I’ve been revisiting a series of cars recently from the period of my youth. There’s something to be said about the cars we saw everyday while young. Even if they were part of our general visual landscape some of them captivated us in a strangely endearing way. The Saab 900 is one of those cars. Quirky, different, and very European, the Saab 900 had a quality about it that offered sporting adventure even though it was, for all intents and purposes, built to be a basic and durable sedan.
Photo 12 – The “Ur SAAB,” or original SAAB, was very streamlined and had a shape that influenced the company’s production cars. Its lines seem very similar to the design studies of Paul Jaray.
Founded in 1945, it would take another 20 years before Saab would find modest financial footing selling cars on a worldwide basis. Located in Trollhatten, Sweden, a city named for the troll bonnet, a great deal of the lore of Saab is framed around this thriving city. By 1968, the company was producing the Saab 99, followed in 1969 by their merger with Scania, to form Saab-Scania. By 1976, the millionth Saab was sold, but shortly thereafter, one of the most important Saabs would be produced, the Saab 900. The 900 alone would sell more than one million units itself in a matter of years, offering a range of performance and safety features that made these cars top values for the time. Though engineering and impressive build quality were hallmarks of these cars, the growth of Japanese premium luxury brands would eventually force Saab first into a decade of General Motors ownership and eventually bankruptcy. And while a legacy of Saab engineering and superlative performance, driven by their aircraft history, would result in some of the most memorable models, like many brands from the 20th century, Saab would eventually be relegated to collectable status.
