Good day Mr. Wheels of age I'm guessing if you reduced your tire diameter and width a little your little machine will pick up some power, little things make big changes when working with low, or under powered machines...
Love cars like this that you can never get a ticket in but have a blast anyway, mine and my kids favourite car to drive / be driven in is a 2012 Renault Twizy that has 17hp that's it but it's such a blast to drive and as its rear engine rear wheel drive with skinny tires I can and have drifted round bends 😂 at 40mph
@@Sekir80 I would totally let Robert drive me in his Trabant to a local burger stand where we could share a cool snack even though it's not a Factor meal 🍔😁👍 (Insert joke here about Hamburg being German something something) 😂
In 1967 I drove a friend's red 96 from the Indian Border at Birgunj to Kathmandu, freewheeling all the way with the two stroke. It was several hours on one of the world's curviest roads. I still remember the joy of that trip, but I admit my memory has enhanced many experiences of that era. Congratulations on this video. Well done. BTW, I'm passing it on to that friend.
I'm 53 and 6'4" and have ALWAYS loved little coupes that I can't comfortably drive. This little SAAB also brings me back to my childhood in the 70's. "Two Stroker, Blue Smoker"... just a little whiff brings a grin.
the close captioning was having trouble decoding the "..sput, sputte,r sput biddy, sput, sput.." of the engine returning to idle when the freewheel is active.
Felt like a waste of time. Had to track back after the fact during playback because the adblock community marked it as filler and I heard why. Poor camera angles not including the vehicle yet having the engine noise as if recording in the cabin. It would have been MUCH better having the vehicle pass by with doppler effect a couple of times from the distance to in view then cut to the last twenty seconds where the cabin was actually featured before the "tada" moment with hands extended.
Saab 96 has so many nicknames in Finland because around 66 000 units were built here and it was a popular rally car. The nicknames can't all be translated to English but a lot can be: Kayak, Twin kayak, Half a pear, Ditch Pike, Sunday Shoe, Submarine, U96, Assault Bun, Jungle Drum, Cock Roller, Enema, Carrot Lathe... Have fun with it!
Excellent. About time too. My first car was a Goggomobil 300 saloon with a 300cc two stroke. I loved it. The accelerator was really just an on/off switch and that driving style you have described has informed my driving style ever since, that's ever since 1969. As a result I tend to be a bit hard on engines and gearboxes. I never got over the rev and constant gear change driving style. I also double de-clutch every down shift because that is permanently coded into my brain. People don't understand me.
Love to corn-popper sound. College roommate had one of these. Can't tell you how many times we got yelled at by gas station attendants about "No, no, no, nononono! Don't pour oil in the gas tank !!!!"
My dad had a couple of these back in the 60's and I learned to drive partly on one. One of the other nicknames for these was the "Cornpopper Saab." The above leaves out a couple of the quirks. One was that those Saabs, unlike almost any other car of their day simply did not rattle at all. In an era when many cars seemed pretty tinny, the Saab was unusually solid and rode and felt like a bigger car. Another was that they had the most radical understeer of any car I've ever driven. If you went too hard into a curve, the car simply went straight. No steer at all, until you let off the gas, whereupon it would jump back into the curve as if it had suddenly remembered. Among the other oddities, it blew smoke rings at idle. Among the amenities were a couple of dedicated brackets, one under the driver's seat and another under the hood, to hold spare cans of 2-stroke oil required. It was important to have a couple of emergency spares in addition to the case in the trunk. Because of the freewheeling, it was possible at times on the right kind of hill, to pass another car at idle! I borrowed my dad's '65 Saab at one point, and the ignition failed. When I took it to a garage unfamiliar with the breed, they got it going, but it behaved oddly. It turns out if you get the timing off, the engine will run backwards! The older version with the radiator behind the engine was notorious for misfiring in the rain, because the ignition got wet. The little window shade in front was very handy because you could pull it up to dry the ignition when it rained. Back in the day, Saab touted the 2-stroke engine as having only seven moving parts. My dad quipped, "yeah, six squirrels and a cat with a whip."
@@Cheepchipsable Most old engines would run in reverse - it was a common issue on pre-50s cars, and was something you had to keep in mind when tinkering on tractors up until the 80s :)
They were sold in very small towns too. Jay, Maine, for example, had a rather large Saab dealership in the early days. In more recent years relatively nearby Skowhegan took over sales of Saabs, at least until the tragic and unnecessary end.
I had a 1966 Monte Carlo 850, living in the northern, mountain, part of New Mexico. I owned it from 1969 to around 1975. The wood rim and aluminum spoke rally steering wheel was beautiful. SAAB left the USA in the time and parts became very hard to find, nevermind a mechanic in NM for these things. I bought 2 stroke oil at the Yamaha shop or a motorboat shop and, for the times, it was a little expensive as the car only got about 20 mpg or a little less in the mountains. With 39 horsepower and the high altitudes, it was not fast. But it was reliable and solid and it was great on the roads and in the snow. In the city, other people tended to frown on the smoke. It was a very fun car, I really liked it a lot. Later, after SAAB returned to the USA market, I owned many more SAABS from 900T’s to 9.3, 9.5, 9000. The 900T models were particularly wonderful, but they all were. Even my base, non-turbo, 9000 was wonderful, one of the best actually. Even though generally people seemed to not like the 9000 so much, mine was a bit of a simple gem. I miss these idiosyncratic and great cars, they helped make life more fun and weird while simultaneously being completely practical and solid.
The long shots at the beginning reminded me of a friend from high school, who had a first-generation Honda Civic that was (like all first-generation Civics in the Northeast) more rust than car. It didn't have a two-stroke, but it also didn't have an exhaust system of any kind, so when he left my house at night after a gala evening of tabletop gaming, I could stand on my porch and listen to him drive all the way home. He lived on the other side of this small town, maybe a mile and a half away, and I could hear him shut that thing off in his driveway. :)
I’m not old enough to have experienced the two-stroke, but the V4 is one of the engine sounds of my childhood. They were everywhere in Finland. We never had one but everyone else did. The story about the move to the V4 is rather interesting. Customers were abandoning two-stroke but Saab leadership refused to look at options. Some engineers set up a secret skunkworks facility and made a few prototypes, one of which had the German Ford V4. Leadership eventually let it happen but insisted on leaving the two-stroke in production for a while longer. We all know how long that lasted. The last two-strokes made were engine swapped and the engines were used for spare parts. There’s a thank you letter from Bob Lutz (then at Ford) to Saab for being a loyal customer for the V4 engine.
I am old enough to have grown up while these two-stroke Saabs were still fairly common on Swedish roads and I have such a weird nostalgic love for them. Same goes for the V4 Saabs which sounded absolutely fantastic at wide open throttle and 4,000+ rpm.
@@amogusenjoyer I think the reasoning was that moving to four stroke would have required a lot from the service network. Just like VW moving to water cooling.
Finnish nicknames for this car include Syöksysämpylä (the "dive bun", dive as in a dive bomber and bun as the white bread bun) and Seksisukkula (the "sex shuttle", no comment on the sex side, but think more of the tool used when weaving with a loom than the spacecraft of shuttle buses).
The Ford V4 ( at least in the USA ) was also found in industrial applications like skid steers. It later went on to become the 2.6 V6 found in the Mustang 2, it was again modified to be the 2.8 found in early Ranger small pickups . It was again expanded to the 2.9 fuel injected found in Rangers and some low production British cars like the TVR. It was then stretched to 4.0 for Rangers and Explorers while retaining the overhead valve configuration. The last iteration was an over head cam version of the 4.0.
I grew up having one of these as our family car, I even learned to drive in one. By that time it had been replaced by a V4 as our main mode of transport, happy days. As to the free wheel, my last two BMWs, the 5-series 535d and my current 530d have both been equipped with a free wheel function.
Dad bought a 1965 Saab 96 (long nose) in the fall of '65 (I think). Great little car. Since ours had the 3cyl / 2 stroke stock engine, it didn't sound as 'poppy'' as this one. But it sure didn't sound like anything else on the road at the time. He always carried a case of oil in the trunk so he had a can ready to dump into the gas tank when he filled up, which my friends thought was cool (for whatever reason). He later bought a V4, which he started taking off-road (Saabs were often used in the Baja-1000 races at the time). I think that was the last 2-wheel drive car he ever purchased. From there on, it was all about Jeeps, Land Cruisers, and, Subarus.
@@jesper509the engineering never was a problem in eastern Germany. In fact, they were absolute geniuses in making something of nothing. They had advanced plans and inventions in the drawer, only to be held back by the party or lack of material/infrastructure. Blame the system - not the ones suffering from it.
