SAAB CARS MAGAZINE #1
SAAB
CARS magazine
SAAB 95
SONETT
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE SAAB CAR MUSEUM
We reveal the secret sketches!
Heading north in the sweetest estate car ever – with a canoe on top!
agazine m a y l l a n i F lovers for us Saab eden! Sw – Made in
ENGLISH EDITION #1 2019
THE FABULOUS SAAB 9000
SAAB 96 V4 LAST EDITION
SAAB 9-5 NG SPORTCOMBI
”We set out to make best car in the world”
159 km since new!
The final collectors’ model
Advertisement from: Road & Track 1984
Contents
48 68
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Contents
108
Saab 99 EMS Historic Rally Car
14 8 Full scale model 92002
56 The Arch Rivals Saab 900 vs Volvo 240
10 Saab Facett
62 The Engine Swap
12 Steering without a wheel
68 Saab 9-5 NG Sport Combi
14 Saab 92A 1950
72 Saab in the USA
The 1947 full scale model proved that Saab was headed in the right direction.
They divided the Swedes and were in many ways the opposites of each other. Still there were similarities.
A Sonett with a twist – the only one in the world!
When the four stroke V4 was sneaked in.
As early as 1991, Saab planned revolutionary means to steer a car.
Perhaps it had the power to change history but it didn’t get ready in time. Michel is the owner of one of only 27 built.
Probably the best unrestored Saab 92A in the world, a tribute to its first owner. We take it out for a spin.
22 The models that never came to be
Treasuries in clay, plasteline and balsa-wood – we check out the scale models of the Saab styling studios.
30 Objects The best Saab stuff!
Museum shops can be dull and unimaginative. With its fantastic array of Saab memorabilia, the Saab Museum is not.
32 The Saab Club A treasury of spares
The Saab Club’s spares inventory in Skattkärr stocks NOS as well as remanufactured spares, all genuine Saab parts.
34 The Saab Shop
Dressed in a neat Saab badged mechanic’s suit, Graham greets British enthusiasts.
36 The Trip!
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The designs that didn’t make it to full-scale. Some a little bit rougher than others ...
Don't miss this 6 Start 26 The Club Scene 27 Dirt in a spray can 29 Fix your sad headlining
With a Saab 95 in the far north of Ångermanland. We travel to the heart of Swedish Masonite manufacturing in a car that is also an industrial memorial.
The first sales attempts were made in 1956 in what was to become Saab’s most important market. The small car made a great impression on a select but small group of car buyers.
78 The longest haul! Saab 99CC 1975
Johan Dahl just couldn't believe it. The car he thought had run 80 000 kilometres, had in fact done ten times as much!
82 Saab 9000 18 pages of ... praise!
Probably, it was in May of 1984 that Saab was at its pinnacle. Its reputation was better than ever when the brand new 9000T16 was introduced.
100 The ultra low mileage Saab 96 1980
It was taken twice to work and back. That was all for this 96, one of the last built. It will forever be known as the 159 kilometre car!
108 Saab 99 EMS Rally
High speed is not enough for Anders Norstedt. The car must look right too, right down to the smallest detail.
114 Saab Talk by Peter Bäckström
He joined Saab in 1984. For more than 20 years he has been the Saab Museum curator and is our first Saab chronologist.
48 Saab Sonett The secret outlines
That Saab was to build a sports car triggered Saab stylists Karlström and GAS. By chance, we discover their sketches.
1991
A Saab with no steering wheel
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72 106
How the most beautiful steering wheel in automotive history was made.
Personality Track days
Car meetings Community
Driving joy Childhood memories Insurance
Spare parts
Membership magazine
Expertise
From two stroke to turbo www.saabklubben.se
A whole world to discover
T
here are innumerous reasons to love Saabs. Many like me have fond child-hood memories of the marque, often linked to sounds and fragrances. To learn to drive in a Verona Green 1972 model 99 creates a life long marque allegiance. Reclining on the therapist couch, my explanation precedes the query. For me, it is the shape. I am unable to properly express in words the revelation I experienced when, as a 14-year old, I made one of my expeditions to the the local car junk yard and discovered a Saab 93! I was dumb-struck! Although I had many times before been fascinated by the photos in the family albums of the, albeit limited, row of Saabs my parents had owned, 92-96-96-95, this was a revelation. I knew immediately not only that this bulbous dark green 1959 Saab must be mine, but also that I henceforth would have a completely new outlook of the whole world. That old Saab aroused in me an unquenchable interest not only in cars, but also as much in technology, design, cultural history and eventually also in architecture. My first trip with my new driver’s licence was to the Saab museum in Trollhättan. Overcome with shy-
ness, I shook the hand of its then curator, Pelle Rudh. This was the first of many, many visits. To me, there is no finer place to be at. I was deeply and personally offended when the museum was about to be auctioned off as a consequence of the unfortunate bankruptcy of Saab Automobile. I was privileged at that time to lend a helping hand. Thus it is nothing less than a dream come true to be privliged to produce Saab Car magazine in close cooperation with the Saab Car Museum. Do you want to know a secret? Ask me about all the exhibits at the museum, and I shall be speechless. It has been like that for years. I start giggling and become completely overwhelmed in these hallowed halls. The Cars, the History, the Culture, the Technology, the Design! I avoid the risk of an over-dose by just sampling a tidbit at each visit. Consequently, I must constantly come up with a new reason to go there again, and again and again.
A MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO SAAB. AND NOTHING ELSE! Klassiker OK Förlaget AB PO Box 23 800, SE-10435 Stockholm Editors 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 Per Hammarsjö Translation Bo Legelius, bo@legelius.se Contributors Peter Bäckström, Fredrik Nyblad, Jon Remmers, Frans Johansson, Simon Hamelius, Lars Julle Olofsson, Erik Rönnblom. Ad sales Ewa Wasshem Ekblom +46 (0)735-13 25 93 ewa.wasshem@klassiker.nu
CLAES JOHANSSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Traffic Ingela Cassidy, annons@klassiker.nu Production manager Karin Inghe, +46 (0)8-736 12 38 karin.inghe@okforlaget.se Visit our 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
Saab memorabilia must be enjoyed in moderation – overdoses can cause dangerous degress of infatuation. With a one-off Saab 95 Camper and one 93 from 1959, my teenage bargain, I am not even close to danger.
This issue has been translated by Bo Legelius and the editors of Saab Cars Magazine. We have done our best to carry over the spirit and soul of the original Swedish issue. You are welcome to give us feedback in order to make the next issue even better and more accurate.
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Techical information Print: Uniprint 2019, Tallinn ISSN:1652-2931 © OK Förlaget AB
Advertisement from: Motor Sport 1962
Saab Spirit
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E92002 PHOTO SAAB CAR MUSEUM LINKÖPING, JANUARY 1947
The very first Saab car had been tormented for many, many kilometres. The conclusions were drawn. Now was time for the next step. In April 1946 a full-scale wooden mock-up had been completed from which skilled carpenters created templates enabling equally skilled metal workers to form steel body panels to be welded together. In January 1947, the wooden mock-up had been restyled and painted dark blue, almost black. The floppy front had been straightened as had the lower sills. The glass area had been increased. The designer Sixten Sason had further directed the craftsmen to change the front of the car to improve engine accessibilty and to achieve ”a Swedish cascade grille” shyly emulating the style of the new US post war cars, mostly unobtainable in Sweden. The Saab office girls posing with the prototype sported the latest US hair-do style, Half Up – Half Down. The mock-up had been man-handled out to the factory yard and fitted with a number plate, E92002. Official photos were shot and the comparisons made with the preceding prototype E92001 confirmed that developments proceeded in the right direction. The design team was confident. It was going to be a good car. TEXT CLAES JOHANSSON
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Saab Spirit
HAUTE COUTURE PHOTO GÖRAN PERSSON STORA NYGATAN, MALMÖ 1964 The engineer Sigvard Sörensen parks his car on Stora Nygatan in Malmö between a Citroën DS and a Porsche 356 Super 90. Sigvard has come to visit the ad agency Rygaards that has the account for Saab-Ana and Ana-Motor publicity and marketing. Probably, there is a market event being planned for the Malmö area. The car he arrives in is the world’s only Saab Facett. He knows, because he has built it himself on the chassis of one of only six Saab Sonett Super Sports made. Actually, it is number 4. The 18 year old Göran Persson has landed a summer job with Rygaards, his first experience in marketing. The odd sports car catches his eyes. Bringing his Polaroid camera, he walks down to the street to take a few photos. – At the time, it was on red trade plates, so it probably wasn’t quite finished. It was right-hand drive. The gear lever was at the right-hand door sill, which I thought was strange. You had to climb over it to get into the driver’s seat. Note the elegant racing mirror on the right hand side, suits the car perfectly, Göran Persson comments. The Facett still exists. After more than two decades on the road, it was damaged in a collision and stored away by its then owner Nils-Erik Landström. The Saab enthusiast Klaus Müller-Ott got wind of it and managed to buy it in 1996. He immediately carried out a quality restoration. Müller-Ott also managed to trace down the actual body that Sonett #4 was originally built with and had a replica chassis made using the Facett one as a template. One car thus became two and they are now both owned by René Hirsch in Switzerland. TEXT CARL LEGELIUS
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Saab Spirit
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JOYSTICK RIDE PHOTO SAAB AUTOMOBILE 1991
Even the most established things must be challenged. Especially them. Like for instance the steering wheel. We have been sitting behind it for more than a hundred years. It is admirably suited to nervously tap on when in traffic jams. Its centre is absolutely the best spot for the car make badge. But it is a collision safety concern. The steering wheel and its column can seriously hurt the driver in a crash. Can we do away with the steering wheel? What would that be like? How would it feel? Saab came up with an answer. The Pan-European project Prometheus – Programme for European Traffic with Highest Efficiency and Unprecedented Safety – was formed in the 1980s to promote better traffic safety. One third was financed by government funds, the rest by the motor industry. Saab together with Rolls-Royce, Daimler-Benz, BMW and Jaguar developed and pooled engineering to assist drivers and to improve safety. Much focus was on what could be achieved through the fast growing computerized technology in vehicle engineering. There were experiments with radar monitored cruise control and various devices to correct driver errors. Interesting and visionary, but not the stuff market sensations are made of. More spectacular was the experimental Saab 9000 which had the steering wheel replaced by a joy stick. It controlled electrical servo motors acting on the steering rack and pinion. The controls for wipers and flashers were on the driver’s door. A gigantic air bag had taken the place of the steering wheel while the ignition switch remained in its original position. Driving by joy stick required a learning process, but when a driver had finally mastered the delicate movements, it was claimed to be as intuitive as with the traditional steering wheel. Almost 30 years later, the steering wheel is still with us. TEXT CARL LEGELIUS
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PEACE F MIND A 1950 Saab 92A that had the good fortune of not having been abandoned in a forest eventually to have photos of its inevitable decline being circulated on Instagram. Instead, it was not used much and thus did not deteriorate at all. Best of all, it has not been restored, nor does it need to be. TEXT AND PHOTOS BY CLAES JOHANSSON
A
country spared the ravages of war, Sweden was ripe for further progress with factories running at full output creating a basis for social security in a society footed on a unique institutional cooperation between industry and labour. Social progress and reforms were soon taken for granted and living standards could only improve. The generations born in the 20th century had the benefit of unprecedented social and industrial progress, one aspect of which was a car in every family. It took
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20 years and was thereafter taken for granted. – The house, the garden and his car meant a lot to him, says Ulla Karlberg, reminiscensing her father, Bengt Sjöström. Everything was maintained to the best of order. He used to have a second-hand Chevrolet, but when I was ten, he bought the Saab brand new. He was about to turn 50 and was very proud of his new car, but hardly ever used it. Bengt worked for the state railways and was according to his daughter a very reliable and orderly person.
– He kept his pedantics to himself, that was the way he was. The fence was always freshly painted, the flower beds well-kept and the Saab meticulously maintained. It was mostly used for Sunday trips. Well in advance of winter, he jacked it up on stands in the garage. Post-WW2, a new modern Sweden was created tailored for a secure but still modest life. It was not to be ostentative which applied also to the architecture and the cars. In December 1949 came one more symbol of Swedish modernity. Rumours had been around for a while and the
visade
first, rather blobby prototype had been shown in 1947. Just imagine, a manufacturer of jet fighters having developed its first car! The Saab 92. A peace symbol created by aero engineers. With pronounced streamlining, front wheel drive, two-stroke motor and a slightly sullen look, it was not for everyone. It never came to be as hugged or loved as the Volvo PV444 or the Volkswagen. All the same, the new Saab became a cause for the whole nation, created as it was in a spirit of social harmony. Volvo had gained a companion, not a competitor. In fact, the managment of Saab
had at an early stage asked Volvo for permission to start making cars, which Volvo graciously permitted provided Saab stayed with small cars and refrained from manufacturing trucks. The Saab car project had been based on assumptions of great improvements in people’s buying power during the 1950s and also increased exports. In ten years, industry had created 141 000 new jobs. People from rural areas migrated in large numbers to the cities, enjoying higher wages and soon realized they could afford a car.
The managment of Saab had at an early stage asked Volvo for permission to start making cars
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Plaster building facades and dreams of streamlining! In the 50s, Sweden changed up to top gear to enter the future as soon as could be done. In 1950 Bengt Sjöström in the city of Gävle bought a brand new Saab for 6 500 SEK. He kept it for the rest of his life. It has still not attained even 60 000 kilometres. It is original in all respects, having been pampered all its life.
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The early bottle green two-cylinder Saabs soon became curiosities in the traffic scene Erik Randa, the Saab man with both a Sonett and 96 GT in his collection. His Saab fondness led him to start remanufacturing parts like gaskets and rubber mouldings. His new challenge is a Monte Carlo with a sun roof.
Saab’s decision enter car making also had a political side, even national security aspects. The car production allowed Saab to maintain and improve industrial competence and capacity not least in steel pressing and general metal working, beneficial to large scale production of military aeroplanes, very much in the intrerest of neutral Sweden. The turnout of the Saab 92, just 20 128 cars in the whole period of 1949-56, was when related to 661 units of the JetFighter J29 (nick-named the Barrel) in about the same period. A great industrial achievement, difficult today to fully appreciate. That a small country like Sweden had two car manufacturers was remarkable in itself, but really nothing in relation to the neutral country’s defence ambitions.The air force was very strong and there were facilities underground like complete cities, hospitals and command centres, not forgetting that Sweden was almost there with nuclear weapons. The 1960s came and went and still another decade came to its end. The national modernisation project was inflated almost to bursting point, but was sullied when utopical pragmatism destroyed fine old cities and towns across the country. The negative aspects of mass motorisation also became evident, particularly with the energy crisis of the 1970s. The era of the Saab 92 symbolizing progress and modernism also soon came to an end. The little Saab wasn’t suitable on modern fast and straight roads, nor in city congestion. Second hand values dropped quickly with the introduction of the much improved models 93 and 96. A car without boot lid and just two cylinders, no thanks. The 92 became a seldom seen curiosity on the streets. But Bengt Sjöström never traded his 92 for a new car. He kept up his meticulous care of the
car but used it less and less. He had a windshield washer fitted, that was about as far as he went with accessories. He saved his money and rode to work on his bicycle. – He knew what it was like to be penniless, his daughter Ulla says. – Even when I had passed my driver’s test, it was out of the question that I would be allowed to drive the Saab. Had my mother Hanna had a driver’s license, she wouldn’t either. The pioneer Saab 92 owners were deeply committed to the marque, almost to the point of obsession. They kept buying Saabs to the bitter end, the last model had like all others a type designation beginning with the figure 9.
Reserved elegance. No big gestures. Like the car that should just be polished. lubricated and constantly maintained.
Bengt Sjöström expressed his Saab loyalty by frequently washing and lubricating his car. But one day the end came. His immaculate
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For many years, lovingly kept and constantly maintained. Only a few photos taken. The longest trip was to Västerås and back, about 280 kilometres in total.
house with its lovely garden was expropriated and torn down to make room for a new road project. – Dad never quite recovered from this blow, his daughter Ulla says. He died shortly afterwards. His Saab was still like new despite being more than 25 years old. But when it was moved from its cosy garage to a shed, it started to deteriorate. The family was unable to live up to Bengt’s high standards of care for the little Saab. It was sold off and was displayed for a while by a car dealer in Norrtälje. Then it moved on to a car collector in Stockholm as a
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companion to his Volvo PV444. He never drove either of them – his personal transport was a Mercedes-Benz 450SL. We’re driving through a neighbourhood of small houses close to the old factory site of LM Ericsson south of Stockholm. In the passenger’s seat Erik Randa, the current owner of the Saab. It is one of 5 298 A-models built, the last year was 1952. Its chassis number is 983. It has racked up no more than 57 210 kilometres since delivery 1950 in Gävle. Honest! The time machine cliché is obvious, but this is it. Looking through the low-set windows, post-
war Sweden’s social achievements somehow become obvious, particularly when we pass through the 1950s Stockholm suburbs Hägerstensåsen and Midsommarkransen. The boxy three-story houses have plain fronts and are well integrated in nature. The old LM Ericsson factory at Telefonplan has for a long time been home to Konstfack, the Arts and Crafts University. It becomes obvious that we are driving through the spiritual birthplace of this car pairing art and technology, the very first Saab. – I believed it would be impossible to find an untouched and original Saab 92, Erik says, but my luck was incredible.
Shortly after our photo session, the large parking garage close to the old LM Ericsson factory was demolished. 480 new flats were more important than preserving an Art Deco parking garage. Impressive and attractive with its raw concrete surfaces.
Someone put him in touch with the car collector who had run a company making presstools for both Volvo and Saab. He had cars of each make in his collection but was about to lose his storage. Erik turned up at the right moment to buy the Saab. Examining its paintwork and interior closely, Erik realized that the car was totally original, completely untouched and with hardly discernible signs of wear. Erik just had to have it. The Saab is mesmerizing. A bit crude like the
92s always are, but not in the same way as a car that has been dismantled. Surfaces, brackets,
fasteners, wiring – everything fits together as a unity. There are no rattles, just the usual and expected noises. The fact that the flat original exhaust system is intact is a bonus. Erik has carefully de-coked it and then run about 1 000 kilometres. The exhaust sound is crisp, energetic. On free-wheeling, the engine murmurs, on acceleration it roars softly and pulls away surprisingly quickly for only 25 bhp. Soft clonks are heard from the rather stiff torsion bar suspension. The seats are pretty hard, the whole car feels a bit stiff but mesmerizing, but I already said that. After a good polish, the original paintwork can be considered a benchmark
for Saab 92 restorers, although the green hue of the early cars was not consistent. The earliest production rate was only four cars a day. This car was turned out about the time when a military green hue had given way to a more distinguished dark green. In the sunset at the old LM Ericsson works, the car looks almost black. In the dark, the lovely Mickey Mouse instruments glow like gold and create together with the turn semaphores a mystic festival of light further enhancing the sublime impression of all die hard Saab enthusiasts who frequently meet in the dark performing various secret rites in honour of
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It is satisfying that people are beginning to appreciate the brilliance of Saab designer Sixten Sason’s original ideals
their sacred car make, not always but some times including beating up someone’s new Volvo with sledge hammers. The tail lamps of the make Zephyr were sourced from the US and differ between early and late cars. Erik was unfortunate to break one of them. He was relieved when finding out that the Saab club could supply a new one. A few spins in an empty parking garage hints at what we already know. Seriously good road holding and feed-back direct steering ma kes it fun to drive once you have come to terms with a certain FWD reluctance. Whereas the bodywork is a bit heavy, the engine is eager and spirited. You soon forget the weak heater and the coarse rumble of the gearbox, particularly in first gear, becomes part of the charm. That the engine always but usually for no reason sounds and feels like it is about to burst is har der to get used to. The curse of too little use has occasionally caused problems with Eric’s 92. – Then I push into the garage, he says, and try to figure out what to do. Once there was dirt in the tank, another time the idle was high because the emulsion pipe had split. The tyres had cracks, the ste ering joints too much play, the master cylinder leaked, but worst of all, one day the engine developed a horrible clanking sound. Overhea ting. Solved by dismantling and immersing the engine block in agressive solvents. The two-cylinder engine is very sensitive to over 20 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE
Stuart Warner instruments, large glove compartment, wool upholstery. Smooth steering wheel rim and a wafer-like badge script.
heating. Saab’s aircraft engineers did a good job of road holding, body strength and streamli ning, but someone should have stopped them from skimping on the water pump. After the crankshaft was overhauled and new bearings fitted, the car has been very reliable. Reluctantly, I let Erik get back behind the wheel. If not already said – this car is mesme rizing! When I see the rear lights fading out as he potters away on the Tellusborgsvägen, I feel abruptly taken back to reality. It doesn’t feel all that good. Thankfully, more and more people are beginning to appreciate the brilliance of Sixten Sason’s design – the Saab 92 is being recognized as an icon but at the same time as a dependable companion in life. Bengt Sjöström probably understood this better than most. Perhaps it takes 25 years to do so.
SAAB 92A 1950 Engine: Two cylinder two-stroke, thermosyphon water cooling. Capacity 764 cc, power 25 bhp @ 4 000 rpm, max torque 55 Nm @ 1 500 rpm. Transmission: FWD, free-wheel, 3-speed gearbox, column shift. Dimensions, performance: WB 247 cm, L/W/H 392/162/142 cm. Track118 cm. Weight 800 kg. 0-80 kph approx 22 sec, top speed 105 kph. Suspension: Independent front and rear by transverse torsion bars. Steering: Rack and pinion, 1.75 turns lock to lock Wheels: Plain steel rims, 5.00-15 tyres Electrical system: 6 volt. Brakes: Drums all around, hydraulic, hand brake acting on rear wheels. Source: Motorhistoriskt Magasin, Per-Börje Elg.
Original label with engine starting instructions. The trunk lid and enlarged rear window were introduced in 1953. The largest 92 production was in 1955 with almost as many cars as in the other years combined.
