Photo Credit: Saab Automobile AB

Peter Bäckström, manager of the Saab Car Museum, has just notified Saab History that a beautiful 1957 SAAB 93 will be participating in the Mille Miglia which takes place in Brescia, Italy.

It’s nice to see the Saab Car Museum getting involved in a nice road races as throwback to the past, done in the present.

A thank you to Peter for providing it and managing the effort and initiative!

Hello there!

A Saab 93 1957 is participating in Mille Miglia this year driven by the former Saab executives Hans-Göran Persson and Sten-Åke Aronsson. The car itself, owned by Lars-Göran, is in a beautiful original condition and the 750cc engine is tuned by the 2-stroke supremo Bengt-Erik Ström, earlier engine mechanic at the Saab Competitions Department.

The enclosed picture shows the car loaded before departure to Brescia, Italy, after some final adjustments in the Saab Car Museums workshop:

from left to right: Rolf Ebefors, Saab Car Museum
Ture Stam, Saab Car Museum
Lars-Göran Persson, Driver & Owner
Sten-Ã…ke Aronsson, Navigator

Best Regards
Peter Bäckström
Manager Saab Car Museum
Brand & Product Communications
Saab Automobile AB

Film Credit: Old Timer TV

A German Film company, Old Timer TV, have recently produced a very well done film of the original SAAB 93B (1957-1959).

A thank you to the company for sharing their material and coverage. It’s not often we get coverage of this vintage, combined with enthusiasts vehicles in such pristine order celebrated like they are brand new!

Evidently, this film will be also available in English in April, later this year, so stay tuned!

As we know the SAAB 93was the first model to be imported into the United States back in late 1956 as a 1957 model year. The SAAB 93, was recently mentioned from a blogger about a personal experience!

This must be the first time EVER, that I have heard someone using this technological medium to discuss a vintage vehicle like this within the Saab community. I am so utterly impressed that they remembered their experience in Massachusetts with the SAAB 93 with such detail.

I am also pleased that this memory was trigged from listening to one of my favorite shows on National Public Radio, Click & Clack’s “Car Talk”, which is also based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

I wonder if they ever ran into Kurt Vonnegut at SAAB Cape Cod given that they referenced that region?

Anyways, here is their full account of the SAAB 93 republished with permission from author:

I was listening to Click and Clack (a car repair talk show) on public radio last Saturday and one of their comments made me think about a car I once owned. A 1957 SAAB 93.

For those of you who are not familiar with this classic car from Sweden, the SAAB 93 was a two stroke, three cylinder contraption that was made with left over engines from light aircraft.
When you filled up the gas tank you also poured a quart of oil in with the gas.

It did have a few quirks. One being the engine could run in either direction, and one being when you coasted you could disconnect the engine from the drive train altogether, put the shift in reverse and engage the engine. The car still ran forward, but with only one speed, reverse gear. It would back up with three speeds however. For someone not familiar with this quirk it could get mighty confusing.

When I had my SAAB 93 it was pretty much a beater already. Ran good, well as good as any other SAAB 93 ran, and the heater worked! You had two heat settings, off and on. When it was off you froze. When it was on your feet caught fire.

I had taken the car to Massachusetts to visit my cousin. It was mid winter and I found the Saab handled pretty good in the snow. After being there for a day or so I discovered that there were several SAAB 93 in that town. What gives with that?

Read more »

Photo Credit: Saab Automobile USA

In April of 1958, the Saab 93 GT750 (Gran Turismo) was introduced as a celebration to SAAB’s rally history.

The 93 GT750 was outfitted in both 93B and 93F models while featuring extra rally lights, chrome plated hubcaps as well as side moldings and GranTurismo emblems all around.

This model was the second production vehicle for SAAB and came equipped with the following specifications:

Read more »

Photo Credit: Saab Automobile AB

In late 1959 the 93F was introduced, following the 93B which featured front-hinged doors hence the designation of ‘F’ for front hinged doors.

The 93F marked the final year of production for the 93 and included the ability for SAAB to sell the remaining parts inventory prior to the new model launch.