When I was a kid my dad brought me to a tiny motoring museum housed in the basement of an apartment building. The enthusiast who ran it showed 16mm rallying reels (this was before video was widespread) and invited guest speakers. The speaker of the night was Erik Carlsson, who won the Monte Carlo rally in a SAAB. He told us the only reason he won was that he thought he was so far behind everyone else that there was no point in continuing, but he couldn't just quit the race. So he instead decided to drive the car as carelessly as possibly ("drive it like a car thief"), hoping it would break down and give him an honorable "out". That's apparently how SAABs are supposed to be driven, as he kept winning race after race.
The bit about the gap between 3rd and 4th was very relatable... I have a 1974 4-speed MZ ES250/2.. later 2-stroke MZs had 5-spped boxes (TS supa 5)... and the extra gear's ratio was between 3rd and 4th!
Had to subscribe after the "drive it like you stole it"!!! My first car was '67 with the 4 cylinder. Loved it and really loved the free wheeling. It was also great in the snow. I bought it in 1972 after getting out of the Navy. I worked at a ski area in NH. Every nigth after the lifts closed I would head to the bar for a couple of beers. One night I had a few too many, but that didn't stop me from buying a 6 pack. It had snowed a bit and there was around 6-8 inches on the road. I was barreling home when I went zipping past a state cop parked on a side road with just his parking lights on. 20 seconds later he pulls out after me with his lights twirling and the siren blaring. I spead up and rounded a sharp curve. In my mirror I could see that he was doing maybe 20-25mph to my 60-65. A few miles down the road I stopped, got out to take a pee and waited for him. For a second i thought he'd stopped but then he came slowly around the corner so I got in and took off again. Never saw him again. That car would just pull itself around the corners. Loved it!!!
Got fond memories of my mom driving us kids around Västra Götaland in one of these. Despite the lower speed it usually puts out, if you drive it on a gravel road through a Swedish forest, it feels like you're doing 120km/h.
When I was a kid in the UK we’d go grass track racing, there were a couple of sidecars that used the 2 stroke engine tuned to run on methanol, they weren’t slow by late 70s standards and sounded incredible.
Even if I did not had any informations before this video about Saab cars of that era, I instantly recognized the sound to be an water cooled 3 cylinder. Greetings from Germany. Alongside with your Trabant engine there were this other company in the former GDR named "Wartburg" they installed water cooled 3 cylinder two stroke engines as well and they sounded exactly the same. Later models of Wartburgs had up to 1000cc with around 45 metric horsepower. But in the GDR there were many talented engine mod hobbyists and some managed to boost that little engine up to around 100 hp and placed them in custom built race cars like the Melkus RS 1000.
4:02 is actually better Swedish than I expected. It though has a rather strong German accent, and unsurprisingly a hint of an English accent as well. But as a Swede myself I understood it.
@@TheEulerID I don't mean "English accent" as in "a person from England talking English in their native dialect." But rather an accent that English speaking people tend to have when talking Swedish, regardless of where said native English speaker is from. (with perhaps an exception to India) It is often trivial to hear that someone is a native English speaker when they speak Swedish, and not a native speaker of another language like German, Chinese, or such since they have their own accents. But Texans, Brits and Aussies speak Swedish very similarly when they have learned the language and lived here in Sweden for a decade or three. Until they talk English, then it is clear as day where they are from. (I find it a bit fascinating how similar the accents are when the corresponding dialects of English vary far more.) Same thing goes for any other language combination. A native tongue leaks through and that falls under the definition of an accent. A dialect meanwhile is a variation in a language in the regions where it is the native language. Accents meanwhile is just any variation that can be tied to any attribute, like social standing, ethnicity, native tongue, age, etc. If I had said "a hint of an English dialect as well." then your comment would be correct, since there is indeed non of that, but I did say accent and that is a broader term.
Ngl, I really liked the small history section you gave for the cars before the 96. Felt like watching a bit of a car documentary instead of a review! Well, that and the cinematic opening, straight out of TV. Great work as always.
I had a 1973 1500cc V4 Saab 96 in the 1980's and as a touring musician put many miles on it every year. It was so reliable, and easy to work on and I did all the servicing and repair work myself. It remains one of the best cars I ever owned. My first ex wife took it as part of the devorce settlement (out of spite) but, it's still around now and I see it regularly.
Reminds me of the old Suzuki LJ line of 4WDs, complete with a variety of 2-stroke engines all making between 25 and 35 hp, and the most powerful version topping out at a heady 60 mph! We'd hear the engine revving, see one drive past, and still be looking behind it, wondering where the motorcycle had gotten to.
Had a professor early in my college life who owned that car. We called it the “lawnmower”. But he drove from New York to south Louisiana and loved the way it traveled…
I had three Saab two-strokes in the 1969-70 period. One was the standard 3-cylinder, one-carb model. I loaned it to my younger brother to drive some friends to a hockey game about an hour away. They filled the gas tank on the way back but forgot to add 2-stroke oil…it siezed on the interstate highway before they got home. I was working as a VW/Porsche mechanic at the time so it was no big deal: unbolt the hood, unbolt the engine and lift the engine out by hand. (It was a sleeved engine, so all he had to do was buy me replacement pistons and sleeves and it was as good as new working one afternoon in my parents’ garage. My last one was a 3-cylinder, THREE carb model. It really flew.
The reason why the gap between 3rd and 4th gear is so big is probably because the previous owner put in a v4 transmission, which is equal to a 3 speed 2 stroke transmission and the 4th gear is essentially overdrive. Also the 66 and 67's originally all had the 42hp triple carb engine
LOOK UP ENGINE PINGING - THIS 2 STROKE HAS IT. Pinging is similar to engine knock, and bagging the motor like that is going to leave permanent damage. Replace the fuel with 91 octane and use a fuel booster designed to stop pinging. It will immediately sound different, and make the engine last a lot longer, especially the way you're driving it.
Back in the late '60s there were a handful of 93s and 96s in our SCCA region. They'd show up at the ice races and do pretty well, but usually our Mini Cooper S could stomp them (the Mini's huge 1275 motor surely had something to do with it). One guy campaigned an H Modified (later D Sports Racing) car in which he ran the "big" Saab 2-stroke, so he always had a bunch of motors laying around in his garage; I used to love hanging out there to poke around.
Your comment and listening to the sounds on this video really brought back memories. Back in the seventies my older brother and I crewed for one of his friends that ran a D Sports Racer out of the Glen Region (just coincidentally the guy's name was Glen). We ran from Mid Ohio to Bridge Hampton, and of course our home track at Watkins. Race prep included deciding which expansion chamber to mount for the two-stroke exhaust to match peak torque to the turns and elevation changes of each track. I only rode in the "passenger" seat once in the infield roads at Watkins when we were checking the readiness of the car for practice, and I was really surprised by the car's capabilities.
Two-stroke SAABs are the bees knees. They're slow but they're wonderfully odd. As you said, it's obvious the people who designed it came from an aeronautics background and had no clue how cars were built. If you ever come to Sweden, let me know and we'll roadtrip to the various museums that are SAAB-related. And yes, due to [reasons] that also includes the Volvo-museum.
This made me feel good, We had V-fours, sedan and wagon, 95 and 96 in the seventies. Our neighbour had a two-stroke Thanks for driving and caring for these cars!
Very nice car. My elementary school math teacher, A very special and eccentric Frenchman had one of these with the 4 stroke engine. Lots of fun to drive in when we went to excursions. He had mastered the gear shifting without using the clutch at all which I remember was fascinating that he could do absolutely flawlessly up/down shifts with Jo jerks or grinding of gears. I also remember it had a small thermo jacket to mount on the front radiator grille in the winter to avoid it freezing up :D
My uncle had one of these. Keep tightening the wheel nuts regurlary, they tend to come loose and you're all of a sudden driving on three wheels or less!
Being a native swedish speaker from Finland, I commend you on your pronounciation. My first car was a 1975 Saab 95 that had seating for 7 people, my third car was a 1978 Saab 96, both with the boring but reliable 1,5 liter V4. (My second car was a Ford Taunus which I totaled in 1989). I miss Saab, wishing they'd come back some day, however that is unlikely.
Hey, on the bright side, we still get to see their art in the form of what they're more known for: Aircraft! Just look at the Viggen, the Draken, and the Grippen for an example.
@@Armin_Hasanović Nope, Porvoo in southern mainland Finland. About 5,2% of the population speak swedish as our first language, finnish is my secondary and I also manage in german, danish and english. Many of the Saabs were made in Uusikaupunki here in Finland, btw.