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FORM & FUNCTION
ROCKET SCIENCE The distinct rear end of the Saab 95 was probably much more radical in the first sketch than the final look, design processes usually evolve like that. This is an early attempt by an unknown designer. The unfinished clay suggests that a lot more had to be done.
PLAYFUL FLITTER However serious the designing of a new car is, there must be some fun in it. Playful forms, volumes and ideas. The soft shape of the bonnet somehow predicts the 99. Sixten Sason and Peter Maddock went all out with this fleeting, futuristic shape.
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WORK IN PROGRESS Here, the process has obviously come to an end. A charming blob rather than a vision for the future. Was this an early attempt at the 92 Z, supposed to be a luxury version? Amazing that it has been preserved. Sixten Sason himself moulded clay models and built special display boxes for them.
Randomly looking at the various displays at the Saab Museum, we discover a treasury in clay, plaster and balsa wood. Here are the models that came to be and not to be ... TEXT & PHOTO CLAES JOHANSSON
S
ilently, they sit there with slightly smashed faces and cock-eyed looks. The scale models. A couple of completely breathtaking rows. In the real world, Saab’s range of models was quite easy to fathom. With no money for all-new models, the design department’s skills were turned to facelifts of existing shapes. New wheel rims, revised rear ends, a new instrument panel. Smart, cost effective and focused work carried out by a few but very skilled house designers. The Saab spirit was re-invented over and over again. With scant resources. The basic principle was always the same – function. The basic theme was set by Sixten Sason while Björn Enwall as head of design more than anyone else has earned the credit for the modern Saab styling. The scale models on the shelf tell a story of inspiration and development, but also of disappointments and refusal. But setbacks did not to stop designers from cheerfully and skillfully starting fresh projects.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT The work on the 99 project – code name Gudmund – was very thorough and actually began already in 1962 with several different ideas. The final concept was set only after Sason and Enwall had metodically analysed all suggested concepts and ideas. Square headlamps determined the looks of the front while an asymmetric grill got thumbs down. A transverse engine was also considered.
Saab was re-invented over and over again but the main principle stayed the same – function
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A FACE WITH CHARACTER A heavy wooden scale model slightly but charmingly ravaged by time. The 93 mirrored the softly rounded shapes and forms of aircrafts of the 1940s. For new models, Sixten Sason was contemplating the slimmer forms of modern planes.
MODERN TIMES The genial styling of the 99 – the combination of soft convex and concave surfaces – worked just as well for smaller cars. Project le Canard (the Duck) got an offspring in the mid-60s, Type C. Transverse engine, hatch-back – almost a VW Golf clone.
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A MORE DARING SONETT Worse for wear and with wheels suspected off a Tonka Tin Toy car, this model by well known designer Björn Karlström in cooperation with Malmö Aircraft Industry was the beginning of the future Sonett II. This imaginative model was probably added to the collection several years after the end of the Sonett project. Despite the damage, it looks like a targa roof was an option or is it just a sliding sunroof?
JUST CALL ME Å Behind the brief model name Å, there were many exciting and very French inspired ideas. A 93 sized car that Sason started drafting in 1955, a good guess not long after the introduction of the Citroën DS19.
THE ART OF MAXIMIZING Design improvements of existing models – face lifts for short – were necessary in the market. All possibilties had to be considered. Could the Saab 95 be something better, something more modern looking? The inspiration of a couple of designers resulted in two different updates of the estate body. One is a bit like an AMC Pacer, isn’t it?
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FORWARDS OR BACKWARDS? BERTONE UNDER THE HAMMER This is not the front of a Saab V4. This car hasn’t got an engine up front, instead it has two rear engines ! The only purpose of this car was to run on the rear wheels only, although it was intended to look like it was running on the front wheels, in reverse that is, understood? OK, let’s take it from the beginning. Imagine a tubular chassis frame with two rear engines. Two Saab V4s side by side. The weight distribution and the power train are laid out for doing wild wheelies – i. e. running at the local dragstrip on only the rear wheels. The chassis is fitted with a fibre glass replica of the Saab 96 body. Wild paintwork (trolls adorning the car sides) and no doors. And as if that wasn’t enough, the body was fitted back to front.
This special was featured in 1974 on the cover of the now defunct magazine Start&Speed. It was pictured with a somewhat sceptical looking Stig Blomquist wearing very wide pants as were then in fashion. This was about as far as the show project dubbed TwinMaster ever came. Initiator was Sveneric Eriksson whose CV includes having been Ronnie Peterson’s manager. Matti Pajola was the builder of this wonder. It was on show at a motor exhibition in Malmö in 1974. That’s when the cover photo was shot. This one-off made the rounds at various shows, but that was about it. The very desirable, tuned V4 engines disappeared to the back road rally scene but the car itself survived and is now preserved by Saab enthusiast Bertil Maununen in the small village of Vintrosa.
Carozzeria Bertone was founded in 1912 and is now sadly bankrupt. In its time, the Milan design house designed and built more than 120 car models, many of them now considered iconic. In 2015, the assets were beginning to be auctioned off. In November 2018, the last remaining assets from complete cars to what was said to have been Nuccio Bertone’s personal drawing board came under the hammer. While a scale model of a prototype Lamborghini went for 7 000 euros, there was at the other end of the value span a Saab bargain! In 2002, Bertone for the occasion of its 90th anniversary devised a Saab prototype, not a new 90, but a Saab Novanta. Built on the 9-5
V6 platform, this was a future Saab with conventional steering replaced by drive-by-wire developed in cooperation with SKF, the ball bearing company. Like the Prometheus Saab, it had no steering-column. It was steered with something looking like a game consol. Novanta was one of the 79 prototypes sold off 2015 by the receiver.The very last trace of the Novanta was a one metre long design model, sold in 2018. Price: 3 700 SEK.
SWEET SCOOTER AND A BABY RACER The most skilful pen was the one of famed illustrator and designer Sixten Sason. In the 1940s, he contributed his imaginative ideas of the future to popular motoring and technological magazines. It could be anything from off-road vehicles to super-sonic aircrafts. In 1943, Sason presented his vision of a ”peace car with sporting character.” He also designed a 170 kph midget racer. It had a basket weave seat to save weight! When midget car racing was gone, he came up with a visionary idea of an electric motor scooter. As early as 1939, Sason offered his design to an undisclosed company but it never came to reality.
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DESIRABLE EXTRAS
CARS ARE SOFT
The 1965 Saab accessory catalogue, well really a folder, offered a collapsible trailer and a made-to-measure inflatable mattress for the 95. Less expensive was a delta finned end for the exhaust pipe. It wasn’t just the aero feel that made it desirable, the elegant chromed accessory was functional too. Its form forced the exhaust smoke downwards, preventing oil stains on the chromed bumper.
Bumpers giving away when hit were just the beginning, what if the whole front could ? A collapsible front was tested but was ditched because of production difficulties. Colour matching was a problem and there was also a risk of melting in hot climates. When introduced, the 900 had an ordinary sheet metal front end.
ORIO STORES IN NYKÖPING When Saab Automobile went bankrupt, Saab enthusiasts all over the world feared that the supply of spare parts would be difficult or erratic. To redress the situation, the Swedish government owned Saab Automobile Parts took the responsibility for storing and supplying spare parts. Later, this was taken over by a company called Orio AB. Orio is responsible for storing, sales and distribution of Saab Original spares and accessories. Delieveries are made to authorised Saab Service and Parts Centres all over the world. Arnö, close to Nyköping, had for a long time been home to Saab’s central spares warehouse and it s still there, now run by Orio. There are more than 50 000 spare parts in store. Loaded with
parts, 50 large trucks go out everyday to serve the global market. Seven years after the bankruptcy, it is less easy to keep the business viable. Orio is constantly looking for new ways to help keeping Saabs on the road. They have launched the concept Parts for Life which means a life-long warranty on selected original parts bought from the Saab Service Centres asociated with Orio. -The response is very favourable from both Saab owners and the Saab Service Centres, Alan Ludwell says, He is the head of Orio Sweden. Read more about Orio at www.orio.se
CLEAR VISION
NORDIC CLUB LIFE If you own a classic car, club membership is a good idea. Members freely exchange advice and hardto-get parts are available. Favourable insurance rates are offered. At club events new friendships are forged. There are Saab Clubs all over the world. These are the Saab Clubs in the Nordic countries. Svenska Saabklubben – The Swedish Saab Club with more than 4 000 members. There are many local sections in Sweden. All Saab models are welcome. saabklubben.se Östgöta Saab-klubb is for local owners of early Saab models. ostgotasaabklubb.com Club Sonett Sweden welcomes all enthusiasts of the Sonett. It has about 400 members. sonettclub.se
Saab Turbo Club Sweden has close to 2 000 members who get their kick from the turbo boost. saabturboclub.com Saab-klubben is the oldest club in Denmark for Saab en thusiasts. saabentusiasten.dk Saab Klub Danmark was founded in 1992. saabklubdanmark.dk Suomen Saab-klubi numbers 4000 members and welcomes all Saab models. www.saabclub.fi
Saab Asyl is a Danish internet club for enthusiasts of all Saab models. saabasyl.dk Gammalsaabens Venner is a Norwegian club welcoming all Saab enthusiasts. gsv.no Saab Turbo Club is a Norwegian club that despite its name is open to all Saab enthusiasts. www.saabturboclub.net
In September 1970 when the 1971 models were introduced, Saab had an ace up its sleeve – a global first as standard equipment. Headlamp wipers! An innovation of great practical value for Swedish motorists. No longer did one have to stop in bad weather to clean the headlamps. It had been a short period between idea and implementation – four years. It was rumoured that Prince Bertil – the car enthusiast of the Royal Court – had come up with the idea. The design was well thought out. The headlamp wipers had a common motor enabling 40 strokes a minute. The washer fluid tank was enlarged to three litres. To demonstrate the new feature, a dirt spray aerosol was developed but it did not have to be used much because this Saab first got a lot of free publicity all over the world. Volvo soon followed and in 1975 headlamp wipers were made obligatory in Sweden. CARL LEGELIUS
SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 27
FINDING FINS IN A NEW SAAB BOOK The history of Saab cars is usually emphasizing the cars and important, almost sacred persons, mostly engineers, designers and rally drivers. A few names come up all the time but seldom new knowledge and facts. It is with curiousity one opens a new book titled ”SAAB, We did it!” The authors are Gunnar Larsson and Gunnar Johansson, The book is mostly about a third person also called Gunnar – surname Ljungström, the real giant of the Saab story. He was the engineer put in charge of starting car making in the aviation company. Ljungström came from a family of inventors and genial researchers. His work to create what came to be the Saab 92 is ripe with anecdots. In the book by the two Gunnars, there is a very detailed and well researched account of the process and the people involved.
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Gunnar Larsson himself worked for a time for Ljungström and with his colleague Gunnar Johansson, he tells the story about Ljungström and the team responsible for the earliest cars and also about those who designed later models. Saab is a company that never forgets trusted employees of the past. For the already convinced, it is like being invited to a company staff party. New angles are offered on the exciting pioneer years of car making. Focus is on key persons. Ljungström is eager to acknowledge the efforts of his team, as shown by its title – We dit it! In the book, there are previously unpublished photos and drawings – sacred memories! The private colour photos of the Saab 92001 could only be topped by, let’s say, drawings of it with a dorsal fin. Like a Tatra! Further on in the book, there is actually one
such drawing. Driven by an ambition to create a hypermodern, streamlined car, Saab and the Royal Technical College did some serious research. Still, the roof fin never made it past the drawing board. But it remains as one more aspect of the fantastic history of Saab where science and streamline romantics merged to a magnificient whole. Thank you, Gunnar, Gunnar and Gunnar! The book, written in English, is available at the Saab Museum Shop: shop.saabcarmuseum.com. Price 345 SEK, p&p extra.
CLAES JOHANSSON
! S T S O C D A E H R E V O LOW
s. t pampered Saab os m e th ct fe af n it. headlining ca how to deal with s A sadly drooping ow sh e ll Ju r xe r fi Our favourite ca TEXT & PHOTO
SSON
LARS JULLE OLOF
N
o Saab 99, 900 or 9000 is immune from this disease. It is due to the design. The headlining has two layers, cloth on foam rubber, and is glued on to a fibre board shaped to fit the underside of the roof. In time the glue dries out, causing the unsightly drooping. The only effective remedy is to rip out the old headlining and glue on new material.
step Step-by-
2
1 It is a lot easier to remove the complete headlining panel of a Combi Coupe than of a 4-door sedan, which requires the removal of either the windshield or the rear window. In a two- door sedan, the headlining can by wriggled out through a door if one of the front seats has first been removed. Be careful not to break the fibre board.
5 I brush the polyester on to the surface of the fibre board and then cover it with a fibreglass net that I press on with a brush and more polyester. All air pockets must be removed. When hardened, it is cleaned with a brush.
6 I roll out the new fabric to check that there is enough of it for the job.I use 3M glue spray. It is a good idea to split the job in one half at a time. A thin layer of glue is sprayed on both surfaces.
With the inner roof on flat area, the old linings are removed. It is not difficult but the foam rubber layer does not come off readily. Rip it off and scrape the surface with a knife and a stiff brush. Finally, even out the surface with K-40 abrasive paper.
7 I fold the fabric back and press it on by hand. Where the roof is indented at the rear of sliding roof, it is very important to begin in the middle at the deepest point, otherwise the fabric will not suffice for the whole area.
3 Often, the fibre board has cracks, some caused when it was taken out. They must be attended to. Each split weakens the board, which wasn’t very strong even when new.
8 The procedure is the same at the front edge of the roof. When the glue has set, I stretch and fold the fabric over the edges and then tack it on.
4 With polyester and glass fibre nets, it is quite simple to make lasting repairs. As per the instructions, I carefully prepare the polyester in a well ventilated area. Beware, the fumes of hardening polyester are not healthy.
9 Done! I had refrained from cutting the fabric open for the sun roof before fitting the new head lining. A few weeks of temperature variations will cause the fabric to smooth out and adapt to the roof-top shape. SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 29
INSTANT COFFE
Coffee is the car driver’s turbo boost. Kahl Coffee Company has created Automatic Performance Coffee, only available at the Saab Museum. Price: 80 SEK
DRESS ACCORDINGLY Three smart leisure shirts in great colours. Choose between 283, Turbo or It’s my Saab. Price: 325 SEK
OBJECTS OF CHOICE
Museum shops can be rather dull.The Saab one is not. It has no large budget but great exhibits and interesting things to sell. At your first visit, you’re wishing that you had come sooner. TEXT FREDRIK NYBLAD PHOTO SIMON HAMELIUS
SHINING SAAB Key fob of well known shape, with front and rear lamps lighting up. Price: 140 SEK
REV IT UP! There are many watches .in the style of dials of different cars, but there are few as attractive as the one looking like a 99EMS rev counter. Price: 1 390 SEK
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PRESTIGE LUGGAGE Bags that look good on the right front seat. Isn’t there one for the owner of a two-stroker too? Price: 350 SEK
SAAB MUGS
Coffee mugs for Saab connoisseurs. What does 283 stand for? Why is the white mug turned upside down? What did the Saab Sport side strips look like? Price: 90 SEK
CLASSIC LITERATURE What about ” How to get the best out of my Saab” . Recently reprinted in Swedish as well as in English. The other book is about the demise of Saab, at present only available in Swedish. Price: 290/150 SEK
FAST WRITING Swedish made Ballograf Epoca ballpoints are manufactured in Västra Frölunda, Gothenburg, and are available in two versions – Turbo Edition and Sport&Rally. Price: 80 SEK
KNOCK SENSORS A Turbo cap will protect your personal cylinder head from being knocked out by hot sun-rays. Price: 150 SEK
TRUE MODELS So far there are only four 1/43 Saab models, all of them very well made. Our favourite: 99 GL -75. Price: 650 SEK
You can find this stuff at the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan or: www.shop.saabcarmuseum.com. Please note that prices and stock may vary.
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Guru
SAAB SPARES FOR SALE The Swedish Saab Club runs its own shop. It is situated in Skattkärr, close to Karlstad. The customers are Saab enthusiasts from all over the world. Here they can buy otherwise hard to get parts. TEXT & PHOTO CLAES JOHANSSON
A
couple of years ago, a crisis hit the Swedish Saab Car Club. It was about the continued existence of the club’s spares inventory. After a lively debate at the annual meeting, the majority decided that the club should continue and improve the spares service for its members. It had been running more or less satisfactorily for over 30 years – now was the time for a new beginning. One dark winter evening, we park outside the warehouse in Skattkärr not far from the
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city of Karlstad. We are slightly embarrassed as we don’t arrive in a Saab. But we are comforted when spotting the sleek silhouette of a classic 900 in the shadows of the impressive gates. A dense Saab fragrance meets the visitors. Everything in perfect order, a very promising early impression. It isn’t posh, rather cosy in a rational way. An extension will soon be made, the parts inventory is growing. One more load of original spare parts has just been saved from scrapping and is about to be sorted and stored. The Club has recovered and it is now better
run than ever. Proof is the parts dispatch desk. Today, there is one more exhaust system for a two-stroker going out. Some wear parts for a 9000. And a complete set of rubber hoses for a V4, one of the top sellers. Floor carpets made to original specifications are also a smash hit. Saab coffee mugs and T-shirts are big sellers and once in a while, a customer will discover a bonus of some candy in the package. The annual turn over is around three million SEK. Looking around, you quickly focus on a stack of boxes and cartons. Are they? No, they are not the beautiful factory originals. The Club has had made its own version of the iconic package material. It is coloured yellow, white and blue. Looking closer, one notices that the text is not ”Use Original Saab Spares” as on the factory packaging. Instead it reads ”Svenska Saabklubben Reservdelar”. A club that concerned about such details earns respect. It is a deep understanding that they do not just flog metal and plastic objects. They deal in something much bigger. It is about care and life supporting actions in favour of a marque, a family, a spirit. – We are all a bit infected with the Saab Spirit, Janne Karlsson smilingly admits. He and his
Finding a manufacturer willing to tool up for a small number of special parts, is often impossible
Nice little labels reaching out to the whole world. In Argentina, there are just three Saab 900 Turbos and they keep running thanks to the Swedish Saab Club. There are customers in Equador, India and Japan. Still. 75 percent of parts sold are shipped within Sweden.
Niklas, Jan and Helena are sharing the same surname, Karlsson. A tight and knowledgable team at the Saab parts inventory.
wife Helena and nephew Niklas are running the Saab store for the club. They are handling about 7 500 part numbers and 140 000 articles. Each month, they issue 550 invoices to buyers. You must be a club member to buy from the store but you can join the club at your first order. The store is always on-line. Orders are also accepted by mail and on the phone. Visitors are welcome, subject to appointment and only Tuesdays through Thursdays. The spares troika often bring their sales tent with popular spares to club events.They like meeting club members irl to get feed back and to find out if there is sufficient demand to get out of stock parts back in production again. They are also eager to hear about any NOS parts stashed away somewhere. Occasionally, the Saab store arranges jumble sales of its own on the tarmac area outside the shop. Usually it turns into quite a party. NOS parts are 70 percent of the Saab Store inventory. Most of them are from former Saab dealers and other companies, some from private persons. Used parts are about 10 percent and the remaining 20 percent new parts that the club is having made. Of the members’ annual fees, one part is used for financing new production tools
for hard to get spares. NOS parts are bound to run out. The next project is the mid section of the bumpers of 93 and 96 short nose. Initial investment will be about 100 000 SEK. Our goal is to get up to the level of the Volvo clubs. But that won’t happen soon, Janne Karlsson admits. Finding a manufacturer willing to tool up for a small number of special parts, is often impossible. The fact that Saab at the end thoroughly scrapped most of the tooling doesn’t help. – I was ecstatic when I located the German sub-supplier of the shiny mouldings of the 900 bumpers. They are in great demand. At first we were told that they could produce 10 000 meters, but soon after they realized that Saab had requested the return of the tools to scrap them. That’s how it has been all the time, Jan says. The club shop is a bit like an oasis in a spare parts desert. Saab is not like Volkswagen, Volvo or Chevrolet. Enthusiasts from the VW scene joining Saab attracted by the prices and great characteristics of the cars, are appalled when they realize how weak the spares supply is. There are not really any professional companies catering for Saab classic models. Wear parts are usually obtainable, but if you are looking for instance for upholstery fabrics, chrome mouldings and exterior panels, you
need to join private networks and/or constantly scan the Internet. – There is a great demand for doors and wings/fenders, We know exactly how new sheet metal panels could be manufactured but the tooling would cost us five million crowns. That very few parts have been remanufactured is largely because second hand car values have been very low. The prices are now rising quickly and steadily for GT, Sport, Monte Carlo,Turbo and Aero models. The basic models are bound to follow. With higher car values, the demand for parts will increase and people will be willing to pay more for them.This will hopefully make it financially feasible for the club to have more sheet metal parts remanufactured. After having leafed through a mesmerizing binder of authentic 1950s interior fabric patterns (re-manufacturing starts soon) and examined interior cardboard sheets (re-manufacturing soon too), I stroll past a shelf with someting shiny – a 92 bonnet badge! Overcome with emotions, I quite shyly stutters that we are actually searching for one for my – yes – Project 93. It takes only a second before I have it in my hand as a gift. I gratefully hug Janne. The Saab spirit is for real. THE LATEST THREE SALES Nut and washer kit, 93. Master cylinder overhaul kit, 96. Wing piping set, 96 THREE STRONG TRENDS 900 old generation (OG) is fast becoming popular 92 has recently gone from forgotten to sought after. 99 is still quite forgotten MOST SOUGHT AFTER Gasket kits for 2-strokers. Fenders/wings for short nose FIND IT Svenska Saabklubbens reservdelslager Strandhemsvägen 3, SE656 71 Skattkärr mail: reservdelar@saabklubben.se
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Guru
Dressed in his neat Saab overall, Graham Macdonald receives you with a friendly smile. In the UK, Saab is assocated with rallying to a much larger degree than in Sweden.
