the trade embargo remains. As of 2014, new cars can be bought through government channels. The ambition is to rejuvenate the car park, but most Cubans cannot afford a car anyway. The wages are low and high taxes make new cars very expensive to buy and run. Of all the Saab cars sold in Cuba, it is estimated

that only about 20 are still on the road. The scarcity of spares has also affected the Saabs. Tail lamps from a VW 1200, Lada bumpers and a Dae woo engine have been adapted to Saabs. There is also a certain desire to change or modernize the ageing cars. Modern exterior mirrors with built-in flashers, much enlarged windscreens and plastic bumper covers are often seen. The rumour that old cars have vanished from Cuba thus seems exagerated. It’s because the Cubans simply cannot afford new cars but also because the old cars are important for the tourist trade. Many tourists prefer to be driven around in a 1957 Chevy powered by a Russian four cylinder diesel than in a modern Geely taxi. Should the Cuban finances improve and lead to political reforms, someone must ensure that the old Saabs are being preserved for the future.

Cuban Saabs in various stages of â&#x20AC;?upgradingâ&#x20AC;?. The yellow, US style license plates were replaced in 2013 by European looking ones. The cars are kept running with spares from whatever sources and by love and ingenuity. Still, no one knows just how old a Saab could be in Cuba.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 33

Guru

It is a dedicated group ensuring that the Saabs in the Stockholm area are kept running. The mechanics Krzystof Jasinski, Magnus WallĂŠn, Max Yngerskog and Daniel SĂśderling have together with Mats Riesel more than 100 years collective experience of maintaining and repairing Saab cars.

34 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

The leaking radiator of a 900 Convertible has just been sealed and Max Yngerskog refills it. One 9-5 Aero is ready to hit the roads again.With quick gestures, Mats is telling his frequent customer Kristian Lagercrantz that his 9-3 SportCombi will soon be fixed.

THE CARE CENTRE As long as there are places like Mats Riesel’s Car Service, the future of Saab cars is ensured. They have the proper knowledge, devotion and spares to fix large as well as small problems. For a day, we were hang-arounds in their workshop. TEXT JOAKIM BERGQVIST PHOTO JOHAN OLSSON

long the walls, there are mixed rows of tired organs and restored spares ready for donation. Short engines having seized and modern turbo V6:s ready for transplantation. The gigantic rows of shelves house other vital organs. Loads of ignition boxes and one or two throttle bodies are prominent. To say it is disorderly is wrong. It is more like a well organized chaos.

– Sure, there are still Saab cars needing regular service, Mats Riesel says, and leads us further into the premises. He is one of few Saab specialists in the capital still in business. After the Saab bankruptcy in 2011, there have been many changes in the Swedish car scene, but this isn’t noticable at Mats Riesel Car Service. Right now, there is only one elderly Saab 900 in for service, but there is usually a large fleet of

9-3s and 9-5s competing for attention at Riesel’s. – There is usually a mixed bunch of makes, but the trend is that more and more Saab enthusiasts bring their cars in, Mats explains and says that they also have many customers who are not car enthusiasts, but they have always run Saabs and don’t want anything else. I usually advise them to keep their old car running because in the long run it won’t be that expensive. For most of his life, he has been quite close to Saabs. It all started a stone throw away from the facility of a very well known Saab specialist – Bosse Söderlind. Despite having reached the grand old age of 90, Bosse still comes every day to his firm Solna Saab Service, founded by him in1956. As a boy, Mats Riesel used to hang around in the workshop. After some years, he was hired as a mechanic. – Bosse taught me a lot of things and I stayed there until 1987 when I finally decided to go into business of my own. At first, both the space and the resources were limited. The small garage had room for only two cars. The low roof didn’t alow a lift so SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 35

Guru

On the shelves, there are brand new original parts as well as rare components salvaged from various donator cars. The two V6 engines are type 9-5 Aero Turbo6 retaining many valuable parts. The customer Kjell Jegefors has always driven Saabs and when new tyres are needed, he goes to Daniel.

cars had to be jacked up for service. Over the years, better locations were found and about a decade ago, Mats Riesel Car Service moved to where it now is, the Stockholm suburb of Huvudsta, Solna. For many years he was independent, but when Orio approcahed him, he didn’t hesitate. A couple of years ago, the board of Orio was in Stockholm for a conference. They decided to visit someone who still cared for Saabs. The day they came, we had a lot of cars in and worked in a frenzy. There were ten customers waiting in the office and as many cars were brought to the workshop. The guys from Orio were quite astonished and asked me if I would agree to be authorised by Saab. Nowadays, Mats has moved from the workshop to the office upstairs where he receives his customers. He employs four very skilled and experienced mechanics. Daniel Söderlind is the youngest and he shares his great Saab interest with his colleagues. In his own stable, he has one OG 9-5 SportCombi that has 36 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

If an owner doesn’t care about minor faults, there will be twice as many the next year had quite an upgrade under the bonnet. Now it runs away from most other cars when the lights turn green. He dismisses all talk of Saab being less dependable than other cars. Saabs are dependable cars with no problem running 300 000 to 400 000 kilometres as long as they are correctly serviced. This one doesn’t seem to have had a single oil change, he says about the OG9-5 whose bonnet he just

opened. Despite no more than 200 000 km on the meter, its general condition is far from good. All cars need regular service. When an owner doesn’t care about minor faults, there will be twice as many the next year. Then it goes on and on, ending with the car being left here to be dismantled for rare and and valuable parts and then scrapped. We are interrupted by Mats arriving in company with Robert Montgomery, the first customer this morning. His 2007 9-5 Sport Combi has just failed the safety test because the removable tow ball is stuck. –We cannot buy spares from the manufacturer because they want to do the job themselves, so we keep a few OK ones to lend to customers while we fix theirs, Mats tells us. Robert agrees and says; – I have had Saabs since the turn of the millenium and nowadays, I always take the car to Mats because of his excellent service. When I lived in Portugal and had problems with the car, I always called Mats for advice.

There are mostly late model Saabs in the workshop, but occasionally older models come in. Certain OG900 parts have become very scarce and sometimes Max will have to manufacture parts himself, like radiator pipes.

Ever since 1956, Bosse Söderlind has run his Saab Service business and it was he who taught Mats Riesel everything about Saabs. The two friends always have lunch together. Guess what they talk about!

hoses are not exactly a phone call away but Max still solves it. Newer models are much better catered for and the shelves are full of new parts. In another room there are hundreds of boxes from roof to ceiling. They all have the Saab logo and it is very exciting for an enthusiast to inspect their contents. What about thirty new ignition locks with keys for the 9-5, a bunch of brand new 9-3 CIM modules or an abundance of much sought-after badges and emblems. – Most wear parts are easily available, Mats says. We always stock parts that often break or wear out. A customer shall not be immobilized because we lack spares. We are always be able to fix common faults at short notice.

A functional tow ball hitch is fitted and Robert drives away as quickly as he came. Focus shifts to an OG900 Convertible with radiator leaks. Max Yngerskog has many years of Saab experience. He frowns when he opens the bonnet. – There is an aftermarket engine heater with carelessly positioned hoses. One of them has been chafed through by the belt pulley. These

On another lift there is a 9-3 Sport Combi with open rear hatch. The white rear lights have faulty diodes and the technician Magnus Wallén is busy replacing the units while Daniel shifts from winter to summer wheels on a 9-5 that also needs a few new lamp bulbs. – That’s all the safety inspector said had to be done, the owner says just before Daniel disco-

vers that the brake pads are leaf thin. A short while later, also that problem is done away with and another fixed Saab rolls out through the doors. One car that has not seen daylight for a long while is a NG9-5 parked far away at the end of the garage. It is the top notch model Aero Turbo6 XWD having had its turbo charged V6 engine pulled out.. We were requested to change the cam chain drive wheels, but when we opened the enigine, we discovered that the camshafts were severely run down. Lately, we have obtained new parts so it will soon be ready for the road again, Mats explains. Many of our customers have first been to other workshops that have either refused or been unable to fix the problems. For us it has almost become a sport to prove that also a Saab can be repaired! FIND IT Mats Riesel Bilservice AB Krysshammarvägen 34 B, SE-171 57 Solna www.saabservice.se Phone: +46 (0)08-82 12 06 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 37

The VIP card with the holder’s name on it. The doors open to a discounted heaven. Exciting cover illustration of the 1975 catalogue by the artist Olle Åhlman.

SPEED INCREASING MEASURES

Big things could happen under the bonnet if you too frequently read the speed catalogue.

Nowadays, it is a status thing for a car manufacturer to have its own specialised tuning department. Think AMG and M. When Saab was on top of its rally career, the Saab Sport & Rally section was formed. Its catalog was brimming with reliable go faster bits and the occasional Michelin man type padded jacket TEXT CLAES JOHANSSON ARCHIVE SAAB CAR MUSEUM

eep your Saab fit. That was the advice in the 1975 Saab Sport & Rally Catalog. It couldn’t be better said. A friendly piece of advice not without a certain urge. Saab expected its customers to take care of their cars, Saab was for responsible people wanting to get the best out of their cars, whether it was for winning trials or races or simply owning a faster Saab than the guy next

38 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

door. They were also expected to do some of the work themselves. Saab Sport & Rally was intended for knowledgable customers. It was about fairly simple installations of components that a Saab dealer could easily do. But many speed kit customers were keen to explore for themselves the joys of fitting ”Carburettor Kit 2 (2x Weber 45 DCOE-16 S) in conjunction with a low final drive ratio (7.36:1). There were no

short cuts. Just open the boxes, close the garage doors and start working. Having come this far, one somehow felt linked to the most famous racing mechanics.The tuning parts on offer in the glossy catalogues had sprung from victories as well as failures on the great rally roads of the world. They had been tried and tested under extreme conditions in the real world of rallying and racing. The Saab competition department backed them and with the more advanced stuff, you closed in on Carlsson, Blomqvist, Eklund – the real champions.With the serious speed parts of Saab Sport &Rally, generations of more or less well known rally drivers got the opportunity to compete on the Sweden’s rough road rally stretches. As usual at Saab, SSR was a very small department. Its operations were handled by just one employee at the central spare parts department of Saab-ANA in Nyköping. His name was Eric

The illustrations of Hans AndrĂŠasson were very much part of the myths surrounding Saab Sport & Rally.

Berthilsson. The speed parts could be bought from any Saab dealer. The first speed catalogue, printed in 1972, contains numerous tuning kits just for the Saab V4. But the really hot stuff was introduced a couple of

years later. The first soup-up kit was intended for the 1500 cc engine. With a two barrel carb, stronger valve springs and free flowing exhaust, the power rose from 65 to 80 bhp. Next step was a 1700cc kit for 90 bhp. Complete engines for competition were also on offer in various stages of tune. In principle, there were three different capacities; 1531, 1740 and 1815 cc. The largest had an ouput of 145 bhp. Not bad, considering that Ford, the engineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original designer, did not sanction power over 95 bhp for reasons of durability. For the drivers wishing to hot up their cars themselves, there were several parts on offer. In

As usual at Saab, SSR was a very small department SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 39

The SSR performance parts were available om special order from all Saab dealers.

The real purpose of SSR was to keep Saabs competing. Every Saab victory was great for home sales the present digital world, each part description is ripe with analog exotism; lighter flywheel (5.2 kg against standard 7.3 kg) high lift camshaft, 44mm inlet valves, stiffer valve springs, light weight valve tappets, aluminium rocker shaft, heavy duty head gasket, stronger oil pump spring, high capacity petrol pump and more

A Mota-Lita steering wheel was great for improving the driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biceps.

40 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

efficient radiator. The next stage consisted of the so called double blow cylinder heads with double exhaust ports, an investment resulting in 12-15 bhp increase. The most powerfull engines now available peaked at 160 bhp DIN, needing the available oil cooler. The almost mythical cross inlet manifolds looking like moose horns, were only supplied to drivers authorised by the factory competition department that upheld strict boundaries between professional, semi-professional and amateur drivers. However, engine power isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t everything. A successful street or track racing car must be all efficient. In the various annual speed catalogues, there were cast transmission cases ribbed for strength intended for engine power above 130bhp, reinforced clutch assemblies, Special 1 or Special 2 gearing kits, limited slip differentials, final gear kits from 6:35 to 7:36. Also stiffer springs and reinforced front suspension components suitable for rough rallies on forest roads. There was also a heavy duty rear axle, in reality the Saab 95 one. When the last plastic credit had been used up to its limit for Recaro competition

The catalogues and especially the brochures are running high on eBay. There are many collectors. The 80s style jackets have not yet made it.

Engine tuning parts could also be fitted to the Sonett but chassis competition were for the Saab 96 only.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 41

Not just a chip, the stage one performance kit boasted the V4 engine to 80 bhp. It liked that a lot...

42 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

seats, a Mota-Lita leather steering wheel, an Aifab trip counter, safety cage and body stripes, it remained to proudly fit the funny Trollhättan decal. It was free. After a while, the speed catalogues were also made available in the US market, although the real purpose of SSR was to keep Saabs competing at home. Every Saab victory was great for home sales. The private competition drivers enjoyed discounts on exterior body parts, obviously a very popular benefit, and also on certain special parts. It was a bit fuzzy which parts came under SSR and it didn’t become clearer over time. The catalogue added speed parts for the 99 but not nearly as many as had been available for the V4. The reason was that Saab believed that the turbo 16-valve engine was too complicated for amateur drivers to work on. The serious 99 speed parts were reserved for professionals. Saab Sport & Rally became the team name of the ambitious rally efforts. The SSR logo, styled by Rony Lutz, Saab’s legendary illustrator, was visually very powerful and soon got a life of its own adorning clothes,

bags and other products promoting the Saab trade mark. Towards the 80s, it began to fade a bit, but in the 1979 SSR Catalogue the legendary oil can holder re-appeared under part number 10777, the very one always kept the trunk of the 2-stroke era champion cars. Looking through the last catalogues is a journey through Michelin man padded jackets.

In the sports&rally section – sun hats! The not very sharp photo doesn’t say much about the bright yellow head-gear with its confusing pattern, but it is obvious that Stig Blomqvist doesn’t look quite comfortable in the photo of him wearing it. His contract probably said he had to.

The holy graal! The hat! A profile garment that like the Troll is supposed to create a special premium feel.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 43

44 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Wherever we came, there were shouts of ”Go back!” It didn’t get any better when we arrived at the raw concrete walled hotel in Viborg of the Russian Karelia. But we were travelling in a Finnish built Saab 96 and wanted to explore a part of the world far away but still quite near. TEXT PO TIDHOLM PHOTO CLAES JOHANSSON

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 45

he Iron Curtain is supposedly no more, but still the border between east and west is most real. Slowly rolling through no-man’s-land looking at the barbed wire surrounding an endless nothing is a strange experience for us having been born and raised in the shadows of the cold war. Before setting out on this journey, we had many quite morbid visions of where we now are and we are not disappointed Whose idea was this? Travel to Russia in a Saab 96? It is too late to blame anybody because we are stuck at the frontier. We are sent through no-man’s-land and back again. Over and over again. We are asked to fill out a multitude of incomprehensible forms. We are kept waiting while the sun slowly sets. The beginning of the day was good. In the bright morning sun we were standing at the bow of the large ferry watching Helsinki coming closer. Having arrived, we quickly rolled off the ferry and made for a short sightseeing tour through the city before embarking on the planned trip eastwards – direction Russian frontier. The Saab purrs contentedly on the motorway and Finnish coffee isn’t that bad even in paper mugs. The whole idea still feels promising. The trip’s purpose is to visit Russian Karelia, former Finnish land that the Soviets annected at the end of WW2. The population of Viborg, the largest city in the region, just had a week to collect their belongings and leave to settle in Finnland. As many as 400 000 people were affected by the loss of territory.

Once behind the Iron Curtain, Viborg deteriorated rapidly. People travelling by bus from Helsinki to Leningrad in Soviet times were shocked to see the devastation and decline of this once proud Finnish town and its surrounding areas. When free travel was again possible after the Soviet collapse, visitors to Viborg didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The town was almost a ruin, many houses were empty, not being fit to live in and about to fall apart. The streets could not be driven on and dereliction was everywhere, a true tribute to the communist system. A small consolation was that the town had survived all attempts of modernisation. No classic buildings had been torn down to provide space for department stores and parking lots, no streets had been widened. Everything was like it had always been. Actually, Viborg is an ancient Swedish town. It was established in the 14th century around the fortified castle of Torgils Knutsson. Viborg was a bulwark of Christianity and an important trading post of the Hansa. Until the Soviet annexation, the town had a 46 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Naturally, one wants to stay at Hotel Druzhba. Seems solid. A glossy tourist map guides us. Lunch in the car. Stray dogs keep us awake during the blue hour.

Whose idea was this? Travel to Russia in a Saab 96? multi-cultural population with newspapers in German, Finnish and Swedish.To Finland, Viborg is kind of an Atlantis, a town lost and a symbol of Finland’s suffering in WW2. Traces of Finnish culture remain like the Viborg City Library that is a very important work of Alvar Alto and one of the most significant buildings of the functionalism era. As already said, the sun is shining brightly. The pizza in the town of Kotka surprisingly tasty. Thus we are in a very good mood when we are close to the Vaaliima border cross-point. Why should we worry? We have well in advance applied and been granted visas, our passports are in order. After a perfunctory glance at our passports, we are waved on by the Finnish officials. Now it’s about to begin. The Kafka corridor. Scenes of the war films we grew up with, prejudices proving true. We move slowly towards the first Russian checkpoint.

