People have taken Saab and the spirit of Saab to their hearts the world over. Yet in a far off land with cultural frameworks far removed from a Swedish winter, Saab has a following that has surprised even this dedicated Saabist.

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Lance Cole is a writer living in England and has penned several books on automobiles and aviation. Saab enthusiasts would know him best for the book Saab 99 and 900: The Complete Story, which is an excellent volume and available for sale at the TS Shop. At the bottom of the left sidebar you’ll see a list of authors here at TS. Click Lance’s name to read all of his contributed pieces.

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All photos by Lance Cole. Click to enlarge

You know that there is an Australian stereotype – in fact there are several. Cars ‘Down Under’ have always been big, brawny, rear wheel drive affairs best suited to the huge mileages Aussies do on their cross country and interstate journeys. Holden and Ford have ruled the roost for decades with their own brands of modified bodies and engines that started life in Europe and the US as other cars.

GM used the doors off the old European Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier to create a Holden Commodore a few years back. And by adding huge front and rear overhangs to the Opel Omega, the Aussies created the last-but-one, Holden Statesman.

But times and fashions change and other cars have now begun to make inroads into the Aussie car market.

Yet, Saab is huge here and has been for decades. They bought 99s and 900s in vast numbers – and now 9-3s and 9-5s.

On a drive up into the Blue Mountains west of Sydney I was swept aside by a red Classic 900 SPG Turbo, a three door beauty blasting up Katoomba hill. The car had to be 15 years old and yet it looked brand new. Coming down the hill a few minutes later was an early Classic 900 turbo in white, screaming down through the S bends – its driver grinning hugely.

Then there was the farmer’s wife driving a red Classic 900 convertible, which seemed incongruous in a land of huge four wheel drive monsters and pick ups – ‘Utes’ to the locals. And the old 1950s Saab 93 I found as a barn find in the back-of-beyond in Victoria underlined the point. Melbourne is packed with Saabs – especially convertibles.

In Sydney, the local Saab Car Club blokes, organised by Brendon – Trollhattan Saab readers all – turned out in cars ranging from a new Turbo X to Simon’s pristine, restored 99 Turbo three door in Cardinal Red metallic. The by-now infamous Belgian Beer Cafe provided a strong backdrop. These guys are true hardcore Saab nuts.

Joe Lobo asked me what was it that made Saabs so popular in Britain. I guess the next question is what is it that makes Saabs so popular in Australia?

En route to finding the answer via Swade, I discovered the stunning, amazing collage of scenery that is Tasmania. Imagine the Scottish highlands, the Lake District, the Blue Hills of Virginia, blended with vistas of Kenya and dotted with lochs, lakes, harbours and wooden lodges.

I came here to meet Mr TS – our man Swade and visit Trollhattan Towers. And if I thought mainland Australia – the Big Island – was Saab mad, that was as nothing to the sheer size of the Saab population in Tasmania.

Hobart and the rest of the place is seething with Saabs – it’s a Saab island, however small; the locals love them. I saw eight Classic 900 four doors in a few days, hoardes of convertibles and it is a sea of newer models too.

Maybe this Saabness is in part behind Swade’s obvious passion and dedication to Saab. Maybe that is part of the creation and success of Trollhattan Saab – mixed in with the Big Island’s love of Saabs too?

It was a privilege to meet Mr Trollhattan Saab and see him at work. I have tried to convince of his achievement with TS but he is so modest he hates any suggestion of PR plugging! But I reckon there’s a whole lot more to come from TS.

Drew B – he of the incredible Saab collection and local Saab Club Chair, organised a dealer day with the local Saab dealer (Motors Saab) and we took off to the hills in a range of cars including a Turbo X wagon – great fun on amazing roads.

Drew and I also headed south a few days later in the beautifully balanced 9-3 TTiD courtesy of Saab and took some photos. It is superb car and in my view pick of the sub-Turbo X range – except for the rubbish electric window switches and low-rent fascia plastics. The auto box works really well with the TTiD, by the way. Despite the poor cabin trim, I loved this car and reckon it is the best diesel power application on the market – it’s turbine smooth with that auto.

Oh and Tasmania is full of Alfas too – so we can forgive Swade picking me up at the airport in an Italian job… I think it’s just his sense of humour.

All the Aussie Saab nuts need now are new models and like me, they cannot understand the delays to the 9-5 and 9-4X. After all, Bob Lutz justified the stop-gap Saab-Subarus by saying they would create new models whilst Saab dealers and customers awaited the real, new Saabs. Ok, so now they are ready, using that logic, how on earth does Saab justify the reverse logic of delaying these cars?

The Saab Island expects.

Finally, huge thanks to Swade and everyone for hosting me and making it the trip of a lifetime for Saab nerd from Mud Island.

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From Swade:

SW

All photos by the author. Click to enlarge.

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Beyond the advertising hype of ‘born from jets’ as a Saab strapline, the reality is in fact – born from props! Props – egg beaters, propellors, whisks, whatever you want to call them, Saab’s first aircraft had prop power, not jets at all.

Even after the Draken jet fighter and other, later jet fighters, Saab made prop powered craft- including the Scandia airliner and the Saab 340 airliner of the 1980s. Saab’s propellor aircraft are known for their balanced handling, good roll rates, nice aileron feel and have no nasty habits, yet remain sporty rathern than staid.

The Saab Tunnan – (barrel), may have been the quinessential small fighter, but the lovely Safir (sapphire), conceived in 1948, is pure Saab. Indeed, the swept wing of the jet Tunnan was tested on a unique, one-off re-winged Safir- which looked even more modern and then more so when the Saab Lansen fighter wings were also flight tested on the Safir airframe.

The elegant little Safir light aircraft are rare now. A British example – the only flying example in the UK, lives near me in southern England where its owner Alan House, of Sylmar Aviation Services, is well known for restoring and caring for his airworthy Safir. He also has another airframe in store.