SIMULTANEOUSLY IN BROMYARD In Sweden, there are quite a lot of old Saabs still on the road. But there is no large national specialist. In Britain, it’s quite the opposite. TEXT & PHOTO CARL LEGELIUS
T
here are only about one hundred two-stroke Saabs running on UK roads, but that suffices to keep a Saab specialist busy. Graham Macdonald also works on the V4, 99 and 900, but it was with the two-strokers everything started. – My dad bought his first Saab in 1963, Graham says when we visit him in his garage in south west England, Graham laughs a lot and his cheerfulness is catching on. He is a very positive person in his neat Saab overalls. His father was keen on rallying and Erik Carlsson’s Saab victories aroused his interest in the make so he bought one. It was one of the first four-speeders in the UK. Also, it came out of a small series of specials with 60 bhp engine. It was further improved by fitting sports exhaust and stiffer shock absorbers. Sometimes Graham’s father participated in local rallyes and gymkhanas.
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If you saw another Saab on the road, you always waved cheerfully, Graham smilingly says. There were special bounds between Saab drivers. Just after leaving school, Graham began working on cars. In 1986, he started to focus on classic cars. – It all started after I had been in touch with the well-known motoring journalist Lindsay Porter. We worked together on many interesting projects. One such was doing the first MGB that had a brand new body. A couple of years later, Graham started a business of his own, specializing in his favourite make. He is now very well known in the UK Saab fraternity and accepts to take on almost everything from routine service to full restorations. He also prepares cars for rallying. – Generally, I do everything myself except re-chroming and upholstery. It is more common
than not that body parts are unavailable so I have to do a lot sheet metal forming and other repairs. The Saab Shop is also having certain spares manufactured, among them rear upper spring mounts and cooling system hoses. – Our hoses are silicon and last for ever, Graham confidently says. Because they are wrapped just like the originals, they fit in really well. Our spring mounts are in aluminium and will not corrode away like the originals did. Graham is also having rubber seals for windshields and rear windows remanufactured. Models covered are 93, 95 and 96 up to 1971. Also, he has a kit adapting modern spark plugs for use in the two-strokers. Other parts are being developed. – Each time I’m restoring a Saab, I discover new problems that I learn from. Saabs more recent than the first generation 900 are of no interest to Graham. He would rather work on other makes instead. In the garage there is a Ford Capri about to be re-born and in a far corner a VW is sighted. Outside the garage, one of Graham’s own cars is parked, a 96 V4 prepared for serious rallying. A friend built it with parts and accessories procured by Graham. When the car was put on sale, Graham couldn’t resist buying it. – I have four cars that I use alternately, mostly depending on the season, Graham says, two are Saabs and two are – Volvos!
FIND IT The Saab Shop Graham Macdonald Unit 7, Linton Trading Estate Worcester Road, Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK www.thesaabshop.co.uk
Advertisement from: Road & Track 1974
The bridges of
Masonite
County Masonite was the American miracle building board that Swedes came to love for everything from ceilings to a mail order canoe called Urca. We travel to the Swedish heartland of Masonite in a car that has itself become an industrial memorial. TEXT & PHOTO CLAES JOHANSSON
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SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 37
I
n the mid-19th century, a new kind of investors arrived in the remote Nordmaling areas. They were attracted by the dormant wealth of the rich forests. The rivers were soon full of timber floating down from the large woods upstream and new smoke stacks very much taller than the funnels of the old iron melting furnaces rose in the sky. In twenty years, timber products’ share of Swedish exports rose from 15 to 51 percent. This resulted in a tremendous economic transformation over a generation or two but still without much affecting the life of people in general, except possibly when there was a new head of the local industry. On the land of farmers and fishermen at Rundvik, there was erected in1863 an imposing steam powered timber plant by industrialists of the Wikström family from Stockholm. A new industry was born alongside the traditional metal mills manufacturing chains and steel wheels. Rundvik soon adapted its pace to the noisy new saw mill. That’s where we are going. Soon. What nobody then knew was that there was a new golden age about to dawn in the sleeping forests. An unknown material would bring the small Rundvik community fame and fortune. It was the result of experiments, at first believed unsuccessful, performed by one William H. Mason in the vicinity of New Orleans. Also of importance were the quite radical, but still substantial ideas of future low cost houses and buildings.
On a perfect exploration tour, we should of course have arrived from the Öre River or the Bothnian Sea in an R 641 Amphibian Pedal Car made according to drawings bought mail-order from the long defunct Hobby Store. We would cruise at 5 to 6 knots, perhaps slightly more, completely encased in Masonite, and able to closely study from below the three mighty sister bridges constructed in steel and concrete. That would have been something. The Tallberg bridges! Three heavy concrete constructions some 30 kilometres from Rundvik, having carried on its fundaments millions of tons of refined forest products. It should be noted that the drawings of a pedal powered floating car was the best feature of the Hobby Store’s 1945 mail-order catalogue, one of eight do it
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Rundvik is kept in suspense. Will there again be work in the old mill? Jonas Fröberg sadly concludes that a great industrial era has come to an end. Once great Swedish achievements are reduced to industrial memorials; Saab and Masonite. How could this happen?
Carefully and high over the dark forest river, we softly roll along the narrow railroad bridge yourself drawings for constructions in Masonite. Not even the fact that it had seats for four and could be converted into a bed for two, did make the drawings worth the steep price, 26 crowns. The heydays of this amphibian car soon ended. There was also the children’s boat Tommy and of course the immortal Masonite canoe Urca. We have one strapped to the roof of the Saab. A real, true Urca, well made in someone’s spare time and generously lent by the Masonite Museum in Rundvik. It fits like a sports cap on the roof of our raspberry red 1962 Saab 95. The combo is not only visually agreeable, the shadow of the canoe on the low-set windscreen puts us in a suitable, slightly distant mood. Carefully and high over the dark forest river, we softly roll along the narrow railroad bridge with its brave parabolic arches, constructed in 1891. It is a sensation felt in the whole body. There are actually three bridges and it goes without saying that the newest one is really ugly, a stiff concrete shape built in 1994 to carry the latest version of trunk rail traffic. In the middle there is a sleeping beauty with fundaments and pillars in a somewhat coarse concrete and dating from 1919. The rails are left intact and there is a very obvious sneak through under the surrounding fence. Perfect for daring walks with the dog.
Rewarding outdoor leisure time in Västerbotten: The Saab 95 and a canoe constructed in genuine Masonite board from Rundvik with stem and stern in crude birchwood. Built in 1959 by a local, Ulf Hahlin.
The owner of the Saab, Anders Linné, is our local and very knowledgeable guide, grown up as he is in Nordmaling. Considering the theme of this assignment, our expedition force is joined by a third participant, the author and journalist Jonas Fröberg. He is an acknowledged Masonite expert and connoisseur, having authored two books on the subject. He grew up in a house at Masonite Road in Rundvik. The problem is that he has made himself invisible and Anders and I have given up waiting for him. Like a satellite, Jonas apparently circles around our main trace in his own Saab 900 Turbo. Not much to be said about that. Anders was also born and bred here and retains an enviable relation of both closeness and distance to his home town. Jonas now lives in Stockholm and I recognize the restlessness of brief returns, when you must visit mother and say hello to old friends. An emotional challenge. But there is something else. The more we talk about old times in this small place
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Although I am supposed to be some sort of an expert, I cannot make it run smoothly
and its once very important masonite mill, the sadder Jonas gets when he has finally joined us again. It is a sorrow return for him. The factory his father worked in and where he himself one summer earned his first wages, is bankrupt. Our visit coincides with the final steps of a gigantic dismantling of the factory machinery to be shipped to Thailand, where by the way, but still important, its car mad King drove a Saab in the 1960s. It is still the end. But before that, we have to drive on the roads around Nyåker. They are quite dull, but a drive in a Saab is always enjoyable. In the middle of the small, run-down community is a railway station, a pleasant but slightly deteriorating building in wood with steel sheet roofing. On October 15,1929, the first consign ment of Rundvik masonite boards was sent out from here. Of course, we want to visit. For the uninitiated, getting the Saab rolling is problematic. With wear in drive shafts and suspension joints, it is easy to provoke the Saab Spastic Mode. Although I am supposed to be some sort of an expert, I cannot make it run smoothly. I am also unable to select second gear, something Anders says no one has ever failed to before. I blame my long legs and that the seat cannot be pushed back far enough for me. Old cars are individuals, particularly two-stroke Saabs. When up to speed, the 95 is purring like only a Saab can, turbine-smooth in low flight. Driving it feels like a shot in the arm for an ageing Saab addict. It is the soft-nosed 95 that more than any other Saab model embodies the off-beat nature of Saab cars, the aircraft genetics, the no-nonsense appearance, the somewhat yacht-inspired roof line and the nothing less than stylized jet turbine outlets at the rear. (The author is referring to the round tail-lights, translator's remark). Rounded front, stabilizing fins at the rear. In this little estate car, the designer Sixten Sason managed to blend
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American charm with some Swedish practicality. We can only guess what he might have thought of rubber bumpers looking like oil platforms and salad bowl front flashers like the last cars had before the sad end on February 23, 1978. Only the scene tricks of a magician could generate more amazement than seven persons somehow cramming themselves into a Saab 95 and actually survive in there. For a short while at least and with sea sick pills at hand. With the rear seat folded, the cargo space was no less than 1100 litres. Saab publicity claimed that two people could sleep in there, provided they were no taller than 160 cm. If the front seats were moved as far forward as possible, a double bed was created, 205 cm long, but as it was only 95 cm wide, two sleepers would preferrably have exchanged vows. A special mattress to fit the cargo area was a Saab original accessory. Like the three cylinder engine, the rear hatch door – the first years made of aluminium – was perfectly balanced and designed as a protection should luggage be loaded in rain. With the noise of the saw mill in the background, we trace our way through the tree-lined road passing the old tennis court, where the last game is long forgotten. We stop outside the company restaurant in Rundvik. The building is under restoration with new exterior panels just as the originals. It is not a remarkable building to look at. Inside it is another story. It dates
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from 1948 and was home to the company mess and hotel until 1970, which was the peak year with a total production of 70 300 tons of the brown fibre boards. Entering, we feel a strong sense of the past. The curtains are drawn. These are rooms to be in, not attempting to explain or even to take pictures of. Taken piece by piece, the furniture could easily be overlooked in an antique store. But here in its proper place, it creates with the original paint colours and wallpapers an impression of what the best and most tasteful Swedish interior decorators could achieve in the late 1940s. The emphasis was on comfort and tradition, furniture by Carl Malmström and textiles by Märta Måås Fjetterström. It is a miracle that the curse of glass fibre repairs has been prevented and that the furniture has been preserved. Much of it had been scattered and moved to other buildings, but now replaced. Carpets that would fetch huge prices at international auctions were found in a dark closet. More fascinating are perhaps the mix of different periods. Large brass lamps and a bulbous set of a sofa and chairs in burgundy leather dominates in front of the fireplace. The kitchen is quite outlandish, a brown and orange 1970s explosion. Over the sink, there are fake tiles in brown Masonite. We listen to an old grammophone record and go into some sort of trance. Then we step down into the basement. In an archive we discover important documents. Confirmations of deliveries to Saab in the 1960s, 500 ton a year, 2.5 mm extra strong special masonite to be used for interior door panels and on the floor. Mindboggling! Jonas has borrowed the key to the factory gate. To drive
a Saab into the deserted grounds of the Masonite factory confirms that nothing at all can ever be taken for granted, especially not what is large and mighty. The enormous halls are eerily empty. Jonas focuses on quite different things than Anders and I do. For his inner eyes, he sees the people having worked here. He knows their names and their history, hears the noise and feels the strain in their limbs. The pregnant, somewhat sweetish smell does not escape any of us. We are struck by the general devastation and the strong speleological urge usually felt when visiting deserted industrial facilities. Finally, we have reached the fundaments of the peculiar cannons, William Horatio Mason’s genial invention. To be able to have at least some understanding of the process, lignin must be understood. It is the natural glue of the growing tree. It made the Urca canoe on the Saab’s roof possible as well as thousands of other products. It has been said that just one molecule can
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In the factory canteen of the guest-house of the Masonite factory, the 1940s meet the 1970s.
The two-stroke engine pulls resolutely. We rush through the mill gates, changing to second, third and fourth
Hundreds of rubber stamps were found in a corner of the closed-down Masonite factory. Masonite made Rundvik flourish and helped to modernize Sweden.
run from the roots to the top of the tree. In paper making, lignin is carefully removed, but it was paper that Mason desired to produce out of residual wood chips from saw mills. Mason, who had worked with Thomas Alva Edison and at GM developing automatic transmissions, had a small pressure chamber made. He loaded it with moistened wood chips. The idea was to quickly extract the fibres for the purpose of creating a short cut in paper making. The pressure was increased with a blowlamp and when a preset pressure was reached, a steel plug was fired like a cannon shot penetrating the pressure chamber, resulting in an immediate pressure drop. But the fibres remained stiff and thus unsuitable for paper. Instead, the idea came up to use the process to make porous boards drying slowly in hot air chambers. At one occasion, Mason wanted to speed up the drying of a sample and processed it in a steam heated press. Now the lignin really woke up. He shut off the steam, increased the pressure on the sample and left to have lunch. What he didn’t know was that one defective valve failed to turn the heat down. His lunch dessert that day was really something – a hard and absolutely flat board. After this, progress was very fast. World patents on the steam separation and hot pressing were granted in 1926. This lead to the business idea of granting licenses to saw mills all over the world, provided they were distant enough to each other so as not to compete. For Sweden and in particular Rundvik, Masonite
arrived at the right moment. The management of the Nordmaling Steam Saw Mill had read about Mason’s inventions and sent a representative on a steam ship to America. In his suitcase he carried samples
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of Nordmaling wood.The fibres of trees in northern Sweden proved to produce stronger Masonite in a lighter shade. A contract was signed and a factory was swiftly built. In the middle, the secret cannons were placed. Despite a royalty of 0.12 crown for each square metre produced, profits were certain as the raw material was free. When the mill was ready by summer 1929 and the cannons and heat presses with some difficulties run in for production, the new advanced material was already a success. In the following year, Masonite earned a central role at the Stockholm Exhibition as the theme was functionalism with visions of bent and smooth facades that happened to be simple to achieve in Masonite. There was something unrecognizable, almost magic about the brown boards seemingly directing architecture on to new venues. The secrecy at the factory was on a very high level. In some departments, only non-drinkers were hired to prevent diclosure of sensitive information. Mason’s method of heat pressing was refused patent protection in Sweden. Soon there were new methods evolved to utilize tree fibres. A new industry was born and there were at one time as many as 18 manufacturers of fibre boards for the Swedish modernisation project. There were innumerous multi-panelled doors and ribbed wall panels to be made smooth and
flat by nailing on sheets of Masonite and then painted. The trade mark Masonite was at risk of becoming generic, like later Vespa and Jeep. But there was a difference between Masonite and the imitations. The quality produced by Rundvik was superior and there were new special products all the time, oil hardened Masonite, perforated Masonite, patterned Masonite, Masonite looking like tiles or parquet. We enter the old laboratory. The smell of chemicals is still lingering in the air. Most of the equipment has been shipped to the other side of the globe, but it is still easy to imagine how a new kind of people once came to Rundvik, with university degrees, wearing white coats and given impressive job titles. Rundvik became a micro-Sweden where the three classes of society worked together in harmony. – In particular, I remember that at the factory work shift changes, there were long rows of cyclists weaving like snakes into Rundvik, Lennart Jonsson says. He is in charge of the Masonite Museum in the village and his whole life has been associated with the factory. It lasted until 2011. The raw material was not free anymore, wood chips now had a market for heating. There had been huge energy cost increases. The whole area was dramatically affected and there were no new investors coming to the rescue.
Masonite wasn’t suitable for DIY cycle cars. In Hobby-Förlaget’s classic drawings and DIY instructions of the Cyclecar Phantom, Masonite wasn’t mentioned. Plywood or canvas was preferred for covering the structure. Still, Lennart Forsberg in Mo used masonite when he built a boat-tail for his 1932 Ford V8 racer. A good job! The co-driver’s name is Kalle Nordström.
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Made in Rundvik, Ångermanland. Formats and destinations were stamped for identification.
Rundvik Masonite and old Saabs belong to times long gone.That does not much disturb us right now. The realities of the past have become interesting memories but also pregnant tools to allow us to describe and hopefully to understand what went on before our time. The two-stroke engine pulls resolutely. We rush through the mill gates, changing to second, third and fourth. The 95 was strangely enough the first Saab model with a four-speed gearbox. Not even the hyper-sporting 93GT750 had the fourth speed that customers in that segment were used to. They were expected to buy whatever Saab offered. We drive to the museum in the old school building, where Lennart shows examples of what Masonite is all about. The material is very much associated with modernity, but at the same time with low status objects like home made picture frames and fake fire places. The identity and reputation of Masonite has varied over time and with personal taste. Real, fake, rational, ugly ...but the material has always been there, easy to work with and to adapt. It is bendable if sprayed with water, a knowledge that seems to have been forgotten over time. My know-it-all self can not be stopped when I read a text about the cycle cars of the 1940s. As nicely as possible, I just have to say that the cycle car Phantom and its followers
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were not intended to be built in Masonite, it is just a popular myth. Because of its density, masonite was unsuitable for the light weight ideals of the post order legends. They used fabric painted for a bit more strength or thin veneer. In the "Year of Design", 2005, one obvious but seldom mentioned aspect was high-lighted – how attractive the masonite surface really is. Warm honey hue, sensually smoth but like rough skin on the back side, called vira. Masonite was for a short while hipsters’ choice. The trendy architect Thomas Sandell designed an arched leisure hut in Masonite as homage to popular efforts of the 1930s and 1940s. The most creddy designer at present, Uglycute, created in masonite a series of neosimple furniture. But stools for the minimal flats of southern Stockhom didn’t sell volumes, neither did birdnests. Unwillingly, we unload the canoe from the Saab roof, it looked great there. We return to the factory one last time. In the dusk we climb the winding staircases to get up on the roof. In silence, we stand there as the night magnificently rolls in. We are full of impressions. Around us is a multitude of pipes. Pipes no longer connected to the complex masonite machinery several stories below us. Down there, far away, is a glimpse of the Saab. The last sun ray is reflected in the bright taillight surrounds and two chrome embellished tail fins.
TRAVEL COMPANION SAAB 95 1962 Initially, it could not have been easy to promote the new 95 in the US. A small car with a lawn mower motor needing to be filled with gas AND oil. But the job had to be done. "Look at it, it is not huge, wide or mostly fenders and glass. By those standards it’s not particularly beautiful. You might call it European or Swedish, or as we say ”good-looking”. For unknown reasons, the admen thought the car would appeal to liquor store owners and rural mailmen. The nice little Saab 95 belonging to Anders Linné greets us freshly serviced and fitted with brand new chromium embellishments. Silver paint is so degrading. The Saab is very eager and starts at first try. All the 38 horses are present. With sensitive feet on the gas, it accelerates smoothly and nicely. Someone trying a two-stroke Saab for the first time will be surprised at the strong low revs pull of the engine and the precise road manners and sharp steering responses. As recently as the mid-90s, this Saab was still in regular use having had five or six owners, among them a couple of well known Saab enthusiasts. One of them got the car as payment for a repair its owner couldn’t afford.
THIS WAS OUR ROUTE
NYÅKER
2
1 RUNDVIK
OLOFSFORS
3
varken Södra K
1. OLOFSFORS BRUK Intriguing mill in perfect state of preservation. It was powered by three water mills in its active period from 1762 to the 1950s. It now offers exhibitions, sales of building restoration tools and materials, a museum, an art gallery and coffee shops. There is a restaurant in the mansion house. Ask for a table from which you can admire the Masonite trade mark on a woven wall tapestry. www.olofsforsbruk.nu
2. TALLBERGSBROARNA Solid Swedish engineering efforts. Bridges of three different periods crossing the Öre River. The iron bridge dating from 1861 is still the most
impressive. It is four kilometres away from Nyåker. You haven’t read it here, but it is said that one can sneak out on the middle bridge for a thrill and to really take in the scenery. www.visitumea.se
University students added small flowers to the heavy hot pressing tooling, the result being small and quite moving little pieces of art. More on www.rundvik.net/masonite.html
3. THE MASONITE MUSEUM
4. ACQUIRE A PIECE OF HISTORY IN RUNDVIK
Canoes and Saab interior door panels. A lot of things have been made from the wonder Masonite board that could replace anything from steel sheets to marble. On show are also some artefacts of the 2005 Design Year when many new ideas of Masonite applications came up. To some extent, it was a strained meeting between established industry and new low-key thinking. It became obvious when Stockholm Arts and Craft
buy a house panelled in Masonite. The building antiquarian in at least one Swedish province has come to realize that Masonite buildings should be on the preservation list. www.byggnadsvard.se.
Masonite is often considered by building antiquarians as awful, applied as it frequently was to conceal the style and embellishments of past periods. Today, Masonite as a building material is not held in high regard. It should be. Particularly in Rundvik, there are buildings with Masonite period material left intact. If you desire to fulfil your building preservation ambitions at a reasonable cost,
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A MORE STYLISH SONETT There was a noticeable sense of quick fix when the Sonett II was introduced in 1966 and even more so when it got the V4 engine. It could have been a different and better looking car, as proven by unique design sketches and finished drawings signed by Bjรถrn Karlstrรถm and Gunnar A Sjรถgren. TEXT & PHOTO CLAES JOHANSSON
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A targa top may have been too much to ask of Saab, but at least they could have adopted the ribbed sills and the grille with integrated fog-lamps so nicely linking back to Sonett 1.
W Hello world! Cute and slightly chubby MFI13 with steel body. Drafted by Björn Karlström, it was put up against Catherina, the design proposed by Sixten Sason. MFI13 won and became officially a Saab.
hen in March 1966, the Saab Sonett II celebrated its international introduction at the Geneva Motor Show, an extraordinary and somewhat out-of-this-world vehicle was in the lime-light for the first time.The global quota for two-stroke, front wheel drive sports cars could be considered filled. The original Sonett was the brainchild of the Malmö Aircraft Company and the free lance designer Björn Karlström. He was almost sacked from his own project when Saab joined it after a couple of years. To a large extent, engineering and production requirements had priority. The stylists had to give in to the engineers, something Björn Karlström had to accept. All the same, the Sonett as a whole was something special. It caught on. The slender form, the sharp front, the almost non-existent rear overhang. It had a stylish boldness coming through even on the unsharp newspaper photos of the time.
