Saab History

Saab Sighting Of The Week – Sweden, Maine

Posted on 30. Sep, 2008 by Ryan.

This past weekend, after an intense collaborative with friends on eliminating all remaining electrical gremlins from the Saab 9000, I managed to visit Sweden, Maine this past weekend!

I thought this visit certainly qualified for a “Saab Sighting of the week” with more of a focus on the location over the Saab itself.

Next June, I will plan on visiting the official villages where Swedish Immigrants arrived from Sweden in Northern Maine, those being “New Sweden” & “Stockholm”, respectively for their Midsommar celebrations June 20th-22nd, 2009. Stay tuned!

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The Saab Project Designs by Model

Posted on 28. Jun, 2008 by Ryan.

As a follow-up to the previous writeup on the past and present Saab designers and their achievements, it was necessary to include a chronological up-to-date listing of Saab projects both production and concepts.

This listing includes each Saab project, year introduced along with each designer and/or engineer that contributed to the given project.

This list is a work-in-progress, so any additions and/or modifications that you see necessary below, please add your comments to ensure correctness and accuracy.

Photo Credits: Saab Automobile

Design Contributions by Model

SAAB Scandia 90 (1946-1958)

Bror Bjurströmer

SAAB 91 (1947-1966)

A.J. Andersson

SAAB 92001 (Prototype) (1946/1947)

Sixten Sason

Gunnar Ljungström

[...]

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Handen av Öde – The Hands of Fate

Posted on 24. Jun, 2008 by Carl.

Was it not 36 hours ago when I posted about the grave matter of sending perfectly good Saabs to the crusher or cars that suffered an unfortunate ownership at the hands of a negligent owner? Yesterday was one of the rare occasions that yielded a happy ending for both the seller and the buyer!

So I was working out in the cloudy, cold and rainy environs of my screened-in porch around lunchtime yesterday when the cell phone started buzzing away flashing “Ryan” on the screen. Well, sure enough it was Ryan and he told me about this guy who had just called his buddy’s shop looking to offload a 1997 9000 CS. By offload, I mean it in the worst possible way… the guy was on the verge of calling the junkyard to have a perfectly running and driving car sent to the crusher for the lack of a “proper buyer”.

Granted, the 9000 is a really nice car, but it’s not for everyone. I had one sitting on my front lawn for four months a few years ago before someone came and bought it on Christmas Eve. The parts can be a touch expensive and hard to find, and that naturally strikes it off the lists of many would-be buyers. This guy selling the car knew that; knowing that the hood was chipped, headlight was cracked and it sat for a year, Ryan and I went to save it from a fate worse than sitting in a driveway for all eternity waiting for a buyer.

When we arrived, the 9000 was purring in the driveway as the clouds started to break. The car was beautiful – black paint in need of a little TLC, sand beige leather interior, manual tranny, 220k miles (hardly broken in!) and nothing of any major significance wrong with it. It didn’t take long to walk around the thing and think up a quick offer. Offer accepted, Ryan called for the trusty AAA Plus tow back to the central part of the state so his mechanic could start fixing it up for road use.

The 9000 is safely in the hands of a trusted Saab mechanic at this time, getting ready for Ryan’s fiancée to drive it as a daily driver.

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1989/1990 SAAB 9000 2 Door Concept Car – For Sale!

Posted on 20. Jun, 2008 by Ryan.

The rare ASC-built 1989/1990 SAAB 9000 2 Door Concept Car is for sale by a private party.

I believe the ultimate owner of this vehicle should be either the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan, Sweden or the Saab USA Heritage Collection in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

For those who don’t know, ASC or “American Sunroof Company”, worked with Bob Sinclair to create the first Saab Convertible back in 1983.

If you are interested in buying this car, please inquire within by sending an e-mail directly to info (at) saabhistory.com or contact me directly.

Here are the details from the owner:
[...]

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1987 Saab 9000 Talladega #4 – IMHOF Talladega, Alabama

Posted on 11. Jun, 2008 by Ryan.

Photo Credit: International Motorsports Hall Of Fame

There has always been the understanding that the 1986 Talladega “Long Run” event that Saab Automobile ran, consisted of three 1987 Saab 9000 Turbo models.

This information has always been true until I have made this late breaking discovery. In my recent dialog with the folks at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum in Talladega, Alabama, where the original Talladega event took place, I have found out there has been a fourth model!

This discovery consists of a never before known, super rare 1987 Saab 9000 Turbo designated as #4, whereby previously we all understood there to be only three vehicles that participated in the “Long Run” event at Talladaga Super Speedway back in October of 1986, and what’s more, this Saab 9000 is painted “black”!