I'm hoping a large conglomerate will bring back the brand as an eco-tech focused car company. Saab is still kind of alive, with that NEVS group thing, and they have an interesting performance EV that uses wheel hub motors.
My neighbor, the head mechanic for the town of sleepy Hollow, New York, bought his daughter, a three cylinder two cycle Saab. I can remember to this day the sound of that car coming down the slight hill towards my house towards a 90° right turn. It was delightful. As I recall, the radiator had a Venetian blind type object in front of it, connected to a chain to the dashboard. On cold days the Venetian blind would be left closed, on warmer days the driver could open the slats to allow more air in. very interesting.
Mom had a SAAB 96. I seem to remember she talked about pulling oil out of the trunk and adding it to the gas tank. I also remember it was LOUD. I also remember taking it to TJ for upholstery.
My Dad had one of these until I was about 5. His Saab 96(?) was a sport version of some sorts. Its speedometer was a red strip that moved from left to right and the headlights had grilles. The car was white, but the roof was dark red or maroon. I loved the sound and the way the car screamed on acceleration. It was so distinctive!
I am sitting here, smiling like a maniac. This took me back. Still remember my uncles twostroke from the seventies. You could hear him coming for a visit long before he was both visible and in sound range. Weird? A bit. But it was only if you had a radio receiver running. That ignition was not very discreet in the radio spectrum. No need to tune the receiver to hear him. AM or FM? No matter. About 1 km away through dense forrest. He was "detected". 😆 And then the burbling sound. Love it. I live in Sweden and the 96:es (and a 95) was represented in the family car fleet in so many variants. And all the right hand steered V4s that my mother used to deliver mail in the countryside outside the small town we lived in. I am still alive, weirdly enough. The key words there are "18-19 year old guy", "dirt roads" and "rally". Your imagination can do the rest. Still wondering about the mental state of the drivers I met in a tight right hand curve with no sight line. I did mention rally, right? The first they notice, barreling towards them, is a red SAAB 96 with, what appears to be an empty driver seat, at the left hand side of the car. 🤣 Oh well, it was in the 1980s so I suppose the limitation period is over at this point. 😉🚓
I used to work building their newer model, the 9-3, between 1996 and 2000. In Trollhättan, Sweden. The impersonation of a typical Saab worker was pretty spot on!
Weirdly I had one of these go past my house the other day. It sounded like something furious that was about to break the sound barrier. It was doing maybe 20mph, at a push. Glorious.
My late father was a quality inspector engineer, and a test driver, at SAAB when your car was built. He might have inspected that very car. He always drove SAABs all his life, so the brand has a special place in my heart. Thank you for your content.
3:44 "Wait that wasn't the cue for a transition STOP!" Sure, the intro was epic with dramatic shots and promo audio pans... But this is what I'm here for.
I had a Saab Sonett for years. On paper, old Saabs look pathetic. But drive one, and you get the silliest dumb smile on your you face that you just can't explain. So many "car guys" didn't understand until I handed them the keys and they came back with that same smile. Congrats on a beautiful car!
My first car was a Saab, a late 80s 900 Aero, but friends in our local club had some of the much older models, so I got to experience a legit 96 Monte Carlo as well as riding backwards in the rear seat of a 95V4. The automotive world is a poorer place without Saab Cars.
New to the channel, coming over after some mentions on technology connections. After watching a few videos I am not surprised you two are friends. This is top tier tom foolery
You caught my complete attention with this topic! I liked the coverage and enjoyed it immensely.I got to drive one of my friends in HS. Always loved two strokes. I was blessed to watch an ice race in mid-coast Maine there were 2 sonnets racing a bright red and robins egg blue. version. One a 4 stroke the other a 2 stroke! They were closely matched the whole race with ice flying and amazing sound. We got so excited and waited until the pits cleared to run around the track. As I went down the main straight I was passed by a wagon with parents,grandparents, and kids. It was a special day. I ran a 76 pacer and carried most of the exhaust home in the back. 🤣
Sounds like a 70s snowmobile. Car looks amazing. As an Austin Healey Sprite driver, I'll bet that 850cc two stroke is a beast. That v4 is a cool engine. But wow that car is cool as hell. The guys at Lane Motor Museum will love to see it.
5:23 Would you believe Kurt Vonnegut? He wrote about an incident he had with the two stroke engine in "Man Without a Country." He had let it sit for like two weeks without running, then tried to start it on a really cold day. He heard people talking about the mysterious smoke cloud for a long while afterwards
Always fun to hear what non-Swedes think of "our" cars! I live quite close to the Saab-factory and we always had a lot of Saabs in my family, including the 96. My grandma had a orchid-white (pink/beige) 1976 96V4 and my dad ha a "meatball-sause-brown" 1973 96V4, so I know them well - except from the driving experience. Only ever tried grandma's once and as I was quite new to driving, me and the gear-shift did not get along very well - so it was a very short trip... my dads car was long gone by then, disolved by corrosion. And of course you have to drive a red two-stroke Saab like a rally-driver: Eric Carlsson, who won the Montecarlo rally in such things would be proud of you!
Swedish cars are the best I've ever owned. Mom's 1974 volvo had over a million miles and kept going until a four foot diameter tree fell on it. My 1986 900 turbo also had over a million miles. I still regret selling it.
I've heard stories of the early production Saab 92...when driving in snow, it would get packed under the front fenders, which partially enclosed the front wheels. Not a problem while you're cruising along a straight road, but when you need to turn a corner, there was no room left for the wheel to turn, as the fender was full of hard-packed snow/ice - and so you sailed off in a roughly straight line into the trees. This was remedied fairly promptly (thankfully) by enlarging the front wheel openings.
When I was a child, we had two of these; a red on and a off-white yellow one. They did very well in the northwest IL 60's and 70's winters. One just made the assumption that heat was optional.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew I had seen a glimpse of a red saab in one of the older videos! Lovely car, now remember to take it IKEA shopping from time to time ;) Greetings from Göteborg Sweden
I love it ! I’ve done the machine work on several 2 stroke engines for a guy named Tim, nice guy. The last one I did had oil injection. Very small oil passages in the engine block. Had to make sure that all the passages were completely clean. Wish I owned one. 😊
Driving a 2 stroke Saab is sort of like driving a 2 stroke Detroit Diesel. You have to slam your fingers in the door to get in the right frame of mind to make it go like it should (i.e. wide open or shut off).🤣😂 There's a lot you can do to those little 2 stroke triples to make them faster, but the end result is they have even less bottom end torque. I'd love to see one of these engine swapped with an old Artic Cat 172 hp. liquid cooled Thunder Cat engine (basically a Suzuki case-reed triple) Now THAT would wake it up!!😄👍👍👍
Years ago you old Saab 96 is what inspired me to get into old Saabs. My first car was a 68 Saab 95 wagon and I still have it. It’s awesome to see you with a Saab again, especially a two stroke.
Love em! I had a 67, It also had the 3 carb Monte Carlo engine. I bought it in San Diego after having owned a Fiat 850 Sport Coupe. I loved the Fiat but it kept dropping valve seats. So I bought a Saab because it had no valves! I moved to San Francisco where I am now. I had the Saab tuned by The Saab Saver in Oakland who tuned the 3 carbs so I had much more power. Thanks for the trip down memory lane! Now I want to find an early 2 stroke Saab Sonnett.
That is a sharp looking 96! One of my rally buddies back in the 70's had a 2 stroke (IIRC, he had two because one was usually under repair). That was my introduction to Saab. Eventually I owned 3 different V4's including one that was a full tilt SCCA Pro Rally car (roll cage, modified exhaust, milled and ported heads, big carb, factory rally gearbox parts, etc). And assorted 99's and 900's over the years for good measure. If I ever buy a car just to have a cool toy it will for sure be a 96.
These used to be somewhat common around the ski towns in Colorado in the 60's and 70's. Often saw them with studded snow tires up front, and thought that was odd. But in the days before everyone having 4 wheel drive these were great in snow. I seem to remember the Vail police even used them.
Yeah, recalling that sound and the 2 cycle oil smoke, sturdy yet flimsy and light. Part dirt bike, part phone booth, part airplane. Taking a ride was always an adventure.
@@Jag-Soft I had one of those from new in 2003. Very stiff anti roll bars. Could change direction through a roundabout disturbingly rapidly with almost no body roll. A bit of turbo lag, and the traction control would kill engine power, which was disconcerting if you hit a white line pulling onto a roundabout! Also, the 6 speed gearbox ratios weren't great for the UK - 2nd gear hit the redline well before 70 mph, so you had to change up to 3rd when merging onto the motorway. I seem to remember Swedish speed limits are lower, so it might have been OK there. Most comfortable seats for long distance driving I've ever experienced!
