Loving the SAAB that Blind Dog Fabrication (Mark) has built! Thank you Mark!

In the '90s Saab introduced a hidden section to the speedometer

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1jldwoe/in_the_90s_saab_introduced_a_hidden_section_to/

we're all familiar with the Chevy Monte Carlo, from 1969-87, and other generations, BUT, did you now that Saab made a Monte Carlo from 63-68?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pris63/20298318490

via https://www.autoevolution.com/news/1967-saab-monte-carlo-850-parked-in-the-woods-is-a-fantastic-find-sitting-for-years-191325.html

the SAAB friction tester, thank you Andrew F!

This example, purchased by a collector of SAAB 900s in 2009 through a Dulles surplus auction, was among the last examples built in-house at the Saab Car Division of Saab-Scania in Nyköping, before General Motors purchased a 50-percent interest in the company and closed the Friction Tester department.

The Saab Friction Tester, introduced in the 99 model in 1977 and continued in production through the 1979-'93 lifetime of the "classic" 900 hatchback

Under the back, the trunk floor contained a hatch panel that covered a chain-driven, friction-measuring wheel that could be hydraulically lowered and raised. This wheel, shod with a tube-equipped 4.00-8-inch tire sporting a rubber composition and tread akin to those on airplanes, was geared to rotate at a constant percentage of slip—usually 10 to 30 percent—relative to the car's steady speed. That speed typically ranged from 40 to 60 mph, although this assessment could be performed at up to 100 mph. A torque sensor read the resistance against the chain drive, and fed this information to an onboard computer that transmitted in real time to Air Traffic Control, which in turn relayed runway condition codes—0 to 6, with 6 being dry and good braking—to incoming and outgoing pilots.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/runway-model

the SAAB Sabertooth was the underwater vehicle that found Shackleton's Endurance, regarded as the single best most incredible condition wooden shipwreck known to date, at 10000 ft deep, in the Weddell Sea

https://www.saab.com/products/sabertooth

Despite its age, the sunken vessel has remained in near-pristine condition. The ship provides a rare opportunity to study sea creatures that make their home on hard surfaces. Because the wreck is protected under the terms of the Antarctic Treaty, it is a historic monument.

The wreck of the Endurance was found by a Saab Sabertooth hybrid underwater vehicle controlled by operators on the Agulhas II. The robotic vehicles can operate both on a tether or autonomously, as they did on the latest search.

https://divemagazine.com/scuba-diving-news/ernest-shackleton-endurance-wreck-found

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/shackletons-endurance-shipwreck-is-teeming-with-bizarre-ocean-life-180979719/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/legendary-shipwreck-of-shackletons-endurance-discovered-in-antarctic-waters1/

1971 Saab 95 station wagon somehow powered by a 502 crate motor

https://www.saabplanet.com/the-51-year-old-saab-95-is-fitted-with-an-8-2-liter-v8/

A Saab 9-5 just set a new Cannonball record, and went across the country twice, just to show off - there and back in 65:28 going 5631 miles from New York to Redondo Beach and back

 https://www.saabplanet.com/a-saab-9-5-aero-sets-a-record-in-the-cannonball/

movie about a chauffer that is likely to make a big splash soon, it's up for an Oscar. But it's as dull as watching paint dry. Unless you're into movie critics like, that no one else does

how Ebert gushed about this, I thought it was going to be amazing. But it was boring. Moody. Dull. The main character is an actor turned theater director whose wife in the first act, dies of a brain hemorrhage, but was cheating on him with other actors, his chauffer is depressed because she feels that she is to blame for her mother's death, and then there are the long camera shots of the bay, the snow falling, etc. 

The car is real nice though. The story? Just depressing and a snooze. 

someone just scored this factory rally pak equipped 1953 Saab for only £15,000

 Following the end of hostilities of WW2, SAAB realized that if it was to survive they needed to diversify. 

Unfortunately none of the company management had any experience in automotive engineering or manufacturing and neither had any of it's workforce ever employed in the industry. 

Except for one exception - a brilliant young engineer Gunnar Ljungstrom who together with an initial team of 15 set out to design a perfect people's car for Sweden. 

Only two of the team had drivers licenses!

Designed with aid of a wind tunnel, this car managed to achieve a drag coefficient of 0.30 which to this day stands as one of the most aerodynamic cars ever.

The special "Rally Pack" lights are clearly visible and take pride of place on the bodywork they are fully original and not replacement items. 

Headlights are "Robolight" originals which or course stands for Robert Bosch later to be branded by Bosch. Robo branded lights are a collector's items in their own right. 

The rear lights were famously taken from Saab's aviation parts bin and are glass wingtip lights from period aircraft models. 