This leaves, number 1 which we do not know the whereabouts of, then other two vehicles, numbers 2 and 3 respectfully, which reside at the Saab Museum in Trollhattan, Sweden as well as the Saab USA Heritage Collection in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

I am truly surprised about this recent discovery and hope that there can be more information provided when it comes to this extremely rare, never believed to exist 4th Talladega “Long Run” Saab 9000 Turbo. In scanning both the Saab “Long Run” video as well as the Saab Long Run “The Fastest” Promotional video, I have not seen this “black” 9000 Talladega model at all, so again, I am speechless.

Update: This just in from Saab History frequenter, Peter Hornby:

The English edition of “The spirit of Saab” notes on page 170 that a black 9000T was used for initial testing at the Talledega circuit, and later as a camera car for the main attempt (so not seen in any photos !).

More info :

test manager : Olle Granlund
dates : 29 Sept – 5 October
distance : 20,047 km
Ave speed : 212 km/h (excluding pit stops), 203 km/hr including pit stops
pit stops : included manual refuelling
fuel consumption : approx 30l / 100km (I got 9.9 l / 100km over 45,000 km which included high speed travel in Germany)

9000-#4 donated to IMHOF by Saab Scania of America 1987

If you are interested in seeing this super rare “black” 1987 Saab 9000 Talladega #4 in real life, please visit the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF) at the following address where you can even purchase museum tickets online. The IMHOF opened in April of 1983 and offers more than 120 racing vehicles and memorabilia dating back to 1902, spans three buildings and enclosed courtyard, so plan your time accordingly!

International Motorsports Hall Of Fame
3198 Speedway Boulevard
Talladega, AL 35161
256-362-5002

http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/

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1987 Saab 9000 Talladega #1 – Whereabouts Unknown

Posted on 10. Jun, 2008 by Ryan.

Photo Credit: Saab-Scania AB

The remaining 1987 Saab 9000 Turbo Talladega with designation #1 has been historically known to be safely residing at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, however after some time and effort, I can tell you it is not there. The question I now ask the international Saab community is, where is it?

For the record this vehicle along with two others, participated in the “Long Run” event at Talladega Super Speedway in Talladega, Alabama back in October of 1986.

The other two vehicles, numbers 2 and 3 respectfully, currently reside at the Saab Museum in Trollhattan, Sweden as well as the Saab USA Heritage Collection in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

If you are interested in helping Saab History locate this last remaining model, please contact me.

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A Saab 9000 Saves A Man’s Life in Maine, USA

Posted on 28. Feb, 2008 by Ryan.

A man driving a later model Saab 9000 in Maine recently was travelling on an overpass and hit ice and consequently launched off of the road and was airborn until he landed about 30 feet below on top of a guard rail alongside Interstate 95.

Once again, thanks to Saab’s safety cage and other innovative safety features this man is alive as a result.

Enjoy the piece below thanks to Maine Today:

Photo Credits: Maine Today

PITTSFIELD — In one of the more spectacular area car accidents in recent memory, a Burnham man in a Saab sailed off an overpass and landed on a guardrail on Interstate 95.

Franz Spiegel, 43, of Burnham, complained of chest pains, but survived. He was the only person involved in the accident, according to Maine State Trooper Derrick Record.

“When I heard the call, I was expecting a fatal,” he said. “He probably wasn’t going a ridiculous speed for the road, but it was probably too fast for conditions.”

Spiegel had been traveling from Burnham to Canaan when he hit an icy patch on the bridge and veered up onto the guard rail around 10 a.m. Sunday. While Spiegel was being loaded into an ambulance, a walk up to the top of the overpass revealed snow and ice that had been packed into rounded bobsled-like chute over the interstate.

It was the ramping effect of the packed ice sloping up to the guardrails, coupled with perhaps a little too much speed, which enabled Spiegel’s vehicle to slide up onto the guardrail, according to another Maine State Trooper, Sean Kinney.

“Luckily, he landed so most of the vehicles” did not have a difficult time avoiding the Saab, Kinney said.

Several drivers witnessed Spiegel’s Saab slide along six sections of guardrail along the Johnson Flat Road overpass — roughly the width of the two interstate lanes plus the areas on the shoulders — before plummeting to the highway below, Kinney said.

No witnesses stayed at the scene long enough to be interviewed, however.

The car landed rear-first and upright, straddling the guardrail along the northbound lanes of Interstate 95, its back end teetering over a snowbank and its front end hanging over the asphalt shoulder.

Both rear wheels appeared to have broken from the axle and dangled at odd angles. Fluids and broken glass collected below the front end of the vehicle before it was lifted onto a flat-bed truck and towed away.