@@Sithhy• Being a Subaru owner since 1982, when I saw a 2005 Saab 9-2x Aero in prime condition at my local Subaru dealership I just had to grab it. All the fun of a WRX without the attention from local law enforcement. Of course, none of the Saab quirkiness or character, but great for a Subaru lover.
I had a 1995 Saab 900SE convertible. 2.0 Turbo with a 5 speed. It made the best turbo noises. It had a good cold air intake and adjustable blow-off valve. Loud compressor surge noises (stutututu) under light throttle, and loud blow off valve noises under heavy throttle. Best $1,000 car ever.
I had a 1972, I think, Saab 96 with the V-4 and I loved it. Lived in Buffalo at the time and it was great in the snow and fun to drive. I wouldn't mind having one again!
Hello from Finland. I had four Saab 96 cars. My first own car was two stroke long nose 1966 with triple carb and I loved it a lot. The long nose was designed for 1967 when intoduced V4, and this two stroke long nose had 50:50 weight distribution which makes it wonderful to drive in winter. One warm hint: Do NOT change gears that fast. Please stop for a second and a half in neutral before changing to lower gear. Trust me. I had two broken transmissions. Your four gear transmission is wrong type for two-stroke Saab. It should be of three gear type. And those rims are something . . . Huh. I assembled roll type safety belts to my Saab. It had to be assembled slightly tricky. My friend who had a safety belt shop, sold me a sturdy metal plates of 6 mm thick having M12 thread and I first drilled 12 mm hole to the B-post where I assemled the upper harness guide. Then I drilled many smaller holes to the inside upper part of B-post and l dropped the metal plate using string so that I could screw the harness upper guide. This allowed to assemble the safety belts without thru the B-post bolt which would weaken it. Anyway the B-post was really thick. If I recall it right it was 5 mm thick. I added similar head rest like your’s making horizontal supports inside the driver seat back rest.
Oh lucky you! The two-stroke sound of the 3 cylinder Saab and the very similar Wartburg / Barkas engines from the GDR is by far the most beautiful two-stroke sound for me. It is a symphony.
This makes me so unspeakably happy... I found this channel from the SAABs and stuck around, but nothing brings me joy like a little swedish car. (Not that my 900 would know anything about that lately!) I especially like the ode to the airplane logo. Unfortunately my 900 is a year too new to have the airplane anywhere, but I have stickers, 3D prints, and even a Pebble watchface that I made with it. (Robert, if you still wear your Pebble Time at all, hit me up and I'll send you the watchface file!)
Being the age of 87, I remember these cars well, as my friend's Uncle held the franchise for SAAB cars here in the UK. Having to change to the Ford engine, spoiled the magic of these wonderful little cars.
My mom was obsessed with the SAAB 95. I think she had three or four. The last one was in the mid 80s, at that point it was so old it was classified "veteran car" and was tax-exempt. So many memories from that horrible car.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. My dad and my brother and I had a bunch of two-stroke Saabs. We had sedans, wagons, and even Sonnets. Whenever a crankshaft would ruin a bearing, we would go to the junk yard and get a worn out engine, tear it down and salvage the crankshaft bearings. I would then press the crankshaft apart and replace the bearings. It was really time consuming to realign the crankshaft, but it worked. Thanks for sharing the video. 👍
After rebuilding a few single cylinder 2 stroke motorcycles, I've got to ask. How much of a nightmare was it to get the crankshaft pressed together and trued up?
I shared this video on facebook, I have a red 2000 Crown Vic, I'm a V8 guy at heart I can't help it lol. I gave $1,400 for this one, 170,000 miles, hilariously comical how strong it is. Just opened up the airbox double, and hacked half the exhaust off lol made a huge difference. Sorry about the book I'm a huge fan of your videos, I was a mechanic and chicken farmer for 10 years. It was ironically a car wreck that made me not able to fix cars anymore. I'm about to drive my mustang with a big butt to work, keep doin what makes you happy man! I also like wild 2 stroke stuff.
Use code AGINGWHEELS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box plus 20% off your next month of orders at bit.ly/3V1yeVj!
use the code to get 50% off of a new saab!
Drive it like you stole it pretty much applies to anything 2 stroke and I'm so jelly, I want one so bad!!!!
I enjoyed seeing the quirks and features of this car.
Good day Mr. Wheels of age I'm guessing if you reduced your tire diameter and width a little your little machine will pick up some power, little things make big changes when working with low, or under powered machines...
Does the oil injector prevent it from seizing up whilst going downhill?
Despite the sound
*The Speed Limit Was Never Broken In This Video*
No speed limits were harmed in the filming of this video
No need to go to mexico
No need to go to Mexico
You can't break the speed limit when the car can't even reach it.
Love cars like this that you can never get a ticket in but have a blast anyway, mine and my kids favourite car to drive / be driven in is a 2012 Renault Twizy that has 17hp that's it but it's such a blast to drive and as its rear engine rear wheel drive with skinny tires I can and have drifted round bends 😂 at 40mph
21:07 That blue WRX at the stoplight has to be so jealous of the unparalleled noise-to-speed ratio of the Saab
Chuckle warning
“Noise-to-speed ratio” - Harley Davidson owners collectively doing the side-eye monkey meme…
The Saab would take the WRX. No question 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds.
@@Bill-mj8hf zero to _a hundred_ and sixty
*_decibels_*
@@christopherbedford9897 lol
Wow, this vehicle sounds like a leaf blower powering an egg beater connected to a moped's drive chain 😮
With no muffler.
Agreed, and I want 4 of them, please.
Hi! Nice to see you around! What's your opinion about the Trabant? I had the pleasure to daily drive one some 20 years ago.
In a tin can
@@Sekir80 I would totally let Robert drive me in his Trabant to a local burger stand where we could share a cool snack even though it's not a Factor meal 🍔😁👍
(Insert joke here about Hamburg being German something something) 😂
In 1967 I drove a friend's red 96 from the Indian Border at Birgunj to Kathmandu, freewheeling all the way with the two stroke. It was several hours on one of the world's curviest roads. I still remember the joy of that trip, but I admit my memory has enhanced many experiences of that era.
Congratulations on this video. Well done. BTW, I'm passing it on to that friend.
Neat trip! Did you use the brakes much on that trip and did you experience any brake fade?
I'm 53 and 6'4" and have ALWAYS loved little coupes that I can't comfortably drive. This little SAAB also brings me back to my childhood in the 70's. "Two Stroker, Blue Smoker"... just a little whiff brings a grin.
The closed captions trying to figure out the 2 stroke and alternating between "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" and "{Music}" was so appropriate.
😹 I got "aa" "oh" and [Music].
the close captioning was having trouble decoding the "..sput, sputte,r sput biddy, sput, sput.." of the engine returning to idle when the freewheel is active.
[APPLAUSE]
This made me laugh for about 5 minutes 😅😂🤣
You implied this would be artistic in the Patreon update, and WOW that intro was great.
The intro implies you cannot see it, but hear it.
Very artistic, very demure.
I clicked this thinking it’d be speech heavy hoping to work while listening. I never thought it would be a chainsaw car’s speech
Felt like a waste of time. Had to track back after the fact during playback because the adblock community marked it as filler and I heard why. Poor camera angles not including the vehicle yet having the engine noise as if recording in the cabin. It would have been MUCH better having the vehicle pass by with doppler effect a couple of times from the distance to in view then cut to the last twenty seconds where the cabin was actually featured before the "tada" moment with hands extended.
Worst. ASMR. Ever.
Saab 96 has so many nicknames in Finland because around 66 000 units were built here and it was a popular rally car. The nicknames can't all be translated to English but a lot can be: Kayak, Twin kayak, Half a pear, Ditch Pike, Sunday Shoe, Submarine, U96, Assault Bun, Jungle Drum, Cock Roller, Enema, Carrot Lathe... Have fun with it!
Those last three are... shall we say, a bit perplexing for an American English speaker. Carrot lathe? Enema? What Roller???
I'm going to stick with Cock Roller.
@@bartolomeothesatyr I think that something probably got lost in translation. I suspect that enema should be suppository. 🤣☝️
You won't convince me you didn't make some of them up just now
_C O C K R O L L E R_
Honestly the look of all the nonstock parts fit real nice. The red paint, the wheel hubs, those seats. Looks mint. I love its sweptback design
Excellent. About time too. My first car was a Goggomobil 300 saloon with a 300cc two stroke. I loved it. The accelerator was really just an on/off switch and that driving style you have described has informed my driving style ever since, that's ever since 1969. As a result I tend to be a bit hard on engines and gearboxes. I never got over the rev and constant gear change driving style. I also double de-clutch every down shift because that is permanently coded into my brain. People don't understand me.