Alan flew into the Great Vintage flying weekend show at Kemble airfield recently and he very kindly gave the author a tour around his 1957 Safir for the benefit of everyone here at Trollhattan Saab. His enthusiasm for his Safir was infectious, he is a proud Saab owner of an elegant little plane that flies with pure- bred handling.

“It’s a well built, beautiful aircraft that is a delight to fly.” says Alan.

Of note in design terms, the interior control panel design- two hooped panels with a centre console – the shapes were very leading edge design back in the 1940s and highly individual- not your normal light aircraft interior for the era – in fact very advanced in design and erognomic terms- pure Saab then. Sixten Sason is rumoured to have had a hand in the control panels – and I think it shows.

To me, today’s Saab 9-3 car fascia has clear echoes of these shapes and motifs.

The cabin glasshouse is curved and faired in – even if the designers lacked acceess to smooth moulded canopies and windscreens. The front seats are thick and comfy and there is room in the back for others too.

And which other light aircraft of this vintage features a nice strong metal rollover bar stuck in the middle of the cabin? Typical Saab safety – whatever the weight penalty.

The size of the tail fin and the shape of the wings are all balanced- proving that ‘if it looks right it will fly right’ – to quote an old adage.

Alan told me that en-route to Kemble, in company with an other craft he had to drop some flaps to keep the speed down- as his little Saab is sleek and slippery – even if she is now a grand lady of a certain age.

The 91 or Safir came in three versions as it was developed- early ones had British De Havilland Gypsy Major engines (125 bhp), but later models had American Lycoming powerplants with six cylinder 190bhp or four cylinder 180bhp on offer – as does Alan’s.

The Safir’s were built at Linkoping and later in the Netherlands to a design by Anders J. Andersson. 323 were produced after a first flight in 1945. Andersson had previously worked on the German Bucker 181 Bestmann design and the ‘look’ is evident in the Safir- albeit more modern – in fact very modern; this plane looks more 1960s than 1940s in its timeless Saab design: It has a lovely stance and visual graphic – just like Saab cars then.

Only the interuppted windscreen panels give its age away and just look at the front grille!

The Safir sold world wide- including in Ethiopia and to the Japanese air force as well as in Germany, France and beyond. It came in 3 or 4 seat versions and was midly aerobatic- an excellent trainer as well as being suitable for private use as a rather low-slung sporting carriage don’t you know…

Alan’s Safir served with the Dutch Rijksluchtvaartschool (RLS) in Eelde, near Groningen and has kept most of its Dutch registration – with the ‘PH’ code being replaced by a British ‘G’ reggo. He has flown her to Saab rallies across Europe too.

The maximum speed is a conservatively quoted 165 mph (265 km/h) with a range of 660 miles (1062 km).

As you can see in the accompanying photos, this little Saab is a real part of Saab history and we at Trollhattan Saab are honoured to have been given an exclusive tour by a Saab owner who clearly knows his stuff.

So, ‘born from props’ – and don’t let anyone forget it.

(C) cole 2008

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Lance Cole is a writer living in England and has penned several books on automobiles and aviation. Saab enthusiasts would know him best for the book Saab 99 and 900: The Complete Story, which is an excellent volume and available for sale at the TS Shop. At the bottom of the left sidebar you’ll see a list of authors here at TS. Click Lance’s name to read all of his contributed pieces.

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In these days of shining chrome and prestige branding, many people forget that Saab’s first car was not some luxo-barge for bloated plutocrats, nor was it an executive saloon for aspirant middle class corporate boys.

Oh no, that first Saab was a small car- a car for the masses; a car that was both basic and intelligent – so intelligent that in its derivative forms it was on sale from 1950 to 1980 as the Saab 92-96 ranges. And it was a leading edge tool with front drive, safety, tuned aerodynamics, iconic industrial design and huge ability that lasted decades – as only good design can.

Only the original Mini, the 2CV, and the VW Beetle can boast similar production runs.

Now, Saab’s lack of a small car that reflects its true beginnings truly shows. If Saab had a small car, it would be earning money. But it does not and people buy those horrid Korean things.

The same was true way a back in the mists of the 1980s when Saab, so desperate for that ‘entry-level’ model – the smaller, cheaper car, created one. And they did it without lifting a finger in design terms.

In 1984, Saab did what no other car maker has ever done in order to create a new model. Saab took two cars from its range, sawed them in half and built a ‘cut and shut’ special that was a weird and only slightly wonderful attempt at a stop-gap car in its model range.

Let’s just repeat that – a major car manufacturer took the front and back of two different cars and welded them up into a new model!

The exclamation mark is justified – think about it, this car was almost 20 years old when it was born.

The car was called the ‘90’ and somehow, it worked – but it was no real answer and it reflected a cash–strapped myopia that was, and remains typical of Saab – perhaps through no-fault of its own…

The Saab 90 was the front of the old Saab 99 2 door, conjoined with the back of the longer, newer, Saab 900. The result was a long tailed thing that had the Sason and Envall short–nosed 99 front and curved windscreen slot, with a long Envall designed 900 tail stuck out the back.

It looked odd. And the boot/trunk was huge. You could live in there and fold the seats flat and sleep in it – all with no hatchback.

Saab gave the 90 twin-tube sports dampers, shorter gear ratios and automatic fuel cut-off, oh and 900 style badging – minus the last zero – so they did not even have to tool up for new logos.

Inside it was pure 1970s Saab 99 – and yet they bothered to change the rake of the 99s steering rack so that the steering wheel was 4 degrees steeper – like the 900s. Well, almost like a 900. It still lacked power steering.

There was a bigger 13.9 gallon fuel tank (400 miles range) – a good thing as this old, heavy gauge car only just scraped home to 30mpg. Zero to sixty mph took a lethargic 11 seconds and the mid-range overtaking performance was near the bottom of the class. Remember this was the Saab 1985cc engine without the turbo and tuned for economy – almost.

