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Saab 99

           

    

Now that Saab has established itself as a slightly funky yuppie alternative to the BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis of the world, with a line of powerful and expensive sports sedans and even (egads!) a rebadged Chevrolet SUV, it's easy to forget just how bizarre and counter-culture Saabs once were.

Back in the 1960s, when huge, rear-wheel-drive American cars ruled with their blunt-object V-8s, Saab was serving its miniscule cult of fans with tiny front-wheel-drive cars powered by two-stroke engines (envision the smoky, ZING-ZING-ZING engine in your weed whacker). Even once Saab decided to go conventional, the company replaced the two-stroke with a V-4--a design so odd that virtually no other semi-modern manufacturer has dared to use it.

In those days, nobody could have accused Saab of having a performance image; speed was virtually the last thing anybody could have associated with a Saab, the swoopy but strange Sonnett (no doubt a future object of Car Lust) notwithstanding.

Everything changed for Saab with the 99--the car that launched the company into its own modern era.

With the 99, Saab paved the road for its breakthrough 900--the 99 had the same bulletproof turbo-ready four-cylinder engine, the same practical sedan shape, the same outrageously hunchbacked profile. All of these things married Saab's legendary quirkiness with a genuinely useful and fun car.

The Saab 99 was significant for more than serving as a progenitor for the 900; it was a performance car in its own right, with a sterling rally record that catapulted Saab into the consciousness of motorsports fans across the world.

I've always had a feverish sickness for the Saab 900--more on that later--and would dearly love to have a 99 as well, either in hatchback or EMS sedan trim.

These photos are courtesy of Saab 99.org--a good source for info on the 99.

- Chris H.

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