That opening was killer! The shots reminded me of old school top gear.
Looked the movie Fargo, in the summer
reminded me of the mr. bean movie scene where it takes forever for the biker to show up 😂
Today... I drive a car... made by a Swedish airplane company, James gets a haircut and Hammond breaks the sound barrier speed... on a leaf blower!
It looked like Mad Max to me XD
Reminded me of road-runner, kept me waiting for the "beep beep" 🐥
Love to corn-popper sound. College roommate had one of these. Can't tell you how many times we got yelled at by gas station attendants about "No, no, no, nononono! Don't pour oil in the gas tank !!!!"
My dad had a couple of these back in the 60's and I learned to drive partly on one. One of the other nicknames for these was the "Cornpopper Saab." The above leaves out a couple of the quirks. One was that those Saabs, unlike almost any other car of their day simply did not rattle at all. In an era when many cars seemed pretty tinny, the Saab was unusually solid and rode and felt like a bigger car. Another was that they had the most radical understeer of any car I've ever driven. If you went too hard into a curve, the car simply went straight. No steer at all, until you let off the gas, whereupon it would jump back into the curve as if it had suddenly remembered. Among the other oddities, it blew smoke rings at idle. Among the amenities were a couple of dedicated brackets, one under the driver's seat and another under the hood, to hold spare cans of 2-stroke oil required. It was important to have a couple of emergency spares in addition to the case in the trunk. Because of the freewheeling, it was possible at times on the right kind of hill, to pass another car at idle! I borrowed my dad's '65 Saab at one point, and the ignition failed. When I took it to a garage unfamiliar with the breed, they got it going, but it behaved oddly. It turns out if you get the timing off, the engine will run backwards! The older version with the radiator behind the engine was notorious for misfiring in the rain, because the ignition got wet. The little window shade in front was very handy because you could pull it up to dry the ignition when it rained.
Back in the day, Saab touted the 2-stroke engine as having only seven moving parts. My dad quipped, "yeah, six squirrels and a cat with a whip."
I have heard some Fiats could run backwards as well.
FUNNY STUFF!!!
That's eight parts ;-)
My question is _why_ (unless you live in Sweden or Finland) did your father buy Saabs?
@@Cheepchipsable Most old engines would run in reverse - it was a common issue on pre-50s cars, and was something you had to keep in mind when tinkering on tractors up until the 80s :)
Huge in the state of Maine. Every town in Maine had a Saab repair shop. With hundreds of derelict cars on the property.
They were sold in very small towns too. Jay, Maine, for example, had a rather large Saab dealership in the early days. In more recent years relatively nearby Skowhegan took over sales of Saabs, at least until the tragic and unnecessary end.
I had a 1966 Monte Carlo 850, living in the northern, mountain, part of New Mexico. I owned it from 1969 to around 1975. The wood rim and aluminum spoke rally steering wheel was beautiful. SAAB left the USA in the time and parts became very hard to find, nevermind a mechanic in NM for these things. I bought 2 stroke oil at the Yamaha shop or a motorboat shop and, for the times, it was a little expensive as the car only got about 20 mpg or a little less in the mountains. With 39 horsepower and the high altitudes, it was not fast. But it was reliable and solid and it was great on the roads and in the snow. In the city, other people tended to frown on the smoke. It was a very fun car, I really liked it a lot. Later, after SAAB returned to the USA market, I owned many more SAABS from 900T’s to 9.3, 9.5, 9000. The 900T models were particularly wonderful, but they all were. Even my base, non-turbo, 9000 was wonderful, one of the best actually. Even though generally people seemed to not like the 9000 so much, mine was a bit of a simple gem. I miss these idiosyncratic and great cars, they helped make life more fun and weird while simultaneously being completely practical and solid.
The long shots at the beginning reminded me of a friend from high school, who had a first-generation Honda Civic that was (like all first-generation Civics in the Northeast) more rust than car. It didn't have a two-stroke, but it also didn't have an exhaust system of any kind, so when he left my house at night after a gala evening of tabletop gaming, I could stand on my porch and listen to him drive all the way home. He lived on the other side of this small town, maybe a mile and a half away, and I could hear him shut that thing off in his driveway. :)
The honda first in America was the 600.had a motorcycle engine,next model was the 1200, with coolant and even a kind of Automatic Trans (optional)
Jesus!😂
That way you knew he was home safe! 🤣
"Hey bro are you home"
"Yea i just parked my car, you sure have good timing"
"Yea... Timing"
That’s awful
That thing is in amazing condition, someone really loved it a lot.
I’m not old enough to have experienced the two-stroke, but the V4 is one of the engine sounds of my childhood. They were everywhere in Finland. We never had one but everyone else did.
The story about the move to the V4 is rather interesting. Customers were abandoning two-stroke but Saab leadership refused to look at options. Some engineers set up a secret skunkworks facility and made a few prototypes, one of which had the German Ford V4. Leadership eventually let it happen but insisted on leaving the two-stroke in production for a while longer. We all know how long that lasted. The last two-strokes made were engine swapped and the engines were used for spare parts.
There’s a thank you letter from Bob Lutz (then at Ford) to Saab for being a loyal customer for the V4 engine.
I am old enough to have grown up while these two-stroke Saabs were still fairly common on Swedish roads and I have such a weird nostalgic love for them. Same goes for the V4 Saabs which sounded absolutely fantastic at wide open throttle and 4,000+ rpm.
Why did they like the 2 stroke so much? Was it because it was an in house engine?
@@amogusenjoyer I think the reasoning was that moving to four stroke would have required a lot from the service network. Just like VW moving to water cooling.
Finnish nicknames for this car include Syöksysämpylä (the "dive bun", dive as in a dive bomber and bun as the white bread bun) and Seksisukkula (the "sex shuttle", no comment on the sex side, but think more of the tool used when weaving with a loom than the spacecraft of shuttle buses).
The Ford V4 ( at least in the USA ) was also found in industrial applications like skid steers. It later went on to become the 2.6 V6 found in the Mustang 2, it was again modified to be the 2.8 found in early Ranger small pickups . It was again expanded to the 2.9 fuel injected found in Rangers and some low production British cars like the TVR. It was then stretched to 4.0 for Rangers and Explorers while retaining the overhead valve configuration. The last iteration was an over head cam version of the 4.0.
I grew up having one of these as our family car, I even learned to drive in one. By that time it had been replaced by a V4 as our main mode of transport, happy days.
As to the free wheel, my last two BMWs, the 5-series 535d and my current 530d have both been equipped with a free wheel function.
Dad bought a 1965 Saab 96 (long nose) in the fall of '65 (I think). Great little car. Since ours had the 3cyl / 2 stroke stock engine, it didn't sound as 'poppy'' as this one. But it sure didn't sound like anything else on the road at the time. He always carried a case of oil in the trunk so he had a can ready to dump into the gas tank when he filled up, which my friends thought was cool (for whatever reason). He later bought a V4, which he started taking off-road (Saabs were often used in the Baja-1000 races at the time). I think that was the last 2-wheel drive car he ever purchased. From there on, it was all about Jeeps, Land Cruisers, and, Subarus.
Ok…we need a comparison between this and the Trabi!
I would've done that a little in this video, but I was crunched for time
@@agingwheels you still should! Even as a Patreon bonus or something. Well if you have time that is.
Oh you KNOW the Trabant is PISSED there is another 2 stroke care in HIS roost LOL.
Of course the Swedish engineering is better than the DDR/Sovjet. My grandfather had a Saab 96 and upgraded to a fiat 126 in the eighties.
@@jesper509the engineering never was a problem in eastern Germany. In fact, they were absolute geniuses in making something of nothing. They had advanced plans and inventions in the drawer, only to be held back by the party or lack of material/infrastructure.
Blame the system - not the ones suffering from it.
When I was a kid my dad brought me to a tiny motoring museum housed in the basement of an apartment building. The enthusiast who ran it showed 16mm rallying reels (this was before video was widespread) and invited guest speakers. The speaker of the night was Erik Carlsson, who won the Monte Carlo rally in a SAAB. He told us the only reason he won was that he thought he was so far behind everyone else that there was no point in continuing, but he couldn't just quit the race. So he instead decided to drive the car as carelessly as possibly ("drive it like a car thief"), hoping it would break down and give him an honorable "out". That's apparently how SAABs are supposed to be driven, as he kept winning race after race.