But there was plenty of torque and you could make the old beast punt along quite nicely on sweeping cross country roads. The gearbox whined, though, even on new ones and especially on the motorway. Still, this was a 100bhp (DIN) car. Mind you, no one rallyed a 90 – did they?

Saab did nothing with the 99 and the 900s’ old bug bear- the gearbox, and the handling remained slow geared in steering terms. But it was not bad for a chassis that was two decades old, a fine testament to Saabs original work and the simple rightness of double wishbone suspension (long before Honda spend millions advertising their use of it, too).

The headlining still dropped – even though Saab had 20 years knowledge across two car ranges about it before they stuck it into the 90. There was still a horrid fake wood veneer plastic strip across the 99 derived dashboard and the windscreen was not deepened as it had been for the 900 – so it was like sitting in a deep Victorian bath tub looking out through a visor: lovely.

Saab bunged the door mirrors, seats, rubbing strips, and various other bits of 900 kit into the 90. One non-900 delight was a choke lever – a manual choke, big enough to be pulled by a gloved Swedish hand. There was five speed manual (only) gearbox and a top speed of about 100mph. Disc brakes all round hauled the 90 to sharp stop – even if the pedals were so offset you might press the wrong one at first acquaintance.

I drove a white Saab 90 for a few months. It whined and chugged, yet had great character. Ultimately, though, it was neither fish nor fowl and in marketing terms was, even to my Saab devoted mind, an oddity. But for Saab owners who did not want the prestige of the 900 – even the base model – and wanted to move from an old 96 or old 99 into a new small Saab, the 90 was a very easy way to do it, though some might have perceived it as a con.

The car was rigid, crash safe, reliable, and characterful. But that was not enough and was never going to be – how on earth could a car maker survive by creating a new small ‘bread and butter’ model by welding two other models together for goodness sake?

It was a mad, mad, thing and we knew it at the time, which was why after under 3 years on the UK market, the 90 died. Just before it died, though, the Finns had something special in mind: the Lumikko (translated: “Snow Weasel”). Saab 90 enthusiasts now had their very own limited edition to fawn over. And limited it was, too, with only 10 examples made.

The fact remains, though, that people bought the 90. In total, 25,378 Saab 90s were made. It was sold in selected European countries only and the Swedes and the Dutch loved them. They are getting rare now and the eccentric Saabist in me rather fancies one.

However, I would rather Saab offered you and me a re-skinned Vauxhall/Opel Corsa with the revised body design (that I happen to have on my drawing board), as the new small Saab. It would be so easy- not a single internal tooling changed- just the outer skins and the interior, and bingo a new small Saab is with us: Unless Saab were to weld the back of a Astra to the front of an Insignia and fit a 1.2 engine.

But no one would ever weld two different models together to make a new car though, would they…

Lance Cole © 2008.

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Lance Cole is a writer living in England and has penned several books on automobiles and aviation. Saab enthusiasts would know him best for the book Saab 99 and 900: The Complete Story, which is an excellent volume and available for sale at the TS Shop. At the bottom of the left sidebar you’ll see a list of authors here at TS. Click Lance’s name to read all of his contributed pieces.

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A couple of images accompanying this piece were sourced from www.saab-90.com. I think the site’s reasonably old now, but for those interested in learning more about the 90, it’s a great resource with photos, brochures and other stuff.

SW

I remember those adverts – “Saab properly designed and correctly engineered” – or some such lovely, blinkered, pompus truisms… I always preferred – “Saab – go swift, go Safe – go Saab!”

So for a while Saab’s were ‘alternative’ (whatever that is) and so were many of the owners. But it was a static market sector and a navel gazing demographic. And surely, anyone with an IQ higher than that of a Kia Karens would aspire to be a ‘thinker’. We are all thinkers – aren’t we?

On the eastern seaboard of the USA, there was a time in the late 1970s through to the late 1980s and perhaps just beyond, when choosing a Saab was an intellectual statement – and why not? I would have bought a Saab rather than some floppy piece of American mid-size tin with the torsional rigidity of a doughnut – or a Honda.

But the Saab-snob thing happened and the demographic got stuck with tweed jackets, elbow patches and the Sunday papers, amongst other uniforms.

Things changed, and across the USA the Saab buyer base expanded beyond the confines of the conceited: The Turbo stuff did that – oh and Bob Sinclair – who really understood what Saab’s mojo was.

In the UK and Europe, Saab also escaped from its obscure little niche and became a wider brand – just as Subaru latterly did.

By the late 1990s, Saab was a brand favoured by farmers, the Gay community, architects, pilots, teachers, good old boys who also liked Subarus (weird, that), South London drug dealers, and a vast spread across the social science strata.

So Saab became a diverse brand, long before corporate-speak jumped on the bandwagon and contaminated it all with the inane, valueless bullshit bingo that most politicians and business people now spout when they are trying to be cleverer than you and me by “going forwards” – which they are not of course.

Yet, and it’s a big yet, there is still a brand resistance to Saab. Maybe the 9-4x will change that; maybe the new 9-5 will change that. Maybe it will take something more?

All this occurred to me at the weekend when I visited my two favourite places – the yacht club and the gliding club.

Down at the marina, it was wall-to-wall Volvos. When you consider how much Volvo spend on sponsoring ocean race yachting, it’s a good return on their investment. I saw one new Saab, a 9-5, one of the massively discounted ones Saab UK have been punting off, which Swade and I have both covered in these pages before. Oh, and a smattering of Audis which were all blinged up and which had a common theme of worn out, scrubbed shouldered front tyres on new cars with just a few thousand miles on the clock.

But Volvo – notably the XC 70 and V70 ruled the roost – moored up like an America’s Cup squadron: Swedish car meant Volvo – not Saab.

Next day, I went to my other ‘home’: the gliding club. Now to me, Saab should be sponsoring all things flying and especially gliding – because the ethos is the same. ‘The Saab European Gliding Championships’ – sounds nice, sells cars. If only…

There were 6 Saabs in the car park, not including mine and another one of those Saab UK 9-5 wagons for £19,995 – nice. Sadly, there were about 25 Volkswagens and several Audis. Interestingly, there was only one Volvo.

