If nothing else, we like people here at Trollhattansaab. And, on behalf of regular reader, confidant and contributor Robin in the UK we ask you gentle readers for a favor.
He’s looking for a bona-fide digital photo of a Saab 600. One with Saab badging and correct equipment is preferred.
Given that this little Swedish-Italian love child was only available in Sweden, I’m really looking to you Swedes here. Thanks in advance.
E-mail to Swade or to me at eggsngrits at gmail dot com.
A horrid thing- with a CD of 0.48 Yes 0.48 – which took the science of aerodynamics back 50 years. Quite what Guigario thought he was doing turning this out as the Lancia Dleta, only he knows.
And what of Saab -with ALL its cars down in the low CD 30s putting its name to a barn door of a Lancia with the flying characteristics of brick….
We had one in the extended family – it did not rust -contrary to urban myth- but it did breakd down all the time and the entire cabin fell to pieces in quick time.
Safe?- hmm.
This car was a Wallenburg- Agnelli inspired deal just beofre those fine men gave us the Saab 9000 – which was the best of thr Type 4 bunch- -Fiat Croma- Yuk. Alfa 164- great but oh so fragile.Lancia Thema- baroque.
BTW- the old Fiat Autobianchi super mini was also sold as a Saab abdged trinket in Sweden int eh mid 1970s- and appeared int eh Saab model range brochures of that era. (It was a Mini -sized 3 door death trap- allegedly)..
Will see what I can do for a photo of the later Lancia Saab 600 – that should ahve been 666.
Lance, thank you in advance. I had never heard of the Autobianchi Saab. I’m thinking it might be a new one on a lot of people. Robin.
Strange that, despite the past links with Fiat, Saab never joined up with them. Might have given us some interesting results. Some cross-breed between a 9-3 and a 159 – hmmmm
Nice Saab Lancia 600 brochure from Denmark:
http://www.saab-brochuresamling.dk/Saab%20Lancia%20600%20DK/Saab%20-%20Lancia%20600%20DK.htm
WWooww great link Erik !
I’m affraid I can’t help you Robin .Sorry
Don’t forget that this car turned out to the Lancia Integrale with all its ‘Evoluziones’.
It won six World Rally Championship titles for manufacturers and four drivers’ titles.
That would have been something for Saab, wouldn’t it ??!!
All – if you check out the last page of the Saab brochure -on Erik’s first link- you will see a rendition in yellow of the Saab Lancia Autobianchi little thing I mentioned earlier!
Rarity Eh Robin!
Well at least they didn’t badge the Autobianchi as a “Saab”, just as a Lancia A112. But I might have liked it seeing how well the Abarth version did in rallying. But, I suppose safety was totally lacking.
See Wikipedia.
Also a little blurb on this interesting site about half way down.
Erik: Great link.
Lance: yes! I think that Guigario was likely trying to complete this econobox quickly so that he could work on something interesting.
Eggs,
Nah mate- he was just earning money before ‘designing’ the Morris Ital for God knows how many million. That was the facelifted Morris Marina with a chrome strip around the windows and a black slatted grille. Intrestingly the Ital is mising from guigarios Ital Design CV. Can’t say i blame him- he had MUCH better moments.
Anyone who cares might want to look up his Medusa concept car of thr 1980s- stunning.
As for the Saab 600 Delta- it was no Integrale was it.
All – if you look hard at that final page of the Saab brochure on Erik’s link – you will see at the top the printed words- Saab- Autobianchi.
Guess this will surprise a few of us….
We had a 600 GLE in the family. My dads companycar at the time. After several breakdowns, the interior on the right passengerdoor had come off and one of dads workmates droped the entire bootlid on the E3/18 up to Stockholm, they got the word that Saab would take the Lancias back and the lease company would get a total refund. They both got 900 5 doors instead. BUT! Dad has often said that the 600/Delta was one of the most amuzing cars he has driven, when it worked that is… Incredible road feel and an entertaining highrev engine. (That´s until he dropped his -88 9000 turbo of at Heuschmidt tuning company for an engine and chassie update in 1990.. 236bhp, new chocks, antirollbars and rubber..)
I´ll see if I can find some pictures of the exterior of our Saab-Lancia 600 GLE and the inside with it´s checkered textile..
And no, the printed words Saab Autobianchi does not surprise me at all since the A112 is an Autobianchi and not a Saab… Saab never intended it to wear the Saab badge. Saab was the distributor, service and parts supplier- Nothing else.
Cheers from Sweden/ Tompa
BaRa, Saab were involved in the development of the 159. An Alfa chief had a moan in a recent Autocar article where he says the 159′s biggest problem was its weight, and would probably get a 6NCAP rating if it was possible due to Saab over engineering the platform. It made me chuckle.
Ahh yes, the GM/fiat “premium” platform that was supposed to underpin the replacement 9-5 that was supposed to hit the roads around 2004 or so. Once GM purchased the rest of Saab in 2000, GM pulled the plug on the next-gen 9-5 because the suspension design that the saab engineers wanted would have cost too much money.