This car also apparently was very influential for the common use of left foot braking as you simply couldn't afford to lift off the power. 😂
Erik Carlsson was a legend.
Thanks for sharing.
@@Spac8Sounds like my M44 Z3 lol
@@teagancombest6049 That made me chuckle, you're not wrong. 😂
Looks like a jaguar, sounds like a chainsaw.
That's what I was thinking... someone left Inspector Morse's Mk.II in the dryer for too long.
That's okay because it's a Saaaaaaaab
@@artoodiitoo 🤣🤣🤣
I think an optometrist visit is highly recommended for yourself
*better than a chainsaw* 😂
The bit about the gap between 3rd and 4th was very relatable... I have a 1974 4-speed MZ ES250/2.. later 2-stroke MZs had 5-spped boxes (TS supa 5)... and the extra gear's ratio was between 3rd and 4th!
Had to subscribe after the "drive it like you stole it"!!! My first car was '67 with the 4 cylinder. Loved it and really loved the free wheeling. It was also great in the snow. I bought it in 1972 after getting out of the Navy. I worked at a ski area in NH. Every nigth after the lifts closed I would head to the bar for a couple of beers. One night I had a few too many, but that didn't stop me from buying a 6 pack. It had snowed a bit and there was around 6-8 inches on the road. I was barreling home when I went zipping past a state cop parked on a side road with just his parking lights on. 20 seconds later he pulls out after me with his lights twirling and the siren blaring. I spead up and rounded a sharp curve. In my mirror I could see that he was doing maybe 20-25mph to my 60-65. A few miles down the road I stopped, got out to take a pee and waited for him. For a second i thought he'd stopped but then he came slowly around the corner so I got in and took off again. Never saw him again. That car would just pull itself around the corners. Loved it!!!
Älskar att du försöker prata lite svenska!
Det gör mig väldigt glad och stolt.
Hälsingar från Martin i Göteborg, Sverige
Den är så snygg!!
..Men det lød mere som Dansk 😄
Saab & Lillasyster🤘👍
Gå væk fulde svenskere! 😛
Lät som danska men plus för peruken!
Got fond memories of my mom driving us kids around Västra Götaland in one of these. Despite the lower speed it usually puts out, if you drive it on a gravel road through a Swedish forest, it feels like you're doing 120km/h.
4:04 That's the most Danish sounding attempt at speaking Swedish that I have ever heard
Ye
Thats funny, I'm Danish, and it definately sounds Swedish to me
I'm Swedish and it sounds pretty much like Swedish to me too. Not perfect but close enough.
Well it doest sound swedish or Norwegian so Danish is the only one left to pick
@@testcardsandmore1231 om de där lät som svenska borde du gå och kolla upp din hörsel. De där var tyska.
When I was a kid in the UK we’d go grass track racing, there were a couple of sidecars that used the 2 stroke engine tuned to run on methanol, they weren’t slow by late 70s standards and sounded incredible.
Even if I did not had any informations before this video about Saab cars of that era, I instantly recognized the sound to be an water cooled 3 cylinder. Greetings from Germany. Alongside with your Trabant engine there were this other company in the former GDR named "Wartburg" they installed water cooled 3 cylinder two stroke engines as well and they sounded exactly the same. Later models of Wartburgs had up to 1000cc with around 45 metric horsepower. But in the GDR there were many talented engine mod hobbyists and some managed to boost that little engine up to around 100 hp and placed them in custom built race cars like the Melkus RS 1000.
4:02 is actually better Swedish than I expected.
It though has a rather strong German accent, and unsurprisingly a hint of an English accent as well. But as a Swede myself I understood it.
There is nothing English about that accent.
@@TheEulerID I don't mean "English accent" as in "a person from England talking English in their native dialect."
But rather an accent that English speaking people tend to have when talking Swedish, regardless of where said native English speaker is from. (with perhaps an exception to India)
It is often trivial to hear that someone is a native English speaker when they speak Swedish, and not a native speaker of another language like German, Chinese, or such since they have their own accents. But Texans, Brits and Aussies speak Swedish very similarly when they have learned the language and lived here in Sweden for a decade or three. Until they talk English, then it is clear as day where they are from. (I find it a bit fascinating how similar the accents are when the corresponding dialects of English vary far more.)
Same thing goes for any other language combination. A native tongue leaks through and that falls under the definition of an accent.
A dialect meanwhile is a variation in a language in the regions where it is the native language. Accents meanwhile is just any variation that can be tied to any attribute, like social standing, ethnicity, native tongue, age, etc.
If I had said "a hint of an English dialect as well." then your comment would be correct, since there is indeed non of that, but I did say accent and that is a broader term.
The whole history section with the impersonation of the Saab guy was super entertaining. Great video as always!
Ngl, I really liked the small history section you gave for the cars before the 96. Felt like watching a bit of a car documentary instead of a review! Well, that and the cinematic opening, straight out of TV. Great work as always.
Regular Car Reviews did a video about the company that goes through the whole history.
I had a 1973 1500cc V4 Saab 96 in the 1980's and as a touring musician put many miles on it every year. It was so reliable, and easy to work on and I did all the servicing and repair work myself. It remains one of the best cars I ever owned. My first ex wife took it as part of the devorce settlement (out of spite) but, it's still around now and I see it regularly.
Reminds me of the old Suzuki LJ line of 4WDs, complete with a variety of 2-stroke engines all making between 25 and 35 hp, and the most powerful version topping out at a heady 60 mph! We'd hear the engine revving, see one drive past, and still be looking behind it, wondering where the motorcycle had gotten to.
Had a professor early in my college life who owned that car. We called it the “lawnmower”. But he drove from New York to south Louisiana and loved the way it traveled…
I had three Saab two-strokes in the 1969-70 period. One was the standard 3-cylinder, one-carb model. I loaned it to my younger brother to drive some friends to a hockey game about an hour away. They filled the gas tank on the way back but forgot to add 2-stroke oil…it siezed on the interstate highway before they got home. I was working as a VW/Porsche mechanic at the time so it was no big deal: unbolt the hood, unbolt the engine and lift the engine out by hand. (It was a sleeved engine, so all he had to do was buy me replacement pistons and sleeves and it was as good as new working one afternoon in my parents’ garage. My last one was a 3-cylinder, THREE carb model. It really flew.
Do they have stickers on the gas cap reminding you to add oil?
Of course, if it's in Swedish, it wouldn't matter either way...
@@h8GW it was 54 years ago, so it’s a little unclear whether there was a warning sticker
The reason why the gap between 3rd and 4th gear is so big is probably because the previous owner put in a v4 transmission, which is equal to a 3 speed 2 stroke transmission and the 4th gear is essentially overdrive. Also the 66 and 67's originally all had the 42hp triple carb engine
LOOK UP ENGINE PINGING - THIS 2 STROKE HAS IT. Pinging is similar to engine knock, and bagging the motor like that is going to leave permanent damage. Replace the fuel with 91 octane and use a fuel booster designed to stop pinging. It will immediately sound different, and make the engine last a lot longer, especially the way you're driving it.
Back in the late '60s there were a handful of 93s and 96s in our SCCA region. They'd show up at the ice races and do pretty well, but usually our Mini Cooper S could stomp them (the Mini's huge 1275 motor surely had something to do with it). One guy campaigned an H Modified (later D Sports Racing) car in which he ran the "big" Saab 2-stroke, so he always had a bunch of motors laying around in his garage; I used to love hanging out there to poke around.
Your comment and listening to the sounds on this video really brought back memories.
Back in the seventies my older brother and I crewed for one of his friends that ran a D Sports Racer out of the Glen Region (just coincidentally the guy's name was Glen). We ran from Mid Ohio to Bridge Hampton, and of course our home track at Watkins. Race prep included deciding which expansion chamber to mount for the two-stroke exhaust to match peak torque to the turns and elevation changes of each track. I only rode in the "passenger" seat once in the infield roads at Watkins when we were checking the readiness of the car for practice, and I was really surprised by the car's capabilities.
I LOVE a good Saab story.
Better than a SOB story!!😂
Two-stroke SAABs are the bees knees. They're slow but they're wonderfully odd. As you said, it's obvious the people who designed it came from an aeronautics background and had no clue how cars were built.
If you ever come to Sweden, let me know and we'll roadtrip to the various museums that are SAAB-related. And yes, due to [reasons] that also includes the Volvo-museum.
Much like the Saab provides a unique driving experience, Robert provides a unique car review experience. One of the best in the business!
This made me feel good, We had V-fours, sedan and wagon, 95 and 96 in the seventies. Our neighbour had a two-stroke Thanks for driving and caring for these cars!