This car is a Mk2 version being a 1953 model which retains early features such as split bumpers, trafficators, glass aviation rear lights, ornate door and window handles, early steering wheel and other unique features. It also features a period extra "Rally Pack" which was introduced in 1953 to celebrate and take advantage of international rally success. This consisted of tougher suspension and additional lights, including a prominent rooftop light just like 1952 Greta Molander's rally winning car.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/auctions/1953-saab-92b-nJwAd4

a Saab 96, looks like it's ready for some triple digit speeds

 

http://www.backroads.ie/forum/car-related/r-roads/81-random-picture-thread/page2794

probably the world's fastest Saab...1964 Saab Model 96

Found on http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51567&page=272

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/DCarr511/media/Speed%20Week%202008/PICT0038.jpg.html

he got his mom her dream car... not an expensive one, just one that meant so much to her... coolest thing you'll see today

did you hear the Saab museum went bankrupt and sold all it's cars? I just learned

photos by K. Long, who visited the museum in 1997. Find his excellent Flickr gallery at http://www.flickr.com/photos/24041160@N02/sets/72157604894593002/with/5300941776/ found on http://bringatrailer.com/2012/01/16/breaking-story-120-car-saab-factory-museum-bankruptcy-sell-off/ via http://flaviogomes.warmup.com.br/2012/01/ufa-5/

vintage rally Saab 96

Tells the story of a 1961 SAAB 96 that the chairman of the U.S. SAAB collectors club, Bruce Turk, restored and then turned into a rally car.

found on http://flaviogomes.warmup.com.br/

Saab Sonnett at last months Encinitas car cruise

SAAB filed for bankruptcy last week... brought low by GM's bankruptcy and pathetic management, who've blocked its sale to Chinese companies in fear that Chinese would get GM technology and processes. Like that hasn't happened already

Saab CEO Victor Muller said "the last nail in the coffin" was previous owner General Motors Co.'s rejection of a Chinese company's attempts to gain control of the ailing Swedish brand.
Volvo Cars, Sweden's other car maker, is presently ramping up production after China's Geely Holding Group bought it from Ford Motor Co. last year.


Muller, a Dutch entrepreneur, used his luxury sports car maker Spyker Cars to buy Saab from GM in 2010 for $74 million in cash plus $326 million worth of preferred shares. He vowed to gradually increase production while restoring Saab's Swedish identity — which critics said was diluted under GM ownership. But the company ran out of money just a year later.

As production stopped and salary payments were delayed, Muller fended off bankruptcy by selling Saab's real estate and lining up financing deals with investors in Russia and China. He bought time by placing the company in a reconstruction process under bankruptcy protection.

But the deals fell through, blocked by regulators or by GM, which was concerned that its technology would end up in the hands of Chinese competitors.

GM spokesman Jim Cain told The Associated Press Saturday that each new proposal "results either directly or indirectly in the transfer of control and, or ownership of the company in a manner that would be detrimental to GM and its shareholders."http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45720823/ns/today-today_news/t/saab-declares-bankruptcy-gm-blocks-chinese-deal/

this is what happens when a company loses control of it's ownership and the whims of takeover corporations dictate its fate. Stay independant my friends, either be your own master, or work for someone else, but don't let them own you.

A couple more unusual SAAB rv's

From http://voiture-jaune.tumblr.com

slammedsixty.blogspot.com is finding some cool unusual stuff out there!

Above is a custom hot rodded '46 Crosley and below are SAAB rv's.

check out the variety of cool stuff with a heavy emphasis on VW's and Kombis mostly at http://slammedsixty.blogspot.com/

SAAB station wagon

Found near the LaJolla Motor Car Classic... I've never seen one before... and that is about all it takes somedays to get me interested.

Daytona Florida's annual Turkey Run, hot rod show

You and I must love the same sort of unusual stuff, and hot rods, and race stuff... or we wouldn't both look at the stuff I have here, right?

Well, you will enjoy his writing more, and his photos just as much, and for a great description by one who's been there, let me turn you over to John at http://oleragtop.blogspot.com/2008/08/eye-candy-at-turkey-rod-run.html

Cool light green, wonder what it started as? Early 50 shoebox Ford? I was close! It's a 49 Aussie Ford Ute... Thanks to Dan for knowing right where to get the story... in Mike Kelly’s Cruise News, author Ken Caskey of Kidd Darrin’s Restorations & Custom Built Cars in Melbourne, Florida spotlighted the Ford Ute. http://www.cruisenewsonline.com/49FordUteAustralianUtility/49FordUteAustralianUtilityFeature.html
Hot rodded Chrysler Airflow or Airstream!
Ummm, Opel? Alfa? Nope... Dan got this one too! First the Ute then this one! Man's on a roll... this is a Saab 96... for a photo of a stock one to compare it with http://www.saabhistory.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/saab_96_rac_front.jpg
http://www.turkeyrun.com/turkeyrun/Turkey_Run_Home.html

With thanks and appreciation for http://oleragtop.blogspot.com/

You can also see a gallery here: http://www.motor-klassik.de/aktuell/sport_U_veranstaltungen/hxcms_article_508777_14702.hbs