So if you want to know what the stillborn next-gen 9-5 would have driven like, go drive a 159.
And if you want to get REALLY upset at GM, there was supposed to be a sportscar developed on that same platform.
So look at the 159, the brera, and the new spyder then imagine saabs riding on the same mechanicals and you’ll have an idea of what almost was.
It´s called “Pixbo plattan” and Saab and GM developed and paid for it.. Alfa.. Lucky you, a free floorpan development..
And the EuroNCAP ratings for structrul integrity is from 1-5 stars.
I’m sorry that I can’t contribute to any pictures of the 600..
Alex: Please, don’t upset me like this.. Hearing that the bean counters at GM wouldn’t allow a possibly very good suspension-design for the 9-5 is sad..
But I’m glad the 9-5 didn’t come to be a heavyweight like the 159.. Hope they can use some light materials to make the new 9-5 safe but still not too heavy so it will be good to drive and steal some sales from german competitors.
A couple of years ago, I made this photoshop of something I could hope a Sonnett would look like: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/Edonis/aSonett.jpg
Except for the front and the seats (which are from the 9-3 cab), it’s not so Saaby, but I thought it looked neat at the time..
Thinks it looks nice Edonis. Edonis.. Alfa had to complain.. Eventhough they got it for free… These cars are their safest ever.. It weighs a wie bit more, but at the same time not more than a 3 series coupé.. So why complain? It´s safer than a BMW… Look at the 5 series.. 4 stars rating
@^. much better grille work than the 9-4x.
@Tompa: Yes, they’re safe but I’ve read several reviews who aren’t totally satisfied with its handling due to its FWD and heavy weight.. But who cares when it’s such a stunner to look at
A little off topic, but regarding the new grille of the 9-4X, they said they didn’t want to make the grill go so much lower like Audi, so they made it go upwards instead. But have a look at the Aero-X, the grill looks soo much better when it goes further downwards than upwards, although the 9-4x is growing on me.
Isn’t the current SAAB diesel that everyone loves a Fiat-sourced engine (with a Mitsubishi turbo, or is that the source only on gas models)? Or just the block? The connection is still there, if at slightly greater arm’s length.
That Saab lancia 600 makes 9-2x to step out in a new light! I mean, I cannot believe that they actually did put Saab badge on that particular car! There´s not even design cues from Saab. Looks more like cross between Daihatsu Charade of ´80´s and Lancia Delta.
Eww.
But nice link though Eric. Goog to see some history of Saab.
Random non-Saab-related thought: Swade is travelling “back to the future”, flying across the International Date Line from ‘Frisco to Sydney. I’ll bet he didn’t need a flux capacitor, he didn’t need 1.21 jiggowatts (that’s 3.14 megajoulofarads to you Continental types) of power (though Airbus is claiming the plane has it, but we all know how they overstate their power output), and he easily passed the 88 mph mark and likely saw some “serious sh*t”.
No matter how many times I plead for him to tell me tomorrow’s lottery numbers he never laughs. I think I’m freakin’ brilliant!
You know, when sailors used to cross the international date line they’d get a tattoo of a golden dragon. A sailor that has sailed more than 5,000 miles would get a swallow tattoo. At 10,000 miles he’d get another swallow. A sailor who crossed the equator would get a shellback turtle tattoo. I think Swade needs to get all these tattoos for this trip. What say ye!?!
I even think that he should cross into the Antarctic circle. Why? A sailor who had crossed the equator, international date line, arctic circle, and antarctic circle would get a rope knot tattoo. Swade crossed the equator and date line twice on this trip, I think he crossed into the arctic circle on his trip to Trollhattan next year, and the Antarctic circle isn’t THAT far away from Tasmania (on my globe, at least)!
oops, that should read “last year”… duh.
Nah the arctic circle is way north of Trollhattan, like 1000 km or so…
Yes, that´s more than 1200km by car.
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/6708/arcticcirclees0.jpg
Black circle shows arctic circle. Trollhättan is bit south of the line from Oslo to Stockholm.
Flight paths often take a northerly route — flyoing from the US to Japan you fly over Alaska for a good portion of the trip. It has to do with the prevailing winds and the geometry of the specific route, but the Arctic Circle crossing is plausible. You have to look it up.
Swade’s route home:
Its called a Great Cricle routing.
Shortest distance between two points on the spherical globe and is why Anchorage sued to be an airiel cross roads for commercial airliners- before they had the range they do now. Lots of cargo now stops there though en route- east west – east.
Okay, but Swade can still get a golden dragon, shellback turtle, and two swallows, right?
Umm, I think so. In fact, I think that it should be mandatory. EnG
I’ve always wanted to learn more about this car, my only experience with the SaabLancia 600/Lancia Delta is a friend of mine happens to have an Integrale
he had an 8 valve and 16 valve, 8v was sold so he still has the 16v still.
Well kids, my mate has just bought a 9000 Griffin.
I told him it shared the body with Fiat etc.
Please tell me I’m right!
He thinks it’s a Volvo.
Kindest,
LW.