Traffic was light, as it was a Sunday morning. Cars and tractor-trailers backed up perhaps a half a mile while first responders worked to clear the left lane. At about 11 a.m., fire trucks were beginning to pull away from the scene.

Joel Elliott

Source: http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/4801830.html

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The Saab Naming and Model Nomenclature

Posted on 25. Feb, 2008 by Ryan.

Image Credit: Saab History

As a follow-up to the posting I made back in November of 2006 on the logo history, it is about time that I compliment this information with the following on the correct capitalization and nomenclature of the models of the Saab Automobile brand. I hope this sheds some more light in our dialog about Saabs, SAABs and all of the great products that have been developed over the years.

I have provided a fairly well written piece already done on Wikipedia that I would like to articulate if I may regarding the correct capitalization and model nomenclature as a guide.

It is my hope that as a result of this posting, others will be able to better articulate their writing and speaking when referring to all of Saab’s products from 1947 until present. I also think that this posting will help to end search criteria that is typically entered in Google as follows: (SAAB 93 XWD, SAAB 92 ABS, Saab 94 Ski Rack, 2001 SAAB 95, 1999 93, etc.) If this search criteria was taken literally, as it should as google can only do just that, we would have had Cross Wheel Drive available in the late 1950′s, ABS in the late forties, and two long production runs for the SAAB Ninety Five and Ninety Three. Let’s hope that this clarifies this naming and model nomenclature once and for all.

1947-1969 (Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget)

The Company: When referring to the company in both written and oral communication where the products were produced between 1947 and 1969, it is proper to use SAAB in all capital letters to refer to these vehicles.

The Models: When referring to vehicles model nomenclature in both written and oral communication that were produced during this time, they are written and pronounced as 92 (Pronounced: Ninety Two), 92 (Pronounced: Ninety Three), 94 (Pronounced: Ninety Four), 95 (Pronounced: Ninety Five), 96 (Pronounced: Ninety Six), 97 (Pronounced: Ninety Seven)

1970-2000 (Saab-Scania)

* Note: Although the merger took place in 1990, the original products continued. (excluding NG900, 9-3 & 9-5)

The Company: When referring to the company in both written and oral communication where the products were produced between 1970 and 1990, it is proper & acceptable to refer to them as Saabs in lower case letters or Saab-Scania vehicles, also in lower case letters.

The Models: When referring to vehicles model nomenclature in both written and oral communication that were produced during this time, they are written and produced as 97 (Pronounced: Ninety Seven), 98 (Pronounced: Ninety Eight), 99 (Pronounced: Ninety Nine), 90 (Pronounced: Ninety), 900 (Pronounced: Nine Hundred), 9000 (Pronounced: Nine Thousand), 9-5 (Pronounced: Nine Five), NG900 (Pronounced: New Generation 900), 9-3 (Pronounced: Nine Three).

2001 – Present (Saab Automobile / General Motors)

The Company: When referring to the company in both written and oral communication where the products were produced between 2001 and the Present, it is proper & acceptable to refer to them as Saab in lower case letters and/or Saab Automobile / GM vehicles.

The Models: When referring to vehicles model nomenclature in both written and oral communication that were produced during this time, they are written and produced as 9-X (Pronounced: Nine X), 9-2x (Pronounced: Nine Two X), 9-3x (Pronounced: Nine Three X), 9-3 (Pronounced: Nine Three), 9-4x (Pronounced: Nine Four X), 9-5 (Pronounced: Nine Five), 9-7x (Pronounced: Nine Seven X)

I leave you with a brief summary from Saab Automobile’s entry from Wikipedia.

Saab / SAAB Correct Capitalization and Model Nomenclature:

While Saab is in fact an acronym, and, as with many other manufacturers, the word “SAAB” appears in all-capitals within the corporate emblem and in on-vehicle badging, the current correct capitalization of Saab when in print is “Saab,” and not “SAAB.”[citation needed] Other manufacturers such as Volvo, Toyota, Lexus, Acura, and Chevrolet employ the use of all-capitalized vehicle badging, but they are still considered proper names and capitalized as such when written. Likewise, Saab is treated as a proper name and not an acronym, despite its origins..”[citation needed]

Furthermore, all current Saab vehicles are badged with a large 9 and a smaller 3, 5, or 7x following the 9, such as “9³”. However, the digits are considered separate, and are spoken as, for example, “nine three,” and written as “9-3.” Nearly every Saab model ever produced has begun with the number 9 (Saab 600 being an exception), and Saab’s two models became 9-3 and 9-5 in the late 1990s, which was likely a marketing attempt at positioning the vehicles as direct competitors to the BMW 3-series and 5-series, respectively.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_Automobile

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