Lenin still has his eyes on Viborg’s old city centre. All the attractive old buildings remain. The cars are odd but the people nice and talkative. An adventure only a few miles away from Sweden. Viborg says welcome with a W-sign and stretch limousines.

We collect all the paperwork we believe required and not without trepidation, we offer it to the sullen looking official in the guard hut. He nonchalantly glances at them and then suddenly and with unexpected aggressivness, he throws them back at us. – Go back to Sweden! We are Swedes. We can accept some bullshit, but expect it be rational in some sense. We want explanations.The man in the hut has already turned around. With his back to us, he signals that his decision is indisputable. There is something wrong with our paperwork and he is not going to help us out. Not even explaining what the problem is. We walk into the frontier building. It is crammed with officials behind desks. Not a single one speaks English. Finally, we are somehow told that IF we could arrange for someone to fax another car registration document to the Finnish border post, we MIGHT be allowed into the Russian federation. We turn around only to get into new confrontations with other officials. They maintain that if we haven’t been let into Russia, we cannot possibly be let out. Quite philosophical thinking. Kafka, anyone? Claes Johansson phones the offical Swedish car registry. Gun-Britt takes the call. She only needs a fax number to fix anything we want. Who says Swedish autorities are bureaucratic? Gun-Britt couldn’t be more helpful and flexible. Actually, she faxes us copies of registration documents for a car none of us owns. We could have stolen this pedantically maintained Saab only to smuggle it into an Eastern state. Gun-Britt feels for people, she has confidence in us. After having been kept in suspense for a while by a couple of Finnish officials, we finally have the fax in our hands. Again, we pass through the Finnish checkpoint and arrive at the Russian one.We locate the only SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 47

Tile covered rental building in Kamenogorski. A wooly dog, old ladies whipping carpets and people walking home from work.

48 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

A matt black Volga in top condition and a strange brown Saab temporarily ease the language barriers. There are car guys everywhere and they always find each other.

You do not have the proper stamped form necessary for staying at this hotel person who smiled at us at our first visit. We are requested to fill out a couple of forms about the car. They are in Russian and we have no idea which information is required. We chance it and return the form to the lady with the smile. Njet, she says. We try it again. Njet, she says. We do it again. This time she apparently wants to know the cc of the car’s engine. We add it to the form. – Bingo, she laconically says. It is a 60 km dreary run from the frontier to Viborg. The road is quite bad, alhough by Russian standards quite good. It is lined with old ladies sitting at their small fireplaces, waiting for someone to stop to buy their radioactive mushrooms. Through the shrubbery along the road, glimpses of villages are seen. It has become dark when we finally reach Viborg . We are looking forward to have a cooked meal at the hotel. The road into the city is bumpy and full of potholes. It is lined by derelict but still somehow beautiful buildings. We drive very slowly and finally, we get our first glimpse of the town. It’s like a journey back in time. We drive across the Åbo Bridge, pass the ancient castle, admire the solid 19th century buildings at the City Hall Square. We feel elated when the Saab struggles up the steep cobble stoned Castle Street turning into the Old Town. We drive on, find our fascinating1980s hotel and park outside to check in. Suddenly, we feel

very tired, hungry and thirsty, but happy we made it so far. While we are busy dismissing the hotel prostitutes, the

receptionist declares that we are not allowed to check in at this hotel or at any other hotel either. Yes, she can confirm that we have booked and paid in advance. She acknowledges our passports. – But you do not have the proper stamped form necessary for staying at this hotel or any other hotel, she says. After a short discussion, we had again to succumb to Russian bureaucracy. It seems to be the purpose of this trip. A kind of theme trip for people not used to resistance in life. Learn to be humble and patient through confrontations with Russian bureaucracy. We walk back to the Saab to drive the sixty kilometres to the Finnish border. We are very happy that we hadn’t driven deeper into Russia before this problem reared itself. Just imagine if we had chosen to go to S:t Petersburg? The important stamp must be had at the point of entry. It is by treating people like this that a dictatorship is kept going, changing rules at will without telling SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 49

A bizarre New-York backflash caused by a line of slant-eye Volga taxis, nice.

50 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Some air of BMW was the result of this ZAZ visiting the local custom shop. Night falls over Viborg. Stray dogs sneak around the buildings. One Moskvitch hopes to one day get a license plate again.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 51

The Viborg Library is unique. An uncluttered expression of architectual beauty at present being carefully restored.

Excel in Aaltoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s functionalism Between the world wars, Viborg was the third largest city in Finland. Karelia had a population of 400 000 and Viborg was the flourishing capital of the region. The young Finnish republic was optimistically investing for the future , especially in architecture and design. Some of the leading architects of the era were appointed to design profiled edifices in Viborg. One of them was the then young Alvar Aalto, whose city library is considered the beginning of Nordic Modernism. It was inaugurated in October 1935. The failings of the Soviet communism did not only bring bad crops, famine, war and general despondency. One side effect of the planned economy system was that there was no money for tearing down derelict housing to replace with new buildings, nor even to repair or improve existing buildings. This was especilly true in the province. The people suffered, but the old run-down buildings were still there. At the fall of the Iron Curtain, it became 52 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

known that Aaltoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s library still stood, almost untouched. There had been rumours that it had been damaged in the war or destroyed by politruks. But its condition was dismal, making fast and intensive measures sorely needed. By international fund raising and generous donations by Finnish citizens, the restoration work was commenced in the beginning of the 1990s. The roof, replete with glass lanternines, leaked like a sewer, but is now fully restored. The newspaper hall has also been restored to original. But there is much more to be done. At the time of our visit, the restoration was ongoing of the unusual wavy ceiling of the lecture hall. The Aalto Library is a unique expression of beauty. The straight and slim exterior hides the complexity of the interior dispositions and its subtle touches. The main library hall, with its staircase and magic overhead lights, is the essence of functionalism. It is worth hours of bizarre defamation by Russian bureaucracy for the chance to see this.

people, making them feel small and unimportant and exposed to a diffuse but mighty power ruling from a distance through inept henchmen and by creating a complex bureaucracy to cause people to forget the real meaning of life. This is a horrible but quite important insight. About three hours later, we are back at the hotel. We are the only guests. We look out over Viborg and its dimly lit streets and parks and over the black waters of the strait. Whose idea was it to go here? It is dead silent in the unlit corridors . The plumbing emits strange gurgling sounds before delivering brownish water. We’re desperate for clear and clean water. At the bus station, there is a little kiosk with four seats. Outside, there are a couple of benches. The small windows are adorned with lace curtains in nylon. We buy some water and a kind of pita bread with meat. Also a beer each. It is a heavenly meal. We sit on one of the benches and watch people walking by. A bus arrives. Some leave it, others enter it. An old lady wants us to buy matches from her. She talks and talks without taking notice that we do not understand a word of what she says. When we finally have finished our meal, we temporarily forgive this country its sins and shortcomings. When we wake up, the whole town is under an eerie but still beautiful fog. We devour a strange and insufficient breakfast and walk out. Someone has used a forged key to open the doors of the Saab but has not found anything worthwhile to steal. We do not tire watching the strange mix of cars in the streets; Western and Japanese luxury cars, run-down Volgas, pimped Ladas and obnoxiously smelling Gazs with four-wheel drive. The city slowly emerges as the fog lifts and again the feeling of travelling back in time comes over us. We are 60 kilometres into the Eastern block but one hundred years back in time. It is today’s Russia and at the same time very ancient Europe.

The idea is to visit the countryside. We wish to explore the large lake of Ladoga, perhaps stop over night in a town somewhere and generally explore the realities of Russian Karelia. We fill the Saab up with cheap Russian petrol and pray that the roads will be OK. We are driving through the city. The sun has come out and we are happy that we are in a Saab 96. Wherever we go, people burst out laughing. They point, they want to make pictures. The Russian youth is especially amused. They have never ever seen anything that ridiculous. Blind they may be for the bizarre car park of Russia, our example of Swedish engineering is just funny to them. A clown of cars. A good side effect is that we probably look too ridiculous to be worth robbing. Although we had expected the worst, it is still surprising that a road can be that bad. Some sort of maintenance is being done on and off, noticable by a mosaic pattern of the road surface. It looks like a multi-coloured quilt. Cracks and potholes are filled now and then, but the fundamental problem is never addressed, the roads have too thin layers of support material to carry the weight of traffic. Sometimes, they have even laid tarmac on swampy grounds and hoped for the best. The rather stiff shock absorbers of the Saab frequently bottom out. I am driving, ”Ouch”, Claes says. ”Ouch, ouch, ouch.”

The Aalto Library is a unique expression of beauty. A ZAZ with a cool rear stance booms away. Just standing at a street corner in Viborg watching cars is entertaining for a car guy.

Obviously very proud librarians take us for a round trip, from the ceiling to the underground depositories. The library is kept untouched to the last piece of furniture – a full and complete work of multiart by Alvar Aalto. The lanterns in the reading halls do no longer leak water. But still, the paint is flaking and the ventilation system is not up to it anymore. But the light! What a light! Anyone the least interested in architecture should travel to Viborg and visit the library for at least half a day. A rare and full experience!

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 53

Houses are either unpainted or painted in the most insane colours. The region is quite beautiful and sometimes it feels like travelling back in time to the Swedish countryside of the 1920s. People stay here. Most do not have a car of their own. They walk on well trodden paths through densely built village centres. Houses are either unpainted or painted in the most insane colours. Like a child’s colouring book. Suddenly a high-rise pops up in the midst of the small cottages. Because individuals were not allowed to build their own houses, even in rural areas they had to live in flats.The concrete high-riser look very strange in the middle of the vast fields, particularly when surrounded by neat garden beds. A certain proof of people staying put here all the time are the many small shops along the roads. You go shopping close to where you live. Most shops are quite badly kept. But what they offer is not unlike a Seven-Eleven’s in the west, but also dried fish, pickled cucumber, black salsify, smetana and, of course, vodka. We drive and drive, but we don’t really get anywhere. We have to admit that our schedule is much too tight for a long trip into Karelia. One needs ample margins for the unforseen and probably a more suitable car. But we will have to do with the car we have. We stop for lunch in Kamenogorsk. It is village for forest

workers. Large timber trucks come rattling along the road, a parade of different models. Some of them might even be converted former rocket carriers of the Red Army. The quite arbitrary scattering of dwelling high risers were once quite attractive in the Soviet fashion and are now deteriorating in a way attractive to western people fond of decayed buildings. Three legged dogs are running around, derelict old Volgas are sadly abandoned in parking lots. Today is market day.We are offered exotic cucumber seeds, home knitted mittens and pickled cucumbers for our rubles. We buy a sausage, freshly baked bread, one yoghurt and a piece of cheese for lunch. We have it in the still shining sun, sitting on the overlarge back bumper of the Saab, keeping the trunk lid open for protection. We missed seeing Ladoga at sunset. Instead, we took the road back to Viborg, through unkempt de-forested areas, still standing fir tree forests, inhabitable swamps and desolate villages. Farm work appears to have stopped, it is not ploughed, not harvested and not cared for. Once more, we have dinner at the derelict kiosk at the bus terminal. We drink the beer and talk with the babbling old lady. It is quite cold outside when we go for an evening stroll through the sparsely lit town.

54 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

One person’s daily routine – exotism to another. Realities flash past a brown Saab.

Petrol V8 and massive Tonka look. The brutal GAZ truck styled like a tin toy. Viborg architecture. Classic and modernistic styles side by side. The countryside has a more severe look.

Genuine antistatic belts In the 60s, the ”antistatic belts” became a rage, a sort of homeopathy for cars. The idea was to free the car from static electricity believed being the cause of car sickness. It wasn’t the roads, worn-out shock absorbers or unbalanced wheels. Neither drivers with little experience. No, it was static electricity. The solution was a small rubber covered steel strap to be fitted to the rear bumper. Its contact with the ground was supposed to earth the car and thereby liberate it from static electricity. It didn’t work of course, which was discovered in the West already in the autumn of 1963. The Russians obviously still haven’t heard this. They go in wholeheartedly for antistatic belts. Almost every Lada sports one. The conclusion could either be that Russians believe in the occult, or that this gadget has turned into a smart accessory one just must have. We believe it is the latter. There are lots of pimped Ladas in the streets. Ladas with all extras; spoilers, lilac metallic paint, accessory fog and LR lamps, raised rear suspension, hatch roof, sun film – and always antistatic belts.

Claes Johansson has finally located the custom shop worth the trip. Not only antistatic belts were offered, just about everything else you need to re-do your 1980s Lada into something the style of Borat’s suits.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 55

The general decline feels increasingly depressing. It almost hurts to stay in Viborg

The general decline feels increasingly depressing. It

almost hurts to stay in Viborg. But it is probably worse for those Finns whose past ended up on the wrong side of the new frontier. Jeltsin once offered the Finnish President Koivistio to sell Karelia back to Finland. The recently founded Russian Republic was short of money. Koivisto thought they asked more for it than it was worth, and declined the offer. Jeltsin thought 120 billion crowns was a reasonable price for the whole lot, but infrastructure rebuilding would have cost 660 billions. That says something about the condition of the roads. We feel relieved having checked out from the old communist hotel. We point the Saab westwards again. Today, we feel that our margins are ample. As we are leaving Russia,we expect no problems with customs or passport control. Then we have only a 200 km drive to Helsinki. Without going into any details, we can say that no margins can ever be too large when it comes to dealing with Russian bureaucracy. To be let through the checkpoint, we had again to fill out ten forms only in Russian. When we finally reached ”bingo”, we had to push the V4 to its limits to catch the ferry in time. Next time, we will reserve at least two weeks and travel in a Lada Niva.

56 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

THE TRIP COMPANION SAAB 96 V4 1980 In 1980, Saab managed to build 300 units of the 1980 model year Saab 96 before it was struck from from the product programme. The 80’s had barely begun. On January 7, the last 96 left the runway in Nystad, Finland (in Finnish Uusikaupunki). All focus was now on the just launched Saab 900 Turbo. The 96 was the longrunner in the history of Saab cars. The bulbous and truly aerodynamic shape survived for 20 years or even 25 if the 93 is included. But it all began in 1949 with the 92. The car we are driving is from the very last batch. It is preserved to a very high standard. The first owner, a school janitor, bought it after accidentally having spilled milk in his former 96. The foul smell would not go away, so he had to buy a new one. He cared for it like a baby, drove it very sparingly and always kept it in a garage. It is in very good condtion, inside like new. The second owner is the photographer Claes Johansson’s father Ulf Johansson. He had been give rather diffuse information about the goal of our trip and was quite confused when he was asked to fax the car documents to a border station, before Gun-Britt solved the problem. A Saab will not be a Saab if there are no strange features. The driving position is a bit angled, column shift, free-wheeling. Smoth shifting takes some practice. It is a car with a great personality, even in Chamotte Brown!

Don’t forget visas and tools. It is not certain that our trip is representative of the general standard of Russian roads. At one occasion, we drove on a perfect tarmac road suddenly changing to catastrophy. Our advice is serious and prudent. If you venture out on side roads, drive a robust car or a SUV. Bring tools and a full size spare wheel. International drivers licence is required. Don’t forget the green insurance card. We travelled in a borrowed car with no problems despite advice to the contrary. It is absolutely essential to bring originals of the car’s registration and insurance documents. Visas should be applied for and paid well in advance through a travelling agent or at the Russian Embassy. Book hotels well in advance. Be prepared for delays and confusions.

Ferry to Finland Take the ferry to Finland and drive on. If you like an early start of the adventure, take instead the ferry to Riga with the added advantage that you will be gradually and not immediately exposed to the shock of entering the former USSR.

VIBORG HELSINKI STOCKHOLM

LADOGA

S:T PETERSBURG

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 57

THE

CHAMPIONS OF UNPAVED ROADS Mack Mysing, what does it mean? There is no obvious English translation. Very amicable petrol station perhaps, but aren’t they all. Let’s go on calling it Mack Mysing. But this is not about a petrol station, it is more about its namesake, a very colourful rally team whose members drove in local style wooden clamp shoes. An impressive lunacy on wheels signed Bo ”Mysing” Fredriksson TEXT BILLY SÖDERIN PHOTO MAY FREDRIKSSON ET AL.

The paintwork, also the most elaborate like this of 1975, were sprayed by Bosse himself. At the time, the team consisted of Karl Göran Hansson, Peter Brorsson, Bruno Johansson and Mysing himself.

58 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

ictures from the hey days in the 70s are mostly of dance bands, rock’n’roll and rally. And the Mack Mysing drivers. The team didn’t always have the fastest cars, but the four drivers did compensate with humour, courage and a heavy right foot. One instance at a home race in Östersund comes to mind. Bosse managed a feat that probably never could be repeated. Speeding to reach the goal in the third and final run of a sprint race, Bosse had the misfortune to somersault, not unusual for anyone brave enough to race in a Saab V4, but this time it was spectacular. Just ahead of the finish line, the car did a full turn over, hitting ground again on all four wheels and continued at undiminished speed but with the rear end first. Bosse immediatly reacted to the new situation, stepped on it in reverse and went straight into the goal and past the photo cells. The 1000- head audience was all excited and screamed louder than ever before. Typically Bosse. – And you should know that Bosse loved to be as spectacular as possible, his wife May says.

