Jalopnik: saab 99

700 HP Saab 99 Is The Best Sleeper Ever

Ben Wojdyla — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EDT

By all outward appearances, this Saab 99 is a nicely maintained Grandma car. Underneath, it's an all-wheel-drive, turbocharged, 700 HP terror machine capable of 9.8 second quarter miles. This Swede-built creation is likely the most ridiculous sleeper ever created.

Winters are long in Sweden and very dark. There's not much to keep you entertained, which explains why so many of the world's stupid-awesome projects come from the Nordic regions. This one is high, very high on the awesomeworld meter. These nutjobs took a straight-bodied Saab 99, stripped the interior and caged it, removed the engine and replaced all the internals then turned it around 180 degrees and mated it to an Audi 100 transmission and all-wheel-drive system, turbocharged the bejesus out of it and made everyone's wildest dreams come true. Our hats are certainly, and respectfully off to you, crazy Swedish Saab hoons.
[Build Blog (translated from Swedish) via CarThrottle]

Sleeper Saab Gallery

Ben Wojdyla — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:23:58 EDT

Engine Of The Day: Saab H

Murilee Martin — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EDT

This Swedish inline-four debuted in 1981, but it was essentially a redesign of the 1972 Saab-Scania B engine, which itself was based on the- wait, can this be right?- Triumph Slant Four engine.

The H is still being manufactured to this day, serving in the Saab 9-3 and 9-5. That means that the engines that power those two vehicles are not-too-distant relatives of the wonderfully horrible Triumph V8 in the Stag! By the time Saab got around to the H, however, the reliability had been improved by several orders of magnitude over the Triumph four, and nearly 30 (or 40, if you count the B engine) years of front-line service stands as a very impressive engineering achievement. We don't recommend the H as a 24 Hours Of LeMons engine (though the Box Wrench Garage Saab 900 Turbo managed to finish fourth at the Goin' For Broken '09 and fifth at the Altamont '08 race), because of that rod-throwing thing, but it makes for a solid street engine with plenty of turbocharged power potential.
[Wikipedia]

A Proud Day For Saab 99 Fans!

Murilee Martin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EDT

We're sure that all you ~~really scary, foaming-at-mouth~~ passionate Saab ~~zealots~~ aficionados are eager to see how the Adopted By Jets '71 Saab 99 is faring at LeMons New England!

So far, the glass appears to be ~~bone dry and covered with leeches~~ half full, as the ABJ team performs what appears to be major surgery on the rear suspension and/or axle and/or fuel tank. But plenty of racing remains, so we expect to see this fine example of Swedish steel ~~dropping components on~~ roaring around the track soon.

Thanks to Christine The Arc Angel for the great photos!

1969 Saab 99 Surrounded By Jaguars On Death Row

Murilee Martin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:00:00 EST

Our last Junkyard Find was a classic Detroit machine, but California junkyards get plenty of decades-old imports as well. Today we'll be checking out an old Swedish car that's reached the end of the line.

This particular junkyard had a little pocket of Saabs within a section dominated by Jaguar XJ6s. You don't see many early 99s these days, on the street or otherwise, so this was quite a find. Looks like this one is pretty much complete, even down to those super-cool gauges with the old Saab "airplane" logo.

Saabophiles' Delight: Vintage Turbos

Mark Arnold — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:20:00 EDT

When we showed you the 2008 Saab Turbo X the other day, we found out that more than a few of you are closet Saabophiles. And while we certainly respect the new Turbo X, there's just something about older Saabs that can't be replicated by a contemporary car. So for all you Swede fiends out there, here's a second look at that pretty little perfectly-restored 900 Turbo that the GM Heritage Collection brought along to the 9-3 Turbo X comparo test. And since we're at it, we've included a gallery of of various vintage Saab Turbos for your viewing pleasure.

The Saab Camper Is The Ultimate Trollhättan Touristmobile

Matt Hardigree — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:15:00 EST

There was a time when we thought the Honda Element Camper was the ultimate post-Westfalia portable camper. Then we saw the appropriately named Toppola camper shell made for a number of Saab hatchbacks. Starting with the Saab 99 combi coupe, the conversion was quick and involved mostly removing the hatch and dropping in the camper shell. Made by SCANDO, the Toppola was also fitted to later Saabs including the Saab 900, 9000 and 9-3, which looks exceptionally fetching in red with the camper top.

Sadly, the business ended in 2006 and the company is looking for someone else to to take over production. There's one major obstacle to producing new Saab campers going forward: Saab sedans no longer feature hatches. We say transfer the thing over to the new Skoda Superb. (h/t to SLRSpeedShop) [Toppola Official Website]