Already as an early, rather rough prototype desig-
nated MFI13, it made a tremendous impression on a BBC team that as luck would have it was
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visiting Saab’s conference centre Hedenlunda in a completely different matter. Suddenly, a white low slung sports cars rolled by the cameras. Actually, it was a set-up secretly prepared by Saab PR to attract attention to the small car maker close to the arctic circle. This early success wasn’t good news to one person, the Saab designer Sixten Sason. In competition with Karlström, he had started to pen another sports car for Saab, code named Catherina. It was his personal attempt at a sports car based on standard parts, a success formula for the US market invented by British car makers. Sason was more of a visionary, Catherina was a forerunner of the 70s and it would have made an excellent stable mate of the future 99, also penned by Sason. But in the end, Saab chose to go with Karlström. The Sonett became an oddity in the Saab range
of cars but it was enthusiastically received by Saab’s US dealers. It wasn’t that they believed it would sell in great numbers, they welcomed it because it created show room traffic. Once prospects had come in to look at the sports cars, they could easily be talked into buying one of the regular Saabs that in comparison with the
A stylish profile. When still fitted with the two-stroke engine the Sonett was very close to Björn Karlström’s original styling proposals. Aircraft style front seats, yes please!
The engine and drive-gear using up little space, the platform chassis could take larger and more elaborate bodywork. In 1967 Karlström came up with a lot of re-styling proposals.
radical Sonett looked quite normal. If the salesman got as far as explaining oil mix percentage and free-wheel advantages, it often evolved into a life-long customer relation. Demand was high for small foreign sports cars
and Saab had an important and unique selling point in that the cars were designed and built by an aircraft manufacturer. The Sonett was a sound design, the components shared with the 96 were light and robust. The sturdy box section body frame with integrated roll bar was the basis for roadholding qualities few competitors could match. A glass fibre body was in the 60s still considered futuristic but detailing was not strong and finish generally low. Body accessories and general fittings were obviously not styled to fit the car, sourced as they were from general suppliers. The very fact that there were so many production compromises, actually made its style appear uncompromising. A car for a few, single-minded enthusiasts. One compromise was that the originally planned glass hatch lid was sacrificed for a crack prone fixed rear window and a letter-box slit for luggage. That killed an obvious USP. The dream of a light-weight, straightforward
and high quality, Porsche inspired sports car thus remained unfulfilled. When series production finally started at a railcar factory in Arlöv, it was like a cottage industry operation. Just 258 two-stroke Sonetts were built before the V4 was shoe-horned in to get the sales up. The new engine somewhat dulled the sharp road manners but general driveability was much improved. The V4 engineered from Ford was not famous, but a lot less scary than a two-stroke super-tuned to the same power output.
The Sonett was enthusiastically received by Saab’s US dealers. It wasn’t that they believed it would sell in great numbers, they welcomed it because it created show room traffic SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 51
In design, the Sonett II gradually moved away from the elegant sketches of Björn Karlström.“I was not consulted about the elephant ears”, he wrote in one of his many critical and finally quite discouraged letters to ASJ and Saab. He was referring to the B-post extractor vents. In the first half of 1967, Karlström submitted no less than eleven different styling suggstions for changes to the bonnet to make room for the V4 engine. No response. At the end, Saab’s unsophisticated solution was a bulge on the bonnet, designed by Gunnar A Sjögren, illustrator of Saab brochures and other sales material. It was critized by journalists as well as by customers. It really was awful.
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Karlström, at the beginning in full charge of the MFI 13 project, found it increasingly difficult to get his ideas accepted. It went as far as that Saab stopped acknowledging him as the original creator. It was the opinion of Saab that they had simply taken over an existing project and that they were not interested in cooperating with someone who had worked on it in the early stages. Karlströms was obviously frustrated and started to document all contacts, also telphone calls were recorded. It ended with threats of legal action. The famed Henning Sjöström law firm took the case and Karlström got paid what was due to him, but first and foremost his honour as a designer was restored.
Carefully, we unroll and flatten out these sacred documents on our freshly swept floor. We painfully stretch and bend over to take in what these old drawings might reveal
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The sharp front end and the cut-off rear gave the Sonett a unique and distinct style. The small and fine details unfortunately never left the drawing board.
Although he was now quite removed from his baby, he couldn’t resist now and then to pick up his pen to create new details and also all new cars. He filled several sketch binders with shapes and details, but his frustration grew. A four seater airy hatch-back pointed to the future but remained a sketch when Saab couldn’t even acknowledge the badges and emblems skilfully devised by Karlström. Gunnar A Sjögren, Saab’s in house illustrator,
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was doing much of the same thing. It was something about the Sonett’s unfinished character that triggered these two brilliant illustrators. The front was simple but cluttered up at the same time. The bumper was nothing more than a simple protective strip like caravans had, and the grille looked like something bought by mail-order from a supplier of parts for heat exchangers. The indicators varied from car to car depending on availability. The concealed round ones from BMC shelves were especially unattractive. Still, it had not taken much. Dozens of ink drawings on carton, dated March 1966 and done by Gunnar A Sjögren – GAS – show elegant solu-
tions to make the car’s bland front more interesting. Metal bumper halves, symmetric, only one tool required, an integrated aluminium grille, specially designed flashers – not from a general supplier. It would have made quite a difference just with an asymmetrically placed Saab badge and integrating the rubber bumpers. But GAS’ proposals were filed away only to be found again after the bitter end. In the darker corners of the archive, we discover three paper rolls, one metre wide and of a kind that young designers of today would ask the purpose of. In the 1960s, they were an industrial standard that in numbers and volumes set the scene in most drawing offices. And, not to be forgotten, kept a large number of errand boys busy. The sheer size of the drawing boards boasted the egos of those who on them rolled out their skilled, perhaps sometimes even beautiful designs. The eye of the beholder sharpens, but from a distance, curves and thread pitches form a rhytmical poetry recorded with the precision of a sharp needle. The drawings were done in full size! Signed by Björn Karlström. They show the body and
Gas and Karlström each continued working hard to perfect the styling. Very little could have been done to improve the final result.
Warmly, we turn over the drawing rolls to where they properly belong - the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan
the boxed platform and – in a smaller scale – a number of components. For how long have they been stashed away tightly rolled in a carton tube? Carefully, we unroll and flatten out these sacred documents on our freshly swept floor. We painfully stretch and bend over to take in what these old drawings might reveal. This is one of those rare moments of professional bliss – tactile contact with rare original documentation. Containing real and undisputable historic information. This is something else than idle scrolling and tiring screen time. It becomes evident how skilfully the box frame
was designed. It was very adaptable which facilitated the facelift Saab decided to carry out in 1970, aided by the Italian design house Sergio Coggiola. The compact drive-train assembly and the torsional stiffness of the inner structure had much earlier been considered suitable for building a light offroad vehicle for the military. When the complete face-lift proposals arrived from Italy – probably in brown cardboard tubes – Gunnar A Sjögren of Saab was given the not very enviable task to adapt the Italians’ visions to realities. He devised new front and rear sections.
The mid-section was left intact. Outer panels were made flatter, there were manual pop-up headlamps and the rear boot was accessible under a hatch window. The revised proportions of the facelift proved once again that reality is about compromises. Warmly, we turn over the drawing rolls to where
they properly belong – the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan. – Original material from the drawing board of Björn Karlström – it feels good that the museum now have it, the Intendent Peter Bäckström says. The Sonett was in its time subject to rather inconsistent development but still always full of character and charm and great fun to drive. Always embraced by a dedicated group of enthusiasts. Next time someone points out strange body denting and unsophisticated detail work of the Saab Sonett V4, it shall from now on be acknowledged that Björn Karlström and Gunnar A Sjögren did their outmost to put everything right with the extra care and attention that Saab’s small and unique sports car had rightfully deserved.
Björn Karlström was almost hyper-active. He drafted and designed for Saab, the Crescent bicycle company and the truck maker Scania.
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P O T H S I D E W S S P O P E H T F O The Volvo 240 and the Saab 900 were both made for such a long time that they were taken as granted for in Sweden as the King and the midnight sun. Both cars had their roots in the 1960s but were continously developed until they were finally cancelled, both in 1993. TEXT & PHOTO FREDRIK NYBLAD
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T
he ignition lock between the seats is as well known as the griffin badge on the steering wheel centre. When I turn the key to start the engine, it responds with the characteristic shrill exhaust sound. I sit upright and the seat is so comfortable that no distance could possibly feel too long. The large, very legible instruments confirm the impression that this car was designed first and foremost with its driver in mind. It does not only sound like a Saab, it smells like one too. The light coloured cloth interior is as smooth as can be. This fantastic 1989 Saab 900i 16 belonging to Mikael Granberg is in a condition exactly as a collector wishes for. The Volvo parked alongside the Saab is also greenish blue, but was as much an opposite as a healthy competitor of the Saab. It is actually my own 1991 GLT and it also has an upright seating position but the seat is wider and everything feels more square and much stiffer. The energetic clicking of the seat belt reminder cannot be ignored, it is only one in the cacophony of different sounds that a Volvo emits. Ritsh!, the handbrake says, Vroom! the engine fan and when selecting reverse a sharp Click! is heard. When the 80s were about to turn to the 90s,
neither the Volvo 240 nor the Saab 900 were among the most coveted cars available to people having company car privileges. They were now mostly sold to private owners and were considered very safe buys. It was quite common that people bought their third or fourth car of the same make and model. Switching between the two makes was very unusual. One was either a Volvo man or a Saab guy. Still, the two cars in some respects mirrored each other. Despite the differences in drive mode, body shape and temperament, they were subject to the same degree and frequency of development and improvements. The story begins in 1966 with the introduction of the Volvo 144. It had an all-new body but the engine and the chassis components were largely lifted from the long running Amazon or 122 series as it was called in export markets. Three years later, Saab brought out its first car in the same segment, The 99. Front wheel drive of course and the free wheel wasn’t forgotten either.
It not only sounds Saab 900, it smells Saab 900 too
In the 70s, the two Swedish car makers started
almost selfrighteously to emphazie safety but it was welcomed in the market. Saab introduced head lamp wipers and Volvo soon followed. Both makers imposed on their cars enormous
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P O T H S SWEDHI E POPS OF T The curved surface of the instrument panel was a new feature when the 99 evolved into the 900. Although an older design, it feels more modern than the one of the Volvo. The vacuum powered AC and heater switches emit characteristic whoooshing sounds – to love! Over time, both the 900 and the 240 had their rear lamps enlarged.
and quite ugly safety bumpers although not yet being required by law anywhere but in the US. When the 140 had evolved into the 240 and the 99 later became the 900, the two car builders continued parallel improvement programmes with emphasis on safety and longevity. Both cars were given longer front overhangs as more metal was supposed to improve safety in head-on collisions. The Saab also got a longer wheelbase.
FREDRIK NYBLAD VOLVO 240 GLT 1991 ”It was bought new by a lady in a Stockholm suburb. She kept it for 13 years and judging by its condition, probably only drove it in summer. When I am reading a 240 sales catalogue, I always feel an urge to buy one and a sadness that they are no longer built. But I am cheered when I remember that I own one in show room condition! Its attractive metallic paint makes a lot, it feels a lot more exclusive than if it had been white. It has only run 84 000 km.”
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When the 70s were about to turn to the 80s, something happened to the two Swedish makes, their styling became more daring and emphasis was switched from safety to performance. In 1979 Saab introduced their Turbo models and Volvo followed suit in 1981.The good times flourished. At the Geneva show in the spring of 1983, Saab introduced the 900 convertible. It was a smash hit in the USA. Volvo also created something new, the first ever massproduced station wagon with a turbo petrol engine. In the first half of the 1980s, Volvo was always
first in sales in the Swedish market but Saab wasn’t far behind. When Volvo introduced four-cylinder versions of its 700 series, the sales of the venerable 240 suffered and in 1985 it lost its position as Sweden’s top seller. At the same time, Saab introduced the 9000 and many believed that the 240 and 900 were about to be discontinued. In fact, both of them had eight more years to go and enjoyed a much longer production span than most car models do now. ”Long live the new 240”, Volvo proclaimed when introducing its 1986 models. The 240 had been given a new grille, bonnet and boot lid and had also been adorned with wide stripes on the body sides. It didn’t help sales – for the first time, the Saab 900 sold better than the Volvo 240 that despite its facelift obviously was in its final fling with fewer different models available than in previous years. Neither the diesel nor the turbo were offered in 1986. Saab also sold well outside Sweden, these were the years when the make enjoyed its best sales ever in the global markets.
– We never thought of Saab 900 as an old model, it was the best car we were able to build, says Per-Börje Elg, then responsible for Saab sales brochures, now since many years editor of Motorhistoriskt Magasin, the bimonthly magazine of a major collector car club in Sweden. With the 1987 facelift it became easier to spot if the neighbour had bought a brand new Saab, provided it wasn’t the base model which had remained unchanged. The others had been given a new grille and a more sloping bonnet. The safety bumpers were also slimmer and had a more integrated look. It was also the first year the converible was offered on the home market and it was sold out so fast that soon only orders for 1989 models could be taken. That the Volvo 240 had been made for such a very long time gradually caused problems. Quality suffered when the production tools and dies began to wear out. It affected not only pressed steel body panels but also the many cast plastic
parts. Birger Fredricson, who was in charge of quality inspections of finished cars, admits that the 240 body press tools started to look like Swiss cheese but they had to do as the 240 was soon to be discontinued in favour of new models. Saab intended to replace the 900 series with a new car sharing mechanical components with the 9000 but smaller. It was planned for market introduction in 1990, but Saab was financially in a weak position. When GM 1989 came in as owner of 50% of the company, plans were changed and the 900 continued in production. – We started to develop a replacement based on GM architecture, says Gunnar Johansson who had been in charge of the 900 project. At the same time, Volvo was busy developing the future 850 but was also working on upgrading the 700 series.The sales of the 240 were dropping, but as its investment costs were long since written off, the model remained very profitable for Volvo. In 1988 a subsidiary company was
MIKAEL GRANBERG SAAB 900 I 16 1989 ”I am the second owner, it was bought new by a lady in Gävle. Considering its condition, she can’ have used it in winter – it’s completely rust free. That’s the condition I prefer, it is like straight out of a sales catalogue, a sense I never came to experience when I was young. I also like its colour, it makes it feel exclusive in a way not possible had it been red or white. It has now clocked a total of 63 000 km.”
In 1981, the 240 first had the instrument panel that was to follow it to the end in 1993. It was square and legible. There was ample space for extra gauges and other accessories, very profitable for its makers. Veneer wood strips were also available. The base GL was in 1991 upholstered in a basic but very robust cloth . The GLT had as standard a higher quality upholstery while velour and leather were options . The cast iron 2.3 litre engine had a rudimentary diagnosis system with a flashing trouble warning light.
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P O T H S SWEDHI E POPS OF T
Designs of the 1960s adapted to the 1990s. These two models are probably the best Swedish cars ever built.
formed exclusively to promote the 240 range. – The 240 range was still highly profitable so we needed to keep focus on it, says Anna Nilsson-Ehle, the head of the 240 company in 1991-1993. We were able to implement improvements quickly at the assembly line level, we worked at lot to improve lead times. Saab didn’t go as far as creating a separate subsidiary for its long serving 900 range. They worked instead with special platform teams to supervise developments and improvements of their models. The 240 company had high ambitions. It was understood that the 200 range would remain in production until the new millenium. It was also considered for the first time in Swedish automotive history to move a complete production line abroad. There were press reports that the 240 assembly line was about to be moved to Brazil. – We had discussions with both Russia and 60 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE
South Korea, Anna Nilsson-Ehler remembers. The analyses were detailed, but in the end, it came to nothing. The 240 production remained in Sweden. For 1989 the 240 range was simplified.There remained just one engine and the GLE and GLT differed from the base model only in equipment and cosmetics. Saab 900 customers still had a wide choice. In addition to the 16-valve engine offered with or without turbo, a new engine was introduced in the spring of 1990, the 900S. It was a 145 hp low-pressure turbo engine with considerably more torque than the normally aspirated motor. It was also characterized by formidable engine roar. In the autumn of 1990, the Volvo 245 got a re designed rear lid with an enlarged back window glued flat to the panel. Håkan Malmgren at the design department hade devised this already for the 1986 model year, but at that time this improvement was turned down for financial
reasons. Håkan Malmgren believed that was the end of it, but the new 240 company thought it was a great idea! In the early 1990s, the sales of both the 240 and the 900 began to drop. They were no longer in the top ten of the annual sales in Sweden. Still, they were continuously developed and improved. Both received airbags and ABS. – We were intrigued that the 240 basic design was so good, Anna Nisson-Ehler says. It coped easily with great increases in engine power and there were no problems adding new features like ABS and airbags. At Saab, the challenges were greater. The Saab head of engineering, Stig-Göran Larsson remembers the difficulties incorporating the electronics for ABS-brakes. The existing wiring system didn’t cope with the connectors required for the ABS-system, he says, and we had great problems with that. Sadly, everything must come to an end. The model year 1993 was to be the final one for both
SAAB 900I 16 1989
VOLVO 240 GLT 1991
SEK 125 600
SEK 153 000
SEK 40 000–50 000*
SEK 50 000–60 000*
Four cylinders, DOHC 16 valves, fuel injection, water cooling, capacity 2 316 cc, max power 128 bhp @ 6000 rpm, max torque 173 Nm @ 3000 rpm.
Four cylinders, SOHC, 8 valves, fuel injection, water cooling, capacity 2 316 cc, max power 118 bhp@ 5 400 rpm, max torque 185 Nm@ 2 700 rpm.
Front engine, FWD, 5-speed manual transmission, automatic optional, floor shift.
Front engine, RWD, 5-speed manual transmission, automatic optional, floor shift.
Rack and pinion, 3.7 turns lock to lock, power assist.
Rack and pinion, 3.5 turns lock to lock, power assist.
Brakes:
Discs on all four wheels, power assist.
Discs on all four wheels, power assist, ABS.
Suspension:
IFS coil springs, rear beam axle.
Front MacPhearson, rear straight axle, coil springs, Panhard rod.
Alloy rims 5.5”. Tires 195/60 VR15.
Alloy rims 5.5”. Tires 185/70 R14.
252 cm.
264 cm.
469/169/142 cm.
478/171/143 cm.
Price when new: Present value: Engine:
Transmission:
Steering:
Wheels/tires: Wheelbase: Length/width/height: Weight:
1 160 kg.
1 300 kg.
Track front/rear:
143/144 cm.
143/136 cm.
Acc 0-100 km/h:
11.5 seconds.
12.4 seconds.
175 km/h.
172 km/h.
Top speed:
*Average original car in Sweden, in good working order with only minor defects.
The two cars in many ways mirror each other – despite the differences in drive mode, body shape and temperament the 240 and the 900, except for the 900 convertible which survived one more year. At the end, the Volvo customer was offered a
slimmed-downed model range and less options. The choice was between two four-door models, the sedan and the estate, either as a GL or an SE with slightly better equipment. The very last cars were special models called Classic. The Saab 900 on the other hand kept going to the very end with full choice of three, four and five door versions and four engine options with or without turbo. Saab made no changes for its last model year, whereas Volvo offered two new options, non-freon AC and limited slip differential. One important reason why both models were discontiued at the same time was that front passenger air bags were made mandatory in the US for the model year 1994. Although Volvo already had a design for that, the 240 was still killed because Volvo needed the produc-
tion capacity for the new front wheel drive 850. On March 26,1994, an Imola red Saab 900 Aero rolled off the assembly line in Trollhättan as the very last 900 built in Sweden. The production of the convertible was continued in Finland until September 14. The 900 was made for 15 years in a total number of 908 817. It was to be the Saab model built in highest number. That its successor was also named 900 was a confirmation of how important the original 900 had been to the Saab Car Company. – We felt hanging against the ropes until the new model was ready, remembers Torsten Åman, then press officer at Saab. – Fortunately, the new 900 was a practical and robust car. We had an efficient Swedish dealer network and the important initial sales were very good. At the Volvo works in Torslanda, May 7,1993 was a special day because then the last Volvo 240 rolled off the assembly line. The line workers wore
special T-shirts proclaiming ” The last 240 – the best one”. The Volvo CEO P.G. Gyllenhammar held a speech and called the long lasting model a Living Legend. In 19 years the 240 and 260 had been made in a total number of 2.8 million. It is still the Volvo model range built in the largest number. The blue-green colours of the Volvo and the Saab look their best in this bright sunlight. Saab called its version Beryl Green whereas Volvo more prosaically identified its hue as blue green metallic, code 412. Because modern cars often have dark interiors, the light tan interiors of these two cars make them feel quite luxurious. In their day, Saab 900 and Volvo 240 were competitors and that made them what they became and what they still are. After having been developed for three decades, they both came as far as they could go – each to its kind of perfection. SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 61
THE COUP SAVING SAAB Secrecy was on spy agent level when Saab discarded two stroke power. It was replaced by a V4 from Ford of Germany. Tests and trials were performed in Italy at the responsibility of just one person: Per Gillbrand. TEXT & PHOTO CLAES JOHANSSON PHOTO SAAB
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N
othing less than super secret industrial actitivities were going on before the eyes of Signor Giacomo Acerbi in the small Italian town of Desenzano at the Garda lake. As it was January 1966 and off-season, it was a bit odd that a nice Swedish couple with a two-year old boy was visiting the resort. They explained they had come to practise driving on the right and it seemed reasonable as Sweden was about to change its rule of the road the following year. – Signor Acerbi, who was sitting in a rocking chair in his garden, then asked us how we dared go travelling that far with children in a car that obviously needed constant repairs, Per Gillbrand says. In testing, we often opened the bonnet to check the engine. The Gillbrand family had at short notice driven to Italy as ordered by Saab’s head of engineering, Rolf Mellde. They drove as far south as they managed and in northern Italy they were close both to winding alpine roads and the autostradas of the Po Plain. The assignment; drive as much as possible to test the new engine under the bonnet, the still secret V4. Torment it! One test was to drive with maximum load on the worst military roads across the Alps. – I couldn’t speak any Italian so I had to ask my landlord to come with me to the local building market to buy large sacks of cement to load the car down.