This model was the second production vehicle for SAAB and came equipped with the following specifications:

Read more »

Photo Credit: Saab Automobile AB

On September 2, 1957 the 93B as the successor to the SAAB 93 (ninety three). One of the most noticeable changes in this model included the former two-piece windshield being replaced with a one-piece windshield.

The SAAB 92b also began with an option of a two-point seatbelt.

This model was the second production vehicle for SAAB and came equipped with the following specifications:

Read more »

Photo Credit: SAAB Motors Inc. – 93 Promotional Photo, New York, NY, 1956.

The SAAB 93 (ninety three), is the successor to the 92B and was produced in 1955.

This was also the first SAAB ever to be imported into the United States a year later in 1956 to the port of Hingham, Massachusetts, as well as Portugal, Spain and other countries.

The final year of this early model, it had the option of a two-point seatbelt by 1957.

This model was the second production vehicle for SAAB and came equipped with the following specifications:

Read more »

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

Read more »

Since “Uncle Bob” Sinclair, the former President of Saab-Scania of America, has been living and enjoying the great weather out in California over the years, he has participated in a number of events since that time. I think it is important to not only highlight all of the recognizable accomplishments he has involved in, but to also showcase all of the “other” activities that he has been involved during and after his time with Saab.

I want to begin by including a wonderful writeup of his participation in an event in that region, called the “California Mile”, where he drove a 1959 SAAB 93b, which he donated and is on display at Sports Car Service in Wilmington, Delaware. This article was originally posted in the 1996 issue of Saab Soundings magazine (Vol 34 Number 2 — Winter 1996). Enjoy.

The 65 vintage cars parked in front of San Francisco’s elegant Fairmont Hotel awaiting the start of the sixth annual California Mille were drawing an admiring crowd. Amid the collection of “egregiously expensive” machinery, including a few Ferraris and rare Alfa Romeos that were valued at well over a million dollars, was a humble ‘59 Saab 93B and its new owner, Bob Sinclair. Few of the passersby knew the significance of this little robin’s-egg blue Saab to the cordial bearded man who was performing last-minute preparations.

Bob Sinclair, former Saab president (below), and Dick Lague of Petersen Publishing, look forward to driving a 1958 Saab 93B in the 1996 California Mille. The Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, provides an appropriately international backdrop for the start of the event.

In March of 1958, Bob Sinclair started his automotive career as a regional sales manager for the fledgling company, Saab Motors, in the Northeastern U.S. His first company car: a light-blue Saab 93B. Now, almost four decades later, Sinclair has a flash of deja vu every time he opens his garage. A snub-nosed 93B, in the exact shade of blue as the one he drove as a field rep, is a newly acquired treasure in Sinclair’s household. The two-stroke Saab, model year 1959, was imported from Saab’s headquarters museum in May, 1996, and is completely original, right down to the paint, three-cylinder powerplant and interior. The car was driven in Sweden for the first couple years of its life, before retiring to Saab’s historical collection in 1961. “It has normal wear for a two-year-old car,” Sinclair said. “The car is absolutely superb!”

Sinclair was an integral part of Saab’s growth and success in the U.S. market. In 1979, Sinclair was appointed president of Saab-Scania of America, until his retirement in 1991. The Saab National Dealer Advisory Council presented him with one of the first production Saab Sonetts, one of only 258 two-stroke models produced in 1967, as a retirement gift. “As much as I admired the car as an objet d’art, I soon realized that the Sonett really wasn’t the ideal toy for me,” Sinclair said. “It was, shall we say, a bit too ‘quirky’ and demanding for use as a transportation device, and too new for most of the vintage tours being run around the country.”

After receiving helpful technical advice via telephone from Sweden, Lague (left) and Sinclair have the Saab’s two-stroke engine running beautifully.

An ideal solution presented itself – an exchange with the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan, Sweden. Sinclair explained, “With the blessings of Felix Bosshart of Charles River Saab in Massachusetts, who was chairman of the council at the time of my retirement, I worked out a swap with museum curator Peter Bäckström. Now the museum has a much more desirable car for display, and I have a more practical car for my own particular uses.” The Saab 93B was shipped from Sweden to Sinclair’s home in Santa Barbara, Calif., arriving on May 2, 1996.