So VW was the glider pilots’ brand of choice. Why?

I thought back to the 1980s and remembered that the gliding club car park used to be full of Saab 900s, many of them being turbos.

So, I wondered, why the exodus to VW? But at least there were no Honda un-Civics and Daewoo Desperanzas present.

The answer was reliability, or maybe that should be perceived reliability, because on chatting to the owners, their VWs had not been that reliable.

“Come on,” I said, “You lot live for free flight – ultimate aerodynamic performance and engineering design, surely Saab is the best example of that in a mass market car.”

To man, and a woman, the answer came back: “It was, but is it true any more? Aren’t they tarted up Vauxhalls now?” They asked. And then added that: “plenty of other cars now offer safety and design”.

So I went through explaining how their Volkswagens also lived as “tarted up” Skodas, Audis, and Seats and vice-versa. That shut them up, but it did not alter the fact that the GM issue is still latent in the minds of car buyers.

Which it is why is so important that GM makes Saabs that can be believed in.

On the way home I drove past the golf club and got a shock. There were two predominate brands smeared across the Pringle jumpered, diamond patterned car park: Lexus (as you would expect) and wait for it, Saab!

And there was an outbreak of that horrible disease – Hyundai-Kia-burnyourmoneyitis. This terrible condition affects the brain and makes people buy cars that appear much better value than their competitors, yet which then shed most of their value and residual worth faster than crap coming out of a cat. And against which there is no known cure other than a lobotomy. Given the appalling seats found in such so-called cars, some form of welcome paralysis to the brain’s hippocampus via the spinal cord may actually take place before the warranty runs out.

Anyway, what on earth were the golfers doing in a sea of Saabs? Where did that creep into the history of the Saab buyer base? it was news to me, that’s for sure.

I did not dare stop in case I caught Hyundai-Kia-itis and had to go the clinic.

But it proved the point that Swade made a week or two ago – what and where, is Saab’s mojo? Have they lost it like Citroen did and how Renault continues to do (that is did in the past tense for Citroen. Have you seen their new C5? Brilliant).

Or is Saab just suffering from confusion? Clarity is needed and quick-fixes like the Saab-Subaru range were never going to cure the patient.

At school, my geography teacher had a Saab 99. Not long afterwards I bought my first car – a Saab 99, followed by a Citroen GS because it had design (and rust). But I never knew anyone who played Golf and bought a Saab. They were all Jaguar, BMW, and then Lexus men: that was their so-called mojo.

All of which proves that choosing a Saab is all in the mind. Being in a Saab, being a Saab owner is about how it makes you feel, and yes, what you want to say about yourself – but in an Alfa Romeo kind of way, not in a BMW or Audi merchant banker kind of way.

But it is the message from Saab that creates what we think. We do not spontaneously think of Saab – we see a Saab, we drive a Saab, and we make a Saab choice. But who are we?

I thought we were a diverse bunch of people, whom, however different in our belief systems and lifestyle choices, loved Saab design and Saab driving and flying had little to do with it – unless you did or do.

But now I am confused and unsure, fighting the Saab addiction, and may need Lithium – or is it Librium? For what is going on when Golfers buy Saabs? I can handle my vicar owning a Saab – but not my accountant, who has a golfing handicap. And will he need a four wheel drive Saab 9-4x to negotiate the car park when it rains? Probably.

I have got a mate who has a different skin colour to mine – which is irrelevant, except that his roots are not European so you might expect him to like a car that echoes his experiences and cultural influences. But he is very rich and has a Saab and a Bristol.

Now that is free thinking.

Go figure, Saab.

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Lance Cole is a writer living in England and has penned several books on automobiles and aviation. Saab enthusiasts would know him best for the book Saab 99 and 900: The Complete Story, which is an excellent volume and available for sale at the TS Shop. At the bottom of the left sidebar you’ll see a list of authors here at TS. Click Lance’s name to read all of his contributed pieces.

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Lance has graciously agreed to being added here as an occasional author, hence his name on the by-line. His input here is truly appreciated.

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We all have our opinions, and, contrary to that hoary old phrase about opinions being like arseholes – everyone’s got one – the fact remains that we are all entitled to have one. An opinion that is…

But some opinions make it into reality and some opinions remain in the bonfires of the mind.

So, while you might think you know what a Saab should look like, someone else, some other opinion, will have a differing view of what a Saab should look like.

If that opinion holder happens to be a car designer working for GM then let’s face it: their opinion is going to see the light of day and yours is going to stay where the sun don’t shine – in your mind that is.

So, that old debate about what a Saab should look like, is a matter of opinion. As such, it is a minefield – which I will now enter…

The Saab 99 and Classic 900 with their Sason and Envall designed lines, are often held up by many opinions as representing the design language of Saab. It is, say the opinions, all in the hockey stick side swage, the clamshell bonnet (hood), the curved windscreen, the ‘top hat’ roof turret, the swoopy boat type rear end and the whole arrow shaped style of the things. And some opinions rave over the 99s concave rump and others love the upturned aerofoil that is the front end of the 99.

And I will not argue with that.

I love the flat fronted ‘face’ of the classic early 900s, and that swooped rear end with a lip spoiler and the sheer style and stance – that down-the-road graphic of the C900 hatchbacks. I also really get moved by the sheer Scandinavian sense of design evoked by Bjorn Envall’s rear windscreen design on the 900 four and two door cars (also found on that weird thing, the Saab 90). Saabists often ignore the four door C900 and they are getting rare in Europe.

What about those Saaby-weird floating ‘opera’ windows in the five door 99 and C900 models? Weird but elegant, and they worked in design terms.

And Envall added the curved indicator shapes and headlamp graphicals to the early 99 when he worked the rubber bumpers on to it in 1972. And that gave us a recognisable Saab ‘face’.