Very nice car. My elementary school math teacher, A very special and eccentric Frenchman had one of these with the 4 stroke engine. Lots of fun to drive in when we went to excursions. He had mastered the gear shifting without using the clutch at all which I remember was fascinating that he could do absolutely flawlessly up/down shifts with Jo jerks or grinding of gears. I also remember it had a small thermo jacket to mount on the front radiator grille in the winter to avoid it freezing up :D
My uncle had one of these. Keep tightening the wheel nuts regurlary, they tend to come loose and you're all of a sudden driving on three wheels or less!
It goes so slow the lugnuts get looser instead of tighter while you drive lol
It took until the BZ4X for Toyota to work our how to do that 🙂
Being a native swedish speaker from Finland, I commend you on your pronounciation. My first car was a 1975 Saab 95 that had seating for 7 people, my third car was a 1978 Saab 96, both with the boring but reliable 1,5 liter V4. (My second car was a Ford Taunus which I totaled in 1989). I miss Saab, wishing they'd come back some day, however that is unlikely.
Hey, on the bright side, we still get to see their art in the form of what they're more known for: Aircraft! Just look at the Viggen, the Draken, and the Grippen for an example.
My Valmet-built convertibles say hi!
native speaker from sweden... åland by chance?
@@Armin_Hasanović Nope, Porvoo in southern mainland Finland. About 5,2% of the population speak swedish as our first language, finnish is my secondary and I also manage in german, danish and english. Many of the Saabs were made in Uusikaupunki here in Finland, btw.
I'm hoping a large conglomerate will bring back the brand as an eco-tech focused car company. Saab is still kind of alive, with that NEVS group thing, and they have an interesting performance EV that uses wheel hub motors.
My neighbor, the head mechanic for the town of sleepy Hollow, New York, bought his daughter, a three cylinder two cycle Saab. I can remember to this day the sound of that car coming down the slight hill towards my house towards a 90° right turn. It was delightful. As I recall, the radiator had a Venetian blind type object in front of it, connected to a chain to the dashboard. On cold days the Venetian blind would be left closed, on warmer days the driver could open the slats to allow more air in. very interesting.
Mom had a SAAB 96. I seem to remember she talked about pulling oil out of the trunk and adding it to the gas tank. I also remember it was LOUD. I also remember taking it to TJ for upholstery.
TJ??
@@RWBHere Tijuana, Mexico
My Dad had one of these until I was about 5.
His Saab 96(?) was a sport version of some sorts. Its speedometer was a red strip that moved from left to right and the headlights had grilles. The car was white, but the roof was dark red or maroon.
I loved the sound and the way the car screamed on acceleration. It was so distinctive!
I am sitting here, smiling like a maniac. This took me back. Still remember my uncles twostroke from the seventies. You could hear him coming for a visit long before he was both visible and in sound range. Weird? A bit. But it was only if you had a radio receiver running. That ignition was not very discreet in the radio spectrum. No need to tune the receiver to hear him. AM or FM? No matter. About 1 km away through dense forrest. He was "detected". 😆 And then the burbling sound. Love it.
I live in Sweden and the 96:es (and a 95) was represented in the family car fleet in so many variants. And all the right hand steered V4s that my mother used to deliver mail in the countryside outside the small town we lived in. I am still alive, weirdly enough. The key words there are "18-19 year old guy", "dirt roads" and "rally". Your imagination can do the rest.
Still wondering about the mental state of the drivers I met in a tight right hand curve with no sight line. I did mention rally, right? The first they notice, barreling towards them, is a red SAAB 96 with, what appears to be an empty driver seat, at the left hand side of the car. 🤣
Oh well, it was in the 1980s so I suppose the limitation period is over at this point. 😉🚓
I absolutely loved the cinematic intro on this episode, that little Saab screaming its lungs out on such a pretty stretch of road was just pure art!
I used to work building their newer model, the 9-3, between 1996 and 2000. In Trollhättan, Sweden. The impersonation of a typical Saab worker was pretty spot on!
Weirdly I had one of these go past my house the other day. It sounded like something furious that was about to break the sound barrier.
It was doing maybe 20mph, at a push. Glorious.
My late father was a quality inspector engineer, and a test driver, at SAAB when your car was built. He might have inspected that very car. He always drove SAABs all his life, so the brand has a special place in my heart. Thank you for your content.
3:44 "Wait that wasn't the cue for a transition STOP!"
Sure, the intro was epic with dramatic shots and promo audio pans... But this is what I'm here for.
I had a Saab Sonett for years. On paper, old Saabs look pathetic. But drive one, and you get the silliest dumb smile on your you face that you just can't explain. So many "car guys" didn't understand until I handed them the keys and they came back with that same smile. Congrats on a beautiful car!
My first car was a Saab, a late 80s 900 Aero, but friends in our local club had some of the much older models, so I got to experience a legit 96 Monte Carlo as well as riding backwards in the rear seat of a 95V4. The automotive world is a poorer place without Saab Cars.
Indeed. I still happily drive my 9-3 Aero.
@@rogerwilco2 Me too. :)
New to the channel, coming over after some mentions on technology connections. After watching a few videos I am not surprised you two are friends. This is top tier tom foolery
You caught my complete attention with this topic! I liked the coverage and enjoyed it immensely.I got to drive one of my friends in HS. Always loved two strokes.
I was blessed to watch an ice race in mid-coast Maine there were 2 sonnets racing a bright red and robins egg blue. version. One a 4 stroke the other a 2 stroke! They were closely matched the whole race with ice flying and amazing sound. We got so excited and waited until the pits cleared to run around the track. As I went down the main straight I was passed by a wagon with parents,grandparents, and kids. It was a special day. I ran a 76 pacer and carried most of the exhaust home in the back. 🤣
Sounds like a 70s snowmobile. Car looks amazing. As an Austin Healey Sprite driver, I'll bet that 850cc two stroke is a beast. That v4 is a cool engine. But wow that car is cool as hell. The guys at Lane Motor Museum will love to see it.
Triples were the go to engines in old snowmobiles
As an austin healy sprite driver, you are a tremendous dork. XD
Lane's a good place, but this car really needs to be driven to the Saab Museum outside of Sturgis, SD.
5:23
Would you believe Kurt Vonnegut? He wrote about an incident he had with the two stroke engine in "Man Without a Country." He had let it sit for like two weeks without running, then tried to start it on a really cold day. He heard people talking about the mysterious smoke cloud for a long while afterwards
Always fun to hear what non-Swedes think of "our" cars! I live quite close to the Saab-factory and we always had a lot of Saabs in my family, including the 96. My grandma had a orchid-white (pink/beige) 1976 96V4 and my dad ha a "meatball-sause-brown" 1973 96V4, so I know them well - except from the driving experience. Only ever tried grandma's once and as I was quite new to driving, me and the gear-shift did not get along very well - so it was a very short trip... my dads car was long gone by then, disolved by corrosion. And of course you have to drive a red two-stroke Saab like a rally-driver: Eric Carlsson, who won the Montecarlo rally in such things would be proud of you!
Swedish cars are the best I've ever owned. Mom's 1974 volvo had over a million miles and kept going until a four foot diameter tree fell on it. My 1986 900 turbo also had over a million miles. I still regret selling it.
@@BurnerJones both great cars
I've heard stories of the early production Saab 92...when driving in snow, it would get packed under the front fenders, which partially enclosed the front wheels. Not a problem while you're cruising along a straight road, but when you need to turn a corner, there was no room left for the wheel to turn, as the fender was full of hard-packed snow/ice - and so you sailed off in a roughly straight line into the trees. This was remedied fairly promptly (thankfully) by enlarging the front wheel openings.
When I was a child, we had two of these; a red on and a off-white yellow one. They did very well in the northwest IL 60's and 70's winters. One just made the assumption that heat was optional.
Love the Swede at 4:10. :-D He sounds very Danish but looks very much like a Swede :-D 😀
Heck yeah, I wanna subscribe to that guys channel!! But yes, he does sound like a great Dane. 😆
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew I had seen a glimpse of a red saab in one of the older videos! Lovely car, now remember to take it IKEA shopping from time to time ;)
Greetings from Göteborg Sweden
It sounds like an 80’s chainsaw and I love it lol. Also that “I can afford it now” clip should be a running gag lol
I love it ! I’ve done the machine work on several 2 stroke engines for a guy named Tim, nice guy. The last one I did had oil injection. Very small oil passages in the engine block. Had to make sure that all the passages were completely clean. Wish I owned one. 😊
Driving a 2 stroke Saab is sort of like driving a 2 stroke Detroit Diesel. You have to slam your fingers in the door to get in the right frame of mind to make it go like it should (i.e. wide open or shut off).🤣😂 There's a lot you can do to those little 2 stroke triples to make them faster, but the end result is they have even less bottom end torque. I'd love to see one of these engine swapped with an old Artic Cat 172 hp. liquid cooled Thunder Cat engine (basically a Suzuki case-reed triple) Now THAT would wake it up!!😄👍👍👍
Worked at a place with a small road outside, A 2 stroke SAAB use to drive there. It always sounded like he was doing 60mph when in reality he did 30.
