Alrighty then, let’s get down to business here.
In 1977, Saab thought enough of the hatch to feature the size and advantages of the hatchback style in their advertising. Advertising that actually sells cars, not Saab’s aviation heritage.
Click to enlarge.
Great stuff.
In the month of hatch lovin’, here’s a great example of the original, the Saab 99 Wagonback, aka SportCombi. This particular example also fits nicely with our recent discussion of the marquee colors for various Saab models. One of the ‘winners’ in the admittedly unscientific poll of our faithful readers was orange for the 99.
The orange color looks great here, for sure.
The body kit certainly enhances the overall lines of the 99 hatch, and I think the bigger wheels (I’m guessing 16″) really give the 99 a more muscular look.
Finally, the front air dam gives us a clue to the modifications under the hood — it appears that this turbocharged car has an intercooler for additional boost.
Click on the pics to enlarge.
Well, it seems that TS’s favorite Frenchman, Golfhunter, has found and rescued a vintage Saab from certain destruction. Yes, Jeff has posted pictures of his new (to him) 1979 99 Turbo two-door. Check those Incas!!
I’m unsure about what awaits, but I’m sure that this car is in great hands with Golf.
Jeff, we want details, and we want them NOW!!
It is with no small amount of shame that I have to admit being a Saab blogger for over two and half years and never writing a review on one of the most useful and readable Saab books that an enthusiast could ever add to their collection.
That book, of course, is Lance Cole’s Saab 99 and 900 – The Complete Story.
I actually thought that I had written about it, and was poised to write a note here about the fact that it’s gone into a reprint this year. When I searched for what would have been my original review, I was stunned to find that I hadn’t actually done one.
And then I figured it out – do you know why I haven’t done one?
It’s because Lance lurks here 
He does. And it’s a little scarier to review a book that you admire by a person you admire, have swapped emails with and regard as a friend, when you know there’s a chance they’ll be looking. So I put it off. And somewhere along the line my subconscious mind managed to convince the rest of me that it had been done.
So, to make up for lost time and my own tragic oversight….
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First published back in 2001, this book should be regarded as the quintessential reference for 99 and 900 owners, and all other Saab enthusiasts interested in that period of the company’s history.
Packed with facts, anecdotes and rare photography, this book traces the origins of Saab’s major models of the late 60s, 70s and 80s.
It’s appropriate that these two landmark models in Saab’s history have been covered together. The Saab 900 is regarded by a majority of Saab enthusiasts as the Saabiest Saab, but without the 99, there wouldn’t have been a 900.
The documentation covering the history of the Saab 99 is comprehensive, and was particularly pleasing for me as a former owner of several 99s. Chapters on the 99 cover the car right back to its conceptual days back in the early 1960s and include several of Sixten Sason’s initial sketches. It’s interesting to look through these and see that the rear of the car was largely settled well before the front end design.
The book also gives a good insight into the personalities involved. The great thing about a car company like Saab is that it’s small enough to feel like you get to know these personalities. Many of them are still alive today and should you get to Sweden for a Saab Festival in the future, there’s a chance you could meet some of them. I was fortunate enough to do just that earlier this year and my chance meeting with Bjorn Envall is something I’ll never forget. That brief meeting was enhanced by knowing a little more about what he did through the stories recorded in books like this.
There’s only one chapter specifically on the Saab 900 as a model, but it’s far and away the longest chapter of the book. Those of you who have read Lance’s comments here know that he’s a big advocate of vehicle safety and naturally, the book provides great coverage of Saab’s safety development for both the 99 and it’s evolution in the 900.
There’s also a record of all the styling changes made to the 900 throughout the years and attention is paid to a number of special editions produced by Saab throughout the 900′s life. The buyer’s guide is a very handy resource as well, with tips on engine condition, the turbo, gearbox, suspension, tyres, brakes, electrics, steering, bodywork, accident damage and interior – all with the assistance of the technical director of the Saab Owners Club UK.
The book is 160 pages from front to back and is divided into 10 chapters. In terms of content, it’s slightly more weighted toward the 99 but has plenty of 900 detail in there as well.
The chapters are as follows:
There’s also several appendices covering production figures, plant output, drawing, details and a summarised buyer’s guide.