So these are the essential elements of Saab design iconography then – aren’t they? Well, hang on. There’s more.

Before the 99 and 900 there were other Saab cars and they had a different set of stylistic values and themes – albeit drawn by Sixten Sason. So I would suggest to you that we cannot see Saab design in isolation as beginning with the 99 and its themes, and then demand that any future Saab should mimic the 99 and C900 themes – as so many Saabists so often do.

The Saab 92 and its progeny, right through to the the 96, had flat windscreens, no clamshell, tapered rears, bulbous side ‘shoulders’ (now claimed as a Volvo design theme because that is a design motif Volvo have redeployed from their own design history) and other features not seen in the subsequent Saabs that are the 99 and C900.

And Sason, who made many trips to his friends in Italy at Bertone and Pinin Farina, loved Italian style as well as American style, so his works feature these influences. And Saab did have an ‘Italian Front’ version of the later 93 model that was very Alfa…

So, whilst the later GM900 and 9-3 may ape the C900, they owe little to the 92-96 range. And although the current 9-3 may evoke Saab design shapes in its details, it hardly shouts C900 three door geneology does it?

And then we have that Saab slab- the brilliant 9000; actually it was less of a slab in its Mk1 guise and more of slab when it got beefed up by Saab in its Mk2 version. Ok, so Guigario is credited with the genisis of the Saab/Alfa/Lancia/Fiat ‘Type Four’ design that gave us the 9000, 164, Thema (say ‘Tay-ma’) and Croma ranges. Envall of course, Saabised the 9000 brilliantly, but it was and could not ever be a retro pastiche of the 99 or C900.

So where does my wander through the design woods leave us?

I think it gives us camps of people who have differing opinions on what a Saab should look like. Now, that, is a luxury not viable in the world of car design beancounters…

There are those vocal people who insist that a curved windscreen and clamshell are ‘must haves’ in the Saab design check list. There are those – possibly fewer in number – who long for a curved little bob-tailed aero bubble of a small car that reflects the 92-96 range, and then there are those who want to see a complete break with a new shape – a new Saab design iconography – perhaps represented by the recent crop of Saab concept cars such as the Aero X and 9-X BioHybrid etc.

And to prove my point, above, it should be noted that these current Saab concept cars show little actual homage to the 99 or the C900, yet they reek of Saab and Scandinavian design. So they must have moved the Saab design debate on then, have they not?

I think I can sum this important point up in the words of Trollhattan Saab’s own Eggs n Grits -when he said of Saab design themes in this site’s coverage of the 9-x BioHybrid’s design and its designer Anthony Lo:

“Mr. Lo is spot on as well. If the traditions work, so much the better. However, if the traditions dictate, you run the risk of eliminating worthy options.”

Saab, this is why grand design stems from vision rather than from reinvention.

But Saabists may be be happy, or disappointed by the forthcoming real world Saabs.

The 9-4x boasts a Saab grille/headlamp ‘face’: It also boasts a classic Saab 900 derived side hockey stick type swage and some Saaby side window shapes – thus arguably proving that these are defined as essential design ingredients for the marque for now – yet one that is less obvious in the current concept cars. The new forthcoming 9-5 looks to me as though it uses the same windscreen and door side shapes as the 9-4x, and feels more cubist than curvist as a result – and really, not that advanced.

We will have to wait and see if the new 9-5 has a high tail Kamm back, or a swoopy arse, but if you look at the new Opel Insignia shapes, they could very easily be dressed up to be Saaby shapes. That rear end is very Saab. And as for the two door coupe- WOW!

And go and check out Volkswagen’s new Passat CC – all clamshell, curve and a lovely swoopy arse and rear window. Very C900, especially from the rear.

I also reckon that the little Opel / Vauxhall Corsa three door has some lovely Saab 92-96 design shapes- especially in its rear windscreen and wing shapes – it’s a cute little blob of a thing – just like the 92-96.

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Anyway, back to the ‘what should the next Saabs’ look like’ debate:

Where are we going, Saab?

Is it going to be re-tooled exterior panels with Opels and Caddys underneath? Is it going to be some damned Rover 75 or Jaguar S type, retro-pastiche homage to the C900? Or will you Saab, give us an elegant blend of your lineage and genealogy in a lithe and classy tool? Can the new 9-5 achieve this? Or do we have to wait longer?

And will the next 9-3 have a hatch; remember them Saab?

Or is the definition of the Saab look going to be a wonderful blend of ALL the Saab themes into a modern redefinition of Saab and Scandinavian design motifs – rather than just one of them?

You see, Saab, form can follow function, but that is easy. Much harder to grasp is the fact that it is brave conceptual thinking that creates grand design.

Tradition should not limit thinking.

And do we in fact already have that in the form of the 9-x BioHybrid or the Aero X? Maybe. But I suggest, Saab, that you are not quite there yet.

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This debate is crucial to the future survival of Saab.

Remember how in the early 1990s Citroen went all sensible to appeal to a wider market to sell more cars – and lost its way – and had to return to making individualistic shapes, to dare to be different again. A point proven by the strong sales of the C4 and new C5 ranges.

And Renault went weird too: Where on earth is the company’s design lineage in the shape of the new Laguna?

Go back decades and just think how the NSU RO80 or the Rover SD1 would have owned the world if they had not been plagued by bad engines and poor build. Above all they had DESIGN, as did the Lancia range.

And isn’t the new Skoda Fabia a peach of what a new small Saab could have been? Many think it looks like one.

And to prove my design-rules-all, point, think of the old Suzuki Swift. The old one was a pensioner special, a cat lovers tin can on wheels that no real car lover would buy – even when GM badged it up for sales to girlies in the USA as the unloved Geo Metro or some such nonsense. It was not to hot in a crash either. Generally, it was nearly as bad as the Mazda-121-slash-Ford-Festiva (the Ford Fester – much worse than the Ford Fiasco) from 1980 something.