Sadly, Bosse is no longer with us. Very much alive are the memories of him and his daring driving style. In modern terms, he was an influencer and a trade mark of his own, although many in 1972 thought he was utterly mad. Who else would as an aspiring rally driver seek inspiration from the comics ? It was like this; the budding rally team needed a logotype. For some now forgotten reason, a funny figure should be in it. In the comics, Bosse found a figure having an apple in each cheek. It looked funny, so Bosse ripped out the drawing and went to see Torgersson Reklam, the local ad agency in the city of Östersund. When he arrived, the cartoon

was lost .He described it to the ad people and they sent him to have funny photos of himself taken. When he was back at the ad agency, one of their illustrators created a logo based on one of the photos. When he came home, he had second thoughts and was afraid that the others would take him for an egocentric like Mao, May remembers. That didn’t happen.The picture of Bosse with pointing finger and showing his tongue became a trademark. T-shirts with the motif were sold locally in large numbers and

Upper left: ”We must look smart at the start”, Bo said, the team cars must be clean and undented. Paper protecticion on the floor at the pre-race inspections at least did shake up their competitors a bit. Swedish rally 1980 Upper right: The legendary hill climb competition at Hammarstrand was again done in a well run-in twostroker. Only a few years later, the same car was entered in folk racing events. Above: The name Mysing? Wasn’t Bo’s last name Fredriksson? Yes, but when ten years old, Bo was helping out with the horses at a race course. A rider walking into the stable got sight of Bo resting on a bale of oat and asked if he was feeling good, in Swedish being a ”mysing”. The name stuck! – And people still ask my grandmother her name apart from Mysing.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 59

His daring driving style made him popular with the spectators, but he frequently ended up on the roof not just to rally people. Everyone wanted one. The actual petrol station was at a busy road along which there was also an open-air dancing arena. Lots of people going there stopped at Mysing’s to buy the T-shirts, soon offered in many colours. Other drivers were impressed by Bosse’s driving verve . Number two in the team was Bruno Johansson, a formidable driver too on unpaved roads, also at international events. Then a certain Peter Brorsson came on the stage. – I remember very well when Peter first visited, May says. He looked lost and was quite shy. He said that he had just passed his driving

Top: Team cars for SM 1980. 58 Saab V4s participated. Peter was 20th, Stefan 24th while Bosse and Bruno failed to finish. Above and right: May and her grand child Andréa often meet. The car affection seems hereditary because Andréa is a fully fledged auto mechanic. She has also participated in folk race events. She is keen to keep up the family racing traditions. Also her mother, brother and one cousin have tattoos of Bosse.

60 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

test and had bought a V4 for 500 Crowns that he wished to turn into a rally car. And he did! Soon his confidence grew. He called me an old lady when I was 32, May smiles. May was confident too. Apart from being responsible for team logistics and administration, together with Britt Årstad, Christina Öhlin, Dorothy Larsson and Anita Munther, she qualified for a rally license with the Jämtland Motor Club. – Tough girls we were, especially Dorothy. When she came to our first meeting, she asked me if I was the one who was so damn old. The men wanted us to qualify for rally licenses to understand the game and to be map readers. May and a couple of the others were soon themselves at the steering wheel. May competed in local rallyes and hill climbs, mostly with her daughter Anna-Lena as co-driver. A new driver joined in on a permanent basis, Stefan ¨the Poprivet” Jonsson. Unlike Peter Brorsson, Stefan wasn’t very shy in or out of the car. At first, he competed in a Volvo Amazon, but soon came to change from floor to column shift and RWD to FWD. A new V4 enthusiast was born. His daring driving style made him popular with the spectators, but he frequently ended up on the roof. – Oh my God, I think he held the Swedish record in V4 somersaulting, probably no less than a hundred times, May smilingly remembers. At one occasion not very well planned in advance, the team was heading to Junsele to join the autumn races. The Poprivet had brought studded tires, while Bosse and May had chosen gravel road ones. When they arrived, the roads were icy and very treacherous. Bosse asked Stefan if they could switch tyres for them both to have a pair of each kind. –No time for that, Stefan responded, I want to get back home as quickly as possible. – He ended up on the roof in the first bend, May says. Bosse and May stopped dead when they saw the Poprivet’s car upside down and across the road. – I remember it well, Stefan says. We slid a bit on the roof , Bertil and I. A large tree root penetrated the car through the windshield, so there the two of us were stuck. Could have ended a lot worse. Despite the stop at Stefan´s wreck, Mysing

Slim jeans, early v4s and heavy right feet. Team Mysing on the go for their local motor club of the Jämtland province.

won overall. They were already on the way home when the results were announced, but that can happen to the best. Bosse didn’t very often unvoluntarily leave the road, but there were exceptions. – I remember once when we ended up in a ditch. I quickly jumped out with warning triangle, May says. Then suddenly, Bosse managed to power the car out of the ditch and then he stepped on it. He was about to pat me on my leg to thank me, when he realized I wasn’t there. I had to run to catch up with him, May smiles at the memory. In the period, races were often of very long distances. Starts in Östersund with goals in Sundsvall, that’s a stretch of 200 km. Races at night were not unusual and always beginning after dark. – The same conditions applied to everyone. But we who used our everyday cars had to do all repairs and tune-ups ourselves, Bruno explains. A quite menorable event was Rally Belgium, sanctioned by the Belgian Embassy with a grand party in the embassy afterwards for all the participants. The route in central

Stockholm included driving through the parking garage at the NK Department Store as well as through some of the near suburbs. -Quite an insane event. The police made an intervention with sirens, blue lamps and everything. They had no advance knowledge but they were called by people objecting to the noise and speed. – What a trip, Bruno says.When we were arriving in the city, Bosse, singing loudly, left the car to stand at a refuge. Of course the police arrived. They asked him if that was someting he had long wanted to do. – Disregarding your quite frequent rollovers, did the team suffer any serious set-backs? Stefan grins, and says that it probably was at its worst when the first four of us were active. Afterwards, we had a few new boys occasionally driving for the team. – But there were a lot less roll-overs when I could finally afford diff locks. Stefan says that the four guys, Bosse, Bruno, Peter and himself, competed just as much with each other as with other drivers. Of course this meant going faster all the time.

– Dad liked Bosse a lot. Once when we watched Sven-Ingvars on TV, I said that Sven-Erik was such a nice guy, Dad said: – Eh, still not as nice as Bosse.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 61

Late 70s and new team colours again. Bosse often created new themes, not seldom in the colours of the sponsors.

Mack Mysing led by Bo also arranged soap box racing. A great success and entered and run by the whole Mysing family.

62 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

– Serious mishaps? When Bosse was on, a lot happened much of the time. I remember once when we hit something and there was at first a loud bang and then a horrible noise. Bosse jumped out and opened the bonnet while Bruno ran back with the warning triangle. We quickly had to fix the fault or get the car off the road. – When Bruno came running back, Bosse shouted: ”It’s just one drive shaft disconnected, put it back on!” – I rolled up my sleeves, felt around the engine and got burned on the exhaust manifold. Then I went ”Hello, a drive shaft just cannot get disconnected like that.” Quite right, because the wheel complete with hub and spindle, drive shaft and suspension lower link arm were simply not there.We finally spotted them lying down the road. – Mysing’s jokes were legendary. Once we drove a rally wearing monster face masks. In those days you were allowed some humorous pranks. Clocking rally competitors is no joke, though. Before he reached the age to get his own driver’s license, Bruno was Bosse’s map reader. In those days, there was a 30 second

count-down and flag start. And they started the count-down, 30, 20, 10 – and then Bosse takes off. I was deeply ashamed. Ten seconds are an eternity waiting for the flag, this was no two seconds try. – I have no idea why he did it. Was it a slip-up or did he really think he could get away with it, Bruno smiles. The heydays of the team were concurrent with the Mysing couple running their petrol station. It was sold in1982. Bosse and May continued in a small scale at a workshop in their house garage. Later, Bosse worked in larger car workshops. After a while they moved to Sundsvall, where they continued their rally careers – always with their own logo on the cars, makes of which were shifting. The last time Bosse competed in a forest road event was 2000 in a Toyota Corolla. His ambitions were great as always, but perhaps he drove too fast because the car rolled over quite brutally. A not expected end of a long and successful career. He escaped the crash, but died of cancer a couple of years later. – We were both born in 1945. I was a summer older, May finishes with a warm smile.

Once we drove a rally wearing monster face masks. In those days you were allowed some humorous pranks

Left: Bruno, Peter, May and Stefan try to get together as much as they can, although May these days prefers going to dances. Right: Somersaulting was not uncommon. Most roof landings were done by Stefan, who as a child actually was there when Erik Carlsson in 1962 made his legendary somersault. It was close to the Jonsson familyÂ´s summer lodge at HusĂĽ-Sandviken.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 63

64 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

”Something like this should work.” The competition department was constantly requested to come up with new solutions. They accepted the challenges with the quiet confidence only a pair of Swedish wooden clogs can create

MEXICO MADNESS A traffic accident lasting 24 hours. That’s Baja 1000 – the craziest rally in the world. Saab was equally crazy in believing that it could win the event with a Saab 96 V4 equipped with double shock absorbers as well as snake serum. In the sunset, we go skid testing the desert racer of Erik Carlsson and Torsten Åman. TEXT CLAES JOHANSSON PHOTO PER HAMMARSJÖ, KENNETH OLAUSSON, SAAB CAR MUSEUM

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 65

e are at a remote industrial area in Vänersborg. End of October. The clouds are dissolving and in the few precious minutes of golden sunset, we are ready to take scorpion poison on being in San Ignacio at the blazing hot Mexican Peninsula, about half way to La Paz. A tormented wreck of a ½ ton pick-up truck, dry grass, a gravel road that responds to burn-outs by clouds of sandy dust glimmering in the sunlight, all add to the illusion of being in Mexico. And the noble Saab 96 with its sand covered front (to be honest, created for the photos by smearing it with oatmeal porridge) is as much at home in Mexico as in Sweden. It oozes the fighting spirit of the duo Erik Carlsson/ Torsten Åman when they were hell bent to rejoin the 1970 Baja 1000 after having been stuck for five hours in the chewing gum sticky sand shores of the Pacific. – Never have I seen Erik drive that fast, Torsten says.

Saab’s participation in the Baja 1000 is a one of the most exotic achievements in the history of Swedish motoring sport. It was a milestone in one more respect – it was the first time proper

The 96 built in Swedish steel was ultra strong to begin with. No elaborate reinforcements were required for competition.

The adventure begins soon. The importance of the historic moment is caught by someone’s camera for which we are very thankful today.

66 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

safety belts were used by Saab after almost twenty years of intense competition. It was also the first time snake poison serum was included in the first-aid kit. The initiative to run in the Baja came not surprisingly from Erik Carlsson. At a club meeting in Los Angeles in 1968, photos taken at the Baja were shown. The rally was really wild, most anything was allowed. The distance Ensenada-La Paz is 1000 miles, 1600 km. Gross timing applied, i e including petrol fill ups and any other stop. Just to reach the goal within 24 hours was considered a real accomplishment. These challenges attracted Carlsson, who, although retired from Saab, managed to persuade Sten Wennloo to OK Saab participating. Two cars were prepared for the 1969 Baja, one for training and the other as the actual race car.The ground clearence was increased and a sturdy sliding panel fitted underneath to protect the drive train. The least damage prone location of the exhaust system was to route it along the roof drip moulding. The body shell as well as the engine mounts were reinforced by adding steel angles that came to be called Mexico fittings. The front of the car received sturdy steel bracings. Larger fuel tank capacity was accomplished

The initiative to run in the Baja came not surprisingly from Erik Carlsson

Had cacti grown in VĂ¤nersborg, the illusion would have been total. The hairiest Saab rally car is probably the least known one.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 67

Usual rally equipment still a bit different. Steering wheel cover in cooling vinyl and exotic decals.

Altimeter. Makeshift overhead exhaust system roughly fitted to the edge of the roof. Function first!

The Baja circus attracted lots of self styled heroes as well as really tough guys

68 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

just by fitting a 95 model tank on top of the original tank, resulting in 80 litres total volume. Another tank, fitted with a screenwash pump, supplied the crew with fresh drinking water. The car used for practice was loaded to the brim with canned food when Erik and Torsten did a full week exploration tour. They drove endless stretches, took notes, ate and slept in the car. Circles of petrol on fire were used as toilets. Scorpions and snakes were common in the Mexican desert. The Baja circus attracted lots of self styled heroes as well as really tough guys and gals. Steve McQueen drove his famous V8 monster Baja Boot. The actor James Garner (all readers below 50 google him now!) participated in an Oldsmobile Cutlass powered by a 450 bhp V8.To no avail! Thanks to his usual, accurately detailed road notes, Erik Carlsson floored it most of the time. The average on the first 150 km of tarmac road was 130 kph. By ingenious choices of available roads, he passed Garner at a bendy stretch at double speed and was ahead. His Saab 1700cc V4 had a soft cam for 116 bhp at 6 500 rpm and 100 bhp as early as at 5 000 rpm. It was sufficient to pass Rockford too. But there was a slip-up. At the advice of

experienced Baja drivers, the team had just before the start changed to tires with more grip. They also were of larger diameter making the drive couplings run at a strained angle, causing fast failure. Twice. At each occasion, the talented Saab mechanic Bernt ”Malin” Melin had to direct the pilot of the sports aeroplane rented by Saab not just to locate the car but also to land to it as close as possible. After the repair, Saab soon regained the lead. When the other drive coupling failed in the early hours, Saab’s chances to win were gone. Saab came third with Garner ahead. Steve McQueen resigned. Saab still scored a victory – by the private competitor Ingvar Lindqvist, a Saab dealer of Culver City, California. His white V4 was quite similar to the works cars, except for the Baja style of the windscreen – it was halved!

The cool gang! Erik Carlsson, James Garner, Gunnar Nilsson and Steve McQueen.

For 1970, the self confidence of the Swedes was a

lot greater and the successful trial of a secret weapon curing the bad back of Eric Carlsson – a giant girdle made of two ordinary ones – improved the chances of victory. Saab was no longer overlooked by press, spectators or film stars. Saab’s reputation took great strides forward when Pat Moss and her map reader Elisabeth SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 69

One of the Saabs is said to have been disgraced by a V8 swap Nyström joined the team and the private driver Ingvar Lindqvist got more generous sponsoring. In the week of training before the race, Carlsson/Åman had made the run in 18 hours. That was victory speed and only possible by chosing the better roads of the route along the Pacific. It was a very risky route as it was easy to get stuck in sand. Once it took almost 30 hours to go one mile and that only with the help of 60 cm long wood planks. How it was done is told in Kenneth Olausson’s fascinating eye witness account on page 72. The Baja car has not been run for a long time and

The Mexican roads posed new challenges for exhaust system protection and ground clearance. The rear bumper was replaced by a steel beam for the co-driver to jump up and down on if the car needed to be unstuck in mud.

70 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

the Museum Curator Peter Bäckström cannot promise that it will. But we are welcome to try to start it. It was rather rudimentarily restored some time in the 1980s. It has never been in focus, staying rather anonymous unlike all the other sucessful rally cars that created the image of Saab rallying. Still, the Baja Saab is more spectacular than most of these. The Baja desert race car was returned to Sweden after a US enthusiast had bought both of both Baja cars with the idea of entering them in new adventurous events. One car is said to have been disgraced by a V8 swap, but the other returned full of desert sand to Sweden via Panama. Some parts have been exchanged, but generally it remains much as it was built. We search in vain for snake serum. Gone is also the famous system for providing the driver with fresh drinking water. The interior heater was ripped out by Malin already in 1969. The engine hardly delivers 116 bhp any more, but the exhaust sound is still energetic. The ground clearance, the heavy tires and the number of shock absorbers still makes any rough and stony road easily navigated. We test drive it about ten kilometres, nothing for a Baja car. As the back end is drifting out on the gravel road and third gear is quickly selected, I am certain that I glimpse James Garner’s astonished face in the rear view mirror.

So much more impressive than the meek Swedish rally cars. Still, Saabâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Baja 1000 efforts are not as highly regarded by Swedes as Saabâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s competition triumphs at home. It is surprising that so few, if any Baja 1000 replicas have been created.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 71

People crowd to watch the strange little car from Europe being serviced. A robust vehicle with great rally potential not least because of the careful map notes prepared by Torsten Åman. Sadly, it didn’t make it all the way...

Snap-shot at a depot stop. A plain crash hat, girdle and T-shirt, that’s the hero driver Erik Carlsson.

The Oldsmobile Cutlass Banshee was a glass fibre bodied special built by George Barris. Posing in front of Pat Moss and Elisabeth Nyström, James Garner was an expert in creating PR.