What does one do with a mint-condition 36-year-old car? “Drive it,” Sinclair stated emphatically. “It’s a shame to hide classic cars in a private garage. It’s much more satisfying to use the cars as they are meant to be used.”

Sinclair is one of many collectable car owners who share the same attitude. The California Mille 1,300-mile vintage car tour, and other similar events such as Arizona’s Copper State 1000, the Colorado Grand, and New England 1000, each attract 50 to 75 auto enthusiasts with a taste for adventure and motoring in authentic examples of automotive history.

Organized by Martin Swig, owner of Saab San Francisco, a dealership established in 1976, the annual California Mille is more a social and cultural event than a competition. Styled after the historic Mille Miglia endurance race in Italy, today’s events place more emphasis on history, scenery and camaraderie than speeding. “The highest form of this car hobby is to drive these things,” Swig commented. “To be alive, they have to be driven.” Rules are designed to emulate the Mille Miglia and therefore stipulate that entries must have been in production in 1957 or prior. The Saab 93 began production in 1955; Sinclair’s ‘59 model was one of the newest cars in the event.

The Mille started at the Fairmont on Nob Hill, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and headed east on scenic two-lane highways into the Sierra Nevadas. The Saab, with its stock 33-hp, three-cylinder motor, struggled up the mountains and had to be stopped several times because of overheating. Sinclair called Peter Bäckström at the Saab Museum in Sweden the first night. “I had three different thermostats, three different carburetor jets and three heat ranges of spark plugs,” Sinclair explained. “The only problem was, not having driven a 93B since 1961, and never on such steep grades at such high altitudes, I had not the foggiest notion which combination would be right. Peter soon put us straight on that, and after Day One, the car ran beautifully!”

Sinclair’s 1958 Saab 93B is powered by a 750cc three-cylinder, two-stroke engine, rated at 33hp, with a three-speed manual transmission with steering column-mounted shifter. Front-hinged doors were not available until the following model year.

Sinclair’s co-driver/navigator was Dick Lague, senior publisher at Petersen Publishing’s Motorcycle Group of magazines, including Motorcyclist, Dirt Rider and Sport Rider. Both men share a common interest in motorcycles and Saab cars; Lague learned to drive in a 93B in Providence, RI, and took his driver’s test in it. Sinclair, who owns several vintage motorcyles, first met Lague in 1974 at a motorcycling event hosted by Cycle World magazine.

From the Mille’s starting announce-ment, “Gentlemen, try to start your engines,” to each of three overnight stopovers, the atmosphere was light-hearted, even jovial. The route skirted Lake Tahoe, wound through the forests of Northern California to Eureka and came back south along the coast and through Napa Valley. Other entrants included superb examples of Maserati, Aston Martin, Cord, Jaguar, Bugatti and a host of others. Each was a historic gem of its era, and each received admiring glances from fans along the way, and only a handful failed to reach the finish after 1,300 miles.

“We might have to push this little car up the mountain, but it sure goes like hell down the other side!” – Sinclair

After driving 1,300 miles through Northern California, Sinclair and his Saab catch their breaths overlooking the Pacific Ocean

“Along the way, the Saab’s pop-pop-pop exhaust note from the two-stroke engine made people look twice,” Sinclair commented, “and then look again when I dumped a can of oil in the gas tank at each fill-up.”

At the Victory Banquet in Corte Madera, just north of San Francisco, Sinclair was awarded a trophy as the “Driver Who Had the Most Fun on California Highway 88,” which was the first mountainous section encountered prior to Lake Tahoe. Several drivers commented to Sinclair: “Bob, are you aware that your inside rear wheel was inches off the pavement on hard downhill bends?”

“Of course I knew that,” he replied. “It’s part of the fun of driving a 93 ‘vigorously’ through the mountains. We might have to push this little car up the mountain, but it sure goes like hell down the other side!”

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