And now look at the current new model Suzuki Swift – one of the most accomplished pieces of small car design and engineering seen in years and one that has put Suzuki firmly on the map in Europe – where it is also built. How did the men at Suzuki do it?

By design: Brilliant design.

And yes, Saab designs the best range of wheels in the business, and nice seats too. Oh and the best range of accessories. But it is not enough. We need design, total intergrated design.

So Saab, don’t repeat the Citroen mistake in search of volume sales by turning out bland Euro-dross design. I really fear Saab is aiming to sell more cars through the misguided belief that making a blandobox of a car will shift metal.

Listen carefully Saab: it will not.

To prove that point, compare and contrast the new Toyotas Auris with (A) its predecessor the Corolla and (B) with the VW Golf. The Auris is a good car, but is a bland, boring box with no soul and it ain’t selling like Toyota thought it would.

And Saab, I don’t mind if the floorpan and base of a new Saab are off an Opel, just as I dont mind that the Skoda Fabia shares bits with a VW. Frankly, I don’t mind where you build it, either. But I do mind if the car, the shape, the spirit, the smell, the handling, the essence of the thing that is a Saab, is not a Saab.

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So, reader, do you agree that Saab design means: subtle style, a unique motif, a unique face and feel, an essence inside and out, and a look that draws on themes from ALL the cars in Saab’s past rather than just one?

And this does not mean ‘unique’ at the expense of sales appeal (in a Citroen GS or CX kind of way) but unique in a Saab kind of way – but appealing to wider base – just like the new Citroens then. And remember Saab, a notable design-led individuality does not stop Audi or BMW selling their uniquely shaped cars beyond a core customer base, does it? So why not Saab?

I think Saab needs to define its design. It is going in the right direction, but a crossroads approaches. It’s time to decide where you are going Saab. And we out here all have an opinion which you could ask us about.

I am just off to sit on a mirror and examine mine.

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Lance, as many of you will know, is a UK based journalist and writer, and the author of Saab 99 and 900: The Complete Story.

Today he’s writing about a model that’s very close to my heart – the Saab 9-5. It’s a model that gets a lot of flack, but has never failed to bring a smile to my face with some great performance and some of the best seats in the business.

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Life in the old dog yet…..Or fine wine and a long finish…
Lance Cole on the approaching sunset days of Saab’s still-brilliant 9-5 range.

…

Some say that when Saab stopped making the classic, boat tailed, beetle browed, original model 900, Saab died with it.

Those people have the right to their opinion but neither I, nor Saab, happen to agree with them. They are wrong. And as a former 900 Classic owner – one who would take a 900 classic hatch to my desert island -just to stare at it, please don’t tell me I am not a Saabist for believing in life after that first 900.

So, Saab lived on – albeit the New Generation 900 was not totally on target first time out, it soon became the 9-3 and that was spot on as a Saab and had the spirit of Saab within it. And then there was the 9000 – again a Saab that was revised and grew into a great car of great character. Ok, so it was a Saab-Fiat hybrid type cousin of a car, but it was a superb tool.

Then came the 9-5 – and the whingers whinged once again – for it shared parts with a Vauxhall/Opel car. But history has shown that the 9-5 was a better than brilliant Saab: It remains so.

Yes, there were some early quality glitches which disappointed me, you, and some other people – glitches that really should not have been there. But all these years on, the 9-5 soldiers on beside newer equipment.

The current fashion for 9-5 knocking is partly based on age rather than ability, although we should admit that some things have moved on….

The media and in consequence, some of their readers, have become conditioned into knocking the 9-5. And alongside the new Opels, the new Audis’ even the new Volvos, the Saab 9-5 is indeed an old stager. And I love it.

The clamshell bonnet, the roof turret, the swept rear end, it’s all aero style Saab stuff and it is all a unique down-the-road-graphic in design terms.

The cabin design has that rare thing – a sense of occasion, which is what we are told supercars deliver. This is premium class travel, open the door and you know you have been upgraded from the norm. Think, front of the plane, on Lufthansa, American Airlines or Qantas. This is cocoon land.

I guess I think of the current 9-5 as a 40-something year old brunette (or hazel blonde if I have to): The first proper lines are showing, things maybe beginning to slip slightly, and the handling is sometimes affected by the ravages of time – but (and it’s a huge but (butt?)), put her in lightly applied make up, remove the spectacles, choose the right colour for the silk dress attire, and you have a very classy lady.

And yes, the 9-5 needs charming and caressing to deliver of her best. But a bit like a really good red wine, it’s all about time to breathe and the right temperature (65-68 degrees for the wine), which makes all the difference. So think of winemaker J. Lohr’s Paso Robles red wine, Ravenswood vineyard old vines Zinfandel or an Australian Wolf Blass reserve red that is not over oaked – or a single estate, property bottled, Australian or French red – and you have the 9-5 in a bottle: Class, with a long finish.

Do you remember Swade’s recent post about how Saab UK are selling off new 9-5 wagons loaded with kit for under £20,000? And I asked if even the value for money could tempt you over a V70 new model or a 93 wagon -or an Audi?

Who would buy a decade old car design instead of something new model made?

The answer is, that the 9-5 a decade on, still ranks as safe as safe can be, still has the best seats ever, in any car. The styling, the wheels, the trims, the colours, the superb range of accessories – all rate. Surely the 9-5 still has that special, reserve blend that says, SAAB.

Ok, the handling can get scrabbly, the plastics in the cabin could be better, and the residual values are not good. But I can think of some 2008 design cars that qualify for those demerits too.

But this car is a whole product – do not take it apart by its less than good parts. See it has a whole. See it as what Saabs once were to many – a long term investment – part of the family. An amalgm of good, solid engineering and design.

Elegant understatement – that’s what the 9-5 is – especially as a wagon. It is class. This is not a Chav car – not a lottery winners flash in the pan.

Imagine a new 9-5 wagon in a nice metallic hue such as blue-grey, or a taupe-silver perhaps? Or even devil’s bread van black? Stick on some of those Saab alloys – alloy wheel design from Saab ranking up there as the best in the world along with Audi interiors, in my view.