DESERT MILES UP IN THE AIR In 1970 Kenneth Olausson travelled to Mexico to cover the Baja 1000 Competition for the magazine Se. As there were no sensations worth writing about, the trip resulted only in a pay and expenses check, but no report. This is the story of the adventures of the then 22-year old TEXT & PHOTO KENNETH OLAUSSON

he four times world champion of motocross Torsten Hallman ran a successful business in San Diego. I worked there in the winter of 1970. The business included importing Penton motorcycles (now called KTM) for sale in the US to participants in the famous Baja Run repeatedly won by the Swede Gunnar Nilsson on a Husqvarna. I had heard that Erik Carlsson was going to be in the race again – his debut was the year before when he scored a third. This info was sufficient for me to get the job to cover the event for the illustrated magazine Se that was expecting a Swedish sensation. In company with the Hallman team, I drove from San Diego to Ensenada in Mexico where the start was. It was like coming into a different world. There were 300 cars crammed into the depot area. The many US entrants were characteristically sure of victory, but Erik was equally confident. He planned to make up for the year before. The actor James Garner entered in a Banshee that had been built at a cost equivalent of a million Swedish crowns. Steve McQueen was unable to participate this year because he was busy making the film LeMans. I had met him only a week earlier at an Inter AM race in Carlsbad. By accident, I stepped on the toes of his beautiful wife Neile. Now McQueen glared at me. The start was not dramatic because the

72 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

competitors drove in a row out from the town to where the adventure really was to begin, in the desert. Then I was already up in the air watching. Hallman had rented a plane for us to comfortably cover the event from above. The first 60 mile stretch was one straight road ending in the desert where the real difficulties took over. – It was possible to chose the shorter coastal route or the more demanding but still safer mountain road, remembers map reader Torsten Åman. – The Yanks had apparently never heard of map notes. That’s why we were able to beat them big time. Still, the coastal road was risky because of the tide and often soft surfaces. – Erik was stubborn and blindly followed a light dune-buggy despite me advising him not to, Åman bitterly remembers. Of course we got stuck and had to wait five hours for the rescue team to pull us out. Simultaneously, I had landed half way through the route at a lagoon in San Ignacio. It wasn’t easy to provide space for almost 200 light aircraft fighting for air space and landing strips. One of them missed the runway just ahead of me and lost one stabilisator when touching a big

cactus. The drivers started to arrive but no Carlsson. I started to fear that there would be no story to report back home. Very late and severely irritated, the Saab team returned. The team spirit could not have been lower. Erik refused to comment and just wanted to get out of it. A few minutes and a glass of water later, the team left. I had crossed the globe for the story, but only got a glimpse of the Swedes. To make matters worse, I was nearly bitten by a deadly scorpion when I prepared my sleeping bag for the night. Fortunately it was prevented by an attentive person close by. The next morning, we flew back to the finish in La Paz. I didn’t want to stay there, instead I continued by regular flight to San Diego. The adventure was finished. It was to be Erik Carlsson’s last rally and he came fourth. That success also ended the winning spirit, Åman says. It still hurts. Because it also proved to be my last rally as a Saab professional navigator. And I lost the opportunity to sell photos.

The team spirit could not be lower. Erik refused to comment and just wanted to get out of it

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 73

Advertisement from: Road & Track 1985

THE PHOTO

MODELS! No big resources were spent in shooting the first publicity photos of the new Saab 99. Still the pictures came out with great period charm mostly because of the photo models! TEXT & PHOTO PER-BÖRJE ELG ARCHIVE SAAB CAR MUSEUM, PER-BÖRJE ELG, INGER HAGSÉR

ifty one years have passed since Inger and Karin acted as photo models for the first publicity posters and brochures of the brand new Saab 99. It started an early spring day 1968 in the elevator of the Datasaab office in Linköping, Karin remembers, because there she was asked ”Could Miss Svennberg agree to participate in a promotion film for the Saab 99?” The question was put by the young and handsome Bo Jansjö. He was later promoted to Head of Public Comunications at Scania Sweden. In 1968 he still worked in Linköping, where the head office was as well as the aeroplane factory and the recently established Datasaab computer company, while the cars were made in Trollhättan. – Being young and inexperienced, I asked to bring my twin sister Inger with me. That was OK and the two girls thus came to be the photo models of the first brochures and posters for the brand new Saab 99.

The all new Saab 99 was officially shown for the

first time in Stockholm on November 22, 1967. Deliveries were not to start until the autumn of 1968 and the first cars were to be sold as 1969 models. It was at the beginning of sales on August 14-15 1968 that brochures and posters were first made available to authorised dealers. Both Karin and Inger worked in Linköping but their parent home was in Trollhättan. The ad agency Tema had produced Saab brochures since 1966. The photos were going to be shot in Halmstad at the west coast. The girls went there for a couple of days in May 1968. Four pre-series cars came from Trollhättan with a mechanic, 76 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Inger and Karin were the photo models of the first posters and brochures for the new Saab 99.

Ragnar Smith, and a male photo model, Kåre Westberg. He also worked at the Saab office and was considered handsome enough to promote the new Saab. The ad agency was represented by one manager, Lars Feuk, and the photographer John-Erik Andersson, assisted by Mats Weidel. Karin and Inger rode in the car of Bo Jansjö. – It was the first time we stayed in a hotel and we were invited to a fine dinner, the girls remember. The hotel was called Hotel Mårtensson,

established in 1858 in the centre of Halmstad. The journey back to Trollhättan at first went in the direction of Ulricehamn, then down towards Tranemo. Along the road a beautiful house was spotted. It was considered very suitable as background for photos of the new Saab. The small caravan halted, a member of the team rang the door bell and asked if it would be OK to make publicity photos of the new Saab against the background of the beautiful house. Permis-

Large picture: The photo that didn’t make it. The PR agency instead chose a photo they called ” Man at driver’s door waves to wife standing at house.” No hints of bigamy! Lower right:Inger listening to guy playing the guitar at the Varberg shore one fine day in May of 1968. The same photo, but cut just to show the curvature of the windshield also figured in the first sales brochure for the 99. Lower left: This photo with Inger posing in Tylösand was used for a poster and as cover for a sales folder. Yes, Inger has saved the clothes she wore at the photo sessions in the spring of 1968.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 77

This picture was on the title page of the 1968 Saab 99 sales brochure. Karin is the model. According to the Saab archive, this photo was shot in May of 1968, at the Hyssna lake between Göteborg and Borås.

1968 was an eventful year.The Prague Spring and

The idea behind this Saab ad picture was by no means unusual

78 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

sion was graciously granted. The picture of a red Saab 99 with a well dressed gentleman at the driver’s door, Inger elegant in white top and slim pants in front of the house and Karin in the front passenger seat became iconic when published in the early brochures. The next day, the beach at Tylösand was chosen for new photos. This time Inger acted as the photo model. She was dressed in a light green summer pants dress that she still has! The picture shot at the beach was used for a large poster and also for the cover of a 4-page Saab 99 folder. For the files, the photo was captioned ”Evening at Tylösand Beach”. I was able to locate the original when I was working at the Saab marketing department in 1980, responsible for brochures with the grand job title ”Manager Sales Literature.”

the ensuing Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. The murders of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Student uprisings in Paris. Leftish Stockholm students occupying the their own Student Union building. The Båstad tennis match uproar. The Swedish Prime Minister participating in Vietnam war demonstrations with the effect that USA recalled its ambassador. Richard Nixon was elected US President. It was also the year of Claes-Göran Hederström’s hit ”It begins to look like love, damn it” and Anna-Lena Löfgren scoring two hits – first ”The Summer it all happened” and then the unforgettable ” Lucky street.” In September, Trio me´Bumpa scored with the long-runner ”Live for each other”. And it was the year TV news on December 19 headlined the merger of Saab cars and Scania-Vabis trucks in a new company to be called Saab-Scania. Following a couple of years at the customer reception desk of the Saab dealer in Västerås and some more years in advertising and marketing, I started to study at Konstfack – the arts and crafts university. It was infested with the ultra left wing leanings of the period. There were protest meetings and we took to the streets to advance female rights and social equality. The pamphlet ”Advertising is lethal” maintained that commercial promotion made people stupid, tricked them into buying unnecessary things and, on top of it, indoctrinated them with unacceptable opinions and values. – As a graduated arts teacher, I was supposed to expose commercial ads. One tool was image analysis. As an example, I chose a picture from the first Saab 99 brochure. The one with the red car and Karin and Inger, but I didn’t then know who they were. The debate was quickly started. Could one really be happy just by purchasing a new Saab? But the imposing house was probably not included. The house wife, quietly waiting, she couldn’t be included, or was she? For that matter, had the ad agency not heard about female liberation? Shouldn’t she be the one taking the car and just drive away from it all?

Above; This is the place, in central Linköping, where Datasaab was established. Left; The author reminiscenses with the photo models Karin Lundqvist and Inger Hagsér. Inger was hired in October of 1969 as an international correspondent at Saab Trollhättan and stayed there for 42 years, Karin Lundqvist moved to Eksjö in 1969 and worked 38 years as a civilian at the staff of the Army Regiment there. Photo: Dan Lauvall.

But that was probably not how the ad men thought. Karin and Inger had a short career as photo models, a dream job at the time close to film star status, The idea behind this Saab ad picture was by no means unusual. At the time, there were thousands of promotion images for cars using the stereotype ”Man about to enter driving seat is waving to wife standing in door of nice house.” That commercial promotion is a mirror of contemporary values is helpful to any historian. – Look, Inger says, here is another photo. It is a picture that didn’t make it to the sales brochure. It has not been seen since 1968. In it, Karin is no longer in the car but has joined Inger leaning on the pillar of the house at Tranemo. What? The whole analysis falls apart. The guy about to leave in his Saab is a bigamist! He has two wifes. Did Saab really want to promote such values? No, they didn’t, the picture was stashed away.

The first time the 99 was shown at the Halmstad city market square was on a photo session in May 1968. In reality, the big new Saab 99 had been revealed in the autumn of 1967, although series production and sales were not planned to begin until a year later.

Saab 99 – 50 years ago! After engineering and general development estimated at 400 000 work hours of qualified engineers, the brand new 99 was first shown to the press on November 22,1967 at the Technorama arena in Stockholm. The curtains were drawn to reveal the new model but it was still covered up. It was one of 50 pre-series cars built in June 1967 as the first cars made with the finalized production tooling. To the tune of trumpet fanfares, the golden cover was pulled off the car by two female models dressed in ultra short gold lamé dresses. For the first time, the official name of the new car was mentioned – Saab 99. But it was almost a year ahead of the new model being ready for the market. Before that, Saab wished to use the 50 pre-series cars for what they called universal testing – driving on public roads under the most changing conditions with Saab employees as well as selected other drivers at the wheel. Naturally, the introduction had been preceded by seemingly endless research and discussions. Sixten Sason and his assistant Björn Envall had as early as 1962 together with the engineers Gunnar Ljungström and Rolf Mellde agreed on a basic concept – front engine and fwd was fundamental for a Saab. The same went for the unit body. Compact dimensions but still roomy inside were other Saab virtues. Sadly, Sixten Sason was not to see his project being fulfilled. He died in January 1967 after a long illness. The engine was a joint effort with the British engineering company Ricardo. It was to be fitted at an angle of 45 degrees for the reason that Triumph wanted a V8 based on the same general engineering. The new Saab engine was thus ”half a V8”. This had certain

In the centre of the photo is Sixten Sason, the stylist having penned both the Saab 92 and the Saab 99.

advantages but also disadvantages. The engine was to be built at the Triumph works in Coventry. The capacity of the engine was 1709 cc and the power 87 bhp SAE .The four speed gearbox had a floor change, a first for Saab. Also the ignition switch was unusually on the floor. This was hailed as a safety feature because the key was presumed to be out of harm’s way in a crash. The first model year of the 99 was 1969 and the cars could be had in red, white, blue, green, black and light tan. Only two door sedans were available. The price at the introduction was 18 385 crowns, appreciably more than for the Saab V4 that was priced at 14 785 crowns.The 99 was introduced in the USA in April of 1969 at the New York International Auto Show.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 79

CLEAN AND STRIPPED Give me just a Saab, no options! OK, here is the most austere 1970s Saab ever built in Trollhättan. The 99 X7! TEXT & PHOTO GUSTAF SJÖHOLM

80 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Clasén and his wife Britt-Marie are frequent participants in the regularity class of the Midnight Sun Rally. Their X7 was last entered in 2013. ”Actually, I’m now thinking of entering next time in my 900 Turbo”, Öved admits, ”just because of its stronger torque”.

”Larger luggage compartment than the Lincoln Continental even with the rear seat back unfolded”, was a Saab boast in the US brochures at the beginning of 70s. For the X7, the board to make the luggage area flat was deleted and the mat cut differently to cover the resulting cavity. The spare wheel cover was also omitted.

ook, it is fully loaded. For a second, I remember one of the Saabs with all the factory options that I spotted when travelling in the USA. It was parked at the top of one of San Francisco’s steeper hills. It had the turbo insignia, leather upholstery, air conditioning, motor antenna ... and, yes all those other extras I had only seen in a Saab catalog that I as a boy read over and over again until it fell apart. The Saab in front of me today doesn’t have everything. Fact is, it hardly has anything. As early as 1972, Saab boasted about bumpers that by itself fixed any dents it got. The featured car is two years younger and is unable to repair its own stainless steel bumpers. Its grille is matt black, the outside mirrors are from the 96, it lacks the chrome mouldings around the windshield and the wheels are the pre-1971 in all other markets.

No model badge on the right as on the higher priced variants, just a simple Saab script on the left. The X7 label was the original project designation and opinions vary if it really stands for exclusion of seven expensive features.

Saab had to offer a budget model in Denmark becaue of the severe Danish car taxes, especially harsh on accessories and engine capacity. The basis was the regular 99 less the features not absolutely necessary. The 99 X7 was born in the autumn of 1972. It sold so well that soon after its launch in Denmark, it was also offered in Norway and Sweden. In the Swedish market, it was 2 500 SEK cheaper than the 99L but it still had all safety features of the regular models, including the SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 81

The Saab models of 1973 and 1974 started with the bottom line X7 and continued via the regular L to the sporting EMS. Saab was keen to emphasize that the new two-litre engine was ”Swedishbuilt” while the Triumph engine in the basic X7 was described as a ”reliable utility motor with lowend torque”. Otherwise, the X7 didn’t get much promotion.

Saab pointed out that the slimmer bumpers were as safe as those on the other models The clock of the other models was deleted in the X7 and replaced with a simple blank with a hair cross.

headlamp wipers. Saab pointed out that the slimmer bumpers were as safe as those on the other models. The self mending feature of the more expensive models was for economy, not safety. Öved Clasén in Linköping is well known by Saab enthusiasts. Since his first 93, Öved has had innumerable Saabs. In 1990, he donated a Saab 99 EMS to the collection of the Saab Museum. It was just before a Midnight Sun Rally that the X7 unexpectedly turned up. – I had previously lent my old EMS to compete in the rally, but after it was resprayed, I wasn’t too keen on letting it run on gravel roads, Öved says. Instead, I started to look for another 99 and found this X7. Because I mostly go for fully documented cars with just a few owners, it was 82 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

its condition and not the fact that it was an X7 that made me buy it. The first owner was an agricultural manager who bought it in 1974 and ran it for about 90 000 km. From 1985 until I bought it, the car had been laid up. The paintwork had some minor blemishes which prompted me to have the car resprayed. – Perhaps it is more shiny now then when it left the factory, Öved says when he notices that I mirror myself in the deep blue paintwork. Inside it is pure function and no frills, while the characteristic Saab smell seems less strong than usual. A Saab 99 X7 is not an instant charmer. There is no air conditioning, carpets are replaced by rubber mats and the cigars have to stay at home

because there is no lighter. The seats are identical with those of the 96. The headrests of Öved’s car were an extra cost option. At one turn of the key, the Triumph engine comes to life. The X7 sports the updated 1.85 litre version which means no free-wheel, the last link to the old two-strokers. The engine runs smoothly and the sometimes questioned quality is said to be better on version 2.0 of the OHC engine slanted 45 degrees. As Öved speeds away and his dark blue Saab is silhouetted against the dark horizon, its functional form stands out. It is much purer on the early cars and the stripped X7. Later, EMS and Turbo attributes took over. Few have been called upon to save the stripped standard versions and that makes a surviving 99 X7 a cool and rare classic today.

The water pump failed just as Öved first started the car after delivery. “The pump fitting to the engine block is designed in such a way that cooling water can leak into the oil pan – I quickly emptied it from both water and oil and then I rebuilt the pump”, Öved says.

The seats were from the 96, as were the exterior mirrors. The interior of Öved Clasén’s car is immaculate.

The X7 buyers got the very stylish steel wheels without having to pay a crown more – hubcaps included!

SAAB 99 X7 1974 Price new: 24 600 SEK.) Value today: 15 000–25 000 SEK.

The glove compartment lid was omitted from the X7 and that made the design of a new frame necessary. Öved’s car has the options of heated front seats and radio with console and built-in speaker.