“I suddenly realized”
Somehow I think this is an accurate recreation of that exact moment.
it shouldn´t... but it is...!!!
The sudden realization that you have disposable income happens around 40 thus the midlife crisis purchases that happen in that timeframe.
@@juztyn00it’s not a crisis! It’s an epiphany! Midlife Joy!
Years ago you old Saab 96 is what inspired me to get into old Saabs. My first car was a 68 Saab 95 wagon and I still have it. It’s awesome to see you with a Saab again, especially a two stroke.
Love em! I had a 67, It also had the 3 carb Monte Carlo engine. I bought it in San Diego after having owned a Fiat 850 Sport Coupe. I loved the Fiat but it kept dropping valve seats. So I bought a Saab because it had no valves! I moved to San Francisco where I am now. I had the Saab tuned by The Saab Saver in Oakland who tuned the 3 carbs so I had much more power. Thanks for the trip down memory lane! Now I want to find an early 2 stroke Saab Sonnett.
That is a sharp looking 96! One of my rally buddies back in the 70's had a 2 stroke (IIRC, he had two because one was usually under repair). That was my introduction to Saab. Eventually I owned 3 different V4's including one that was a full tilt SCCA Pro Rally car (roll cage, modified exhaust, milled and ported heads, big carb, factory rally gearbox parts, etc). And assorted 99's and 900's over the years for good measure. If I ever buy a car just to have a cool toy it will for sure be a 96.
Had a '65 Saab 2 stroke, triple carbs. Out of the more than 70 cars I've had over the past half decade plus of driving, it was definitely my favorite.
2 stroke, 3 cylinder - best sound ever
Remember the widow maker ? Wow
Wow, Robert. You really stepped up your game!!! Artistic Drone shots and slices and slow fades? You been watching Top Gear again?
In India, we have the tuk tuk, a three wheeler which sounds exactly like that
These used to be somewhat common around the ski towns in Colorado in the 60's and 70's. Often saw them with studded snow tires up front, and thought that was odd. But in the days before everyone having 4 wheel drive these were great in snow. I seem to remember the Vail police even used them.
Yeah, recalling that sound and the 2 cycle oil smoke,
sturdy yet flimsy and light. Part dirt bike, part phone booth, part airplane.
Taking a ride was always an adventure.
Makes me miss Saab. I loved their quirkiness.
I really want to have the Saabaru, too bad they cost a lot over here & finding one in a good spec is a pain
@@Sithhy Same, Always wanted a Saab 9-3 aero from (around) 2002, but in my country it's hard to find one that doesn't need few thousand in parts.
@@Jag-Soft I had one of those from new in 2003. Very stiff anti roll bars. Could change direction through a roundabout disturbingly rapidly with almost no body roll. A bit of turbo lag, and the traction control would kill engine power, which was disconcerting if you hit a white line pulling onto a roundabout! Also, the 6 speed gearbox ratios weren't great for the UK - 2nd gear hit the redline well before 70 mph, so you had to change up to 3rd when merging onto the motorway. I seem to remember Swedish speed limits are lower, so it might have been OK there. Most comfortable seats for long distance driving I've ever experienced!
@@Sithhy• Being a Subaru owner since 1982, when I saw a 2005 Saab 9-2x Aero in prime condition at my local Subaru dealership I just had to grab it. All the fun of a WRX without the attention from local law enforcement. Of course, none of the Saab quirkiness or character, but great for a Subaru lover.
wait is everything working on this car? Nothing to adjust in a follow up?
Like I need another project
@@agingwheels
Lol
Not like you have a ton of them to work on, right?
Eh give it a couple weeks
@@thechannelofrandomvideos789not even a bus-load
@@cragonaut yup
I had a 1995 Saab 900SE convertible. 2.0 Turbo with a 5 speed. It made the best turbo noises. It had a good cold air intake and adjustable blow-off valve. Loud compressor surge noises (stutututu) under light throttle, and loud blow off valve noises under heavy throttle. Best $1,000 car ever.
I had a 1972, I think, Saab 96 with the V-4 and I loved it. Lived in Buffalo at the time and it was great in the snow and fun to drive. I wouldn't mind having one again!
Hello from Finland. I had four Saab 96 cars. My first own car was two stroke long nose 1966 with triple carb and I loved it a lot. The long nose was designed for 1967 when intoduced V4, and this two stroke long nose had 50:50 weight distribution which makes it wonderful to drive in winter.
One warm hint: Do NOT change gears that fast. Please stop for a second and a half in neutral before changing to lower gear. Trust me. I had two broken transmissions. Your four gear transmission is wrong type for two-stroke Saab. It should be of three gear type. And those rims are something . . . Huh.
I assembled roll type safety belts to my Saab. It had to be assembled slightly tricky. My friend who had a safety belt shop, sold me a sturdy metal plates of 6 mm thick having M12 thread and I first drilled 12 mm hole to the B-post where I assemled the upper harness guide. Then I drilled many smaller holes to the inside upper part of B-post and l dropped the metal plate using string so that I could screw the harness upper guide. This allowed to assemble the safety belts without thru the B-post bolt which would weaken it. Anyway the B-post was really thick. If I recall it right it was 5 mm thick.
I added similar head rest like your’s making horizontal supports inside the driver seat back rest.
Oh lucky you!
The two-stroke sound of the 3 cylinder Saab and the very similar Wartburg / Barkas engines from the GDR is by far the most beautiful two-stroke sound for me. It is a symphony.
@ 8:41 - I can see why; the first two minutes of this video consisted mainly of "silly two-stroke noises" and was an absolute masterpiece.
It makes me very happy that you bought this particular car and I get to watch your video. The 2-stroke Saab is awsome!
Thank you for sharing your video about this amazing Swedish little gem. Your enthusiasm really made my day, for a whole week❤
This makes me so unspeakably happy... I found this channel from the SAABs and stuck around, but nothing brings me joy like a little swedish car. (Not that my 900 would know anything about that lately!) I especially like the ode to the airplane logo. Unfortunately my 900 is a year too new to have the airplane anywhere, but I have stickers, 3D prints, and even a Pebble watchface that I made with it.
(Robert, if you still wear your Pebble Time at all, hit me up and I'll send you the watchface file!)
Being the age of 87, I remember these cars well, as my friend's Uncle held the franchise for SAAB cars here in the UK. Having to change to the Ford engine, spoiled the magic of these wonderful little cars.
My mom was obsessed with the SAAB 95. I think she had three or four. The last one was in the mid 80s, at that point it was so old it was classified "veteran car" and was tax-exempt. So many memories from that horrible car.
What a fun quirky car. Never heard of this car until I watched your video - Thank You for sharing
Opening sequence is peak cinema🤌
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. My dad and my brother and I had a bunch of two-stroke Saabs. We had sedans, wagons, and even Sonnets. Whenever a crankshaft would ruin a bearing, we would go to the junk yard and get a worn out engine, tear it down and salvage the crankshaft bearings. I would then press the crankshaft apart and replace the bearings. It was really time consuming to realign the crankshaft, but it worked.
Thanks for sharing the video. 👍
After rebuilding a few single cylinder 2 stroke motorcycles, I've got to ask. How much of a nightmare was it to get the crankshaft pressed together and trued up?
Driving a slow car fast is more fun then driving a fast car fast. Just try it
A minivan on a track is a terrifyingly fun experience.
I absolutely loved the intro, the way it was screaming, when you passed the cam, you mustve been doing at least 25
I shared this video on facebook, I have a red 2000 Crown Vic, I'm a V8 guy at heart I can't help it lol. I gave $1,400 for this one, 170,000 miles, hilariously comical how strong it is. Just opened up the airbox double, and hacked half the exhaust off lol made a huge difference. Sorry about the book I'm a huge fan of your videos, I was a mechanic and chicken farmer for 10 years. It was ironically a car wreck that made me not able to fix cars anymore. I'm about to drive my mustang with a big butt to work, keep doin what makes you happy man! I also like wild 2 stroke stuff.