Also the engine oil lubricated the gear box!!!! You should also see the window wiper arrangement - it has a cable operation that blows your mind - mine went and I thought all I had to do was reconnect the arm as in every other car but no - the cable had snapped and needed re threading!
Only half way through the video, but wanted to say that I love your humor and the knowledge you’ve shared about SAAB. Such a cool and unique history. Recently started considering purchasing a used one from this era as an everyday car, and I am currently doing all of the research!
Bill, thank you so much for these informative yet, entertaining videos. I had no idea that Saabs were this quirky. Backwards engines, chain drives and clamshell hoods. Still a remarkably cool car! Hiring Dalton just proves you really like the guy. He can’t detail a car worth a shit! Merry Christmas and happy new year!
Saabs were great cars. I owned two and still own a 93 station wagon. So comfortable and nice power. Still can’t get much for them though. But it’s a great car to own and drive.
SAAB's were hugely popular when I was growing up in Colorado in the '80's; the Vail police dept. used them as squad cars. Perfect choice for a snooty ski town.
Cockpit instrumentation goes through human factors (ergonomics) design in the aerospace industry. They optimized look, feel and button placement for everything. Nice Alpine Bill, you should have hit us with the model number and a few specs.
An example of Saab engineering: the sun visors. On my 9000, they are coloured same light gray as the roof and pillars are, but only on one side. The side facing you when they are in use is actually black. That's to reduce glare and help visibility.
Born in “Scandinavia”, my first memory about cars, was the sound from the 2 stroke SAAB, I called them “cough cars”😂😂😂 Later the 96 was available with a Ford V4 1.5 liter, then the unique sound slowly disappear.
Beautiful car from a company that understood quality and safety well...aside from Volvo! Fun as hell to drive in snow too. Grips the road like a snow leopard.
I have to admit growing up seeing these here in NY I thought they were weird, not particularly attractive cars and also noticed that those that drove them were typically the types described by Bill. Aka Nerds/Geeks etc. after hearing Bill explain the history and merits of these Saabs I greatly APPRECIATE them now for what they were! Bills a great car salesman. I bet he could talk. Porsche guy into buying a 59 Cadillac and vice versa !!! LMAO.
I don’t even care about these cars, even though My aunt has a dark green one just like it. I’m here for the weather report and to see if the birds peck at his skull today….
A family member of mine worked for Saab North America. I got to drive all kinds of new Saabs in the 80s, including 900 Turbos and 9000s. The first time I encountered automatic seat belts was in a prototype 900S 4-door. I'm glad they went with the airbags.
Bill, your commentary about the cars exhibited is perfection, even when very tired I always watch until the end. You should have at least 1/2 million subscribers, well done. UK 🇬🇧
It's always a great Friday when Bill posts a video!!! I live for the Naples shitty weather report along with the animal & Canadian updates!!! Now we also know that Bill is a Saab geek!!! Now I hear that Dalton is working for Curious Cars?? I wonder what we'll learn next!!! Happy Holidays!!! 🎄⛄🤶
Since I have a tall Scandinavian wife, I can say that the back seat will accommodate two chipper tall Scandinavians 😉 Scandinavian cars seem to be the best at accommodating tall adults.
I was a Saab master tech when these were new. They were great job security. Oil leaks, head gaskets, timing chains, water pumps, and of course a lot of belt replacements. Clutch work is easy as is the drive belts. APC stood for automatic performance control. Forgot to mention pinion bearings. I used to have 2-3 transaxles apart and on the bench at any given time. They were great cars though and I really grew to like them. Yes the coupe is the one to own. Versatility of a station wagon. You could even sleep in the back when camping. Found a commemorative edition 900 coupe for a friend. He still has it. Like 28K on the clock. I’m glad these are gaining traction.
Saabs are problably the worst cars ever made in the world, I rather drive a yugo, actually that is a insult to how much better a Yugo was compared to a Saab.
I ran the hell out of a 1982 Turbo for a bit over 285K, and all it needed was starters, one alternator, exhaust components, two turbos, clutches, a few O2 sensors, and lots of tires, spark plugs and wires. I did my own work so the cost was relatively low. It also delivered about 26 MPG at 80 MPH on the Interstate. Great car.
@@dzgaming1 weird monologue you've got there. Anyway, funny that you mention saab mechanics, all saab mechanics ive encountered all own and drive saabs... youre probably one of those people who got a lemon and never let go. Ive owned many mazdas and nissans over the years and honestly i would never advise anybody to buy them unless you really like poorly built and bland cars. The worst things were rust and dodgy electronics.
