As I’m dedicating a month to the loving of Saab 99s it’d be rather stupid of me to overlook the absolutely magnificent Saab 99s that GM have in their Heritage Collection. This car, the 1978 model Saab 99 Turbo was present at the San Diego 60th Anniversary event in February 2007 and Mike’s photos of it just blew me away.

These are GM’s studio photos of the car and the writeup is part of the 60th Anniversary press material.

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Making its world debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September 1977, the 99 Turbo instantly became one of the most emblematic cars in Saab’s history. The launch car, finished in a unique Pearl White, is part of the Saab AB factory collection in Trollhättan, Sweden.

The four-cylinder 2.0L Turbo engine offered 135 horsepower, compared to 115 for the standard engine. However, torque was increased dramatically. Saab was first to offer a turbo tuned for low-speed torque in a sedan for daily driving, as opposed to high-speed power in a pure sports car such as the Porsche 911. A four-speed manual transmission was standard.

Saab avoided problems previously encountered in turbocharging carbureted engines by providing electronically controlled port fuel injection on the 99 Turbo. Emissions were controlled with one of the first “closed loop” catalyst systems controlled by an oxygen sensor.

A total of 10,607 Saab 99 Turbo vehicles were produced, starting with 100 test fleet cars in 1977 and continuing through 1982. It was offered in two-door, three-door and (very few) five-door body styles in Europe.

Despite mostly understated exterior colors, each 99 Turbo was immediately recognizable by the specific “Inca” alloy wheels, front air dam, rear spoiler, interior upholstery, instrumentation and steering wheel.

The 99 Turbo three-door hatchback was offered in the United States only during the 1978 model year, available in Black, Cardinal Red, Grey and Silver. After an imported total of 4,233 cars, the 99 Turbo was replaced by the larger Saab 900 Turbo three- and five-door hatchback in1979.

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The whole month of 99 loving has got away from me a little, but I’ve been planning to feature this car all along.

Two years ago, just after I started this blog, Dan R brought this car down to Tasmania to compete in one of the world’s premiere tarmac rallies – Targa Tasmania.

I covered the event back then, and here’s an excerpt from that coverage explaining a little about the car. Given that there were only about 40 people reading this site back then, I figure not too many of you would have heard too much about this superb 99.

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The car that Dan will be racing in Targa came into his possession twenty years ago when a penniless Saab owner called the club saying that her baby had broken down; “Bridget” needs a new gearbox and we cant afford to fix her. Did he know of anyone who would be prepared to take her to a good home for $200??

He told them he’d be right over. One slave cylinder later he was driving around in a perfectly good 99. (If perfection can include paint that was coming off in sheets from the tomato-soup-coloured bonnet, the driver’s seat collapsed, the hanging roof lining of Babylon and a big dent on the rear quarter panel, then yes, Bridget was perfect. The price however was as close to perfection as one could reasonably expect, and there was virtually no rust.)

Several years and a whole truckload of parts later (courtesy of a rolled 99 Turbo), Bridget has risen from being the second, third or fourth car in the family, to being a rally contender. Dan baulks at mentioning exact figures, but let’s just say that navigator and two-wheels nut Roger Lawrence could have bought a fairly decent Ferrari for what it’s cost Dan to prepare his car over the last few years.

The car now has an EMS cam, 5 speed gearbox, water injection, twin fans, oversized triple-core cooling, electric water pump, oversized stainless steel valves and a ported and polished head. Of course, the interior’s been totally rejigged as well with the necessary safety equipment in order to keep both driver and navigator safe and well in event of some unforeseen misadventure.

That was two years ago and when I saw Dan late last year, the car had had a new water injection system installed. He’s not doing Targa again this year, but I’m sure Dan and the 99 will be back soon.

And Dan will be one of the Aussie contingent at Saab Festival in June.

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The unofficial month of 99 loving continues….

ctm has dropped in these artful shots of his first car – a 1984 Saab 99. Here’s the story:

The car is a two-door cherry-red Saab 99 GL 5-speed, MY84. It was my first car that I (well, my father…) bought in 1988. Only one previous owner and about 80.000 km. What a great car!

Lovely colour, superb seats, really nice gearbox, wonderful on the road. The only two drawbacks I remember: the heavy steering when driving in town (no servo), and the bad headlights. On the second picture you can see the extra lights (Bosch Profi) I had on it. The winters are long and dark in Sweden…

The first picture is taken in the summer of 1990 at my parents house way down south in Sweden. Judging from the fact that the sun is down below the neighbours house in the west, I think the picture is taken between 9 and 10 in the evening. The car is all washed up, polished up and ready to go out in the lovely Swedish summer night by the sea…

In the second picture, the car is parked at exactly the same spot as in the first picture. It’s November or December 1993. We got some early snow, and I took that one before it melted away later in the day.

I had the car for about 10 years, before my sister got it and I had another car from my father – a Volvo 360 GL… Anyway, I’m back to Saab again for the last three years, with a five-door steel-grey 9-3 SE, MY 01.

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There’s got to be some more Swedish 99′s out there.

Send your pics and your stories in for the month of 99 loving. Click here to email.

It’s the unofficial month of Saab 99 love here at Trollhattan Saab. If you’ve got a 99, or had one in the past, email me your pics and a story about the car. The 99 is an oft-overlooked model in Saab’s history, but bears a lot of responsibility for Saab’s ongoing lineage.