Engine: Four-cylinder SOHC, two valves per cylinder, single Zenith-Stromberg 175 CD-2S carburettor, water cooling, capacity 1854cc, max power 88 bhp DIN @ 5000rpm, max torque 147 Nm @ 3000rpm. Transmission: Front engine, FWD, four-speed gearbox, floor shift. Dimensions: Wheelbase 247.3 cm, Track front/rear: 139/140 cm. Length/Width/Height: 437/169/144 cm. Weight one-up: 1160 kg. Suspension: coil springs all around; front double triangular links.; rear beam axle, parallel link arms, Panhard rod. Telescopic shock absorbers all around. Steering: Rack and pinion, 3.3 turns lock to lock. Turning circle 10.4 metres. Wheels: 4,5 inch steel rims, tyres 155SR15. Brakes: Disc brakes front and rear. Electrics: 12 volt. Performance: Max speed: Approx 155 kph. Acceleration: 0-100 km/h 15.7 seconds. Fuel consumption: 11 litres @ 100km. Source: Jan Ulléns Bilfakta. *Price in Sweden. Original or restored in good running order, small defects acceptable.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 83

84 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

RETIRED CRUISER! For people, retirement is the time to lean back and relax and do things in one’s own way and pace. But for a 30 year old company car, it’s the hardest time. But not always. Klassiker magazine secured a 9000CD having been run by a vice president of the prestigious NK department store in Stockholm.. TEXT & PHOTO JON REMMERS PHOTO FREDRIK NYBLAD, CLAES JOHANSSON

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 85

Corporate office style! The trunk could only be opened from the driver’s seat.

What is the greatest threat for surviving company cars? High user value for little money! The 2 litre 131 bhp engine doesn’t make it a fast car but fuel costs are low.

86 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

arely do people sing about ten thousand red roses to celebrate a pampered company car retiring. On the contrary, it’s now that its toughest phase in life will start. Perhaps first as a learner driver for a speed happy 16 year old unfortunately entering a gate too close to one of the posts, side sweeping the right side.The once prestigious car is then passed down the chain to the second-hand dealers advertising in the free papers. The next owners are making the most of it. They allow their wet dogs into the rear seat and skip regular service. They drive around forgetting that they yesterday had filled the trunk with garbage to be taken to the dump. They never bother to connect the engine heater and always to start it cold even in winter. Everyone and everything can come along in the car. Also ten bags full of garden manure. It is a life without mercy for the old car. The oil

is never changed, nor the broken rear lamp. It is whipped harder and harder until the safety inspector’s bright colour sticker is fixed to the windshield proclaiming it not being legal to drive. The tow to the scrap yard will be its last journey. Such are the last bitter years of a one-time family pride and dad’s success symbol. But the Saab that one day had found its way into the Klassiker magazine garage told a much happier story. Bought new by NK, Stockholm’s leading department store, for its vicepresident Gudrun Malmqvist, and mostly driven between her house and the store – a few kilometres each way. When she retired, she bought the car and continued to maintain it by the book. When she passed away, the odometer was about to roll over from 99 999 km. Just as Fredrik Nyblad of Klassiker magazine drove into the garage, it turned over to 100 000 km. The underside was still white. And the price? Five thousand Swedish crowns! Perhaps this is the moment in a car’s life when

the enthusiast gets a real bargain. The car is too new to qualify for classic status but too old to be a thrustworthy daily driver. Among all the rundown ones, there are pristine cars hiding. Cars

What a show! We tried several products to remove the strong smell of cigarettes. We made it to no better than tolerable. Perhaps we need to fit a headlining from a non-smoker car.

Pratt polish made faded paint shine again. All black plastic parts were masked to prevent contact with the polish. Just a few stains can be very difficult to remove. The NK Saab’s black plastics were spotless.

that for one reason or another have escaped the ordeals of long mileages as well as bad weather and dismal roads. They still don’t cost very much more than run-down ones because they are as old. Already at the first trial run of the Saab, the thoughts that it perhaps was too new for Klassiker magazine were done away with. Looking out from its windscreen, we realized that nothing looks like it did when this Saab was new three decades ago. Sweden wasn’t even an EU member state. The currency was linked to the forerunner of the Euro, the ecu. Private secretary was still a common job. There was no Internet, but lots of fax machines. There were four radio channels and only two TV ones. If you attended the last year of school, you probably had type writing lessons. Back to the Saab. You can’t help feeling a bit like a manager behind the wheel of the chalk white Saab 9000 with velour seats and the smallest engine of 131 bhp. This is a car from a different time. A simpler Sweden. A bit stricter, perhaps. Still with the resources to develop and build jet fighters. For a few fast disappearing seconds, I am Lieutenant Commander Carl Hamilton heading to the Marine base at Berga. But even soft use by Gudrun has left some

traces. Very noticable is a severe denting at the right hand rear door. Less noticable was the unbelievably matte white paint. In the sun, the car was like a white hole in the surrounding area. No light reflections at all from the car body. Also, the CD badge was missing from the back. Inside, the tobacco stench was so strong it almost infected the photos. Was Gudrun smoking Blend? Yellow probably. Immediately, we started to plan for the future of the Saab. A spraycan in the right shade of white was ordered. In a few evenings, Fredrik Nyblad and myself polished the car with the help of Fredrik’s daughter Mei. Black plastic details common at the decade change 80s/90s are very prone to discolouring by polish. We

This is a car from a different time. A simpler Sweden. And a bit stricter, perhaps

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 87

grinder and coarse paper, the surface form was quickly restored. It was further smoothened, then primed before final spray painting. I was more than satisfied. When the door was finally polished, there were no traces of the damage. The CD badge that was missing is no longer

available from the Swedish Saab club. Ted Stockhaus very kindly sent us a used one that was glued on. Thank you Ted! The worst part of the project was actually removing the foul cigarette smell inside the car. No shadow on Gudrun. Smoking in one’s own car was perfectly OK in 1991. We are grateful to Gudrun that she had the car so well maintained, but the tobacco odour must go away. At my disposal, I had a large variety of products that could work. To begin with, a steam cleaner from Verktygsboden. After having carefully steamed all surfaces and then dried them off until the rags no longer turned yellow, the car smelled so badly I almost threw up. After the unsuccessful steam process, we started a two week treatment with Verktygsboden’s ozone generator. Ozone is a gas that is able to filter the UV-rays of the sun but it can also cause the collapse of human lungs. Ozone also eliminates many of the air molecules causing bad smell. For many years, ozone generators have been in use for sanitation purposes. The ozone generator is left inside the car, doors are closed and then you wait. The stench lost in intensity, at least I thought so, but I could still notice it. The last step was to spray all surfaces with an odour killer from Sonax. Finally, the car interior was again a place you could be in. I can’t say fresh, but tolerable. Wherever we park our Saab, we have memory flashes. This is how it looked in several places. In a different Sweden, in another time, still not long gone.

After we had cleaned out the interior and given

thus masked all plastic bits before we started. Polishing machine and Pratt car care products all the way from rubbing to final polish. Our efforts were not in vain. The faded surface turned to a shine like a new car’s. After we had carefully polished the plastic indicators and rear lights, it was as the car woke up rejuvenated from a long sleep. I first considered removing the interior door panel to knock out the dent in the door but was afraid it might make matters worse. One evening when I was hit by inspiration, I sanded the outer door skin down to the bare sheet metal and immediately rust proofed it with Hagman yellow CA-primer. Then I built up the surface form with carbon fibre padding. With an oscilliating

88 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

the exterior a good polish, hardly anyone could believe how little we had paid for the 9000.This is no longer a run-down shadow of a car like you sometimes see abandoned in the parking lot of a far-out, low-price mall. It is now a car proudly telling the story of a Sweden no longer existing. Our Saab is also a mobile way to urge people who encounter it to slow down a bit, to forget the present and to attempt to find out when and where history will again repeat itself. Think of all car enthusiasts saying ” I had one of those, should have kept it.” Or those having a another story to tell. Like the one about the aunt who had her Saab scrapped because the two-stroke rapping was embarassing in modern traffic. Or the VW bus meeting the same fate because no one wanted such an out-dated feature as a divided front windscreen. And all the Amazons, Rally Kadetts,99s and all the funny French cars.

All of them should have been saved, because now they are worth ..... well, a lot! Some decades ahead, this will also be the tale of the Saab 9000. So find one today, before it is too late. CD or CS? Does it have to be a turbo? It is still your chance...

The stench lost in intensity, at least I thought so, but I could still notice it

Did you launch a robot bomb or did you just adjust the AC? Aircraft-type controls look impressive but are sometimes difficult to figure out. Seat comfort is better than in many current cars.

A dark suit would have suited the car better but not our test driver.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 89

self!

Fix-it-your

DIY DENT FIXING FOR ALL! A simple fix made our 5 000 Crown Saab look almost double the money! This is how we removed a door dent! TEXT & PHOTO JON REMMERS

ice car! Sorry about the dented door. Hardly anything can sink an otherwise nice looking car more than one big dent. Fixing it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily mean visiting a body shop. With patience and proper tools and materials, an amateur can make a good job of it. Come along and watch me fix a dented Saab 9000 door. You can too!

I must protect the bare metal surface as quickly as possible and I use the most effective rust protection paint that I know, Hagmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sharp yellow CA-primer. It etches itself on to the surface and accepts all surface coats.

I start by sanding down the affected area to bare metal. Not a single rust pore must remain. I use a Roloc system mini grinder. Not long ago, a Roloc grinder was an expensive tool for professionals. Now they can be had for a couple of hundred Crowns.

With an oscillating power grinder and 180 paper, I sand the paintwork until the surface is turning brittle, especially where the dent is. But I goof a bit, and go through the yellow epoxy primer. No harm, I brush more on.

Arrrgh! This smash must have hurt! Damage is a deep dent in the middle of the door panel. The first thought is to remove the inside panel and beat the dent out from inside. But because the sheet metal was also stretched by the impact, beating it might cause more damage than I can deal with.

90 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Roloc is a system with quite small sanding discs developed by 3M. The discs are available for a large variety of purposes like gasket removal, cleaning up weld strings, polishing and paint removing. Once tested, one cannot be without it as it saves a lot of work.

The Ikea paint brush set for kids is cheap and has proven ideal for car paint touch ups. The brushes are short with very fine hairs withstanding the sharpest thinners. I usually buy two or three sets at a time.

The general wisdom is never to apply filler for smoothing out large areas. When a door or bonnet is slam shut, the sheet steel vibrates and the filler might crack or even fall off. Modern products are less prone to that than those used in the 70s and 80s. Carbon fibre filler withstands quite severe movements and is often used on plastic parts.

I apply filler to the dent trying to restore the original curvature of the sheet metal. Every time I do this, I am amazed that the area needing to be smoothed out seems to get bigger as the work proceeds.

An oscillating grinder is my best friend when I’m tracing the original curvature of the damaged door panel.The Saab door has upper and lower edge pressing lines helpful for final paint spraying of the repaired areas. Horizontally, the spray gun is guided by the door panel width.

The second time, I’m using fine grain polyester. It’s like buttering bread. This time the sanding is quite successful. I use a long sanding tool moving it diagonally back to front. Afterwards, I spray on just a thin layer of matte black paint.

The matte black paint makes it very easy when sanding to detect surface highs and lows. This will be dead flat!

After a soft second go with the grinder, I am ready to spray on the Cirrus White paint prepared for us by a local paint shop in a spray can ready for use.

Not more than a minute is needed to grind the paint off the tank lid. It seems cast in an alloy difficult to identify. I sense that it would be difficult for paint to adhere to its surface. It seems wise to first treat it by spraying it with etching primer.

I spray on four coats, the first just being a thin layer to make the following ones adhere to the surface. After each coat, I wait until most of the thinner has flashed, i.e. evaporated. The thing is to spray so that the paint is still fluid when it hits the surface. I don’t like the dry, powdery finish resulting from chickening out with the spray gun. I’d rather have some paint runs that can be polished away afterwards.

After that, I use the rest of the spray can epoxy primer we used for the door. After first use, the contents will only be good for a few days provided it is kept in the refrigerator, but we still have time.

13 10

When sanding the padded areas smoth, by accident I go too deep into the surface. A professional had done this right at first go. But I’m not a pro and not inclined to challenge pros either. I am just trying to do my very best. I will have to apply a more filler.

But I goof a bit, and go through the yellow epoxy primer

Here is another method to check the surface. When stroking the panel with a soft paper between the palm of your hand and the surface, your senses will not be fooled by the temperature or friction of the panel. This starts to feel quite convincing.

20 17

The tank lid has severe paint cracks. I think I know why! It looks like it originally was black. It was probably taken from a black junked car to fix damage on our car and quickly sprayed white with a can.

More of Cirrus white! When I put the repainted tank lid on the bonnet, it effectively disappears. Proof of the paint mixing skills of the Uppland Car Paint Shop. Now it’s finished and I go back home.

The filler is porous and not water resistant. Although difficult to believe, also the final paintwork allows water to sip through. To prevent future problems with paint blisters, I seal off the primer with a layer of epoxy filling. The can has a button at its end that when pushed, activates the hardening process.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 91

RALLY CAR ON THE CHEAP With the new all-Swedish engine designed and built in the philosophy of a truck company, the Saab Racing and Rally department was offered the opportunity to re-launch the 99 as a competitive rally entrant. The 96 V4 was by then outdated. It was a tight schedule to have 100 16-valve engines produced for competition and they had a common heritage with the Volvo B20! TEXT PETER BÄCKSTRÖM ARCHIVE SAAB CAR MUSEUM

92 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Just imagine! A series of homologated cars marketed for rally drivers. It could have looked like this car. A given classic about 50 years later. Below:The art of transforming a family car to a hustling rally monster. Quite an orchestra with an early version of direct injection. About 10 to 15 16-valvers have survived. Most exclusive!

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 93

It is the early seventies and the Saab 96 V4 is at the height of its rally career, despite having less power than most of the other entrants. The lack of engine power was compensated for by fwd and roadholding and of course superior drivers like Stig Blomqvist, Per Eklund and Simo Lampinen, just to mention a few of them. But after some time, Saab’s competition manager Bo Hellberg began to realize that the 96 V4, evolved as it was from the two-strokers, could not be further improved for competition. A new future had to be staked out. A small manufacturer like Saab did not have a range of different models like Ford, GM and Fiat or the Japanese challengers. Saab had the larger and heavier 99. The Saab 99 as it was first introduced was completely dismissed for competition. Saab wasn’t in the least keen to enter it in rallys or other competition events. For the 96 and its predecessors, rallying had been commercially important. With countless competition successes, Saab had created a strong image in Sweden as well as internationally for robust and safe cars with extremely good road-holding. It should also be remembered that Saab was hurt by the fact that the early 99s were troublesome. The Triumph sourced engine was prone to blow head gaskets and the gearbox was not up to

The spectacular photo of Ola Strömbäck and Dave Whittock somersaulting resulted in great publicity world-wide for the 16-valve project. In rally circles, Strömbäck was soon known as Mr 99!

94 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

the power of the engine, which was a lot larger and more powerful than first planned. The quality problems needed to be seriously addressed. It was decided to re-launch the 99. When Saab cars became part of the truck manufacturer Scania-Vabis, all design and development transferred to Scania in Södertälje. A decision was made to significantly update the whole drive train of the 99. A completely new and reinforced engine and transmission was designed. It was called the B20 or the B-engine. It was no light-weight, far from it. It was dimensioned in the diesel engine environment of Scania trucks. It was no doubt about quality being the first priority. The crankshaft was case hardened by the Tenifer process. Forged con rods and wider spacing of cylinders for more efficient head gasket sealing. Top quality forged steel. The designers settled for a cylinder bore of 90 mm – same as the Ford Cologne V4 – and a stroke of 78 mm. Also the oil pump was very similar to the Ford one. The engine had great potential for further development. It was made at Scania. The gearbox was all new and strongly built. That there was no free-wheel was controversial among the Saab drivers of the two stroke period. The new, purportedly all Swedish engine, received great attention by the press when it was introduced in 1972 as the power plant of the new

performance model 99EMS. With Bosch Jetronic it had 110 bhp DIN. It was the most powerful engine ever in a Saab. The first cars were copper red metallic and sported the new alloy wheels with the characteristic football look. The foundation was now laid for new and more

modern Saab cars. With the new model, Saab’s racing and rallying prospects were much greater. An homologation application was submitted to FIA in Paris. On November 1, 1973, ID Document 5534 was duly stamped to confirm that the Saab 99 was approved for competition. In the shadow of the V4 successes, the 99 had a cautious beginning of its competition career, mostly with Lasse Jansson behind the wheel. The cars were largely standard, only mildly tuned. It didn’t take long before power was increased, bhp soon reached 170-190 bhp, still with the 8-valve head. Not too bad, but it was recognized that more was needed to release the full potential of the larger and heavier Saab 99, while retaining the wide torque span for low speed power. At the time, there were many unlisted rallys where drivers were supposed to accelerate rather than brake out of tight spots. Driveability and mid range torque were all important and a classic signum of Saab’s rally prepared engines. The solution was in Södertälje, Gunnar Axels-

It didn’t take long before power was increased, output soon reached 170-190 bhp, still with the 8-valve head

In the 1976 Finnish Jyväskylärrally, the 99 with the flared out wheel openings ran for the first time on the new Dunlop A2 rally tires on the Minilite wheels. Still, it could have been better, both Stig and Per had to resign after the intitial special stages. The gearbox in Stig’s car collapsed and the distributor cap of Per’s car broke.

son who had on his own designed and even had cast a 16-valve head for the Volvo B20 engine. He had also worked at the Scania engine development department. He was asked by Per Gillbrand if he could investigate if this set-up could also be applied to Saab car engines. It wasn’t just to help Bo Hellberg of Saab’s competition department to develop a racing head. The 16-valve concept was also believed to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions of future production cars. In a meeting chaired by Bengt Gadefelt, Saab’s director of engine design, the 16-valve project was defined.

