SAAB - the end of an era?

[byegad]

SAAB Aircraft are made by a different company to the cars. SAAB split the two businesses a good while back. So the Swedish Airforce and several others around the world, including the RAF who own a couple of Gryphons IIRC will still have a manufacturer and its back up available.

Sad about the car company, a friend of mine has owned two. One bought in 1972 and another bought when it was worn out a couple of years back. Maybe they were just too good.

 

[fossyant]

General motors killed Saab with mediocrity. Shame.

+1 !

 

[tyred]

I have always fancied one of the "real" Saabs but have no interest whatsoever in a tarted up and over priced Opel.

 

[Globalti]

General motors killed Saab with mediocrity. Shame.

This is more true than you realise. With increasingly stringent safety regulations, improved quality standards and manufacturing techniques, faster design and development times, increasing cross-compatibility of parts and even entire cars manufactured efficiently at the same un-named factory (see C1, Aygo and Pug 107) different car brands now resemble each other so closely that it's hard to tell them apart. In the end by design they have all evolved into virtually the same car, available with different badges and a bewildering variety of trim levels and gadgets so as to offer some personalisation to the buyer. So the winner is the group with the most financial and marketing muscle and ability to sell cars at near cost in order to maintain turnover.

The same thing is happening in my own industry (fragrance) where over-zealous safety activists have killed off all the interesting raw materials leaving even established brands an emasculated shadow of their former selves.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

General motors killed Saab with mediocrity. Shame.

Spot on.

I, for one, plan to continue to own and drive SAAB's until the non availability of spares makes it impossible. Cos I loves 'em, and I've got my heart set on a late model 'Classic' 900 at some point in my future.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I have always fancied one of the "real" Saabs but have no interest whatsoever in a tarted up and over priced Opel.

Which models do you consider this applies to...?

 

[Bicycle]

I never knew Saab used the Triumph or Ford engines, I would like to know more about that, shows you 40 years in the motor trade and I know nothing.

The V4 in later 96s and 95s was (I think) the Taunus engine made in Germany.

The 99 motor was an adapted 8v 1850cc Dolomite unit. I think they used various updated and imprved versions of it for many years, in the same way that Rover managed to squeeze decades out of a small-block Buick V8 that nobody else thought was any good.

Much as everyone pretends they loved the 16v Dolly Sprint, SAAB did rather better things with the same bottom end when they introduced the Turbo. It was also more reliable.

And now they look to be going the same way as Triumph.... Oh dear.

A neighbour in London had a Triumph Acclaim (if I remember correctly). What a sad end to an icon...

Similarly, the CityRover...

I drove a Tata Safari in India about ten years ago. It was a complete joke of a 4x4. Tata now own Jaguar. Blimey!

I remember my uncle buying a Datsun 180 in the 70s to replace a Volvo estate. He said we'd all be driving Japanese cars in 20 years. How we laughed!

I must stop typing now, tears are affecting my vision...

 

[ASC1951]

Their cars were/are of good quality, comfort and peformance, and easily stood up to the more 'exclusive' German makes.

I didn't own one, although I drove quite a few of them in the 14 years I lived there, including a borrowed 99 for a few months one summer and it was a great car.

Well, I did own one - and it didn't stand up to the competition. Old-fashioned, heavy, expensive to run and it didn't hold its value.
I'm surprised they didn't go bust a couple of decades ago.

 

[subaqua]

The V4 in later 96s and 95s was (I think) the Taunus engine made in Germany.

The 99 motor was an adapted 8v 1850cc Dolomite unit. I think they used various updated and imprved versions of it for many years, in the same way that Rover managed to squeeze decades out of a small-block Buick V8 that nobody else thought was any good.

Much as everyone pretends they loved the 16v Dolly Sprint, SAAB did rather better things with the same bottom end when they introduced the Turbo. It was also more reliable.

And now they look to be going the same way as Triumph.... Oh dear.

A neighbour in London had a Triumph Acclaim (if I remember correctly). What a sad end to an icon...

Similarly, the CityRover...

I drove a Tata Safari in India about ten years ago. It was a complete joke of a 4x4. Tata now own Jaguar. Blimey!

I remember my uncle buying a Datsun 180 in the 70s to replace a Volvo estate. He said we'd all be driving Japanese cars in 20 years. How we laughed!

I must stop typing now, tears are affecting my vision...

if the V4 was the ford engine then it was a poor choice from an engineering poit of view. the fibre timing gears regularly used to disintegrate with disastrous results . a change to steel ones before the disintegration solved the problem but created a newer noise and lubrication problem.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

if the V4 was the ford engine then it was a poor choice from an engineering poit of view. the fibre timing gears regularly used to disintegrate with disastrous results . a change to steel ones before the disintegration solved the problem but created a newer noise and lubrication problem.

But the balance shaft fibre gears generally only fail when the balance shaft bushes are shot. How do they get shot? Poor lubrication and maladjusted drive belts. Well maintained V4 95/6's SAABs can cover huge mileages. Then you can pop some steel or alloy ones on.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

The 99 motor was an adapted 8v 1850cc Dolomite unit.

The original 99 engine was a Triumph lump made in Britain and shipped to SAAB. Started life as a smaller unit and then grew to 1850cc.

I think in '72 SAAB took over production in house because Triumph reliability wasn't the best, and redesigned the Truimph lump to be the SAAB Type B. Early 80's and a more radical redesign saw the Type H spring into life which was in production iirc until ?2008?

 

[subaqua]

i remember reading an article in a rally magazine about "the beast" a 70s SAAB with 2 V4 engines grafted together to make a V8 . I wanted a SAAB after that.

 

[tyred]

i remember reading an article in a rally magazine about "the beast" a 70s SAAB with 2 V4 engines grafted together to make a V8 . I wanted a SAAB after that.

They actually made an experimental 2 stroke model with two of the 3 cyclinder 850cc engines joined together to make a straight six two stroke. It is in their museum. I remember reading about it in a car magazine where they actually went and drove it.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

i remember reading an article in a rally magazine about "the beast" a 70s SAAB with 2 V4 engines grafted together to make a V8 . I wanted a SAAB after that.

They actually built a few pre-production 99's with Triumph Stag engines in but decided on the turbo instead.

 

[subaqua]

They actually made an experimental 2 stroke model with two of the 3 cyclinder 850cc engines joined together to make a straight six two stroke. It is in their museum. I remember reading about it in a car magazine where they actually went and drove it.

thats the one. knew it was two engines grafted together