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I can’t recommend this book highly enough. It’s very, very readable and comes with great, rare pictures from the vehicles’ development and building phases.
If you count the 99-900-9000 as Saab’s “middle period” then this is a fantastic record covering two-thirds of that chapter in Saab’s history.
As mentioned earlier, Saab 99 and 900 – The Complete Story, is now in a second printing and should be readily available.
Elkparts have the book listed in their catalog and I imagine have good stocks, though the book is also available elsewhere as well.
Australian website Autospeed have put together an article on the Saab 99 Turbo.
Having owned two of them I was all over this like a rash. There’s not anything groundbreaking or new there, it’s a basic informational piece but articles on the 99T are few and far between. And for me, the 99 Turbo is Saab.
Perhaps for you non-Aussies out there, this will be interesting because it gives an insight into the Australian perspective on the car. This was a car that was well ahead of most vehicles, anywhere in the world. But compared to what the common Australian had access to at that time, it was light years ahead.
A highly recommended read – we all need more and more of the Saab 99 Turbo.
While Swade watches a few videos (I’m sure they’re all Saab. Errr, well, mostly anyway.), I will fill a little with this little gem that I ran across only a few weeks ago. Nicely done.
If you aren’t familiar with IMP (International Masters Publishers), they are a small publisher that specializes in montly subscriptions to popular information collections. They are, for instance, the primary ‘recipe-of-the-month’ provider. Generally, the offer is something like this: pay for the shipping and handling for a fancy binder and a few starter pages and they’ll send you new pages for the collection each month. They will bill you monthly for each new shipment.
This is the IMP page from a collection that is dated 1998. I like the graphics and the presentation, but I’m not 100% sure that the facts are all correct. Correct them if you must…
Click to enlarge.
As you may remember, I was very impressed with Doug Majka’s 1973 99 EMS seen on the State of Nine 2007 SOC bulletin board. Indeed, this car is perfect. Not a speck. Better than new because Doug has shined up parts that probably never had a shine before.
Swade promised a little more about this 99, and here it is. Striaght from Doug himself (Thanks, Doug!!)
Surprise! It actually started out as another car….
Who knew? The car was originally another car. In Doug’s words:
The history of this restoration began around 1987 when I purchased a 74EMS from a friend of mine. Between 1988 and 1991, another friend of mine and I opened a shop together, specializing in Saab and Volvo repairs, full mechanical repairs as well as body and paint. Being a shop owner, the opportunities to buy parts cars were a plenty, and at one point, we had a dozen 99’s to scavenge parts from. I of course used this to my advantage by using the best parts on hand to make my 74EMS as nice as could be. It was actually a 2nd place concours winner at the 1990 Saab Owners Convention in Sturbridge, MA. I drove the car daily until around 1994, when it went up on blocks in my garage, and never came back out in one piece. I had started to repair the rusted body yet again, as Ohio winters took it’s toll on the underside and wheel wells, but I lost interest for five years, using the top of the car to store all kinds of junk.
Zoom forward to the fall of 2001: I was determined to get this car going again, as I remember the countless hours zooming around the city at a spirited pace, but the rust issues would still need to be addressed. I had resisted the urge to get internet service for years, saying I had no need for it. Boy was I wrong! I found a place called West of Sweden on the net, and one day called up “Chip” Lamb to order some CV boots for the 74. We got to talking about my rusty EMS, and he told me to look at classifieds2000.com. There was a ’73 99E listed for sale in Weston, WV, and if the body was in decent shape, he suggested I “make” that car my EMS. I called the owner up, he emailed me some pictures and told me he wanted $800 for it, and four days later I was trailering it home.
Read about the restoration after the break.
Congratulations to a mate in Sydney, Brendan B, for seemingly becoming the reference point for Saab 99s on Amazon.com.
The Amazon automotive editorial section today has a Car Lust article on the Saab 99, which features a couple of images from, and a reference to Brendan’s Australian Saab 99 register.
If you’re into 99s and you haven’t paid Brendan’s site a visit, then you should. It’s a great Saab 99 resource. I bet Brendan’s spewing that they didn’t use a picture of his black 99T in the article, though