The 1977 RAC rally. Per Eklund and Björn Cedergren before the roll-over that didn’t stop them from being ninth overall –”one just can’t give up!” Top right: The complete engine and transmission unit as of late 1977 with twin Weber 48DCOE and distributor driven by the exhaust camshaft.

In March of 1975, top management gave its bles-

sings and with great enthusiasm the engineers started the work. Time was short. FIA had an opening in its regulations accepting upgraded components for Group 2 rally cars even if not in serial production for the general market. This window of opportunity was to be closed on December 31,1975. Before that, one hundred cylinder heads had to be cast for inspection by the FIA officials in Paris, otherwise they could not be classified. It was quite an effort for Gunnar to convert Saab’s existing cylinder head to 16 valves, even if he benefited from his experience with the Volvo 16V project. He was pressed for time by the FIA deadline, but on October 1, 1975, his hard work was successfully finished. To the FIA file Saab ID 5534, the 16-valve head was added. Project Saab EMS 16-V was ready to race! On paper, that is. The conversion of the cast standard cylinder head was quite complicated. It was largely performed at the Högman mechanical workshop in Trollhättan and a few had to be scrapped for metalurgical defects. Finally, the first engine successfully converted was bench tested. The start-up was good and when operating engine temperature was reached, injection fine tuning

began. It worked very well until 3000 rpm was exceeded. Then the engine seized and broke down. Rolf Ebefors remembers that the common shaft for the oil and water pumps seized as a result of the increased load caused by the belt drive of the overhead camshafts. The solution was bronze bearings for the shafts to eliminate them running in cast iron as in the standard engine. It worked much better. It didn’t take long until the engine reached 200bhp still retaining the fairly wide torque span. That brought new music from the Trollhättan testing bench. Not quite as shrill as that of the Ford BDA. Instead it was deeper and fuller. An engine sound that became loved by the rally spectators. The engine block and crankshaft were largely untouched. The crankshaft was carefully balan-

ced and the con-rods shot peened and weight equalized by Custom Racing in Örebro. The flywheel was also lightened and balanced. All this made for close to 8500 rpm. The gearbox too was modified for racing. At the time, a regular rally car was usually fitted with a racing gearbox made by companies like ZF or Getrag. None was available for the Saab 99 because of its configuration with the gearbox below the engine. The reinforced transmission introduced in 1972, was for competition fitted with a lower final drive and a non-synchro close ratio gear set with reinforced and stronger cog wheels. A lock-up differential was also included. It had been discovered that engine heat warmed up the gearbox to the extent that the transmission oil degraded. It was remedied by a the installation of an oil cooler system with a seSAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 95

parate pump. It had been designed and tested by Saab in-house engineers with the components being made at the Saab transmission plant in Gothenburg. In-house ingenuity! The outcome was a gearbox with a high first, and the other speeds very close-ratio. Tailor made for rallying! This first Saab transmission designed for competition was by the rally guys referred to as ”the small hard shift box”. It was truly difficult in use. It was true that the very powerful engine in combination with the anti-slip diff required very strong arm muscles over the special-trial road stretches. The Saab competition drivers were real athletes at the time. To drive like many do today with one hand on the wheel was unheard of. One had to firmly hold on to the wheel. Power steering quick enough was not available at the time. Only one sports steering wheel was up to it, the Moto-Lita. It could be ordered from the Saab Sport & Rally catalogue. It was standard equipment on the Saab 99 EMS. In most respects, the rally cars were built from standard Saab components. There were not many special parts homologated and those that were, were mostly regular Saab components having been reinforced or somewhat modified. Very often inspired by the skilled mechanics of the Competition Department. Saab’s ID document 5534 was wafer thin compared to the one for the Ford Escort RS 1800 that down to the smallest detail was converted and built for competition. Two 99 EMS in Silver Crystal metallic paint with Opal Green contrasting panels were made

96 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

ready for the first press show on December 17, 1975, at the Hedenlunda castle just outside Nyköping. Present to show their talents were Stig Blomqvist and Per Eklund, of course under the benign surveillance of Erik on-the-Roof Carlsson. This was the official transferral of the Saab competiton flag from the 96 V4 to the 99. However, there was to be one more factory competition entry for the 96 – the 1976 Swedish Rally when Per Eklund and Stig Blomqvist completely out-classed their competitors. From now on, all efforts were on developing and

de-bugging the 99 for rallies. The first big event for the 99 EMS was the Belgian Rally Boucles de Spa in January 1976. The success was total, Stig Blomqvist and Hans Sylvan secured the overall victory. Most of the year 1976 was spent to gain experience and to race, race and race again. The results were mixed. The greatest disappointment was doubtless the Finnish Jyväskylä rally in August 1976. Saab entered the most brutal rally car ever seen. Minilite alloy wheels fitted with the new Dunlop A2 rally tires and almost grotesque flared-out wheel wells. No one failed to be excited about the rally prepared Saab that seemed as wide as it was long. A new standard was set, ”The wide shouldered Swede!” But Stig and Per didn’t

come very far. After three special stages, it was all over. The gearbox of Stig’s car fatally cracked at the very bumpy Humalamäkii special stage and the distributor of Per’s car failed after three stages. A serious disappointment for the competition department. It became obvious that the protection plate under the engine had to be reinforced and also that the engine/transmission flexed too much at high speed on bumpy roads. That the 99 weighed a lot more than most competitors was also a serious disadvantage. It was back to the drawing board in Trollhättan. The big challenge in 1976 was the RAC rally in November. The competition department built two black 99s with blue and yellow graphics designed by Björn Envall, Saab’s head of design. There was a new sponsor, the manufacturer of

the Polar Caravans recognisable by their large polar bear motifs. The experiences of past rallying was built into the new cars. Everything was colour matched, also the drivers’ suits. Saab was ready for racing! All the drivers and rally teams of Fiat, Ford, Lancia, Opel, Toyota and Triumph were participating. About 20-25 potential winners lined up for the start. It soon boiled down to just Roger Clark in a Ford Escort RS1800 and Stig fighting for the victory. Stig was mostly in the lead, but suffered a couple of tyre blow-outs – he came in second. Per Eklund wasn’t far behind, but on the last day when running fifth, he dropped out because of gearbox failure. All the same, after a mixed first year, the 99 was now established as a top contender in rallying. Quite an achievement, considering the limited racing and rallying

resources that Saab could afford. The competition year 1977 was successful too,

at least in the beginning. Stig scored the win in the January Bergslags Rally. Soon after, the Swedish Rally was on, with start in Karlstad, the world championship town of Saab. The preceding year’s winners Per Eklund and Markku Alén driving Fiat 131 Abarths took the initiative, whereas Stig cautiously held back a bit at the beginning. It was soon over for Per, a piston collapsed, and not long after, also Markku’s Fiat broke down. Stig moved ahead to first and stayed there. The Saab 99EMS Rally is World Champion! Bo Hellberg’s happiness is unmistakeable! But things change and sometimes to the worse. Through FIA Regulations

The big challenge in 1976 was the RAC rally in November

Several different themes of exterior colour and graphics were evaluated, here silver crystal metallic paint with flashes in indian yellow. Also the EMS wheels have been sprayed as well as Stig Blomqvist’s crash helmet. But they forgot his socks...

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 97

Black 99s with blue and yellow graphics designed by Björn Envall

Above: The dream work place for the speed happy, the engine tuning workshop at the Saab competition department. Left to right, Bengt-Erik Ström, Sigge Johansson, Rolf Ebefors and Jan Ivansson. In front of Sigge is a turbo-charged V4 rally cross engine. Below left: the 99 of 1977 still with the standard Moto-Lita steering wheel. The speedometer and the rev counter have been interchanged. The rev counter now reads up to 9000 rpm. Below right: The happiness of the team is obvious especially of the competition manager Bo Hellberg when Stig and Hans are greeted by jubilant crowds at the finish of the 1977 Swedish Rally.

changes, the Saab 16-valve engine homologation expired on December 31, 1977. This meant no more international events. New regulations required a minimum of 400 cars with the engine in regular production for homologation. Saab simply didn’t have the financial resources to build super light-weight cars like the Ford Escort RS1800 or the recently shown Fiat 131 Abarth. In the Swedish champion events, Saab was by exception allowed one more year. With the 16-valver, Stig was first in the specials class and Per Eklund secured the victory in the standard 98 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

class A with the more sedate 8-valve engine. The last great effort was made in the 1977 RAC rally. Three black 99s were entered by Trollhättan, of course with Per and Stig, backed up by Ola Strömberg/Dave Whittock. Ola’s jump from a 80 bhp Standard B Class to a 225 bhp 99 must have felt enormous. None of the Saab entrants scored this time. Stig resigned. Per Eklund had a dramatic roll and lost much time. He didn’t give up and finished as ninth in a much damaged car! What is best remembered by all present is the roll-over by Ola on one of the initial stretches.The rear end of the car was stuck resulting in a most

spectacular roll-over. The 99 jumping several times is probably the most photographed in the history of rallying. Very high publicity value! Ola wasn’t discouraged and he became the fastest 99 driver in Standard A and in the later Group A with the Turbo 99. Still, it wasn’t the end of international events for the16-valver. Stig Blomqvist scored a second place in the1978 Australian Castrol Rally run in Canberra. But the model’s competition career was quite short compared to the two-strokers and the 96 V4s. That’s why it couldn’t number as many victories as the older models had.

SAAB 99 EMS RALLY 1976-77 A posed photo to promote Castrol oil in a setting of an uncut lawn full of dandelions. The team though looks quite professional in their blue smocks.

It is easy to dream about a light-weight 99 built in a number of 400 for homologation. Bonnet, doors and rear lid in alloy or glass fibre. Aluminium engine block, 2.2 litres. Thinner glass. All non-essentials discarded. Smaller and lighter bumpers. More spring travel. 5-speed transmission. Power steering from the 900, brake proportioning adjuster .... I am convinced that such plans were lying ready on Bosse Hellberg’s desk. Although the 16-valver is now a bit in the shadows, it was of decisive importance for the next step in the Saab rally career; the Turbo of a very different character. From high rev explosions to low rev rumble! The new technology was a challenge for the competition department. Its location was not flashy, just a simple basement in a back street of Trollhättan. But the people working there were very talented and highly focused.

The technology experience gained in competition was a great foundation for Per Gillbrand developing a 16-valve head for the production cars. Internally, it was dubbed the de-tuned head and it was first used for the legendary B202 engine introduced 1983. It was the start of Saab’s reputation as a small but very focused car company in the forefront of engine technology.

Engine: 1985 cc, based on Saab B20, lightened flywheel, bore 90mm, stroke 78 mm, forged pistons, DOHC, ribbed belt operation, four valve cylinder head, 35 mm inlet and 32 mm exhaust valves. Max power: 220-240 bhp DIN @ 7500 rpm. Max torque: 220Nm @ 5500 rpm. 2xWeber 48 DCOE carburettors. Bosch electronic ignition. Gearbox: oil cooled, based on standard, 4-speed non-syncro close ratio, final ratio 5.2:1, limited slip diff. Suspension: Stiffer springs, Bilstein gas shock aborbers. Reinforced front suspension links. Porsche rear brake discs with handbrake function. Dimensions: Length 442 cm, Width 169 cm, wheel-base 247 cm, track front and rear: 143 and 145 cm. Dry weight in rally trim: 1090 kg

A selection of Saab tuning parts for the 99.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 99

CROSSFLOW CRUSADE It took two real enthusiasts six years of dedicated work and sizable investments to reinvent the most famous Saab go-faster trick.The legendary crossflow inlet. TEXT & PHOTO CLAES JOHANSSON

n the range of go-faster bits available in the 1970s for the Saab V4, the cross-flow inlet manifold was quite literally on top. When the bonnet was opened, what you first saw were the very big aluminium ducts for the air flow into the engine to which were attached large Webers filtered by black cans looking like funnels. Very impressive, almost obscene in the prudent Swedish welfare state. This high-status performance kit had been developed by the Saab competition department. In the beginning, it was only available to factory-sponsored competition teams. That made the myths about it even grander, although the actual results couldn’t be more impressive. With a capacity increase from 1.5 to 1.8 litres and the other usual tweaks, the cross-flow inlet was the final step to 160 bhp.This engine was making a child’s play of rally special stages. Its characteristic roar made it instantly recognisable and it soon became a legend among rally fans. Ford, the designer of the engine, didn’t approve of power increases above 95 bhp. The engine was never meant to be anything but a standard engine with mid-range torque for comfort, like half a V8 . – Nowadays, the knowledge about porting is much greater. We designed the inlet manifolds with diminishing internal diameters for improved gas flow, making 180 bhp possible, says Mario Finken of the TTG Company in Värmdö, south of Stockholm. TTG is a rail vehicle engineering company that also takes on special projects converting and preparing cars for competition.

Their great interest in rallies, racing, souped-up engines and race-prepared cars is evident by all the posters and photos in their coffee break room. Ingemar Westerberg from Hultsfred is also a driving force at TTG. He and Mario met by 100 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

manifold. – Without professional help, it would not have been possible to get the manifolds manufactured again, Mario says and goes on saying that the project was largely non-profit. It was something more. Dreams and legends. The Saab spirit! – The initial setbacks really triggered us. We just had to go through with the advanced casting technology. It was quite a feat, Mario says. Originally, Saab itself had the cross-flow mani-

chance through their common rally interests. Ingemar was the one who first came up with the idea of improving inlet gas flow. – I had for quite some time been rallying with Saabs. I got hold of a cross-flow manifold that wasn’t very good. I was curious and parted it with a hack-saw. I thought it couldn’t be that difficult to design a better one and have it cast. There were many people who were in the market for a good one, Ingemar says. Not many cross-flow manifolds have been saved. Those left are usually bored out to the breaking point and very difficult to repair being cast in an aluminium/magnesium alloy. Good ones command very high prices. It was not all that easy for TTG to start production of new ones and there were many set-backs, the worst a fire in the foundry destroying many of their moulds, but fortunately not those for the cross-flow

folds largely made by hand, just like TTG today. The foundry in Reftele uses no less than 16 plugs for each piece. The castings are delivered straight from the moulds to TTG for finishing. Each manifold goes through numerous checks. A serial number and the Saab logo is stamped on the manifold as a sign of approval, exactly as Saab did in the 70s, Mario says. – And the air cleaner cans are also exact copies of those that Saab made in its time, although they made them of building drain pipes! There were no original drawings found, and after the first trial castings, the die plugs were remade a couple of times. At last, a finished kit went on trial in a car and the results were very much as hoped for! – In theory, we are able to make 10 000 units, but I assume demand will not be much more than about a hundred, Ingemar Westerberg says. Many are interested in these all-authentic parts. They are classified under Appendix K and are ready for rally, circuit racing or city greenlight take-off in a Saab 96, a Sonett or a 95 Wagon as well as in a Ford Transit V4 if its owner is so inclined. This crusade has just began. Note: A complete crossflow set is 27 000 SEK plus VAT as applicable. Sales are handled by Alunda Motor; www.alundamotor.com

...the project was largely non-profit.

Ingemar Westberg and Mario Fincken had no drawings to work from and had to improvise a lot. Their workmanship is of a high order and very precise. Each manifold kit is assigned a serial number kept in their records.

Just finding the original sales leaflet is difficult, getting hold of an original set well-nigh impossible.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 101

h t i w y a l p Come rt ded for expo n te in k r o w y od glass-fibre b o-stroke engine but was h it w r a c h is tw A Swed esigned for a unusual in many ways. d s a w It . ly n g tt is sales o he Saab Sone us is extra special, havin T . 4 V a h it w a fitted o. to Ted Stockh g in g n lo r in San Dieg e le b a r e d b a a The ca S e stalled by th a sun roof in TEXT & PHOTO

102 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

LAD

FREDRIK NYB

! e m h T

he US sales brochure set the theme, ” Visit your local Saab dealer and ask to be shown to the toys department!” Saab Sonett has always been a car whose existence I have been aware of but not much more. Now the time has come for me to drive it. In the driver’s seat, I study the superior VDO dials and grip the leather steering wheel. Behind me is a safety cage. Sporting accessories as standard are in strong conflict with steering column gearshift and FWD. When I shut the door, the noise gives away the fibreglass body that made this low series car a viable proposition. The wrap-around sports seat, upholstered in cloth and leather, grips me firmly. There is not much head-room until Ted releases a handle and pushes the fabric sunroof open. – This car was bought new in San Diego where the local Saab dealer was in the habit of fitting all Sonetts he sold with a sunroof, Ted explains. Otherwise it would have been unbearably hot in the Sonett, as AC was not an option. The Webasto sunroof was not sourced from Saab. It was typical for US Saab dealers to offer their own options as the factory had so few. Strange, because the Sonett was devised for the US market where many options were expected.