They were very astonished when Per came back a couple of weeks later to return them! Per Gilllbrand had been with Saab less than two years. He was instructed to take drastic actions to preserve the secret. Should Saab’s plans to switch to four-stroke power be known, it woud kill sales of the two-strokers. Olle Granlund was like Per Gillbrand recruited from Volvo as a four stroke engine expert. Olle remembers Per’s sudden disappearance. – He told me he had requested leave to manage his father’s paints shop in another town in Sweden. I found it very strange. We didn’t only work together, we were also neighbours and met in private. There were quite untrue rumours going around that he had been sacked for drinking problems and sent to rehab! For Saab, it was not financially feasible to design and build a four stroke engine of their own. For this reason, Rolf Mellde, Saab’s legendary head of engineering, who had been with Saab
The crucial importance to Saab Cars of the gifted and broadly talented engineer and designer Per Gillbrand can never be overstated. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 82.
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from the very beginning of the car business, had as early as the late Fifties on his own accord started a search for suitable four-stroke engines from other manufacturers. Actually, he came to put his own career at risk when he strongly proposed the switch to four-stroke power. He met quite severe oppostion from the board of directors in Linköping because of the millions already invested in a Gothenburg facility for two-stroke engine production. Still the design and development people continued to prepare for a different engine. One example is the revised front end of the car. It was introduced for model year 1965 as a styling change but was in reality to make room for a future larger engine. The outcome of the trials with a peculiar two-stroke V4 test engines rather strengthened Mellde’s opinion. – Lancia’s V4 was seriously considered for quite some time, although we also tested engines from Hillman, Renault and Triumph, Per Gillbrand recalls. Simultaneously, Saab was working on the design of the 99 and entered into an engine project together with two British companies, Ricardo and Triumph. Its aim was a straight 4-cylinder 1200cc OHC engine with aluminium head. Supermodern! It was fairly short and the water pump was side mounted. The project was called Scarab. Sure, it could be used in the 96 but it would not have been an ideal solution.
The assignment; drive as much as possible to test the new engine under the bonnet, the still secret V4. Torment it! The Triumph track took a new turn, the engine got bigger and finally it was adopted for the new 99, Gillbrand says. In the US, Ford worked on a small FWD car to be
called Cardinal for which a 60° V4 motor had been designed. This engine was tested in 20 Saab 96s bought by Ford from a Michigan Saab dealer! The Cardinal project was almost finished when it was abruptly terminated for the US market. It was transferred to Ford in Germany and finally brought to the market as the Taunus 12m. The internal competition prompted Ford of England to initiate a project called Archbishop which was a cleric outranking a Cardinal. It resulted in the ultra-conventional Cortina introduced at the same time as the 12m. When Per Gillbrand was in Italy, he had to buy a 12M V4 which was included in his budget of 63 000 SEK. – I just couldn’t always turn up in a Saab when so frequenly buying Ford parts, he says. It would have caused suspicion. In the spring of 1966, the project was intensified. The new Saab was to be introduced at end of summer 1966 as a 1967 model. Olle Granlund remembers being summoned to Rolf Mellde and told to apply for immediate leave of absence for several months without giving a reason. – Perhaps my boss suspected something but I told him it was personal. Immediately afterwards I drove straight to Cologne in a Dodge van and picked up six industrial V4 engines. Granlund was installed in a rundown rural house on the outskirts of the town Kristinehamn. There he worked together with Rune Ahlberg, head of a Saab production unit that made plastic parts. A new company was formed
No less than 6 284 unsold Saab two-strokers had their engines pulled out at the factory and fitted with Ford V4 engines. From unsaleable to hotly desired in one go!
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When the tests were finished, Gillbrand had driven about 100 000 kilometres with the two test cars that could not be traced back to Saab. It was called Machine Tools Inc and was to be used for buying components. Granlund and the designer Lennart Rosén worked hard on detailed engineering and also wrote the workshop manual and compiled service instructions. Early engine problems were oil leaks and rattling camshaft chain due to wear of the fibre drive wheels. Ford also updated the engine on a continuous basis. All in all, the compact 65 (later 68) bhp 1500 cc V4 was really perfect for its new job. It was only 50 kg heavier than the two-stroker it replaced, easily compensated for by stiffer front coil springs. With a 50 percent power increase, softer engine mounts, higher final drive ratio and retained freewheel, Saab’s engineers were able to make the most of the car. Also the new engine was easier on fuel than the two-stroker. Top speed was well over 150 km/h. One of the comparatively few problems was exhaust leaks in a pipe union that had before been kept self-sealed by excess two-stroke oil! Gillbrand picked up the prototype exhaust system at a sub-contractor’s in Paris. – I drove the car to the Boulonger Forest and fitted it there and then, I needed to make as many test kilometres as possible. After a few months, Rolf Melde and Per Gillbrand switched test prototypes with each other. The home-made ”Italian” numberplates were just shifted over. When the tests were finished, Gillbrand had driven about 100 000 kilometres with the two test cars. His assignment supposed to last a few weeks at the most took almost half a year. The market introduction was now close...
One of the temporary decals, never fitted!
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The test cars were not garaged at Saab AB, but at different places among them the barn in the village of Åsaka not far from Trollhättan where Rolf Melde had designed the Sonett in the mid-50s. The secret designers’ group grew gradually, but stayed at about ten persons for a long time. – Once when we were demonstrating the prototype in Åsaka, the service manager David Persson heard the engine running for the first time, and said ”Oh dear, it shouldn’t sound like that!”, Gillbrand smilingly remembers. Actually, a lot of work went into silencing the engine. But the assymetric silencer produced a charismatic rolling V-power sound. It should have been patented! A few weeks before market introduction, the production manager did n’t know anything about the model change. During the summer holidays, 40 especially reliable line workers were called in, ostensibly to help with a back log of brake discs. In actual fact, they were to fit V4 engines in half-finished cars. The goal was 200 cars, but the very dedicated Saab workers managed 600 in all before the holidays were over! There were 5 778 brand new two-strokers in the factory inventory. They were all pushed to the engineering department where the two-stroke motors were pulled out and replaced by V4 engines. In total, there were 6 284 Saab V4s built in this fashion. Except for different engine mounts and some changes to the electric wiring, the only modification needed was to make an indent in the left front wheel housing. – A special tool was devised for this and the paintwork was not affected, Olle Granlund remembers Publicity material like sales brochures and ads were created in full military style secrecy. The code name was Operation Kajsa after the name of the wife of one of the Ford engineers. Not a word leaked out. When the very first cars off the line – fitted with a hastily devised
V4 decal on the front fenders – were picked up in Trollhättan by Saab’ s Swedish dealers, the atmosphere was jubilant. It had become increasingly hard to convince car buyers of the merits of the smoking, noisy engine with only three cylinders. Sales were plummeting but here was the solution. At the same time, there were rumours of a coming brand new larger Saab model. The future looked bright. Probably less happy were the customers who in the spring of 1966 had bought new 2-stroke Saabs, reassured by Saab’s official press statements that the two-stroker was intended to remain in production for the forseeable future. The Chief Engineer Rolf Mellde had also confirmed this in an interview. Those customers were thus involuntarily actors when industrial history was made and the resale value of their new cars did not come up to expecations when they were were ultimately sold or traded. Notes: The hard-core two-stroke enthusiasts could buy new two-stroke Saabs as late as 1968, when production was finally ended. The interview of Per Gillbrand was made in 2007. He passed away in November 2016, 82 years old.
Following the introduction of the V4 model, Saab sales increased. Whereas the 1966 sales in Sweden were 18 963 cars, all obviously oil burners, the 1968 Swedish sales amounted to 30 620 cars of which only 28 were the still available two-stroker.
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THE SAAB THAT DOESN’T REALLY EXIST Michel Annink’s Saab 9-5 SportCombi is one of 33 made and 27 surviving. It was a nervous time bidding at the auction of the assets of the bankrupt company. But it turned out even more frustrating to get the car road legal. TEXT ERIK RÖNNBLOM PHOTO SIMON HAMELIUS
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M
ichel Annink lives in Värmdö at the Stockholm archipelago. He owns a very unusual and special car. Among all the other Saabs parked in his drive, there is one 9-5 SportCombi. It was not by chance that Michel bought this obviously unique car. He is a true Saab enthusiast. He has been one ever since the day he and his best friend were allowed to come along for a road trip in the brand new Saab 99 Turbo of his friend’s father. Then it was the famous turbo kick that made the greatest impression on the two boys. Now Michel’s great interest in Saab cars has turned into a fascination of the marque’s very special qualities and design, both of the exterior as of the interior. – When I got wind of there being a couple of Saab 9-5 SportCombis coming up for sale at the auction after the bankruptcy, I immediately decided to try to buy one of them Michel says. The most beautiful Saab ever. I concentrated the bidding on a white SportCombi, one of eight existing in Sweden. When Michel arrives and turns into a parking spot, I suddenly realize that the 9-5 was designed primarily to be a SportCombi. It is beautiful to the extreme, particularly when seen from the rear. I cannot keep my initial reaction for myself when greeting Michel. – Beautiful car is all I can think of saying. Michel smilingly replies. – Thanks! There are days when I cannot decide which one is the prettiest, my 9-5 Sedan or the SportCombi. Actually, the SportCombi is based on the regular 9-5 Sedan, slightly modified. But the SportCombi is more harmonious. We check the trunk and the beautiful hatch door with
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It’s the rear that makes this 9-5 unique. The rear spolier and the slim light-ramp enhances the 9-5 SportCombi.
its spoiler on top of the rear window and the famed red ramp that I consider better integrated with the Sports Combi styling. It wasn’t easy to get this car registered for the road. It took a tremendous fight until Swedish bureaucracy finally gave in and allowed the car out on the roads. Completely incomprehensible given that the 9-5 SportCombi is practically identical with the Sedan except for the rear hatch back. – I’m sorry to have to say that the authorities were not helpful at all. When asked what could be done for the car to pass, they often said ”it’s not possible at all” and the reasons given were nothing more than ”that’s the way it is”. Helpful advice was totally absent. Also, I got different explanations depending on whom I asked, Michel continues. For new cars, the makers apply for a certficate of compliance that becomes valid for all cars of the same model. The 9-5 SportCombi had not been awarded one before the collapse of the compay. There remained just one way out for a 9-5 SportsCombi, an individual test. But Michel was refused one. When a SportsCombi passed a similar test in Germany, Michel believed there was hope for the remaining 26 cars of which 8 70 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE
Michel drove to a test station in Germany and then he exported the car to Sweden ...
were still in Sweden. Under EU regulations, one member state’s aprroval of a car is valid in the other member states. Michel booked a test with the German TüV
station in Kiel which had after the first one passed one more. Having fitted green trade plates on his car, he drove southward in a good mode to Germany. The thorough test lasted a couple of hours and in the end it was registered in Germany. Next step was to ”export” the car to Sweden and file for a Swedish registration
based on the German documents. Michel still had to file for a certificate of origin which he believed not being controversial. The history of the car was documented – it had been used for about 20 000 kilometres as a test car and demonstrator. The auction was also documented. But back in Sweden, Michel was told that the German approval was wrong, – This car has no type approval. The documentation is not complete. If we cannot, Germany can’t either, Michel was told. Despite being approved in Germany on March 7, 2013, it took until November 4 before the car was legally approved also in Sweden. Ten months spent on haggling with rigid bureaucrats, usually not very amicable. – I considered asking for compensation for the extra costs caused by the inept handling of my case. But I know it is probably not worth the trouble. Right now I am fed up with stubborn bureaucrats. Luckily, he is not fed up with Saabs. After the SportCombi, Michel brought another one back from Kiel – a 9-4X, chassis number 2! Only Saabs goes for him. – That’s the way it is, he concludes.
Spares for the SportCombi? No problem! To Michel Annink, the purchases of both a Saab 9-5SC and a 9-4X attracted a lot of interest and prompted many questions from Saab people, not least about the number produced of the two models. – Some years ago, we compiled the information we had. Lately, we have dug deeper and done more extensive research. Now it’s just the prototypes that we don’t know the exact number of, Michel says. There were 33 SportCombis made of which 27 remain. Of them, 23 were sold at four different auctions held by the receivers, the largest and most talked about in December 2012. All existing SportCombis are fully documented and share a common background as test- or demo cars. They went for prices spanning from 167 500 to 475 000 SEK. All of them have been fit to register and eight remain in Sweden. Most of them are sparingly used and well maintained. Except for the example belonging to the Saab Museum, they are all registered for the road. Again, except for the Saab museum car, there is just one car in storage, the rest are ready for the road and are occasionally seen running, not least to the summer 9-5 meetings. Michel’s car has been fitted with an Aerofront and some additional original extras. It has clocked 92 000 kilometres.
– We have grown to a small community of our own, Michel says. – We share experiences and have collected spares specific of the Combi. Should a car suffer crash damage, there will be new parts for the repair, Michel confidently says. The spares supply for the 9-5 NG (new generation) is adequate thanks to Orio – the former spares division of Saab cars. The rear LED ramp has been difficult to find and wind shields have at times been in short supply, but that should have been sorted by now. In total, there were 11 352 Saab 9-5NGs built for the model years 2010- 2012. Statistics reveal that one third of them were exported to the USA and just one to Croatia, while Taiwan received 237 cars. Several options and alternatives were offered in respect of engines, transmissions and equipment levels as well as colour schemes
and upholstery. In the model year 2011, Carbon Grey Metallic was the most popular colour with 1 303 cars, whereas Aero Laser Red was only ordered for 45 cars. Considering all parameters, the rarest of all 9-5NG would be a Sedan with automatic transmission and diesel V6 – just one was built! The Saab last bought by Michel is a 9-4X, of which only 673 were made, all of them in the General Motors plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. While a 9-5 Sports Sedan is still seen by car dealers as an unwanted trade-in, the 9-4X and even more so the 9-5 SportCombi have entered the collector’s car market. – I know for a fact, Michel says, that the two most recent SC sales closed at a million SEK each. Right now, there is a Czech registered car out for sale at 640 000 SEK. Enter a Saab universe at Michel’s comprehensive site: www.9-5sc2012.com and download some heavy Saab statistics.
– I will never ever sell this car, Michel says when we go for a spin.
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SAAB
OVER
THERE On stage came ... what was it? Three cylinders and a racket of fireworks from the exhaust pipe. Blue smoke, oh no! Saab never became a people’s car in V8-land. TEXT, PHOTO & ILLUSTRATIONS ARCHIVE CLAES JOHANSSON
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Inserted Gibb’s 93 GT and his present Saab
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A
new level was reached; the overhead valve V8. In stylish script the valve covers could read Strato Streak, Rocket or just Chevrolet. With Chevy’s powerful V8 of 265 cui and180 bhp, GM 1955 set the standard for the market. At the time when US makes were outbidding each other in engine displacement and car size, there arrived a drop formed, underweight contraption on wheels from Swazi... Switzerl... no ... Sweden! There were garden tractors with larger engines, baby carriages with lots more chrome. When in December 1956 the first consigment of 250 Saab cars were landed at the port of Boston, it created smoke to the extent that the Fire Department was sent for. 168 million people were unaware of the new make of car just landed. The small part of the population who had noticed mostly laughed. A
very select few immediately became fans. – Great cars, I saw a different looking car at a local dealer’s. It turned out to be the new Saab 93 GT. After a demonstration run, I was hooked. I’d just had to have it, Gibbs Hill of Spring Grove PA remembers. But when the kids were growing up, he had to replace the Saab with something bigger. He later tried to trace his old 93 GT but with no luck. It is probably junked, he sadly says. Gibbs is now 89 and still a true car guy. His collection consists of all the models he coveted as a young man. In the midst of imposing V8 Fords is a bright blue, but still modest Saab 96 Monte Carlo 1965 with racing strips and accessory wheels by Tunaverken of Eskilstuna, Sweden. We take it out for a spin. – Wow, you know how to drive it, Gibbs says. None of my friends do! Saab was not intended for Mr. Average. The company did a survey in 1958 and it revealed
Some details are different on the USA models, like PVC Upholstery and round door mirrors
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Gibbs gave up trying to retrieve his old 93 GT 750. A 96 Monte Carlo will have to do.
A thinly padded rear seat with storage space on the sides for Coke bottles in the unlikely event that enyone would want to sit there long enough to be thirsty that the majority of owners were college educated men in the professions. Many of them were interested in motor racing, some even active competition drivers. Ninety-four per cent were satisfied or more than satisfied with their new Saab. When the Saab 93 GT on May 10,1958 hit the US market, it represented a unique image of sports and luxury. The comfort of the very well made front seats was in contrast with the thinly padded rear seat with storage space on the sides for Coke bottles in the unlikely event that anyone would want to sit there long enough to be thirsty. A sporting car that was both refined and brutal. The engine tuned to 50 bhp was a legend from the outset and sought after today as are the double chrome side mouldings and the full instrumentation including the mechanical trip computer by Halda.
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Just the fact that it was shod with Pirelli Cinturatos made a world of difference when most other cars came on sloppy diagonals. During 1958-1960, 546 93GT 750 were exported to the US. The tuned 750cc engine survived for classification reasons in the 96 body until 1962. The standard 95/96 had the 850cc engine all the way through to the end 1967 of the two stroke period, although there were a few left-overs sold as ’68s. Saab’s ad agency faced quite a challenge explaining the function and virtues of the two-stroke engine while it was easier to promote the car’s Swedish virtues, supposedly including social values, cold climate fitness, ruggedness to cope with really bad roads, reliability and economy. And last not least, the big one – the Jet Age Car from Sweden! The link to Saab’s jet fighter
TV with commercial breaks, double garages. In the USA, everything was larger, flashier – and the Saab 93 came with one-piece windscreen.
planes was considered essential as well as the claim that the car was ”...born and bred for arctic ice and snow.” With regard to the slightly odd styling, it was stated that Saab owners love their cars because of the engineering and not necessarily for its looks. ”Saab is not the most handsome car in the world, but it certainly is nice looking.”
Intellectuals buy antiques. Intellectuals drive Saabs.
To have new Saabs photographed in the US was considered a waste of money. It was thought much better to have skilled illustrators depict the cars in US settings and, like most did in the period, exaggerate the car’s dimensions by making surrounding people and buildings look quite small. No way there is room for a Chevy in this garage built for two Saabs. The guy trying to open one of the door blades is probably to short to drive a Chevy anyway.
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Hey, what’s the mileage? It took Johan Dahl a while to grasp that the car had run about ten times as much as he first thought.
IN THE LONG RUN Johan Dahl was a prospect and he liked what he saw. An honest Saab 99 with 80 000 kilometres on the odometer. A little worn perhaps, particularily the pedal pads. To be on the safe side he again asked the seller Klas Påhle about total mileage. TEXT CLAES JOHANSSON PHOTO CARL LEGELIUS
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Seat covers have protected the seats. The steering wheel has also been padded. Large door map pockets are rare nowadays. The most plasticky glove box lid, ever?
J
ohan Dahl in Höllviken is moving in the fast lane. Most weekdays, he works part-time selling Volvo cars. Even before having finished school, he was a car collector. When others of his age were absorbed by playing internet games, he was creating his own world of challenges and rewards. The bunch of car keys grew very large on its hook when six cars quickly were added to the the first three. The emphasis is on quite ordinary models just about to disappear from the streets, but only well-preserved, low mileage examples. With the experience of the trained car salesman, Johan knows exactly when such cars go from being just old and used to approaching classic and collector status. Thus, he has got one Volvo 343, bought for one Swedish crown, and a Volvo 66 with only 30 000 km. Neither his one-owner 1976 Saab 99 Sedan, nor his 99 Combi Coupe Super Special have cost him very much. When were such rarities last sighted in real traffic? – Each quick car purchase is sort of a stress challenge. I once landed a 1977 Saab 99 that when hosed down automatically gets washed inside as well. – I can probably use it for spares, Johan hopefully says and quickly switches the subject to an 2020 E-Class Mercedes-Benz that was intended as a daily driver, but mostly stays parked. There is also a 1978 Saab V4 and a yellow Passat of the infamous 1976 model year. – I have never understood one make enthusiasts, says Johan, and absolutely not why one should stick to either Volvo or Saab and never, ever have both. – I like Swedish cars, it is as easy as that. Finally, we are brought to the car Johan has chosen to drive today – a red Saab 99 Combi Coupé 1975. Honest is the word best describing it. About one or two metres away, it looks quite nice although some of the body panels. seem less shiny than the others. From the exhaust comes the usual purring sound of the two litre Swedish made engine and the three speed auto
This is what 820 000 kilometres look like.
transmission whines a bit. The doors close with the characterisic dull clonk. The steering wheel rim has been wrapped in black tape. A short test drive confirms the impression of a solid car performing as one could expect from a well-preserved Saab. The car actually has an air of indestructibility not common for the marque. Just an ordinary old Saab. Or is it? – One evening when I was as usual scanning the small ads, a low mileage Saab 99 caught my attention. Only 80 000 kilometres although there was an obvious typo, one extra nought, Johan says and goes on stating that he loves Saabs with auto transmissions. Not many Saab enthusiasts do, they prefer struggling with the rather coarse manual box.
Johan dialled the phone number and had a friendly but slightly vague chat with the seller, who turned out to be the retired veterinarian Klas Påhle. All the same, Johan and his father decided there and then to go directly to Laholm where the car was. The time was just past ten in the evening when they entered the garage. – The immediate impression was of a well-maintained car in normal condition for its age and mileage, Johan says. But I noticed some oddities. The wear was in places quite severe. The seats were unusually shiny in places and the pedal rubbers were paper thin. I was confounded by the odometer, counted the figures over and over again and concluded that
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Very note worthy. Service done graffiti on the cam cover.
