Reminds me of stories from my mother of her wild youth on the pacific island of Nauru – she had a DKW bike as I recall.

Which gets me thinking, was the Triumph car company the same as the bike one?

Merely pondering the thought that the owner butchered up some rare metal, which may have been worth more left in its original state. But considering that it was a basket case anyway, and parts sources would be minimal, I reckon it’s good to see it back on the road like it is. Appears to be a very neat build, but I’m still not a fan of that dash!

PT, you’re right. Sort of. The Ford engine used by Saab was actually made in Germany (it’s called a ‘Cologne’ engine for this reason). No US influence at all. Even so, the old 2-stroke engines were actually DKW units, and the early 99 I have has a 1.7 Triump engine. Later 99’s used a modified Triumph Dolomite unit, which became the 900……which ultimately became the 9000 as well. Later engines are very similar also. The V6 2.5 was a Holden vectra unit…………….. which leads me to conclude that the V4 isn’t any more un-Saab than any other engine that’s been fitted in a Saab.

Drew B

The article told a little bit about the building of the car and that they had to build a complete new front suspension and drive shafts because of the wide V6 engine.

And that the owner of the car wanted to be anonymous, probably because of all the old SAAB purist who meant this was sacrilege.

As a footnote, that gearshifter (if not the whole transmission) would appear to come from a 93 and I thought the 2.5V6 stopped with the 900S in 1997. Unless its the 3.0 that was used in the 95 Griffins?? My 2.5 actually says 2.5 on the engine cover and this one doesn’t seem to.

Strange mod but it does seem to be beautifully done.

And Drew, you shouldn’t sound so outraged – your 95 wagon has a Ford Motor as I recall? or was that the 96? Anyway, thepoint is, this wasn’t the first American-sourced engine that Saab ever used.

But its still strange.