The story about the gestation of the Sonett is far from straightforward. The Saab management had made no plans or descisions, but still there were two different and competing prototypes built. Sixten Sason, the free-lancing designer often working for Saab, did the styling of a sports car for himself. But it ended up as an assigment for Saab. The other proposal was penned by Björn Karlström, an industrial designer and SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 103

The noise level doesn’t get much higher with the sun roof open, the Sonett is always quite noisy

A photo only lit by the car’s lights makes the clean styling stand out. The strange letter box flap serving as a trunk lid is hardly visible in this sales brochure picture.

104 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

airplane artist. Both these prototypes have been preserved and are on show at the Saab Museum in Trollhättan. Although the Karlström design was finally chosen, various practicalities made changes necessary before it was ready for production. In 1966, a few pre- series cars were built. The 3-cylinder two-stroker was the same as the one in the Saab 96 Sport with a power of 60 DIN hp. In all, 24 cars were built of which 14 were sold on the market. The remaing ten were kept by Saab for testing and as company cars. In 1967, regular production started at the Swedish Train and Railway Factory in Arlöv. Most cars were shipped to the US. At the end of 1967, there were a few Sonetts made with the new Ford-sourced V4. Without this engine, the regular 95 and 96 family cars would probably not have survived for very long. For the Sonett, the new engine was not necessarily an advantage. The 4-stroker had 8 bhp more

but it lacked the nerve and character of the top spec 2-stroker. Also, the V4 weighed 35 kg more and that had a negative effect on weight distribution which is why the Sonett V4 had chassis reinforcements and heavy-duty springs and shock absorbers. The wheel rims were widened from 4 to 4.5 inches. The Saab engineers expected Sonett owners to drive faster so they chose to fit harder valve springs than standard. There was one more bonnet bulge. To create space for the engine, the air filter canister had to be modified. Sonett also kept the original Saab gearbox but Sonett’s lower weight allowed a higher final ratio. The fairly cramped interior space of the Sonett

feels roomier than normal because of the sun roof. The noise level doesn’t get much higher with the sun roof open, the Sonett is always quite noisy. At least it feels and sounds very fast, the car belonging to Ted Stockhaus also has more power than standard. – I believe it has been taken up to 1800 cc, Ted says. It’s got eloxed valves with stiffer springs. Otherwise, he doesn’t know very much about the background and history of his car. Like many other cars imported from the US, its early history has been lost. It is believed to have

Ted Stockhaus’ car is fitted with an aftermarket sliding sun roof.

Sports seats and quality VDO instruments enhance the sports car feel. The instrument panel is finished in black crackle paint.

been resprayed in the US in sharp yellow. Tex got the car four years ago in a swap deal with a Saab 99 Turbo. – Some years back, I had a Sonett III and I wanted one again. When I got it, neither clutch nor brakes worked, so I couldn’t take it out for a trial run. The previous owner had spent about 10 000 SEK – about €1 000 – on the master brake cylinder. Ted found out that the real trouble was that one circuit was blocked. He upgraded to electronic ignition. The electric fuel pump fitted was for fire safety replaced by a standard one. The seats were professionally refurbished. Ted’s Saab collection numbers eleven cars , from a 92A to a 9000. Last winter, he drove a 900 from 1990 as his everyday car. He also owns a running chassis used by Sixten Sason when developing the prototype Catherina. – It was used for component testing but ended up in a Saab plant parking lot. When it was later up for sale, it was fitted with bodywork for the first time. It was entered as a 1967 model in the vehicle register. It is longer than the regular Sonett requiring two Sonett bodies to be adapted for it. – Catherina had a much different front and

it was given chassis number 3 for no special reason, says Ted.

SAAB SONETT V4 1969

1969 was the last model year of the Sonett. Ted’s

Present value*: 175 000 – 210 000 SEK

Sonett is easily identified as a 1969 model by the high seatbacks. Other 1969 details are a lid for the glove compartment and a heater with higher output. That there were so few changes was probably because next year’s model, the Sonett III, was supposed to be restyled and improved. The last model year for the Sonett was 1974. Most of the Sonett sales were in the USA and the new anti-pollution regulations proved too expensive for Saab given the small volumes of the Sonett. According to the book Saab cars- the first 40 years by Björn-Eric Lindh, the total Sonett production 1966-1974 was 10 219 cars. They were seldom seen on Swedish roads as most of them were exported. – Lots of people do not recognize the Sonett and very few guess that it is a Saab they see, Ted Stockhaus says. In my opinion it’s very beautiful and a pleasure to drive. When Ted bought the car, he got the US brochure for the model year. Its catch-phrase was ”This is Sweden’s idea of an expensive toy!” It’s a pity that so few Swedes had the opportunity to play with it.

Price new: 21 800 SEK (1968).

Engine: OHV V4, single carburettor, three bearing crankshaft, 1498cc, 68bhp@4500 rpm. Transmission: FWD, 4-speed syncromesh gearbox, column shift, free-wheel. Dimensions: Wheel base 215cm, length/width/height: 380/155/119 cm, weight 845 kg, track front and rear: 123 cm. Suspension: IFS, beam rear axle, coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers all around. Steering: Rack and pinion, turning circle 11 metres. Wheels: Steel rims 4.5” , tyres 155SR15. Brakes: Front discs, rear drums, dual circuits. Performance: Max speed 165 kph, 0-100 kph 12,5 seconds. *Price in Sweden. Original or restored in good running order, small defects acceptable.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 105

X-RAY VISIONS! At the Saab museum, there is a strange little flasher showing off his inner organs. Many exciting details are revealed, but some small secrets still remain. TEXT HENRIC TUNGSTRĂ&#x2013;M PHOTO CLAES JOHANSSON, SAAB CAR MUSEUM Through the cut-out the roof, it can be seen that the waffle pattern insulation sheets have become unstuck and fallen down to rest on the back of the headlining.

It is obvious that this show car was created by very skilled craftsmen

106 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

red Saab 93F has had parts of its body carefully cut out to create a sort of three dimensional cross section drawing, showing details deep into the body. It is obvious that this sectioned show car of the late 1950s was created by very skilled craftsmen. It is fortunate that it has been preserved in perfect condition.There have been no changes or modifications made to it and that adds to the fascination felt by all who have seen it at the Saab Museum in TrollhĂ¤ttan. It is not exactly prominently displayed. One interesting aspect of it is that although cut about and obviously not driveable, it feels more factory original than most of the other exhibits. When I was busy restoring my own 93F, the X-ray car became very interesting in another

way. I had decided to go for strict originality, but often there were doubts about details. There was no better way to find out than studying this obviously never driven 93 so generously displaying its inner secrets. Almost to good to be true. At the my next visit to the museum, I brought

a long list of queries to be resolved and I was graciously granted permission to closely study all details. Having finally gotten used to the charm and impact of the X-ray, I started studying it in detail and unexpected things came up. The rear light lenses are the early rounded types fitted to late 92s. The front silencer is the early oval type. Those rear lights and the early silencer were sometimes fitted to later export cars. Might this

One of many endearing details. The heater is like an unica box. We are used to see them aged, often brush-painted or distorted.

Introduction show in Kristianstad – pomp and circumstances with an enormous amount of flowers in vases. The show car is carefully re-sprayed in Toreador Red. After extensive archaeological research we discover layers of the original colour –greenish grey.

ted in the beginning of the sixties. The chassis number is 12999 – a pre-series car! One more step back in time. car have been intended for export before being cut open? The squarish rear lamps of 1957 were to comply with new Swedish regulations in force as of July 1956, making red rear reflectors mandatory. More and more unexpected details are noted, like the absence of the badge on the trunk lid – the holes for it are missing too. The routing of the fuel lines seems all wrong. When crawling under the car, I saw that it is not a 93 of 1960. It is a conversion of a1956 car. It is understandable that details have been brought up to date. Split windshield, leather strap door stops and forward opening doors must have felt hopelessly outda-

The Saab 93 was introduced on December 1,1956

in the Stockholm show rooms of the large car sales company Philipson’s. With a car in each available colour, it must have been an attractive sight. One high-light was a light green car cut open to display its inner secrets. In April 1956, it was shown again, this time at the International Auto Show in New York. There is a colour photo of the very first Sonett in the middle, surrounded by a light-coloured 93 and the X-rayed car in light green – colour code Gn3. After having been shown in New York and Stockholm, it appears that this green car participated in a Saab

The car’s condition is inconsistent and fascinating. The left side is intact and all details are factory true. Some bad scratches here and there. Has someone poured brake fluid on the door exposing the coat of primer?

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 107

Trunk mats with push button fasteners were only for export cars and the GT 750. The tire whitewalls appear to have been brush painted black. The white wall of the spare wheel has turned yellowish.

From chassis number 49801, there was a new type of wire harness. A door switch for the interior light was also introduced. Not complete here and obviously a later addition. As for the doors, it is simply not possible just to switch to front hinged doors on a car made for rear hinged ones. There are obvious signs of a modification.

The first edition of the X-Ray Saab â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with divided wind screen and chequered upholstery.

The early type of rear lamp lenses. Due to new regulations they were changed at chassis number 28154 coinciding with the 1957 model introduction. No traces of the unique badge of 1959 on the luggage lid.

108 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

The correct two-stroker silencer is not often seen. Here it is cut open for show and longing to be refitted to the exhaust pipe.

Coil springs brought a noticable comfort improvement over the torsion bars of the 92. Non-corroded spring seat, wow!

Blue tinted mirror and different arm, hang on, it’s for the Saab GT 750, wow!

Exterior mirror on the left side, early pointed shape. It was always on the right side prior to Sweden changing the rule of the road from left to right.

Under the bonnet it’s not really consistent. Components randomly painted grey and a mix of several model years. The 750 engine painted grey like the 850 instead of the correct green. A good touch is the Boliden battery. Slim and beautiful bundle of energy! The six -blade fan was an option. Missing is the windscreen washer, fitted from 1959. The new type air-cleaner, believed introduced in September of 1958. Another detail, a square relay, the round one wasn’t fitted after chassis number 54411.

The oval shaped silencer was current 1958.

Impressive chassis number plate is for pre-series cars, Are any preserved in our time?

The aeroplane type A-post profiles were high-lighted in the ads. Real value , not a sales gimmick. The pressed steel hand brake lever was introduced in 1959, approximately at chassis number 60000.

Diagonal tires, what else? The spare wheel is a white-wall, TRELLEBORG SAFE STAR, 5.00-15. The cut open tires are packed with concrete!

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 109

Henric’s feel for details

The red and tan interior is quite flamboyant for a Saab. The other interior colour codes for the 93 were inherited from the 92. This is a family version of the GT 750 interior. The standard steering wheel has never looked better than in this interior. The horn push is of a later date but still a perfect colour match.

In 1958 a standing accelerator pedal replaced the suspended one. Grey rubber mats in some 1957 cars, the pegged back side came in 1956. Speedometer in miles indicate an export car.

110 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Henric, a museum curator in Östersund, fell in love with Saabs when he was ten. What followed wasn’t unexpected. He has owned about 30 Saab cars and his daily driver until very recently was a two-stroker. For the last two to three years, he has had no problems finding something to do in his spare time. His present project is a 93F that was completely dismantled in 1992. He is working at a leisurely pace. – To avoid long pauses, I have set out to write something every other day in my restoration blog, Henric says. Read about a museum curator’s feel for details: https://saab93f.blogspot.com

No, it’s not a map reading light – it’s a strip lamp purely for show off reasons. The cord can be seen hanging beside the front wheel.

publicity tour of Sweden in the same year. This is the last trace of it. The search continues. When the 93 regular production started, the first car made was assigned chassis number 25001. The last car was finished on April 20, 1960. Its chassis number was 77722. In total, there were 52 217 cars made 1956-1960. Just about 5 000 cars were of the first model year . Four years later, the pace was much higher with an approximate rate of 30 000 cars a year. Does this make the face-lifted X-ray show car unsuitable as a norm for original restorations? If you for example would like to know where the radiator plate should be placed on the 93F with chassis number later than 66 581, you have come to right place, otherwise not. Still, the show car is of immense value as so few original

93s remain. Although it is modified, it was likely built by the factory with correct methods and materials. Even if there may be a mix of parts and methods, it is factory correct in all details. Many of us have for example not been sure if the air cleaner pot should be in matte, semi-gloss or full gloss black. The answer of this and many other similar things can be found in this car. The passing of time has brought a new meaning to the X-ray show car. It doesn’t just reveal the model’s inner structure, although old, it is also evidence of the finish of a brand new car at the end of the 50s. Collecting Saab facts is very rewarding. It is most likely that the oldest preserved 93 is at the museum and converted to Saab’s most beautiful model, a red 93F! That being said, let’s pull out our magnifying glass for a closer study.

The passing of time has brought a new meaning to the X-ray show car

Saab 93 from its most attractive angle, even if a little cut-up. A never driven car as a perfect pattern for restorations today? Not quite! Its period character is inconsistent and details contradictory. Scars of many updates over time are visible. More of an artefact than a car.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 111

S E L I F

than in 1985 r te h ig r b d e seem aab’s future , super-fast S n r s e a d h o ly -m e r a r a R ult made for an e r e w a plexiglass s n in la s p ll e c r when la o -1 ith s , the Saab EV orts coupe w r p s te t la a e s r -s a r e u y fo ny ra s its roof. Ma a g in v r nd is taken fo e a s s r la e ir m cupo d a ent its most ferv f o e n o ts e e m . ordinary car n a e k li t s ju drive PER ND PHOTO

TEXT ERIC LU

112 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

HAMMARSJÖ

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 113

114 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Windshield far forward allows great interior space even in a compact car. Many years later, US producers would do the the same and call it ”cab forward.” But the Saab EV-1 doesn’t look like any other car. What might the impact have been, had Saabs of this design come on the market?

he evening before Christmas 1984, the Saab head of design Björn Envall had a phone call from a worried woman. – Do you know where Leif is, she asked. Leif’s surname was Mellberg and at the time he was Sweden’s foremost sheet steel artist and car builder. The lady calling was Leif’s wife. It was only a few hours until Christmas and the route Trollhättan-Nyköping takes a while to drive. – I finally located Leif at our experimental shop where he was busy welding. That was typical of how devoted we all were about this project. I saw to it that he went back home right away, Björn Envall remembers. The spirit at Saab cars was at the top in 1984-1985. The 9000 had just been released, receiving rave reviews from the whole world. It was Saab’s first all new model after the 99. The cooperation with the Fiat group had proven fruitful. It was a confirmation that a small manufacturer like Saab could take on the large international players. But neither the industry nor the press knew that Saab was up to even more exciting things. It was still a secret what was going to be unveiled in January 1985 at The Greater Los Angeles Auto Show. – Only about fifty people were involved, Björn Envall says.Time was short. The decision had been made in June the year before so we had not very much more than half a year left. We were probably affected

by hybris. People didn’t take their vacations and kept working into the wee hours beacuse we also had our regular jobs in the production. Björn Envall pulls out a small clay model from his pocket and puts it on the table. It is not quite smooth, but clearly coloured, red body, dark top, grey wheels. – I showed this to our then head of design, Gunnar Larsson and received the go-ahead to build a concept car. After many years of pleading and persuasion, the management had realized the value of an experimental design model. Saab Experiment Vehicle 1! The number one in the name indicated that Saab never before had done anything like it. Prototypes and ”testing mules” to explore new technology, yes. A concept car showing corporate strength and creating public attention, no. For some years, EV-1 was exhibited at all the important international motor shows. Today, it is a rather frail artefact, difficult or perhaps even impossible to put a value on. What is certain is that it would be very expensive to repair or restore, should it be damaged. – It would be better if I rather then you smash the exhaust system, Peter Bäckström of the Saab Car Museum says when reversing out the world’s only Saab EV -1. It is a hint that the EV-1 has practically no ground clearance. The engine was fitted really low down to clear the sloping hood. Surprisingly, that was SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 115

one of very few mechanical changes necessary when a Saab 900 Turbo16 was transformed into a four-seat, high-performance, super technology sports car. It came to pass another 16 years before Saab again presented a concept car for show. That says something about how expensive and time consuming it is to create something good-looking and impressive enough to attract full attention of the knowledgable visitors at the international auto shows. Also, there is a very great difference between the EV-1 and the concept cars Saab showed in the later years. When the 9X, 9-3X and Aero X are able at the most to be pushed around, the EV-1 is drivable as a normal car. The concept cars of today have theoretically calculated performance figures depending on the engine that might be fitted in an uncertain future. In its heydays, the EV-1 actually was tested to the limit on racing courses and airfields. Its top speed was stated as 270 kph, very fast even today and mind-boggling in 1985, when a Porsche Carrera 3.2 could at best reach 245 kph. – We were very concerned that everything should work out fine in practice. Among other trials, we ran full-scale models through wind tunnels in England, Björn Envall says. I had decided that the car should not lift even when reaching 300 kph, and luck was with us 116 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

as aerodynamics were spot-on already at the first trial run. The exterior styling was certainly not a whim of the moment. Björn Envall had done elaborate work on a number of scale models as early as in the 70s, but his thoughts never reached production. – The EV-1 is the only Saab car that I have done all the design work for. All production cars at my time with Saab were group work managed by me, but never solely flowing from my pen. Sixten Sason created the Sonett, I did the EV-1.

