but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
Number_6
Jedi Warrior
Offline
-
Hey Guest!
British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!**Upgrade Now**
(PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
RIP SAAB
- Thread starter Number_6
- Start date
Share this page
V
vagt6
Guest
Guest
Offline
GM said they didn't want their "technology" to fall into the hands of the Chinese, I heard. Whatever. 
At any rate, SAAB made a lot of fine automobiles and I for one am sorry to see them die. Solid, dependable and asthetically beautiful cars, they were. I always loved a SAAB and rode many a mile in them. Quiet, safe and rugged cars.
My best friend's Dad bought a new '65 Saab with a 3-banger, 2-stroke engine and 4-speed on the columm! I learned to drive in that car. Tough little bugger, too.
Another great marque bites the dust. And, I suspect there will be more to come in this crappy recession we're in.
If automotive heaven has a St. Peter at it's pearly gates, he will most certainly let the Saab marque in.
Great cars.
At any rate, SAAB made a lot of fine automobiles and I for one am sorry to see them die. Solid, dependable and asthetically beautiful cars, they were. I always loved a SAAB and rode many a mile in them. Quiet, safe and rugged cars.
My best friend's Dad bought a new '65 Saab with a 3-banger, 2-stroke engine and 4-speed on the columm! I learned to drive in that car. Tough little bugger, too.
Another great marque bites the dust. And, I suspect there will be more to come in this crappy recession we're in.
If automotive heaven has a St. Peter at it's pearly gates, he will most certainly let the Saab marque in.
Great cars.
Saab died when GM took over and started label engineering Saab SUVs. At least this way it can rest in piece.
I used to take my bosses 9000 to run errands at work every so often. What a blast. Except when I couldn't get the seat heaters to turn off on a warm day :shocked:
I used to take my bosses 9000 to run errands at work every so often. What a blast. Except when I couldn't get the seat heaters to turn off on a warm day :shocked:
martx-5
Yoda
Offline
vagt6 said:
I've had three Saabs in the past, and all of them have been with the 3 cylinder, two cycle engine, including the Sonnet I had.
They only made several hundred Sonnets with the three banger...the chassis number on mine was 235. And it had the shifter on the column.
Edit: The Sonnet is one of those cars I should never have sold. :frown:
Attachments
V
vagt6
Guest
Guest
Offline
Art, tell us about the Sonnett. Wasn't it a really small interior? How was the handling, acceleration, etc.?
Never rode in one, always liked the styling.
Never rode in one, always liked the styling.
martx-5
Yoda
Offline
Like all Saabs, the Sonnet was front wheel drive. Since the shifter was on the column, that left the floor in the interior perfectly flat, as opposed to the later Sonnets that had the shifter in the middle with a console. That's when Saab went to their quirky ignition key in the console. As a result of the flat floor, there was plenty of interior room and leg room as much as the '62 TR4 I had, and I'm 6'2".
The car had very little lean in the corners and handled very well. The structure of the car was very stiff, and the body was fiberglass so it was pretty light. Good thing, because there was only about 60 HP on tap from the 850cc engine. The engine had oil injection, so it wasn't necessary to add oil to the gas. I would say that the acceleration was probably on the order of about 11 seconds 0-60. Top speed was about 110 mph.
To liven things up, my father and I decided to remove the three Solex side draft carbs and install a turbo with a 2" SU. That gave the engine some much needed pep, but there was a limit as to how much boost you could give it, as since the engine has no valves, all you'd do is push the fuel air mixture right through the exhaust port!
My father first messed with turbos on two cycle Saabs several years before we put one on the Sonnet. On his first venture, he went out for the first test drive. The car ran like a scalded cat, but very quickly seized up. He disassembled the engine, found out that the ball and roller bearings were all dry...no oil...where did it go??? Turns out that the turbo <span style="font-weight: bold">centrifuged</span> the oil from the gas as the carb was before the turbo. That's when he went to the oil injected engines...end of problem. :laugh:
We raced that car at Bridgehampton and Lime Rock for a couple of seasons and even managed to bring home some hardware.
It was my daily driver for about 4 years, even while it was being raced. Always reliable, I should never have sold it. :frown:
The car had very little lean in the corners and handled very well. The structure of the car was very stiff, and the body was fiberglass so it was pretty light. Good thing, because there was only about 60 HP on tap from the 850cc engine. The engine had oil injection, so it wasn't necessary to add oil to the gas. I would say that the acceleration was probably on the order of about 11 seconds 0-60. Top speed was about 110 mph.
To liven things up, my father and I decided to remove the three Solex side draft carbs and install a turbo with a 2" SU. That gave the engine some much needed pep, but there was a limit as to how much boost you could give it, as since the engine has no valves, all you'd do is push the fuel air mixture right through the exhaust port!