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Paul H sent me this link from the Saab Car Club of Australia to show off some more Saab 99 love from an event held by the New South Wales branch.

The trip took in a drive down to the zig-zag railway and it attracted a number of Saabers from Sydney.

Prominent among the vehicles were a bunch of 99s. The full thread with a heap of pics is at the link above, but here’s a selection.

Thanks Paul.

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A little more info in the month of unofficial Saab 99 lovin.

The Saab 99 was sold between MY1969 and MY1984, after which a variant called the Saab 90 was produced until MY1987.

Production figures for each calendar year were as follows:

1967 – 25
1968 – 4,190
1969 – 19,411
1970 – 29,755
1971 – 35,136
1972 – 45,001
1973 – 52,065
1974 – 62,637
1975 – 64,167
1976 – 72,819
1977 – 60,316
1978 – 45,851
1979 – 22,443
1980 – 17,108
1981 – 13,381
1982 – 20,006
1983 – 17,187
1984 – 7,145

Total production – 588,643

The Saab 99 was produced at the following plants in the following numbers:

Trollhattan (Swe)
2 door – 205,456
3 door – 60,863
4 door – 71,892
5 door – 8,901

Total – 347,112

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Nystad (Fin)
2 door – 116,809
3 door – 25,357
4 door – 32,241
5 door – 16,644

Total – 191,051

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Mechelen (Bel)
2 door – 16,677
3 door –
4 door – 8,144
5 door –

Total – 24,821

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Arlov (Swe)
2 door – 18,096
3 door –
4 door – 7,563
5 door –

Total – 25,659

After a late night deluge last night, posting will be light again for the next 36 hours due to Ben coming home from hospital today and me doing an overnighter elsewhere.

Thanks for your well-wishes in comments. As of last night Ben’s doing quite well, is eating again and even got up for a quick walk. It’s amazing what they can do nowadays.

In the meantime, here’s a quick and uber-rare Saab 99.

There were only a handful of Saab 99 turbos made in the 5-door shape. And the records will tell you that those made were mostly Cardinal Red, IIRC. This one’s a genuine Marble White 5-door. It once belonged to Simon A, the guy who currently owns the best 99 Turbo I’ve ever seen.

Have a good weekend. I’ll be back soon.

Click on any of these to enlarge.

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And while we’re at it, here’s a rear-end view of the best Saab 99T I’ve ever seen, keeping some good company up in Sydney – g’day Paul

Following on with the unofficial month of 99 lovin, here’s a look at the car as it began as well as how it evolved over the course of its lifetime.

This is a long one, but a pretty good insight into the evolution of the car. The importance of this car shouldn’t be underemphasised. I’m relying on somewhat dated statistics here, but I think I’m right in saying that it’s still the second-highest Saab produced by volume behind only the C900.

Saab 99 – 1969

Engine:
4 cylinder overhead valve engine with overhead cam, longitudinal mount, watercooled.
Capacity: 1709cc
Bore: 83.5mm
Stroke: 78mm
Compression: 9.0:1
Power: 80hp (64kW)
Torque: 127Nm
Carburettor: Zenith Stromberg
Fuel pump: Mechanical, AC Delco

Transmission:
Front wheel drive.
Single dry plate clutch.
4-speed fully synchro gearbox with freewheel
Floor-mounted shift

Suspension:
Coil springs and hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers to all four wheels
Front – individual wheel suspension
Rear – rigid axle with transverse Panhard rod.

Brakes:
Dual circuit diagonally divided brake system with disc brakes front and rear.
Handbrake acting mechanically on the front wheels thru separate drum brakes.

Steering:
Rack and pinion steering.
3.33 turns lock to lock
Turning radius 5.1m

Wheels and Tyres:
Pressed steel rims
4.5″ x 15″

Wheelbase – 2473mm
Length – 4354mm
Width – 1676mm
Height – 1450mm

Top speed – 153kph
0-100kmh – 18.0 seconds
Economy: 9.3litres per 100kms

Colors – Red, White, Blue, Green, Black, Light Beige.

Price: 18,385 SEK

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Continue reading →

The unofficial month of 99 love continues….

This one’s been seen on this website once before, but not as an individual unit. Earlier in the year I shared some photos from a dutch car club event and a few commenters pointed out the great shape this 99 was in.

Fortunately, the owner of the 99 in question happened to be reading the site at the time and left a little bit of information about it. This week, Jacco has been in touch again and sent me a few more photos.

This is the original photo. Jacco’s car is on the right, a 2-door 99 in walnut brown with the silver minilite wheels.

It’s a 1984 Saab 99, which is quite rare as production of these cars really slowed down after the 900 was introduced. 1976 saw the greatest unit production of 99s, with nearly 73,000 of them being made. In 1984, the last production year for the 99, there were little more than 7,000 of them produced.

Jacco’s 99 was the first car he looked at. He loved it and he bought it. It’s now done around 140,000 kilometers and looks in top condition. Being an ’84, it’d have the H engine installed and quite possibly a 5-speed gearbox by this time too.

The later cars also got a grille like the 900 and blackout treatment around the windows.

As you can see, the car has had a few wheel changes over the years, but those minilites in the top photo are the duck’s guts. Absolutely superb.

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