Just to have the softly curved centre console specially made for the EV-1 required lots of skill and resources. Check out the controls for seat adjustment – super luxury in 1985. The seats were sourced from the Chevrolet Corvette and upholstered in buffalo leather but still in the Saab style. The solar cells were fakes – the real ones were in the mail!

From a picture, it is difficult to assess how big the car is.

When we – a photographer, his assistant and myself – come to see the EV-1 at the Saab Museum repair shop entrance, we realize that it is a compact car, only 430 cm in length. The proportions are rather odd, short bonnet, windscreen moved far forward -many years ahead of Chrysler’s cab forward design- and an oversized rear window running around the rear seat and the trunk. – The key points of the EV-1 were compact, smart, useful and spacious, Björn Envall says. – I designed the back-seat for my two children, then 10 and 12, to sit in comfort. Four separate power bucket seats were a great selling point in 1985, and the car magazines were suitably impressed. None of

The front and rear sections were in composites. Because the structure above the lower body was entirely in glass, final assembly had to be very precise. The unfinished car was taken many times from Trollhättan (picture) to the workshop of Leif Mellberg in Nyköping and back again.

them found out where they really originated from, Chevrolet Corvette! A couple of years later, GM absorbed Saab Cars. It was thus prophetic that the Saab futuristic design was fitted with GM seats. The Saab character was expressed by the arched seams of the seats as was the tradition for many years. But the 900 and 9000 were never upholstered in water buffalo leather with suede trimmings. – I had noticed that BMW had a water buffalo leather option. We bought some of that leather for testing in a car left outside for one summer, Björn Envall says. Its colour was grey when fitted, but turned green when exposed to sunlight. I phoned BMW to ask if they had the same problem. Yes, they said, but customers choosing this option rarely drive in daylight.

confess today, the ”solar cells” were fakes. The idea was good, though. – The truth was that we had ordered real solar cells for the glass roof, but delivery was delayed, Björn Envall says. In the nick of time, we made fake solar cells for the show. Gustaf Sperr, in charge of comfort and interior design, made a little cart with four of the real solar cells powering a fan. He used to pull that around at car shows to demonstrate that our idea really worked. Another feature getting a lot of press attention was the ”Black Panel” making it possible to only have the speedometer illuminated. It was not until 1993 in the second generation 900 that this feature entered

The EV-1 has often been exposed to sunlight and

accordingly its upholstery has turned green. Also, the interior has been exposed to rain when shown at Saab events. It leaks a bit where the large glass areas meet – it is after all a prototype. The greatest single point of attention when the EV-1 was displayed in public for the first time was that there were no less than 66 solar cells in the glass roof for powering an electric fan cooling the inside of the car when parked. Not quite true, the Saab people

The Saab character was expressed by the arched seams of the seats as was the tradition for many years

Saab enlisted the help of Leif Mellberg, sheet metal artist having done several one-offs of different makes. ”Leif was renowned and second to none of the world’s body designers/builders”, Björn Envall says. Leif Mellberg passed away in the mid 1990s, after having participated in many sports car projects after the EV-1.

Most concept cars are not driveable, except those fitted with a lawn mower type motor for moving into position at car shows. But the Saab EV-1 was built with a tuned 16 valve 270 bhp turbo-engine and had a great desire to hit the open road. Still a rather frail car – it is after all a hand-built prototype of unique engineering and styling and with a priceless provenance.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 117

A Saab and a Volvo driving on Swedish roads, nothing unusal, but this is a unique encounter. The black spot at the back of the Saab is the filler cap.On the left side, there is a similar black spot. That’s the fan powered by solar cells.

There is hardly anything giving away that it is after all hand-built for show and not necessarily to be driven regular production, although Saab started work on this technology already in 1974. Actually, the EV-1 was as much a test bench for project management as an example of advanced technical innovations. It was among other things considered to be included in a modular system of component sharing in as many different car models as feasible. Usual in the 2010s especially in the Volkswagen Group, but quite revolutionary 20 years ago. – The EV-1 was created in a new vision of car projects being run by small and tight groups in close contact with each other and with swift technology exchange and fast decision making, Björn Envall said 118 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

when he was informed that we were going to take out the EV-1 for a test run. – I remember the bureaucracy at Opel where I worked for some years in the 1960s. We were also determined to preserve our independence, the threat of Fiat absorbing Saab was hanging over us in those years. Ultra modern visions of car production combined with an old dream of a sports car designed and built in the Saab way – that was the driving force of the EV-1 team. Very much in the spirit of 1985. – Be very careful with the headlamps, Björn Envall said when he heard that we were going to take the EV-1 out for a spin. –They are specially made by Hella and impossible to replace if damaged. We were very early with projector lamps. So the headlamps are unique, but that certainly goes for the whole vehicle. Carefully, I study the interior. Behind that steering wheel, I have sat many times, in my youth fantasies that is. Then; reading the car magazines’ exciting articles about ”Saab’s first real sports car”. Now; it is for real. I gulp a couple of times and ponder on how many of the world’s concept cars have actually been road legal. The engine sound is like that of the contemporary 900 Turbo 16 just two octaves lower and with a thrust that would scare the wits out of the village boy

The clay model on the left was hand made by Björn Envall himself. He kept it in his pocket ready to show at board meetings when timing was right. The model on the right was shaped by one of Saab´s model creators and painted by Envall.

racers. After all, it is not a couple of back-yard wrench monkeys who have prepared the engine of EV-1. It is basically Saab’s regular two-litre engine but it has been completely done over – We worked intensely to optimize turbo-charging, ignition and fuel pressure to achieve max power while retaining dependability, the engine specialist Roland Hallstensson says. In the end, our bhp test bench didn’t cope, so we had to construct a one metre long lever with a weight at one end to handle the high power. Many special components were required like Mahle forged high-compression pistons, Bosch K-jetronic with injectors for increased fuel flow and a Garrett turbo charger with the same specs as the one used in the Renault 1.5 litre Formula One engine. – We had probably exceeded 300 bhp before we came to our senses and lowered max revs, Roland Hallstensson remembers. – It got so hot in the engine testing department that all windows had to be kept wide open. It is probably as hot inside the car now, but not until the second test day do I dare opening the smallish side window. I have been afraid that it would jam. It is after all a 23 year old prototype and I would be totally crushed if the window jumped out of its rails because of me. But the heat from the large turbo and the

late summer sun give me no choice. Thankfully , the window didn’t jam. The pedals very far to the right and a windshield so large that the test driver of 1985 must have felt it went all the way from Trollhättan to Vänersborg. The steering wheel squeaks badly when turned and the whole structure vibrates when I rev the engine. Still, I am very impressed that a prototype can feel so tight and that there is hardly anything giving away that it is after all hand-built for show and not necessarily to be driven. Even the electric power seats work! In the rush hour of Trollhättan, the EV-1 attracts enormous attention. Surprisingly many guess on Alfa-Romeo or Ferrari even though we are in the birthplace of EV-1.

A year earlier, the Saab 9000 had been introduced with its super modern, boomerang shaped facia panel. The EV-1 got a sports car version. The classic Saab Turbo steering wheel - worth a design prize of its own- was adorned with subtle suede accents. The engine looked stock, but had forged high compression Mahle pistons and upgraded fuel injectors. The turbo system was taken to the level of Renault Formula One racing cars . Many hundred hours had been spent in the engine testing bench to achieve highest levels of performance with retained reliability – a Saab matter of honour also for a one-off imental show car! The EV-1 was an early adaptor of projection head lamps and its version of the classic Saab grill was nothing less than radical.

I would lie if I said it drives as a well-balanced sports

car. But the front wheels are obviously not properly aligned, most noticable at higher speeds. Once in a while, it fails to keep up speed. It appears that engine power drops intermittently. When the engine had reached operating temperature, it got worse. In city traffic, I had to resort to competition starts – 4000 rpm clutch engagement! Roland Hallstensson was quick with his telephone diagnosis – clogged injectors. Pour some oil in the petrol, it will probably help, he said. It did! SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 119

Does the car sense that I’m trying to act like a late 1980’s successful businessman in a shiny suit? If a four seat sports car was to be made, Saab was the company to do it. The match of water buffalo leather and suede (”no damn Alcantara!”) remains stylish today.

The interior design only appears simple, I think when touching the centre console feeling surprisingly solid. Many components are not surprisingly shared with regular Saab models but the centre console is special for the EV-1. It is very satisfying to closely study details of how a most sporting Saab would have looked like inside. The elegant boomerang shape of the 9000 facia panel is for the EV-1 transformed to a compact sports car shape. Fact is, I am driving a several decades old prototype on regular roads. When was someone else last out there on public roads with a similar prototype of the optimistic 1980s- Peugeot Quasar, Lotus Etna or MG EX-E? On day two, the engine seems to have cleared itself and EV-1 takes off with a new verve. On occasion, I drive at a speed somewhere between the legal motorway limit and a crazier number. Somehow, the car collects itself when speed is increased. Probably it feels that

the guy behind the wheel is enjoying himself tremendously. Or does the car sense that I’m trying to act like a late 1980’s successful businessman complete with shiny suit and attaché case?

The EV-1 was built partly in the shop of Leif Mellberg in Stigtomta, partly in the Saab experimental workshop KMX (picture). It was said that Saab for security reasons required Mellberg to cover windows and remove door handles of his facility.

This role game could be taken further. A man just ha-

ving entered middle age, financially well-off, exclusive taste, keen on modern design and occsionally desiring to drive on continental motor-ways with his small family or with a couple of business acqaintances. There we have the intended buyer 1985 of the EV-1. – Was regular series production of the EV-1 ever considered, I ask Björn Envall. – We made serious calculations to build a series of 1 000 cars, he answers. We were very close to, but we had to use all resources to improve the quality of the 9000 and to launch the 900 Convertible. It is fair to say that at the end, the Convertible sort of won over the EV-1. But then we also had the EV-2, based on the Saab 9000. It was actually closer to production. Saab EV-2? – That’s a completely different story!

The often touted aviation spirit of Saab cars had probably never been more true than with the EV-1. It was natural to take photos of the car against the background of a Viggen fighter jet taking off. Saab’s chief prototype builder, Bernt-Åke Karlsson sat in the car and said afterwards that it felt as if the car also took off in the jet stream of the Viggen.

The full scale clay model about to come out as a real car, still with Saab 900 Aero wheels. The build quality of the model is still most impressing. EV-1 was solid craftmanship down to the smallest detail.

In the 1960s, Björn Envall was an apprentice of Sixten Sason and was appointed head of design in 1969 when he was 27. Since 1994, he runs his own design business, working on everything from cars to furniture.

120 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

All the people who had participated in the EV-1 project assembled around the car a few days before it was shipped to the USA. At the driver’s door is Björn Envall. Leif Mellberg is kneeling in the right front row.

This model of the late 1970’s was for a long time parked at the entrance of the design department as a daily reminder to the stylists of the Saab virtues; roomy interior, flat floor, curved dash board. And Muppet seats...

We had to use all resources to improve the quality of the 9000 and to launch the 900 Convertible

”Muppet seats” and other oddities of the EV-1 The Saab engineer Gustaf Sperr ordered six sets of glass for the EV-1. –That should do for at least a 100 years, he is rumoured to have said. The gigantic screens were made in Finland by a company specialising in bus windows.

Four futuristic studies for the car shows of the 1980’s

Peugeot Quasar, Geneva Salon 1985, based on the Group B rally car 205 Turbo 16. Uncovered mid-engine! Movie suggestion # 1. Where did Björn Envall get the inspiration for the typical Saab seats with their arched cushions? Answer: The movie Pigs in Space, where the seats of the Muppet Space Ship look just like that. If you should hear Björn Envall mention the Saab Muppet seats, you now know what he is talking about.

SAAB 900 TURBO EV-1 Engine: 4 cylinderlongitudinal, DOHC 16-valve, hydraulic actuation Garret TPL-1098 turbo, max boost 1.1 bar. Intercooler. APC system. Bore/stroke: 90/78 mm. Displacement 1 985 cm3. Power 285 bhp (210 kW) @ 6500 r/min. Torque 335 Nm @ 3 500 r/min. Suspension: Front: independent by wish bones and coil springs; anti-roll bar. Rear: beam axle by four longitudinal links and Panhard rods; coil springs. Drive train: Five speed manual. Front wheel drive. Dimensions: Wheel base 303 cm, length/width/height: 430/169/123,5 cm, weight 1 150 kg, track front and rear: 144/145 cm. Tank 65 litres. Steering: Power rack and pinion, 3.65 turns. Wheels: 205/50-15 tyres on 6 inch rims Brakes: discs front and rear, front discs ventilated Performance: 0-100 km/h 5.9 seconds. Top speed 270 km/h. Power/weight ratio: 4.04 kg/bhp Power/capacity ratio 142.5 /litre

Movie suggestion #2. The Saab EV-1 is featured in the 1989 movie ”Back to the Future 2.” It can be seen in the background a couple of times in the movie about Marty McFly (Michael Fox) and Doctor Emerett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) travelling to the future – and back. ”A refined sports car like this is not meant just for fun and prestige of its owner, it is supposed to enhance the car maker’s own prestige. Saab not allowing this model to fly would be impossible.” Åke Borglund in the car m agazine Teknikens Värld in the spring of 1985. ”To Saab, the EV-1 is for real – we are convinced that the successor of the Sonett is the very car in the photos!” Kjell Broberg in the car magazine Automobil in 1985.

MG EX-E, Frankfurt show 1985. One of many attempts to revive MG and undeniably the most attractive.

Honda HPX, Geneva Salon 1985. A two-litre V6. Pininfarina put Honda on the right track in the development of the NSX.

Lotus Etna, Geneva Salon 1985. Giorgetto Giugiaro’s and Italdesign’s vision of a V8 Lotus above the Esprit in the model range.

SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 121

Saab talk

Saab 9000 – setting new standards H aving qualified as a machine engineer and after one year at a mechanical workshop in Kungälv, I began in August 1984 my career at Saab as an apprentice engineer of the passenger car division in Trollhättan.The year and a half long introduction period started in the production to learn what it really was about. After that, I got a drawing board and other utensils proving that I had become what I always wanted to be, a real engineer. I belonged to the TDMM group headed by Leif Karlsson of the engine technology group responsible for drive train installations. We worked in a makeshift hut, perhaps 15 people in an open office space. I was placed between two colleagues, one loudly smoking a pipe, the other a British consultant chain smoking Benson&Hedges, nothing remarkable then.

That night, I drove close to 800 kilometres and there was no lack of wind noise, creaks and rattles One afternoon, Leif came to see me with a plastic binder and a car key. ”I want you to take a 9000 test car this afternoon”, he said. Of course I wanted to. Outside was a pre- series silver metallic T16 , factory code P130. It was no secret, test car decals were on the binder and the car keys fob as well as on the rear bumper. P130 was a stripped version, manual heater without AC and dark red velour upholstery. As test driver, one was supposed to listen carefully to the drive train and any noises were to be entered in the log. I filled it up at the local Texaco filling station at Saab. That night, I drove close to 800 kilometres and there was no lack of wind noise, creaks and rattles. All of that was over-shadowed by the great general feel. At once, the 9000 became part of my heart. What an environment for the keen driver! Soft Saab forms, excellent ergonomy. Probably the best seats Saab ever offered. Matchless long distance comfort, superior ergonomics. I doubt any other car could match the space 122 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE

Peter Bäckström, curator at the Saab Car Museum, prefers enjoying Saabs behind the steering wheel, be it regularity, rally or racing. Only when it comes to slot car racing is he willing to stand back.

utilization of the 9000. And the performance! 175 bhp and great torque combined with low weight, about 1350 kg. Driving at 130 kph felt like 90. But of course, soon I drove too fast into a bend that was worse than I anticipated. Also the roads were slippery. A real crisis. It went well but not so much due to my driving skills. Very carefully and with just a hint of oversteer that I tried to eliminate, the P130 slid softly and carefully. The road was wide enough and with a lower speed we continued, the P130 and I. It is the car people of Saab like Sven-Åke Grahn and Magnus Roland as well as all their colleagues at Saab chassis engineering that should be honoured. A car whose suspension sends the driver signals about something happening, before it does. A stable and forgiving car for an amateur driver. Much later, I got the opportunity to buy a factory test car, a 9000i 1988. Test car PG28. Now it is put away in a farm outhouse. In anticipation of it taking to the road again, I sometimes go and sit in it. Then I am overcome with the same emotions as in that 1984 November night. Not many may yet have realized it, but I regard the 9000 as a real classic. A modern classic.

Personality Track days

Car meetings Community

Driving joy Childhood memories Insurance

Spare parts

Membership magazine

Expertise

From two stroke to turbo www.saabklubben.se

Saab Car Museum i Trollhättan

Saab Car Museum ÅKERSSJÖVÄGEN 16, TROLLHÄTTAN

info@saabcarmuseum.se

saabcarmuseum.se

Saab Cars Magazine #2

Articles inside

OF UNPAVED ROADS THE CHAMPIONS

YODELLADIHOO!