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.
Paul on February 10, 2011 at 03:07 PM
How pleasant to stumble onto this site, type in a key word search on my personal favorite, the SAAB 99, and find a story, but how disappointing not to find a single comment.
Bruce Cook on September 07, 2011 at 08:08 AM
My car and my pictures! I still own this car. The pics were taken on the Armidale Road, between Armidale and Kempsey, in New South Wales, Australia. I asked the bible bashing nancy who owns the Saab 99.org website to remove my pics!!! She could not manage such a simple request.
John Boyle on December 29, 2011 at 09:44 AM
A 99 was the first Saab I drove.
It was in 1979 and a huge revalation from my other driving experiences which at that time were limited to Mustangs and various American sedans, large and small (Ramblers to Lincoln Mark IVs).
Responsive and sporty, and just weird enough (the floor mounted key) to make it unforgetable.
tomm on December 29, 2011 at 06:53 PM
That V4 motor came from Ford of Europe, not an in house SAAB design.
tomm on December 29, 2011 at 06:55 PM
And not only that, but the ''same bulletproof turbo-ready four'' refered to for the 900 was a Triumph [British Leyland] design, not the 'same' V4. Fact checking is a good thing.
Paul S. on January 08, 2012 at 06:18 PM
Had the 5 door version of this.
with the rear seat folded and the right front seat out it would carry 8 foot 2X4's.
It had a later "b" motor from a 900, Bilstein gas shocks the EMS springs and went like a scalded cat,
Oh, and it was that frog barf green. Spent enormous amounts of time welding in patch panels only to have them rust right through again.
That blasted Bosch fuel injection either was, or wasn't with nothing in between.
I finally had had enough when the clutch died, at 221,000 miles.