In Johan Dahl’s hands, the Saab goes on clocking miles but at much lesser rate.
Johan Dahl finds treasures where others don’t look.
there must be something wrong. – I asked Klas again as I read out the figures – 819 200 kilometres? Klas confirmed it without hesitation.This is the part of his story that Johan has perfected. This car’s main-claim-to-fame is its mileage. Johan and his father remained silent when Klas told the whole remarkable story. It was a rational and well founded decision of him in the autumn of 1975 to buy a new Saab. A comfortable, robust, spacious and practical car suited for his professional use as a veterinarian in the southernmost province of Sweden. He expected more relaxed and com-
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fortable driving by changing from his old van of the other Swedish manufacturer to a modern car with three-speed auto transmission. What followed is easy to tell but pretty hard to understand in a car market where all systems, plans, desires and dreams boil down to one thing; buy a new car, again, again and again. But for someone who’d just taken the step from an ancient Volvo Duett (once bought new as well) to one in that perspective ultra-modern car, there is no desire to trade up to a new car just after a few years. A car is bought to be driven, washed, filled up, maintained and if
necessary to be repaired, but not to be traded in for a new one. The years went by and they added up to decades. But inevitably the day came when it was put up for sale. When father and son Dahl visited its garage, they tried to figure out what the mileage actually amounted to. The owner had finally realized that power steering would be a good thing even if it meant buying a new car and letting the old one go. After 819 200 kilometres ! That’s many, many days, weekends, routines. Fast trips to attend to cows fallen ill. Millions of windshield wiper throws. Veterinarian utensils loaded and unloaded. Test samples taken on animals and
Klas Påhle’s Saab is on display at the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan with a cardboard version of himself. This time he also appears IRL.
With the help of his veterinarian instruments, the owner himself regularly injected rust prevention oil in difficult to reach places.
brought to the laboratory. Klas Påhle’s Saab has had some serious use. But still Klas didn’t think it was particularly remarkable, just 20 000 km a year, 1 700 km a month, a consequence of his chosen profession. He showed thick ring binders with all the documents accumulated over the years about the car – all receipts, safety test protocols, service and repair documentation, insurance and road tax certificates – a complete and very detailed history. Overwhelmed, Johan has still not been able to go through all this vast documentation. So far he has noted that the gearbox has been replaced at least twice. A new cylinder head had been fitted
when the original cracked. At the same time, the twin carburettor set up was replaced by a more reliable single carburettor. Brakes, tyres and exhaust assemblies were renewed at regular intervals. When needed, repairs were always carried out as quickly as possible. The car was kept washed and tidy. With the help of his veterinarian instruments, the owner himself regularly injected rust prevention oil in difficult to reach places. – He wanted six thousand for the car, Johan remembers, but I couldn’t afford that much, so I offered four. It was refused, but a couple of weeks later the owner rang. He was tired of
calls from people asking strange questions and making riduculous offers. He had realized that Johan was the only prospect who had understood that the car was unique. The FAX – its nick-named derived from the license plate – shall remain a runner but will not rack up kilometres at the fast rate of its heydays. It will keep being well maintained, thus more invoices and other documents will be crammed into the ring binders. After having been displayed at the Saab museum, it has become somewhat of a celebrity in Saab circles. The history goes on, the miles keep piling up.
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OUR TIME IS NOW! S
aab 9000, where are you now? The Swedish super car, highly praised by global media at its introduction in May 1984. Today, it cannot even be found in those remote places where people stack away non-runners to be fixed in some unknown future. If there actually still are any well preserved examples, they have vanished from the roads. Statistics show the grim truth: Sold new in Sweden, 1984-1998: 125 701. Still on the road (2017): 8 106. Survival rate: 6.4 % The first model year is almost extinct, 11 cars remain. Eleven! There are far more out there of the first Saab, the 92A. My own 9000 was gone for a while, it was stored at the Saab Car Museum. It is now back in my stable and when I’m sitting behind the wheel again, I realize how much I have missed it. The head lining may sag like an insect net and the engine runs rough at 3 000 rpm, the petrol pump? But still, there is a great feeling being embraced by the best car interior of the 1980s (an academic thesis could be written just about the scent and the seats). What a car, especially when the turbo boost kicks in! Mine is model year 1985,
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one of the oldest in existence. Actually, it’s a pre-production car specially tuned by Saab works engineers. It has a one-off valve cover cast with the name Wennlo – it was a gift to the Saab boss Sture Wennlo at his 60th birthday. When the 9000 was just introduced and thus
really hot in the market, both press and car buyers held it as incredible. A car perfectly balancing elegance and practicality. Very roomy, still compact. Almost unbelievably powerful with its 16-valve 175 bhp turbo engine but still rugged enough for rubber boots and bulky loads. The road holding was reported as exceptional. The 9000 must be considered as Saab’s most revolutionary car and a great achievement – a milestone. Still, as a collector’s car, it is over shadowed by both the 96 and the 900. The functionally elegant form is by many considered somewhat bland. The erratic assembly quality
(I can confirm it myself) has been a deterrent. But sit down behind the wheel and go for a spin. You will be convinced even if its valve cover does not have Sture Wennlo’s name on it. The motoring journalists Calle Carlquist and Eric Lund observed and praised the 9000 at both the cars 25th and 30th anniversaries. Maybe they preached in vain – the time may not yet be ripe to consider the 9000 as a collectors’ car. Go on and read some of the best that has been written about one of the best Swedish cars ever. And check the list of the ten best 9000 versions, prepared by 9000 aficionados Niclas Söderberg, Magnus Myrenhammar and Urban Lindgren. Hopefully you will realize that it is now or never – 35 years after its introduction – to buy a Swedish Classic at a bargain price.
TEXT & PHOTO CLAES JOHANSSON
The first model year is almost extinct, 11 cars remain. Eleven!
SAAB 9000 – TOP TEN!
1
9000i 1986-1993. A luxury people’s car, now forgotten and rusted to the ground. In 1986, motoring scribes considered it a better buy than the Turbo version. Good value for money made it liked by many. In 1990, it could be ordered with the 2.3i engine and D-Ignition. In 1991, also the CC got the more modern CD-front.
6
9000 Classic 1998. Last year of the 9000, Classic was the model that marked the end. The last one made is on display at the Saab Museum in Trollhättan.
2 SWEDISH STATISTICS SAAB 9000 ALL VARIANTS YEAR NUMBER SOLD STILL LICENSED ROAD LEGAL
1985 2 624 112 11 7 355 323 39 1986 1987 9 313 417 68 1988 13 241 1 171 204 1989 14 443 849 146 1990 12 907 1 321 261 13 522 1 503 305 1991 1992 10 787 2 047 461 1993 7 387 1 507 398 1994 7 158 1 494 409 1995 9 537 2 730 1066 7 733 2 706 1 172 1996 1997 7 431 4 295 2 312 1998 2 263 2 085 1 254 Total 125 701 22 560 8 106
9000 CD Turbo 1988. First year of the CD, a four door sedan. Sober, elegant and well equipped. In the first year only with the 2-litre turbo engine. In 1989 also available as 9000i without turbo.
3
9000 A50 1997. A well-equipped version to celebrate Saab’s 50th anniversary. Front seat- backs adorned with aeroplane logo.
9 7
9000 Griffin. A comfortable luxury cruiser. Available with 4-cyl Turbo engine, from 1995 with V6. Top of the line and some model years with the option of upholstery in Italian wool from Ermenegildo Zegna. For the US market, there was a Limited Edition with a numbered plaque on the panel. One option was a separate AC unit for rear passengers.
9000 CC Aero 1991. Ultra rare CC-bodied version. With 2.3 Turbo engine now officially with 200 bhp/330Nm. Many cars were fitted with the optional Saab power pack boosting to 220 bhp/334Nm. Available either as top-of-the-line Aero or as the less costly 2.3 Turbo. No skirts on CD Aero, instead 16” Aero wheels and leather upholstery with suede inlay.
9000 Turbo 1985 .The very first one. Introduced on May 24, 1984 in the Kolmården Forests. Just Try to find a one with no rust and low mileage today.... The 9000 engine was technically similar to the Saab 900T16s. Interior features and the tail spoiler are unique to the first model year. In the US, the new model was classified as a large car thanks to its roomy interior. Transverse engine, DOHC, four valves per cylinder and FWD were soon to be the accepted standard in the global car industry. In 1988, Saab added direct ignition mainly for emissions reduction and in 1990 the first prototypes with the 2.3 turbo engine were tested. 1990 was the last model year for of original rather blunt front.
8 4
9000 CS 2.3 Turbo 1992. Before the arrival of the Aero CS, this was the top of the line. Engine and interior as the Aero 1991 but without the skirts. A sleeper. 1992 was the first year with the improved CS-body. When was one last sighted?
10
9000 Talladega 1988-1990. Version celebrating the Talladega record – full throttle for 100 000 km with no other stops than for re-fueling, changing drivers and scheduled service. Three cars were run, all made it and the fastest one was clocked at 218 km/h average speed. 21 international speed records and two world records were broken.
Matte black rear end was a design feature that was cancelled close before market introduction.
5
9000 CS Aero 1993-1997. This is the fully-loaded 9000. It is good-looking, very fast and with light throtte quite economical. A classic with front seat design awarded by the Swedish Form Institute. Model year 1993 has the 225 bhp/ 350 Nm ”long engine” but from 1994 and onwards it is the 225 bhp/342 Nm ”short engine.”
ding! Continue rea about pages 18 crammed lassic. a Swedish C SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 83
P R O J EC T
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Saab 9000, we met with six of its designers and one top manager and also took the VIN 1 car out for a test drive. This is the story of the design and development of Sweden’s then most modern car – straight from original sources. TEXT ERIC LUND PHOTO PER HAMMARSJÖ
any children about ten to twelve years are in the book devouring phase. They can spend the summer holiday indoors reading book after book. But for me, there was just one book and I read it over and over again. Its title read ”Form & Function – Saab 9000 Turbo 16”. It’s a kind of book that probably never will be published by a car manufacturer again. There is no mention of the particular lifestyle expected from its owners. Not a word about branding or image building. The closest 84 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE
it gets to an emotional approach is a couple of arty photos taken at sunset. All of its 114 pages quite proudly but still factually describe in detail the design and engineering that purportedly made the Saab 9000 Turbo 16 one of the most advanced cars on the market in the mid 1980s. The people at Saab truly had a lot of reasons to be proud. Prior to the 9000, the company had only designed two model series – the 92-96 and the 99/900, but they had never received the international attention and impact like they
did with the new 9000. Here was a very roomy but still compact, sporting and fast car in the same market sector as German, Italian and US prestige makes. Most likely there was a certain sense of trepidation at the Saab sites in Trollhättan, Nyköping and Södertälje when the 9000 was first shown to the world in the spring of 1984. Still, confidence in the new model was high. – Of course we had financial and technical restraints, but our absolute goal was to design and produce the very best car, remembers Rolf
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P R O JEC T
that of the 1:5 scale models SAABISH! ”This is one design departthe of ce ran ent the we displayed at f nate passers-by like chie ment, hoping to indoctri s Björn Envall, fide con rs”, age man engineers and top head of design.
Sarsten, the technical head of the project. All former Saab technical and testing engineers in the room agree. They had lived with Project X29 day and night in the early years of the 80s. They have now come together again in the original super-elliptic Saab photo studio to remember and honour the result of their enthusiasm and efforts. It is in the middle of the room, the very first Saab 9000 Turbo 16, VIN number 1! In the mid-1970s, Saab’s design and development staff was busy working on what in 1979 was to become the Saab 900, basically an upgraded 99 with longer wheelbase. Concurrently, they also took the initial steps towards a completely new car that became the 9000. 86 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE
We had to resolve many important issues at meetings held in italian trattorias...
Early thoughts were for a longitudal engine, even a V8, but in 1974 management opted for a transverse engine layout. At the beginning, the idea was for the new car to replace the 900, not to be the parallel model it came to be. The main problems remained financial. Saab
ration between Italian and Swedish engineers, designers, accountants and lawyers. – The Italian car designers considered themselves artists, remembers Magnus Roland who was in charge of chassis components design. Matters got worse because of the financial turbulence in Italy. To survive, Fiat actually took loans from Khadaffi in Libya and there were constant strikes and labour trouble in the works. – It happened sometimes at management meetings that the labour union simply ordered the Saab delegates to leave the room. We had to resolve many important issues at meetings held in italian trattorias.
was a small actor in the car industry and some kind of cooperation seemed necessary. When a proposed merger with Volvo had failed, Saab made a deal with Fiat who had plans for a model range in a segment Saab desired to enter. At the time, the Fiat-Lancia market positioning was similar to that of VW-Audi today and Saab obviously considered itself equal to Lancia. It became a serious problem In the joint project, the partiwhen Fiat suddenly decided to cipants were supposed to use withdraw from the US market, their own drivelines, but the because that meant that the platform and body structure Croma and Thema no longer were to be shared. Giorgetto Gineeded to comply with the DICK OHLSSON Born 1929, head of ugiaro at ItalDesign had penned strict US crash tests. body engineering the basic shape, a boxy form as – I was present when the first opposed to Saab’s traditional crash test was performed in ”To the driver, the 9000 body didn’t feel very sturdy, but its impact resiflowing, double curvature lines. Torino, remembers Uno Dahlin stance was in fact high. Saab was an This meant that the Saab design who was in charge of the Saab aircraft company also making cars. The 99 body was not optimized like team headed by Björn Envall collision safety department. cars are, but rather designed on the was unable to create the new The Italians loudly proclaimed lines of aircraft fuselages.” model with full Saab flavour the results as perfect whereas I but they still did a good job of it. thought the opposite. Simultaneously, the demanding work of Testing the second generation prototype detail engineeering and testing started. Fiat with the PRV six cylinder engine revealed seveat Torino was considered to be in a better re front end vibrations. The front end structure postiion than Saab to build prototypes and the was not rigid enough and this caused interior first ones were completed in May 1981. Lancia noise. also reserved for itself the right to use the first – We wanted to increase the body sheet two for chassis and crash tests. steel thickness from 1.0 millimetre to 1.2, but – When I visited the prototype workshop in Lancia did not agree because of the added cost. Torino, there were not two, but five prototyIt ended up with Sten Wennlo, Saab CEO Georg pes, Rolf Sarsten smilingly remembers. Karnsund and myself travelling to Torino to – The Italians tricked us as usual, says Rolf. meet with the Fiat management. Karnsund But later on they did deliver two prototypes for convinced the Fiat people and we got our 1.2 us to adapt to our own engines and drivetrains. millimetre. The Italians stayed with the thinner The cultural differences sometimes led to gauge, Dick Ohlsson remembers. He was in disputes and misunderstandings in the coopecharge of body construction.
But it was not just the front structure that differed between Saab and the Italian cars. The doors for example looked identical on all three cars but the Saab doors had internal reinforcements to improve safety. According to Dick Ohlsson, in the end only seven parts in the whole body were common to all three cars. Still he was pleased with the cooperation with Fiat and continues: – We didn’t want another Saab 99, because in my opinion its development went wrong from the beginning. Its front end was supported by very strong A-pillars supposed to withstand heavy impact, but they were fixed to sheet metal. We wanted one-piece body sides for the 9000 which we had not accomplished without Fiat’s production skills. With the professional aspects – thousands of large as well as small problems to mutually resolve – friendships evolved between the Swedish and Italian engineers and designers. Several of the Swedes took courses in Italian and the joint development work was never restrained by bureaucracy on either side. When the type of rear
axle suspension was to be decided, there were three alternatives – Saab proposed a rigid axle wheras Fiat and Lancia each fielded independent BJÖRN BERGLÖF rear suspension Born 1942, section manager, alternatives. interior division A ”race” was or”I participated at the tests on the ganized on a frozen German Autobahn. We were suppoSwedish lake to sed to drive constantly at 200 km/h test Saab’s proposal for 2 000 km during one week-end. In actual fact, a very dangerous against the Italian assignment.” alternatives. – It really was a sound and simple test, Magnus Roland remembers. Very transparent and typical for our cultural interaction, not at all like the later SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 87
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rear suspension of the Lancia cooperation with GM and Opel rence of a four cylinder turbo engine was thus Beta. not just based on engineering. Proposed diesel which turned into a bureaucratic No longer having the same options were also rejected by top management. and political struggle. rear suspension set up had far – There was an increasing market demand Magnus Roland put up a reaching consequnces as it for diesel power and we had performed sucSaab for the test and his Italian affected the fuel tank, exhaust cessful tests with an engine from the Italian colleague Bruno Cena prepared system, interior space and more. company VM Motori, Olle Granlund says. Our the two Italian contenders. The The front was already diffemarketing people were very favourable after contest could begin and it was rently tailored for each make’s testing a car fitted with that engine, but Scania obvious from the beginning that power train. said no. the Saab was superior on ice, but ROLF SARSTEN Born 1944, project manager – We had rushed the introThe Fiat head of operations also said no to there were unexpected compliduction of the new 16-valve his own people when he got an early opportucations. ”We were quite upset when we learnt in 1982 that the new Audi 100 had a engine for the 900 the year nity to compare proposed interior designs. He – When the surface is cW of 0.30 and in practice 0.32 for the before, the head of Saab engine ordered them to closely study Saab’s proposals extremely slippery, you cannot top model. We had with great efforts installations Olle Granlund and to come up with something similar. just turn the steering wheel, managed to get down to 0.34.” says, and that was damn lucky. One lasting memory of the Saab 9000 is its Magnus Roland says, you must We felt it being too risky to general interior quality. At the beginning the use the throttle to ”dance” the introduce a completely new engine design in an seat cushions were sourced from DUX – a precar around the bend. I knew the characteristics equally new car model. mium bed manufacturer. very well of the Lancia rear set-up, so when I Still, extensive changes were The boomerang shape of the drove the Lancia with the Lancia design director required adapt the Saab 900 instrument panel with its suin the passenger seat, he shouted ”Mamma engine to transverse mounting. perclear dials and switches still mia, fantastico!” This annoyed Bruno Cena, as As mentioned above, it was at stands out. According to Björn he was supposed to drive the Lancia. When he a very early stage considered to Berglöf, section manger in the later took the wheel, Uno Dahl drove behind use the PRV V6 of Volvo 260 and interior department, it was at him and quickly realized it would not go well 760. Later, tests were made with first intended to have a one-pieand soon Bruno flipped the car over on its roof. the V6 designed by Yamaha as ce panel, but in the end we went – Bruno Cena is an accomplished driver fitted to the US Ford Taurus. for a two piece installation to but his experience on ice was limited. He was – That engine would have open-minded enough to accept the Saab rear make the upper section removabeen perfect in the 9000, Olle ble to simplify service. suspension design for the Croma and also maMAGNUS ROLAND Granlund says, but Scania went – This was decided when naged to convince Lancia management that a Born 1944, head of testing new mad and I was close to being I was working with the AC rigid rear axle was acceptable also for the more developments, chassis expert fired. prestigious Lancia because of the rally successes system, Rolf Sarsten explains. ”When we developed the 900, we of Fulvias so equipped. Several electric motors were reroad tested at night for secrecy, but forgot that there is less wind then. Soon after however, an unhappy Bruno Cena quired, but we didn’t dare fitting The engine plant in Södertälje felt That’s the reason the first 900s were rang back to Saab and told them that he had them behind a large one-piece it was threatened and that Saab troubled with excessive wind noise. been ordered for financial reasons to use the panel. We were inspired by officially held on to the prefeWe therefore took the 9000 proto88 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE
types to the Riviera for testing in the strong Mediterranean side winds.”