My father first messed with turbos on two cycle Saabs several years before we put one on the Sonnet. On his first venture, he went out for the first test drive. The car ran like a scalded cat, but very quickly seized up. He disassembled the engine, found out that the ball and roller bearings were all dry...no oil...where did it go??? Turns out that the turbo <span style="font-weight: bold">centrifuged</span> the oil from the gas as the carb was before the turbo. That's when he went to the oil injected engines...end of problem. :laugh:
We raced that car at Bridgehampton and Lime Rock for a couple of seasons and even managed to bring home some hardware.
It was my daily driver for about 4 years, even while it was being raced. Always reliable, I should never have sold it. :frown:
SilentUnicorn
Yoda
Offline
RALLY CAAR!!
kewl..
m
kewl..
m
martx-5
Yoda
Offline
DrEntropy said:
No Doc, hadn't heard of her. In the early '70s, I worked at a Saab dealer (Cedar Motors in Farmingdale, NY) owned by a fella named Tom Cochran. At the time, Tom sold more Saabs and any other dealer in the country. He was a former motorcycle racer and if he got you in a Saab for a test drive, you would be so impressed, that you had to buy one. One time he came back from a demo with the car all wrinkled and the customer with a dazed look. Tom had flipped the Saab. They got out of the car, rolled it back on it's wheels and drove off. The customer wound up buying a Saab...not the wrinkled one however. :laugh:
V
vagt6
Guest
Guest
Offline
DrEntropy said:
Doc, about when was it? I lived in RIC for years, worked in the dealership trade association biz for awhile, too, and knew many of the dealers.
Maybe I can recall . . .
startech47
Jedi Knight
Offline
Went to John's house one Saturday in the 60's and he was tuning up the 3 cylinder 2 stroke Saab. He was holding the distributor in his hand and asked his dad to bump the starter so he could insert the distributor. The car started and John, Robbie, and I were all staring at each other and the distributor in John's hand.
Always liked the looks on the gas station attendants faces when they took the gas cap off and discovered the large red tag that was attached warning to add oil to the gas.
Always liked the looks on the gas station attendants faces when they took the gas cap off and discovered the large red tag that was attached warning to add oil to the gas.
Offline
Two Saab Stories:
A good friend and I would set out for an autocross on many a dry summer Saturday morning (1969-1971) towing a '61 TR3 with his '58 Saab 93 (750 c.c.and three on the tree). The Saab was actually surprisingly capable in this role with the exception of going around tighter corners. The heavier Triumph would be reluctant to change its direction quick enough resulting in the rear wheels of the 93 to leave the ground and at that point we'd jack-knife. This looked just as ridiculous as it sounds. The solution was to have me riding in the TR3 acting as the rear steer-er just as a firefighter on a hook and ladder truck. This (of course) was just as illegal back then as it would be today. On longer hauls I'd lay across the seats out of the wind and out of possible police view (unless viewed directly from the door) waiting to hear the horn - indicating my assistance was going to be needed for an upcoming turn. We had some of the best of times plus people would always comment that they couldn't believe the Saab could "pull" it off.
My wife's daily driver in the early eighties was a '79 Saab 99 Turbo (Burgundy with of course the Aztec alloy wheels). This was Saab's first performance sport sedan and it was absolutely a blast to drive. Mostly because everything else on the road was so anemic back then, this car could really surprise. My wife still reminisces about how much she enjoyed this car and specifically its heated drivers seat (quite possibly the first - but only for the driver). It truly was a wonderful vehicle.
A good friend and I would set out for an autocross on many a dry summer Saturday morning (1969-1971) towing a '61 TR3 with his '58 Saab 93 (750 c.c.and three on the tree). The Saab was actually surprisingly capable in this role with the exception of going around tighter corners. The heavier Triumph would be reluctant to change its direction quick enough resulting in the rear wheels of the 93 to leave the ground and at that point we'd jack-knife. This looked just as ridiculous as it sounds. The solution was to have me riding in the TR3 acting as the rear steer-er just as a firefighter on a hook and ladder truck. This (of course) was just as illegal back then as it would be today. On longer hauls I'd lay across the seats out of the wind and out of possible police view (unless viewed directly from the door) waiting to hear the horn - indicating my assistance was going to be needed for an upcoming turn. We had some of the best of times plus people would always comment that they couldn't believe the Saab could "pull" it off.
My wife's daily driver in the early eighties was a '79 Saab 99 Turbo (Burgundy with of course the Aztec alloy wheels). This was Saab's first performance sport sedan and it was absolutely a blast to drive. Mostly because everything else on the road was so anemic back then, this car could really surprise. My wife still reminisces about how much she enjoyed this car and specifically its heated drivers seat (quite possibly the first - but only for the driver). It truly was a wonderful vehicle.
weewillie
Darth Vader
Offline
interesting article on Erik Carlsson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Carlsson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Carlsson