On my new 9-5 Turbo wagon test drive, I snuggled down into that brilliant cockpit, tilted the front of the seat up (a must have option), lowered the steering wheel and pulled it back towards me, and launched the Aero badged thing into V1 and climb out; 250bhp and petrol power still works for me.

The gearbox is neither bad nor brilliant, but the effects of stirring the shift are welcome.

There was some roll on the bends that a newer car would avoid, but would a newer car have that balance between damping and spring rate that the 9-5 delivers? I doubt it, and good as Audis are, their ride on anything other than smooth motorway tarmac, is too firm, too jiggly: Avoid Audi’s S-line sport pack if you wish to keep your fillings in place and make sure you don’t do the same thing to a Saab with aftermarket fettling/fiddling.

Yes the 9-5 understeers, yes there is some torque steer, but only if you thrash it. It still handles, it can still swoop through Z bends with no threat of switching ends via the scenery. It remains a supreme long distance cruiser too. Just watch out for the big wheel/low profile tyre combos – in the case of long term ownership, ultimately compromising in my view.

9-5 essentials inlcude, a ‘yes’ for the Hirsch satin front trim kit, tick for the rear wing, two tone leather sports seats, carbon fibre dash trim, the full Aero cabin, and argue amongst yourselves over diesel or petrol power. What of strut braces, power chips and lowered suspension, I hear you ask – well, that’s all options in the mind, let’s stick with the factory car.

Upgrade the stereo speakers for sure , Hirsch the thing up if you wish, but get the wagon, put your loved ones in it, set the standard Sat Nav, and sail your Saab 9-5 off into a Saab sunset before the new dawn brings a new car that really will be genetically modified – however good it is.

Ageing, made-over, wearing silly glasses, and not a BMW. Every reason why this old swinger of a Saab is a sexy woman at the prime of her life. Oh and the dog in the title of this article is in the back of the 9-5 wagon – behind the dog guard, smiling…

This is a proper Saab and don’t let anyone tell you it is not.

The 9-5 will be around for a bit longer. Try one, for the world may never be like this again…

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I’m very pleased and priveleged to host this article, written for readers of TS by Lance Cole.

My enduring thanks to Lance. Enjoy.

This article has also been cross-posted at The Spirit of Saab

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Old aeroplanes smell, every classic aviation enthusiast knows that. Sit in a Spitfire or a Messerchmitt 109 and the patina of leather, aluminium, bakelite plastic, oil, grease, and canvas, lends a tangible reek, an actual smell.

The same whiff pervades the interiors of Catalina flying boats, Lancasters, Douglas DC 3s and just about any old aeroplane. Even old, first generation jetliners have a smell – think Boeing 707 or Comet or Caravelle or VC10.

When it comes to cars however, the smell thing seems less defined.

Yes, classic 1930s race cars reek, so too do 1960s Alfas, Lancias and Morris Minors. But some cars have no smell at all – not even old ones; when did you last scratch and sniff a 1980s Honda or a plastic lined Ford hatchback – you didn’t because they don’t pong.

All of which begs the questions – why do old Saabs have that unique, special, Saab-only smell – and what is it? And is it something to do with aviation?

To answer the questions, I took my mind way back to days of yore, When Saabs were Saabs and Abba were gold.

My first car was bought in 1981 and was a 1968 early model steel bumpered, Saab 99 two door (well it would be for 1968). It had that lovely cockpit style fascia with a top roll coaming that arced back into the door side panels. The clock was off a 96 and there was chrome detailing on the seatbelt buckles and some very fungal vinyl in the cabin.

Above all, there was the smell: The car had this really strong pong – and it smelt just like my grandad’s Auster light aircraft – a sort of vintage eau d’ armpit mixed with stale canvas, cigar, oak, horsehair, alloy and an air of classic French polished woodwork.

The Saab smelled.

It was not an off putting odour, but it was a definite pong. My mate had a 96 V4 – a white one, and we both suddenly realised that both cars smelt the same.

We could not work it out so we just put up with it.

I sold the Saab for a fat profit and (somewhat idiotically) bought a Citroen GS. The Citroen was brilliantly designed, had a flat four engine, strong hull, and like all Robert Opren designs, caught the light beautifully. Needless to say it disintegrated in front of my eyes, but when it worked, it was truly a spaceship of a car.

Years later we had a dog poo brown 1976 Saab 99 and that also had a smell. And even more years after that I owned my classic 900 five door GLI in blue with blue trim. And you guessed it, that smelt too.

But along came a NG 9-3 and an early 9-5 – and the smell was gone.

I have always wanted to know why my Saabs smelt and what the smell was. On visits to Sweden, no one at Saab knew what the smell was, but they all knew that Saabs had a smell – “Oh yes, definitely Saabs smell,” they would say in lovely sing song Svenksa speak- but “No, we do not know what the smell is.”

Tak, mate!

So what was that smell?

The answer, I believe, partly lies in a mix of low tech glues that were used to stick trim in all cars and aircraft up until the late 1970s. From the 1920s to 1970s, seats and trim were put together in the same way- stuffed, padded, tied, strung, and stuck. And the interiors of cars and aircraft were made of alloy, tinplate and mild steel – even dashboards were metal – albeit covered in lovely rubbery vinyl (kinky stuff I know).

And then there were veneers of wood, of fake wood, and more spreads of the marmalade of glues that were car (and aircraft) interiors before slush moulded, toxic lumps of dashboards and trims, were bunged into post 1980 cars and began their leach of nasty chemcial compounds into your car and your body.

The glues used in old cars and old Saabs would have been animal based – and let us hope they were organically fed! – and interiors had bare metal, plastic vinyls, chrome, carpets and seats that may well have contained horsehair and fibre glass in a combined heady mix, topped off by the whiff of ancient Bakelite (younger readers will have to look Bakelite up…).