. It is Director of Engineering GUNNAR LARSSON was led him to be ject pro 0 900 the t tha widely believed d Piëch thereaf ter by Ferdinan recruited by Volvo and artdep ring inee eng t and to the Audi developmen ctor on the board of dire a was he t, tha er ment. Aft the VW Group! Scania – representing
The test runs in the USA were frequentl y done on desolate desert roa ds crossed by not ver y deep streams but there were no bridges. Her e an E2-pro totype has got sun k. Taillights borrow ed from an Audi Coupe, the bad ges read Datsun Sky line.
in a frenzy, got sooted all over, but we made it remembers. For instance, I wanted to route AC in time and were praised by the Ranger. outlet channels through the steering wheel housing and that required compromises with other teams. Still the former Saab engineers With some struggle at the end, the team managed present for the interviews agree that the occasito timely finish Project X29. There had been seonal lack of work and design co-ordination was veral unexpected hurdles, the worst according compensated for by short chains of command to Sten Wennlo being Fiat’s sudden decision to and mutual trust between the teams. abandon the US market and also the inclusion – Many decisions were made in the works of the Alfa Romeo 164 half way through the prolunch restaurant, because that was where you ject which meant even more different opinions met everyone, Rolf Sarsten continues. No one and objectives. discussed yesterday’s TV show, instead we all – But still we managed to go through with talked about the design and development work. it all, to a large extent thanks to Rolf Sandberg, Prototype driving tests were head of production at Trolldone in several places all over hättan. He was able to keep the the world, winter testing the cooperation going and he Buick and Cadillac when designing the automostly in northern Sweden and managed to resolve all disputes, matic climate control with push buttons and a hot weather testing in the USA. Uno Dahl says. digital display. – We began in Salt Lake City, When it was all over in 1998 – What caused the worst design problem for drove south to Arizona, crossed and the 9000 replacement, the me was actually the glove compartment lid, over to Nevada to spend the Opel Vectra based Saab 9-5, was Björn Berglöf continues. The lid itself was made night in Las Vegas, Uno Dahl in the showrooms, 503 087 Saab by a contractor in Götene. It consisted of one recounts. Then back through 9000s of all variants had been outer and one inner panel and had two pre-drilthe Death Valley, through Idaho, produced. led mounting holes for the hinges but unforOLLE GRANLUND Montana, Buffalo City and back – In the end the only cartunately no means of adjustment in fitting. It Born 1936, in charge of drive train again to Salt Lake. That meant ry-over from the Saab 900 to the always resulted in an unsightly gap. In the end installation 4 750 kilometres driven Monday 9000 was the light switch, Rolf it was resolved by making the opening smaller ” It’s always great starting up a new to Friday. Saturdays were spent Sarsten says. Everything else at the top end. This is something that is always car project, there are no money restraints and team enthusiasm is on top. inspecting and servicing the was new and that would just not mentioned at get-togethers, but I suppose one The last year of the project is less fun, test cars. Sunday was our day happen today. But we worked has to be remembered for someting ... time runs out, sub-suppliers do not off. Monday we started all over with the benefit of the best live up to expectations and so on.” again but always in the opposite knowledge we had aiming to Generally, at the beginning, there were quality direction. make the very best car. problems affecting the Saab 9000. Company – One of our prototypes caught fire because When reading ”Form&Function Saab 9000 management wanted the 9000 to be introduced of turbo oil leakage. We had a Turbo 16” one becomes convinced that they six months ahead of the Croma special permit to perform tests succeeded. and Thema and that became in the Death Valley, but the detrimental to the car’s quality. Ranger that came to the place This may also have been due to wasn’t happy because it was Saab’s lack of experience of such a National Park. Fiat too had extensive projects, the car and previously had a car catching the manufacturing process had fire but they hadn’t cleaned up to be simultaneously developed. afterwards so they had been – Not always did the various banned from further tests in the departments liaise, Olle Granvalley. We promised to clean up lund says. Someone may have UNO DAHL – but what to do with a burned made a change that unexpectedBorn 1941, in charge of collision damage control and final testing out car wreck? We succeded ly affected something else and in renting a removal van that when discovered that could lead . Tests were LED AND DELIVERED ”Early 9000 cars didn’t start below ALMOST SIGNED, SEA A protolia. tra Aus would just have room for the to other unscheduled changes. minus 25 C°. One morning in the ski n, the USA and performed in Swede destined to some er tain resort Sälen, it was minus 36 C°. con ght remains. It was booked for seven – You had to fight for your frei a type is packed in front screen, I was convinced the car wouldn’t ther continent. The o’clock in the morning after. We ideas and protect your area far-off place on ano start but I still solved it by pouring a attempted The r. ilia fam f look the doors and the roo got lost, drove around, worked of responsibility, Rolf Sarsten bucketful of boiling water over the like Talbot and Lada. inlet manifold!”
look a disguise of the rest
bit
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FLYING LOW IN VIN NUMBER 1 It feels agile, airy and very roomy. Pity that detail quality was erratic in the very first 9000 off the assembly line. TEXT ERIC LUND PHOTO PER HAMMARSJÖ
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T
ry to remember what the average instrument panel looked like in 1984 and compare it with the one of the Saab 9000. There are very few interior designs looking fresh and modern after such a long time but the boomerang shaped fascia of the 9000 does. The plastic lid between the front seats may have started to crumble a bit and when I close the door, the cover of the bracket for the rear view mirror drops down on the seat. There may be squeaks and rattles, but the
car I am driving is the very first one off the line – VIN # 1. – Detail quality was not quite up to scratch in the early cars, Peter Bäckström admits. He is the head of the Saab Museum in Trollhättan. – I began my Saab career at the technical department just when the 9000 project was almost finished. I remember we had to use a lot of duct tape to keep interior panels in place. Still, it is not low quality that strikes me when taking AOL069 out for a spin. It is that such an old car and its design could still feel
The car and its design still feels so fresh and competent
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The transverse position required considerable adaptations of the engine that was only a year old, having been introduced the year before in the 900. The plastic steering wheel and the folded rubber boot for the gear lever date an interior that in all other respects is time-less. Chassis number 1 is fitted with manually operated AC. The production cars had digital climate controls hailed as a great innovation.
There are very few left of the earliest cars. They can’t even be found in junkyards anymore so fresh and competent. It may roll a lot on winding roads, but as press and photos from the 80s confirm, it did that even when brand new. Also I am impressed by how light and nimble the car feels – 1,3 tons is the weight of many smaller cars today – and how roomy it is. The Saab people could be proud that their 462 cm long car was classified in the US as a ”large car”. Later the same October afternoon, I drive MFH673, one year newer and fitted with a small rear spoiler. It has clocked a bit over 110 000 kilometres. What makes this car special is that the first 100 000 kilometres were racked up in three weeks at the US Talladega race course. Its detail build quality is so much better than the first car off the line. The strenuous tests in the US do not seem to have af92 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE
fected it at all. It feels a bit odd to strap on the six-point special seat belts in the cushy Saab. The DUX rear seat is blocked by a gigantic tool chest on the floor between the seats. Both cars feel really powerful – no wonder, the turbo charged 16-valver was state of the art in 1985. Changing gears is also a pleasure. Still, the classic car scene has not shown any
great interest in the Saab 9000. In the last few years it has relentlessly started to disappear from the streets. There are very few left of the earliest cars. They can’t even be found in junkyards anymore. The enthusiast pampering an early car will no doubt have a future collectible – and an instrument panel worthy of a place of honour in the industrial design Hall of Fame.
SAAB 9000 T16, VIN NUMBER 1 - 1985 Base price 1985: 141 500 SEK. Engine: 1985 cc straight four cylinder, DOHC, four valves, Bosch LH-Jetronic, Garrett-T3 turbo, APC-Intercooler, 175 bhp (127 kW) @ 5 300rpm, max torque 273 Nm @ 3 000 rpm. Power train: Transverse engine in front, FWD, 5-speed manual transmission. Dimensions: Wheelbase: 267 cm. Lenght/width/ height: 462/177/143 cm. Weight: 1 325 kg. Fuel tank capacity 68 litres. Suspension: Front MacPherson, Rear coil springs , beam axle, Panhard rod. Steering: Rack and pinion, servo, 3,2 turns, turning circle 10,9 metres. Wheels: 6x15 inch alloy rims, tyres 195/60VR15. Brakes: Discs, fronts ventilated, vacuum booster. Performance: Max speed: 220 km/h, 0-100 km/h 8.3 seconds. Sources: Saab press folders and sales brochures.
s a w I d e c in v n o c ”I was going to get fired!” Sten Wennlo was the head of the Saab Car Division and the master mind behind the Saab-Lancia cooperation.
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arcus Wallenberg – the grand old man of Swedish industry – very quickly read through the proposal of the Saab-Lancia cooperation and then threw the documents to the floor. – It’s not worth anything at all, he barked. Tryggve Holm, then Saab CEO and almost six foot eight and a very imposing man, bent down and picked up the papers from the floor. – Don’t say that, he said. At his side the 1976–1989 head of the Saab Car Division, Sten Wennlo sat. In his memoirs he later described the failed Volvo-Saab merger attempts and the following Saab-Lancia cooperation. That Marcus Wallenberg, who was chairman of the board of Saab-Scania and controlling the majority shareholding of Saab, had Tryggve Holm and Sten Wennlo waiting a long time like they were errand boys before inviting them in for the pre-booked meeting that ended with him throwing to the floor the proposal carefully prepared by Sten Wennlo is someting he does not mention in his memoirs. – It was very dramatic and quite unpleasant, Sten Wennloo remembers, but I didn’t want to expose people in my memoirs because the incident was then still quite recent. Sten Wennlo opposed from the beginning a merger with Volvo and for that he had to endure quite severe criticism. – Tryggve Holm called me and said that the merger would be done unless I had some better alternative. That made me start thinking
of all my contacts in the European car industry. I knew people at Lancia and spent three months in Italy drafting a letter of intent, not very detailed but carefully thought out and also accepted by key Saab people. It convinced Tryggve Holm and we went together to Stockholm to see Wallenberg. I remember that I felt that the documents felt like they were on fire in my pocket. After Marcus Wallenberg’s dramatic dismissal of the Lancia proposal, Saab still tried to convince other members of its board. Some of them agreed, but the majority didn’t. – A few days later, I was summoned to the bank, Wennlo remembers. It was a Saturday. I was certain I was going to be fired so I told my wife we should at least have lunch at the company’s expense before I was expected to return my credit cards. Peter Wallenberg received me and started to criticize me because of statements I had made to the press. However, he wasn’t really cross with me and when I came back to the hotel, I told my wife that we would have to pay for the lunch ourselves. I hadn’t been fired. Shortly afterwards, Sten Wennlo was asked to arrange a meeting on neutral grounds between Marcus Wallenberg and the head of Fiat, Giovanni Angelli. – I booked two luxury suites at a superior hotel in Geneva and went there with Marcus Wallenberg in his private jet. He wasn’t in a good mood and didn’t say much until we were close to landing. He then fixed his eyes on me and cross examined me about the co-opera-
tion intentions. When we finally arrived at the hotel, we found security guards everywhere. They were there to protect Agnelli. – We sat waiting in Wallenberg’s suite and when only a few minutes remained, I thought I had made a mistake. I had planned everything down to the smallest detail, but I had forgotten to say in whose suite the meeting was to be. I realised that Wallenberg might feel it below him to move over to Agnelli’s suite. I nearly fainted... – However, Agnelli came exactly on time to Wallenberg’s suite, in a very good mood because he had lunched the day before with the US President. He took Wallenberg to the side and chatted with him, while the Lancia chief executive Bonelli and I studied the proposed co-operation contract. After that, I explained the advantages of the co-operation and that ended with Agnelli extended his hand to Wallenberg and said ”Marcus, we should do this, agreed?” -– When Agnelli and his entourage had left, Marcus Wallenberg was silent for a long while, and then said to me ”Let’s go down for a drink.” I knew he liked Americano, so I had ensured that the hotel bar had the proper ingredients and that the kitchen was able to serve his favourite lunch. On the flight back, we had Champagne and cognac and Wallenberg confirmed ”Let’s do this then, but may the devil take you if it doesn’t work .” – When the contract finally was signed, Agnelli called me and told me that in case of any problems,
Sten Wennlo wrote his memoirs directly after retiring in 1989. He passed away in October 2017, 92 years old.
I should always contact him in person. At the next Geneva Auto Show, he arranged that photos of us two together were taken at the Saab stand. At first, I didn’t understand the reason, but later realized that he wanted to confirm to all concerned, not least his own people, that Agnelli and Wennlo were in close contact. Any time there were problems in the Saab-Lancia cooperation, I could thus say ”do whatever you want, but I can always call Agnelli.” If I did, any problem was solved in no time, the Italians’ respect for Agnelli was immense. When the cars were ready for pro-
duction, Saab’s co-operation with Fiat and Lancia came to an end, although there were plans for the future. – We had a delegation meeting with Fiat in Paris to discuss new joint projects, but that came to an abrupt end when it was disclosed that GM was to buy Saab. Our lads just had to close their files and go straight back home.
t Board of Directors, The Chairman of the Fia y (on the right) was ver Signor Giovanni Agnelli often contacted and lved invo and ted interes the about the progress of Sten Wennloo to learn joint project.
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213 KM/H AVERAGE A SPEED FOR 3 WEEKS If Mercedes-Benz can do it, so can we. It was Olle Granlund who got the record ball rolling. TEXT KENNETH OLAUSSON
t the 1984 Frankfurt Auto Show, Mercedes proudly announced that they had with a 190E 2.3-16 obtained the 50 000 km speed record on the Nardo race track in southern Italy. – I began to think about us doing something similar, Olle Granlund recalls. We found out that a Ford Comet held the record for 100 000 km at an average speed of 165 km/h and I thought we could do better than that. – In the spring of 1985, we got Sten Wennlo to agree to speed record attempts and in October the same year we did test drives on the Talladega track in Alabama. At an airfield close by, there were weather statistics going back to 1915 and they showed that October would be the best month. We decided to do it in a year’s time. Whereas Mercedes had prepared their record cars (lowered suspension, no power steering and other tweaks), Saab decided to use three cars straight off the assembly line. Under
Should the driver ease off on the accelerator, a red warning lamp lit up on the instrument panel.
There was a large Saab team of mechanics, drivers and general doers.
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Olle Granlund posing with Talladega car number 2. It now rests at the Saab Car Museum and has remained unrestored.
Under the rules, all spares except exhaust system and windscreen had to be carried in the car supervision of the Notary Public, Saab selected nine cars fresh off the line and took them to the Volvo test track at Hållered booked by Saab for the occasion. Olle Granlund again: – Volvo had no idea what we were up to. Out of the nine cars, we selected three for shipping to the US. Under the regulations all spare parts except exhaust systems and windshields had to be carried in the car. Based on the weight of the car, it was calculated that each Saab was allowed to have 75 kg of spares on board. Petrol of European specifications had to be used. It was produced by a Shell refinery in Texas and brought in tankers to Talladega.
Two lamps on test car #2 to help time-keepers clocking the cars in the dark.
All spares except exhaust systems and windshields had to be carried in a special box. The crash cage looks quite clumsy.
The record attempts were run for 21 days around the clock. Saab employees and professional race drivers took turns driving the record cars. In ideal conditions the lap times were within 1/10 second irrespective of high or low choice of track on the oval. – Chrysler also manufactured turbo cars and at the beginning they called in every day to inquire how we managed, but they stopped doing that when we were two weeks into the tests without any problems at all with our cars, Olle Granlund remembers. – Myself, I had to go back to Sweden for a week because I had other things to attend to, but I was still quite nervous about the whole thing.
unbalance. It turned out there were clamps of soil between tyres and wheel rims. –You’re such a slow driver that birds have time to build nests between tyre and rim, the famous Saab driver Erik ¨on the roof¨ Carlsson teased the poor driver. The record runs became a spectacular success for Saab – 100 000 kilometres at an average speed of 213.299 kph.
There were after all some set-backs. One day with torrential rain, a car spun off the track right at the depot entrance. The driver managed to get back on course again but soon reported wheel
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SECRET PLANS Saab Automobile AB took pride in the development and design work behind the 9000. That’s why they disclosed much of the trial and errors that ultimately resulted in the finished model TEXT CALLE CARLQUIST PHOTO SAABMUSEET
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nlike the strict secrecy of most major car manufacturers, the Swedish companies are often more open about how their new models were planned and developed. How much do we ordinary enthusiasts know about – choosing a random example – the gestation process of the Mercedes-Benz W124? Nothing. The Saab 9000 is a different story. Its development process is not
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only well documented, it is freely available in the Saab Museum, where the enthusiasts exchange stories about their favourite make. The atmo sphere is friendly like in a country golf club. Saab was generous with information at the time
of the 9000 introduction. Customers in line for delivery received an elaborate ring binder crammed with information and illustrations.
The 9000 Turbo was dissected down to the smallest detail. In an enclosed letter, the director of marketing asked for patience. ”When Saab will begin to deliver this new model, it will be thoroughly tested and approved.” In September 2014, we are invited to the Saab Car Museum to join the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of Sweden’s once most modern car, the Saab 9000. Rolf Sarsten was head of the 9000 project in its last stage from 1981 until the introduction in 1984. – We had one single aim, Rolf Sarsten says, designing the world’s best car. It was to have an individual style and uncompromising layout and technology. – I still believe we succeeded, he continues. The combination of safety with performance, interior space, roadholding and comfort was unbeatable 30 years ago. In many respects the 9000 technology still is on par with cars of today. Just think about the space utilization and the road stability. Without anyone in the audience reacting in the slightest, it is with the help of a good old slide projector that Rolf Sarsten makes
Project X29 under development. Team members pose with a full-scale mock up by Saab in-house designer Björn Envall.
Slightly exaggerated instrument panel.
Gunnar Larsson was the director of engineering and as such head of Project X29. As a hobby car he now drives a mint Saab 9000 Turbo 16.
his presentation. It goes without saying that he had arrived in his immaculate 9000 Turbo, now parked outside in a place of honour. Close to it is another 9000 Turbo, also immaculate. It belongs to Gunnar Larsson, from the very beginning in charge of the 9000 project. In his most active years, Gunnar Larsson was a major personality in the global motor industry. Among many other important positions, his CV includes head of development at Audi and head of research at VW, as well as technical director at Saab. At the end of May 1984, the Saab 9000 Turbo 16 made its first public appearance at a press event in the Kolmården Wildlife Park. Reactions were very favourable from the 400 international motor journalists present. The representative of the US magazine Road & Track however asked why Saab suddenly had designed a car that looked almost normal compared to oddities like the 92, 93, 96, 99 and 900. The article he wrote when back home was headlined ”What happened to weirdness?” The years 1984–1987 were the best for Saab cars. Sales increased like they were turbo boo-
sted too and the 900 still sold very well, actually in greater numbers than the 9000 did in those model years they were both sold. A set back came later and 900 trade-ins began to stock-pile at the dealers. The 900 Convertible was introduced in the mid eighties making the Swedish car very hot in all markets, not least in California. With the 9000 Turbo 16, Saab entered the prestige market segment. It was the only way for Saab to survive in world markets, because Saab’s production capacity was too small for profitability in the medium or low price segments – We always had to keep costs low, sometimes unwisely, Gunnar Larsson recalls. We never really had the financial power to design and develop all-new drive trains. Luckily, this was not required for the 9000 because we already had the Södertälje engine that could be further improved. But should we install it transversly or longitudinally? That was one of the basic questions. Larsson was hired by Saab as a ”bean counter” as early as 1967.
Very early sketches, influenced by Opel Ascona and Rover SD1 respectively
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At first sight, it looks like a 900 with rally flared wheel wells but it is longer. The engine is transverse but not fitted to a separate frame
– In the office, you were not allowed to use calculator machines, only slide-rules so as not to disturb the others, he remembers. The project NGS – New Generation Saabthat would finally result in the 9000 Turbo was commenced as early as in April 1974. Then a group of about seven or eight Saab section heads met in a rural hotel in the Swedish province of Dalsland to start planning for an all-
The final look of the body was designed by ItalDesign. Above, two front designs that were rejected. Note the single windscreen wiper.
new car. It was to be very roomy but as compact as possible. – The bodies of contemporary Volvos and BMWs were not considered strong enough. Mercedes and Audi styling was thought dull. We wanted to do much better. Although realizing that it might sound like a cliché, Project X29 was developed from the inside – out. The 9000 Turbo16 was a systematic whole of the
This scale model was made by the team of Björn Enwall. They used to display their ideas at the entry of the design department, hoping it would be noticed by decision-makers passing by.
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large and of the small, Gunnar Larsson says. In the years 1976-1977, the project X36 – the transformation of the Saab 99 into the Saab 900 – had higher priority. – As we retained a budget for the X29, some work was done on it too. Prototypes were built. One was called Cecilia and was tested on public roads. Cecilia is now at the Saab museum. At first sight, it looks like a 900 with rally flared wheel wells but it is longer. The engine is tranverse but not fitted to a separate frame like the final 9000 had. – In 1978, we scored a world first with the pre-assembled dash panel and of course the new car had to have one too, Gunnar Larsson says. The interior of the 9000 Turbo was designed by Saab’s chief designer Björn Enwall and his team.The boomerang theme was an immediate success, despite some problems with the fit of the glove compartment lid!
Prior to Fiat/Lancia joining the project, the design proposals were more ”Saabish”. These rear lights scream 900!
Very many design idea sketches were made both in-house and by consultants.
From the very beginning US sales were taken into account and Saab wanted thicker sheet steel than the three Italian cousins. It led to a heated debate before Saab had its way. Saab prototypes were extensively tested in both hot and cold climates of the USA. – We learned a lot, not least about car air conditioning. At the beginning, an ordinary Toyota Celica did better in the heat than our prototypes. The heat was so bad that we had to put thick socks on to avoid burning. – For comparison, we also ran 100 000 kilometres with each of twelve different cars of competing makes. We had one team in the US driving a 9000 prototype 60 000 kilometres in twelve weeks. It was badged as a Nissan Skyline and was tailed by an Audi 100 as well as a Ford Van loaded with half a car in spares. Despite advanced design, smart features, Talladega records and half a million built in twelve years, the Saab 9000 is not nearly as popular among collectors and enthusiasts as the Saab 96, or for that matter, a whole row of Volvo models. So far, that is.
A mock-up close to the final result, still with 900 graphics.
The ”Cecilia” mule is preserved at the Saab Car Museum.
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SAAB 96 1980
THE COMMUTER CAR The doctor commuted to work in it. Twice. She clocked up 159 kilometres. In 37 years! Still this Saab 96 V4 is ripe with history. It is really beyond belief. TEXT FRANS JOHANSSON PHOTO CLAES JOHANSSON
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should have worn white cotton gloves if I ihad any. But my clothes are reasonably clean and and I haven’t walked in mud. I am about to step into an extremely low-mileage Saab 96 V4 Jubilee edtion. The odometer reading of 159 km makes it unique. It has been concealed from the world for almost 40 years! Never before have I so intensely felt the Saab new-car smell. The upholstery is absolutely topnotch with no fading whatsoever and as bright as in a sales brochure. A condition like this is unreal but here it is. I lift the carpets and find one forgotten rubber band and a very small mould spot on the waffle mat. At least some signs of use – quite a relief. I hardly dare touching the steering wheel. Its grippy surface is like new, no shiny wear at all. The seat belt release buttons are still bright red. The more I look, the more astonished I get. On the seat there is a little e-number label probably supposed to have been removed before delivery. But what does it mean? Perhaps this unique car qualifies for a magazine of its own with lots of close-up photos and serious research into Saab production practices. I insert the ingnition key and hear and feel how cleanly it meshes with the lock cylinder – it is quite eerie. Everything is like brand new and ready for serious driving. But is it really a car one should use? Perhaps it should instead be preserved in a safe place for the benefit of future researchers who might discover it perhaps
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in a couple of hundred years? If a copy of this magazine would then be found on the rear seat, I feel it is my duty today to state that all Saab 96 of the model years 1979 and 1980 were assembled in the Valmet factory in Nystad, in Finnish this city is called Uusikaupunki. The Valmet cars were easily identified by the bootlid being finished in matte black below the small spoiler and the black window mouldings. Some of them had sporty black stripes as well. Many questions remain unanswered. Why did the car dealer not prepare the new car for delivery? The various check labels under the bonnet have not been removed and the Ronal
alloy wheels are still covered in yellow wax. Except for slight discolouring of the windshield, the only signs of age are cracks in the rubber grommets of the windshield wiper spindles! Most old Saabs leak a bit and this is probably one reason. We continue our careful inspection of the Saab but don’t really know what to make of it. The Finns started to assemble Saabs in the early 70s and doing better than the Swedes was their national ambition. This car is one of the last made. Its quality of assembly does not seem good, though. Were the press tools worn out? Never have we seen such bad body assembly.