Even the last Saab to smell –the 900 Classic with its moulded trims, new dashboard and that headlining monster, combined some of the old world craft of interior trim artisanship.

Throw in the effects of damp and, the fact that even the late model 900 Classics had wooden panels in the back end of the cabin – plywood for something’s sake – and the smells created a list of ingredients just like a 1950s Saab! The plywood has got be the secret ingredient in the fragrance.

I reckon the mix of the above, all brought together as only the Swedes can, is the reason why Saabs smell.

Newer Saabs have none of this – it’s all moulded micro pores and polycarbonates – with no bare metal to stroke and nothing organic to smoke.. Which is why they do not smell like Saabs.

So there you have it, my theory on why old classic machines, and notably old classic Saabs, smell. It is a wonderful, nostalgic mix of animal, metal, mineral, all blended and smeared together to create an aura like no other.

All we need now is a Saab aftershave of the same smell – one that can be dripped from a dispenser into the air vents, and then we can all go back in time.

There is only one problem. Volvos from 1960 to 1970 and 1980, were built in the same country using the same techniques- but they did not smell!

Called to odure, as they say…

Lance also has an article on The Independant’s site saluting the Classic 900, which I’d encourage you to read and enjoy - Classic Cars: Saab 900

Well, seeing as Lance has been kind enough to leave the Sonett article in comments, I’ve made the executive decision that that’s tacit permission for me to post it here, with some pictures in accompaniment, for everyone’s enjoyment.  If this poses a problem, I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

It’s a short piece when you compare it against an entire book, but entertaining and informative.  So sit back, enjoy a cuppa and a biscuit and read on. 

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Classic Cars: Saab Sonett

Lance Cole recalls the Saab Sonett, a poem of a sporty coupé that never quite made it to epic status

Published: 08 November 2005

If you think the Saab Sonett is a late 1960s-to-1970s fibreglass-bodied coupé that embodies a forgotten, sportier side of Saab, think again. The Sonett actually started life in 1954 as one of the most revolutionary and advanced examples of post-war car design. It was a uniquely constructed open-topped two-seater that looked like a cross between an MG and an Alfa Romeo. Yet it was years before this stillborn wild child of a Scandinavian design group actually became the Saab Sonett.

In Swedish "Sa natt" means "How nice", which is what the legendary Swedish car-designer Sixten Sason is supposed to have said when his first body for the car was finished and mounted on its chassis with a smoky two-stroke engine.

Unlike its 1950s contemporaries, the original Sonett did not have a tubular steel fabricated body nor a floppy monocoque with more shake than a jelly. Instead, the Sonett boasted a unique body made from a blend of aluminium sheets and plastic moulded panels weighing only 70kg, that were bonded together to form a stiff, aviation-style, stressed hull. It would be years later that Colin Chapman created the original Lotus Elite’s fibreglass unitary monocoque body, and decades before a car-maker made an aluminium car.

The original Sonett 1 was dreamed up by Rolf Mellde – Saab’s suspension and engineering genius. Along with Sason, the Saab team included Lars Olov Olsson and Olle Lindkvist and Gosta Svensson. With them, Mellde created an alternative Saab to the firm’s teardrop-shaped 92-93 range of steel-bodied family saloons. They cooked the car up in a barn at Asaka, half an hour’s drive from Trollhattan, mostly in their own time. Saab management let the geniuses get on with it, without actually being officially involved. On seeing the Sonett, Saab whisked it off to become an official motor-show prototype of their new sports car: the ultra-light Sonett could do 130mph from 57bhp.

Despite various plans and projections, and despite a great reception from press and public – including in America – Saab’s exquisite little car never made it to production life: At one stage Jensen were to build the bodies in the UK, but Saab faltered. Only 6 were made before the idea died.

But, in 1966 the idea of a sporty Saab coupé came to the fore again. By this time Sason had designed another pretty, fibreglass, Italianate coupé – the Catherina – that showed the world a lift-out, stowable, targa-style roof for the first time. Saab decided to push a coupé into production, yet the Catherina design was not chosen: instead the work of Bjorn Karlstrom with another Swedish aircraft company named Malmo Flygindustri was taken up by Saab’s management. Karlstom’s car was called the MFI 13. Given that it had a plywood rear floor, the "MFI" tag seems apposite, but it became the Sonett II.

Premiered at the 1966 Geneva motor show, the two-stroke-engined car had a steel chassis with conventional tubular reinforcements. Draped over the top was a delicate looking fibreglass shell with an early use of a large, wraparound, glazed rear window. From 1966 through to 1970 the pert little Sonett II evolved with typical Saab product-development. In 1968 it gained the V4 engine from the Saab 96.But, by 1970 the car was looking odd, with scoops, engine bulges and stylistic fiddlings: only 4,000 were sold.

So Saab commissioned a revised Sonett. This Sonett III was a long-nosed coupé with overtones of Italian exotica – as penned by the Milanese designer Sergio Coggiola. Saab did however get its own in-house artist Gunnar Sjogren to style much of the new Sonett’s plastic body-details.

The spec included moulded seat-pans, and trim items from the Saab 96 and 99 ranges – including the alloy wheels from the 99EMS. The Triumph-style flip-top bonnet of the Sonett II had gone, and, despite the addition of the new Saab corporate grille and US-style bumpers, the Sonett had an elegant style and sold well – notably in the eastern seaboard states of the USA. The Sonett III survived until 1974, with the final cars mostly being sold in racing colours; many remain in use and for sale at cheap prices in California today. In the USA Sonetts scooped up many sports-car racing wins in the 1980s, with Jack Lawrence and his tuned V4 injection Sonett proving that the it might not have rallied, but it could race. A one-off soft-top was also created.

The Sonetts also had a strong following in Britain and Europe. Many enthusiasts dream of another Sonett – a sports coupé that would revitalise the company, yet most know that it would, in light of recent dictates from Saab’s owner, end up being a General Motors marketing lash-up.

Ends
Copyright (c) The Independent 2005