The Finns started to assemble Saabs in the early 70s and doing better than the Swedes was their national ambition Defective spot welding is made up by long and irregular weld strings on double sheet metal. It is common knowledge that the last 96s rusted out very early. The paintwork of this pampered car is not bad but very, very thin. The side mouldings are quite badly aligned. This confirms the old wisdom that brand new doesn’t necessarily equal concours condition. Mechanically, it is a different story. The engine was supplied complete by Ford of Germany. It is a V4 Super with the elephant trunk like pre-heater intended to prevent vapour locks in the two-barrel carburetor.
According to the maintenance record, this car has been in once for an oil change and routine service, but turned back by the mechanics who felt it was unnecessary considering the low mileage. The oil drain plug remained untouched as did the original Motocraft oil filter though it has some black stains resulting from an anti-corrosion treatment in the mid-80s. Looking closely under the bonnet, one notices the decal on one of the valve covers but stuns by the bizarre but apparently correct location of the hoses for the headlamp washers. The car as a whole is a gold mine of information for Saab 96 restorers.
Through the years, this car has been known to a small circle of dedicated Saab enthusiasts. It was bought new and kept until very recently by a Bulgarian doctor living in Västerås. It was her third Saab, all of them blue.This one was ordered in October 1979 just when rumours started that the 96 was about to cease being built. It was trailered to the dealer firm Björkman & Henstam but they didn’t get it ready to sell until April 1980. After that nothing happened until April 1985, when the owner did her two runs to work and back. Since then, it has never been started. It is said, probably true, that not a single drop SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE 101
Elephant trunk to prevent vapour lock.
Mint warning labels.
Twisting hoses fixed with tape drying out.
Anniversary wheel rims still wax coated.
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Rust trap, the boot mat absorbs water. The label on the spare cautions not to use alloy wheel bolts.
The air extractors were painted separately on the Finnish-made cars, surplus glue visible.
V4 Super means 68 bhp.
Look closely at the detail work. SCM has without success tried to learn the meaning of the chalk writing on the back of the rear seat. Knivjs? Kuny’s? Kavilj’s?
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SAAB 96 GL V4 1980 Price when new: 42 000 SEK. Value now*: 50 000 to 75 000 SEK. Engine: 4 cylinders in V, OHV, 8 valves, water cooling,capacity 1498 cc, 68 bhp @ 4 700 rpm, max torque 113 Nm @ 3 000 rpm.
The unique Saab is now exhibited at the newly formed Saab Heritage Car Museum in Sturgis, South Dakota. It will probably never be started again
Transmission: FWD, 4-speed synchromesh gearbox, column shift, freewheel. Suspension: Coil springs all around, IFS, rear tube axle. Steering: Rack and pinion, 2.9 turns. Wheels: Alloy, 5”. Tires: 155 SR 15. Brakes: Front discs, rear drums, vacuum servo. Performance: Top speed approx 150 km/h. Acceleration 0-100 km/h 15.5 seconds. Fuel consumption: City 10 litres/100 km, Road 6.8 litres/100 km. Sources: Saab publicity material, Jan Ullén Bilfakta. *Average original car in Sweden, in good working order with only minor defects.
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of water, whether by rain or washing, has ever touched the car. It could be the one and only proper yardstick for all restorers of the Saab 96. There were only 2 820 Saab 96 of the 1980 model year, the last ones made in January 1980. The Jubilee models were specials with blue paintwork code 137B, upholstery code Co8 and with special alloy rims from the German firm Ronal. A worthy ending of almost 550 000 cars produced. This is in all probability the finest Jubilee Saab in existence. Its chassis number is 96806002317 which translates to the 503th car before the end of production. Saab at first said there were 300 Jubilee cars built, but later changed it to 400. It has secretely (!) been up for sale for some time but not to anyone. At last and with great
efforts, the couple Gerda Persson and Fredrik Ekendahl, well-known in inner Saab circles, succeeded in clinching the deal. They probably spent more time trying to buy the car than it once took to build it. There were innumerous phone calls and meetings before they were even allowed to see the car. After several interviews and an eight hour long final negotiation session Fredrik was out of the game. Gerda however was approved and finally the deal was done. The price she payed was an all-time high for a Saab V4, but was soon topped when two other well known low mileage examples of the Jubilee Saab were sold at internet auctions. The first of them went for 250 500 SEK. It was with 4 300 km well used in comparison with the other that
Lifting the carpet shows that detail work was slipping at the end of production. Few engine bays get as dirty as the Saab V4’s. This one is only slightly dusty. Look closely and you will spot plastic containers white as snow and little decals you didn’t know existed.
only had 48 km on the odometer. It reached 350 000 SEK, equivalent to about €33 000. Gerda’s 159 km car was twice shown in Sweden to selected audiences and was finally acquired by the US Saab collector Tom Donney. It is exhibited at his newly formed Saab Heritage Car Museum in Sturgis, South Dakota. The odometer now reads 160 km and it will probably never move again under its own power, extreme low-milers are never driven. It is in good company with a 1974 Sonett with 44 miles, a 1968 Sonett with 480 miles and a 1956 Sonett 1 chassis number 6. Thus this story is closed as far as Sweden is concerned. We are still waiting for the less than 10 km car, in which case we will be back in suitable anti-septic clothing.
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MASTERPIECES IN WOOD The beautiful wood-rimmed steering wheels of Saab GT, Sport and Monte Carlo models were not made in Italy. They were created by a Linköping carpentry from wood lengths of twelve and a half metres. TEXT CLAES JOHANSSON ARCHIVE PHOTOS INGRID ANDERSSON
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violin-maker cannot put his tools down until the resonance is right in bout and bridge. There are no short-cuts. A work of art needs time. It is different with artisan procedures in industry, rare as they may be. The individual skill, eye and feeling are all subordinated the unstoppable assembly line. Quotas must be met. Units boxed and shipped on time. It requires another kind of skill, no less admirable. Remember the striping of an old bike from the 1950s. Perfectly lined with a long haired, thin brush. Someone did it with a steady hand at the assembly line, a long time ago. Saab’s manufacturing of sporting, wood-rimmed steering wheels for the GT, Sport and Monte Carlo models required skilled craftman ship. Through his own strong interest in Saab
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cars, Sten-Erik Stenberg in Linköping learnt the history. Contrary to the belief of many, the attractive steering wheels were not imported from Italy. No need, there were skilled carpenters in-house. Sten-Erik was even lent unique pictures confirming that Swedish craftsmen had made the characteristic and now much sought-after steering wheels. Still, it is not a wild guess that the first wood-rim-
med steering wheels were Italian imports to enhance the sporty character of the Sonett, still a design experiment. When the wheels later were being made by the Saab wood workshop at Oskarsgatan 17 in Linköping, they looked the same, walnut wood rim and a three-spoked design. Ten out of the 50 wood workshop employees were busy making the sports wheels
Ten wood workshop employees were busy making the sports steering wheels
Skilled craftsmen create the Saab wood rimmed steering wheel. Veneer strips glued together in 12,5 metre lenghts are wound on a spool wheel to circles. After drying in a special cassette, further processing and final completion are made by hand.
and other pieces of wood for Saab cars, mostly hidden. When a batch of steering wheels was required, fixtures were rigged in the carpentry. The rims were made from walnut veneer of very high quality, arriving in sheets 2.5 metre long and and 2.5 millimetres thick. These were split in 25 mm wide strips, the ends of which were tapered. The strips were then glued together in 2.5 metre lengths. After four hours of drying, they had become a long wooden snake that was wound on to a spool and the ends glued together. Then it was put in a cassette to dry for 24 hours. After that, this wood piece was processed to a perfect circle with finger grips on one side and then split in halves to fit the one piece aluminium base which had been stamped to a round, dished shape and cut to create the spoke slits and the hole for the hub.
The finish and quality of Saab’s wood rimmed steering wheel was second to none. It survived almost into the all-plastics era, but it really belongs in the 1960’s. It looks its best against a background of round, shiny dials on a black panel – especially when driving fast on a winding forest road. Those who couldn’t afford the Saab top of line model could at least buy the wood rimmed wheel as an accessory, but only from 1966. Then it cost 225 SEK, a reasonable price for the Stradivarius of steering wheels, Made in Östergötland.
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Restoration
THE CHAMPION SAAB It is impossible not to be impressed by Anders Norstedt’s uncompromising ambitions to recreate down to the smallest detail one of Saab’s lesser known rally cars. TEXT JON REMMERS PHOTO SIMON HAMELIUS
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Restoration
T Anders Norstedt has from the ground up built about 20 rally prepared Saabs, and he is very picky with the details.
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he carefully trimmed hedges are perfect surroundings for the uniformly cut lawns. Are we at the right place? There must be tens of thousands of similarly attractive family neighbourhoods in this country. With small garages attached to every one. In greeting, Anders Norstedt offers his slightly greasy hand. He is a fast talker and has the air of a multi-talented person capable of swift accomplishments. He takes a quick phone call, it is something about a hose. In three fast steps we have moved to his garage. Anders talks on, the house was apparently bought in ’73. When he opens the garage door, I stop listening. I feel like hit with a swift blow of a knuckle iron – incredible that a Saab 99 could look this wild, almost threatening, with no bonnet and immense carburettors in full view. Like a predator. Still, like the neighbourhood, it has an air of normality. After all, this is the type of car grand parents drove when I was a child. These cars were then about 15 years old. They were equipped with fluffy steering wheel covers. A First Aid Kit was velcro taped to the rear parcel shelf and inside it was stuffy as the windows were always rolled up. Anders’ Saab tells a different story. This is a prehistoric monster from the era when Saab very much was at the leading edge of engineering. At one corner of the company, the world’s most potent fighter planes were built, at another pioneering car turbo technolo-
gy was developed. In between computers were made. No wonder Saab was earning international recognotion as a high-tech enterprise. – I am doing this for the people of the era, to help them remember, Anders explains. Some of those having seen the car only remember its colour, others notice a lot more, details even. It is for them that I’ve rebuilt this car. It is early summer 2016 when we visit Anders. He is busy preparing for the Rally of the Midnight Sun, run at the end of June. On the garage wall hangs a poster proclaiming ”Anders Norstedt, European Champion Rally Cross 1984.” It was the first of three straight championships that Anders won for Saab. When in his teens, he had his first experience of rallying as map reader for his elder brother. In 1967 he was 18 and had the first rally car of his own. It was a 1963 Saab Sport sold by well known competition driver Ove ”the Pope” Andersson. At that time, Anders had no idea that more than 30 years later, he would be in control of a four wheel drive, fire spitting rally cross dragon with more than 500 bhp under the bonnet. But this is the way it went. Anders has been competing all his life. As a professional race and rally driver or with financial support through his job as a fireman. In 1981 he participated in 52 rally and rallycross events. Except for some events at the end
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Rebuild in progress
1. Great object to modify. One 1975 Saab 99 Automatic. Anders stresses that the basis for a rally car mustbe very sound structurally. In his case, it was also important that model year and body type were the same as the car to make a replica of.
The wheel rims of the early Saab competition cars had enlarged vent holes for improved brake cooling. From his racing friend Stig Blomqvist, Anders has borrowed correctly modified rims
of the 80s when he drove for Nissan Motorsport and later Mitsubishi, he has always been faithful to Saab. The co-operation was always close and the the road between his house in Björklinge close to Uppsala and Göteborg was always easy and swift to drive. Except at the end. When Saab was in financial trouble. – It was a heavy blow for me when Saab Automobile went belly-up. After all, I had prepared about 20 Saabs for rallying and I knew most of the people in the motor sports department in Trollhättan. To realize that this had come to an end didn’t feel good at all. Anders’ Saab 99 is prepared strictly in accordance with the 1975 regulations. I walk in circles around the car. It could have been 1975. The man I’m talking with was then 26. Like the factory competition cars always were, this car could have begun as a bare body pulled off the assembly line before much had been added to it. Not like the good used car this one was before Anders got hold of it. His restoration, or rather replica creation, is different from other similar projects. He is doing what he always has in the garage of his house, building a rally car. He is very concerned that all details should be correct. – The people at Saab who built the works rally cars have been very helpful. Instead of searching through huge numbers of old photos, I simply call them. They are happy to help and they remember every one of the numerous modifications.
A lot of the reinforcements were taken over from the 96 V4, it had a similar front suspension. The front shock absorber turrets were strengthened with strong L- shaped profiles. A triangular reinforcement was welded to the A-post structure. From the beginning, it wasn’t envisaged by Saab to enter
the 99 in rallies. ”We are going to sell it to established people”, was the view of the marketing department. Only after the introduction 1972 of the 99 EMS, management permitted the building of a rally version. The first one was pretty mild with only 110 bhp. It had large TEST labels on the sides. It is a later stage version that Anders has chosen to build a replica of. With twin Weber DCOE carbs, modified cylinder head and a wild cam, it should come very close to 200 bhp. – Trendab in Södertälje has built the engine, Anders says. I have asked them not to tune it for max power at 6 000 – 7 000 rpm. I prefer engines with high low-end power. They are soon to calibrate the carbs on the rolling road dyno. – That’s why I’m in a bit of a hurry. We have to get the car ready for action very soon. All through our visit, the car is worked on. The radiator hoses are fitted. Under the car someone is crawling. – It’s Affe, Anders says, he is busy fitting the cable
2. Anders began by completely gutting out the body. After that, he stripped the underside to the bare metal enabling him to fix any corrosion damage.
3. Anders reinforced the front end like it was done on the Saab works cars. Triangular reinforcement of the lower ends of the A-posts, longitudinal beams on top of the wheel wells and two L- shaped profiles on the MacPherson turrets.
4. The paint finish quality of a rally car depends on the owner/builder’s ambitions. ”The paint finish is the first impression people get when looking at a rally car. I want mine to look good”, Anders says. The colour scheme is the same as on the works cars of 1975.
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Restoration
Still, this is typical of Swedish motor sport. The garage at home is where it all begins harness. Affe briefly looks up from under the car. – Hello Affe! Anders says that a big difference between old and new rally cars is in the suspension. Today’s cars are completely rebuilt with modern components and much longer spring travel, sometimes as much as 8 or 9 centimetres. But his Saab retains most of the original rally components. Stiffer springs, Bilstein shock absorbers and plastic bushings. Spring travel? Two centimetres at the most! Still the cars weighed about the same as now, so you can imagine what it must have felt like to touch ground again after flying over a hill top! Another difference is that in the 70s, they used the original fuel tanks, often a Saab 96 tank fitted inside at the rear of the car. Rubber hoses were used and there were always petrol fumes inside the car. – In the old days, you could hardly sit in the car, Anders says. Driving was better because air pressure pushed the fumes out. The safety regulations are a lot stricter now and a safety tank is mandatory. I use steel couplings and safety braided hoses. Steel couplings look more period than modern anodized aluminium ones. The safety cage now fitted is stronger and more elaborate than the period one. The Midnight Sun Rally is not a show parade of classic cars. It is a very real competition event and the classic cars are driven without mercy. Safety regulations must be strictly observed but the period spirit and feeling can still be preserved or, in case of a replica, recreated. Anders has worked hard on his car to duplicate the feel and character of a rally car of the period. The accessory switches are identical to those of the period and located exactly as in the works cars. Moto-Lita steering wheels made in England were used by Saab’s rally department. Anders has ordered an exact replica with the Saab logo from Moto-Lita. Often pedants frown when spotting generic ”Bufo” markings on nuts and bolts of restored cars, but in a Saab as well as in that other Swedish car, Bufo fasteners made in Sweden are authentic.
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To see the engine bay is like leafing through a glossy catalogue of classic go-faster-accessories. Setraboil cooler, Filter King petrol pressure regulator, Misan inlet manifolds, double Webers. In the boot there are twin Facet fuel pumps. All the famous brands!
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Rebuild in progress The Saab competion department gradually phased the new 99 in to rallying while the V4:s were still active. Anders’ car is a replica of the car Stig Blomqvist rallyed in 1975. Weber carbs, modified cylinder head but still just 8 valves. Good for a bit more than 200 bhp.
5. It is getting tougher to find Saab 99 chassis components. Good contacts help. The rear suspension links are NOS with typical galvanized pattern on the matt surface.
6. The yellow paint markings on the chassis components were made by race scrutineers when Anders was a professional driver. The cars were closely checked for technical compliance and yellow markings meant OK. The Saab has twin oil coolers, both made by Setrab,
a company founded 1968 in Malmö in the south of Sweden. Setrab is famed for cooling systems for all kinds of performance cars. One cooler is for the motor oil, the other is much smaller and cools the gearbox oil being circulated through the cooler by an electric pump, necessary as the engine being fitted over the transmission heats the oil. – You don’t happen to know someone with two Porsche 914 rear brake calipers to spare? Rally drivers love to navigate tights bends by pulling the handbrake to provoke read wheel skidding. It didn’t work for the 99 because its handbrake acts on the front wheels. The rally people had a simple solution. The Porsche rear brakes incorporated the parking brake. The calipers were a straight fit on the 99, but the handbrake cable actuation had to be turned around to pull the rear brakes on and not the front ones. A fairly simple thing. The bonnet is back on again. The Moto-Lita steering wheel has arrived from England. Has the radiator hose gone missing been found? Lots more to attend to before the start of the Midnight Sun Rally. Tomorrow, Anders will drive to to Stig Blomqvist to borrow a set of the special wheel rims like the factory rally cars had. I realize I might be obstructing important activities so I say Good Bye and Good Luck! Leaving, I am struck by the great contrast of the quite ordinary garage at Anders’ house and his extraordinary rally successes.
Still, this is typical of Swedish motor sport. The garage at home is where it all begins. Budding aspirations sometimes lead to speed legends like Ronnie Peterson, Per Eklund, Stig Blomqvist. And Anders Norstedt.
What happened after our visit? The 99 was made ready for the 2016 Rally of the Midnight Sun. Unfortunately, Anders encountered mechanical problems and failed to finish.The year after, he did better and also entered the Swedish Rally. At the Saab Festival, Anders won the class of modified rally cars. Currently, the Saab is on exhibition at the Saab Museum of Lennart Nilsson in Kil, Sweden. ”That feels good”, Anders says. ”I like it!”
7. Crash cages are bought in pieces. It takes about a week to weld it together inside the car. The cage is primarily for safety, but it also improves rigidity of the car.
Safety fuel tank is compulsory in competition nowadays. Anders has chosen pressed steel couplings and steel braided hoses to preserve the original look.
8. Moto-Lita steering wheels were in vogue 1975 and that’s still true. Anders has ordered a new one from Britain and it arrives during the coffee break ...
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Saab talk
Buy a Saab 99 from an old guy TEXT PETER BÄCKSTRÖM, CURATOR OF THE SAAB CAR MUSEUM
W
ould you like to buy a classic Saab? Then I would recommend the 99. It is rare in the Swedish classic car scene. Few are still on the road because the 99 has been very popular in Folk Racing, a particular Swedish and Finnish form of low budget banger rallycross killing numerous cars every year. Being light, front wheel drive, fast and strong, the 99 was very suitable to push competitors off the track although not always without damage to itself. Also, Swedish enthusiasts have not yet come to fully appreciate the unique design of the 99 created by Gunnar Ljungström and Rolf Mellde. In other countries, it’s a different story as evidenced by many fine examples being exported at prices few Swedes are prepared
To me, these basic Saabs are the most interesting – the remind me of the Saabs my parents used to have to pay. Very few good ones of the most coveted Turbo and EMS models remain in Sweden. If you want one, you probably would have to restore a run-down one. An expensive operation always taking longer than anticipated. A better bet is looking for Plain Janes, often one-owner, basic cars sparingly used by retired people and maintained by them as an investment. OK, a top of the line Saab company car with all options is tempting too, but I think you will understand what I mean. The old guy Saab usually comes with little used but cracked winter tyres.That’s what happens to tyres after 30 years or so. No rusting but perhaps a few parking scratches, faded paint. The headlining hang-down fixed with pins. Always a ring binder with receipts and test certificates as well as a little book recording all petrol fill-ups. An original sales folder, usually punched for the binder, and as frequently studied as the car handbook. Sometimes there is even an official Saab workshop manual. Mostly, it only needs one turn of the key to start. Having driven it home, you change all fluids. Perhaps 114 SAAB C ARS MAGAZINE
Peter Bäckström, the curator of the Saab Car Museum, prefers enjoying Saabs by driving them and that includes regularity, rally and racing events. Only when it comes to slot car table racing is he prepared to stand back. His summer favourite: Saab 900 Aero.
you also need to fix a brake caliper that’s not releasing properly. The Saab passes the safety test at first try and soon you have enjoyed 4000 km in your first summer with the 99. You do a fix-it list for winter and scan the net for spares and accessories. When spring comes, you only need to connect the battery to start it up again. If you have been lucky, perhaps it now rolls on EMS wheels found in the small ads. To me, these basic Saabs are the most interesting – they remind me of the Saabs my parents used to have. A couple of years ago, I was lucky finding and buying a well-kept 1977 Antelope Brown Saab 99, just like the one I was taught how to drive in. ”I don’t like the colour”, my wife said. ”It doesn’t look good, nor do you behind the wheel”, she further let me know. Probably she meant that I already had enough Saabs standing around. But this one is special, a time capsule that I keep improving. Recently, a new headlining was installed and I have also managed to find my father’s old Blaupunkt Marburg radio set that I am about to fit. I look forward to the next journey in it. I only have to connect the battery, turn the key and off the Saab and I go. Hope to see you on the road! PS. I’m thinking about fitting a Saab wood-rimmed Sport&Rally steering wheel to it. Hopefully, steering will not be much heavier when parking.
Saab Car Museum i Trollhättan
Saab Car Museum ÅKERSSJÖVÄGEN 16, TROLLHÄTTAN
info@saabcarmuseum.se
saabcarmuseum.se
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