Great video, very entertaining and informative! Small correction, @26:24, you're almost right, SAAB did indeed use the British Tiumph-derived engine in the early SAAB 99s, but only up to 1972 ½. Thereafter, SAAB developed their own engine, the "B-Motor" (Somewhat based on the Triumph Engine), which they ultimately slapped a turbo on! The Triumph engine was still hopelessly unreliable which brought the 99's reputation down in early sales due to various issues. The Swedish-built B-Motor was virtually indestructible with good service and maintenance, barring the sensitive water pump. What's in your convertible is one of the final forms of the later H-Motor, also very reliable and durable. Great old cars, SAAB 99/900/90, just too bad they rust up long before the engines give in.
As we all can deduce, the more Bill denies the wonderful weather of Florida, the ornithological variation of Florida and his ideas about cats, we know that he secretly studied ornithology at the Uni. of Florida (Gainesville), has a tabby cat at home that lovingly winks and curls up on his lap at night and is a true Floridian at heart. Have watched Bill for several years, always enjoy them, and as a Canadian of about the same vintage as Bill, can entirely related to his comments and thoughts of the past and the present. l enjoy his thoughts on his reconciliation of our fathers, how uncool we thought they were, yet in the end, one has total and deep admiration for the practical, sensible things of old. Enjoyed the Saab story, myself a dedicated Volvo driver for 45 years (as was my father, a Volvo mechanic), but a secret admirer of Saab as well.
I've owned 6 of them, 2 convertibles and an SPG all but one was a turbo. They were fantastic cars. Thanks for making me feel old, as my first SAAB was a red 1984 S 3 door 5 speed, I purchased new. My `86 SPG was my favorite and I kept it 11 years.
Good video but a few nitpicks, particularly about not giving the USA credit for being first with turbos (1962 Olds Jetfire) and front wheel drive with a longitudinally mounted engines and a chain driven transmission (1966 Olds Toronado.)
Kind of a technicality on the heated seats: Saab was the first company to make them STANDARD in 1972, but Cadillac was the first company to offer heated seats as an option in 1966.
Saab was the first to commercially offer the cooled, ventilated seats tho. Not the suck the hot air out from around your ass, but the blow cooled air recycled from the cabin ac straight up your own cabin 😏 saab was great at standardizing luxury features for the consumer class
By golly! The return of the Prodigal Curmudgeon, I'm reminded of a/the complete response to the British adage - to turn up like a bad penny. Response: Welcome as a gold coin. I'm glad you're back, hope you can stay a while. 🖖🙏🇨🇦
Almost all 900 and 9-3 convertibles were actually made in Uusikaupunki Finland at Valmet plant. Later they put together Porsche Boxsters and now they do Mercedes-Benz GLC. Next year they'll start building AMG GT's. Also Sweden or Finland were never communist.
This is one of the best reviews I've seen by Naples., Do you know what you've just done running that up in the revs?? You've shown how cool these cars were back then!! Just look at that move! Almost fast! At the very least fun! Just in a different class of its own, Nice car! Nice video!
Back in 1990 I got overtook by one of these when I was driving an Escort XR3I and I could not stay with it! So next time my company car renewal came around I got a Turbo 16 Valve S in a fast back - the best handling of all of them, I then went for a hatch version with a whale tail that was more practical but didn't handle as well being less rigid! When the turbo kicked in you got a real hard on - never felt like that driving before or since! Marvellous cars so well designed very ergonomic!!!! Love them!
Yup they were weird, bought by weird people. This one is a bit crusty and has spent some time in the sun despite the low miles. I'd be looking real close for signs of a haircut. 😬
I was just diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma, with a year or less to live, my uncle dad and grandpa were car guys like you are, I miss them and watching you brings me great comfort, iI have no one comparable to talk cars with, Than you, I have always enjoyed your sense of humor.
@@garthhancock3373 -In fact, they are the very DEFINITION of *GARBAGE!* If they hadn't made garbage, they wouldn't have gone out of business you simpleton.
@@243wayne1 They went out of business due to GM watering down the brand after GM aquired ownership of Saab. Plus add into to the fact that GM in their infinite wisdom and pisspoor financial decisions which led to their bankruptcy in 2008, Saab, along with Pontiac and Hummer were all killed off. Don't resort to the ad hominem attacks. It makes you look like the simpleton.
I certainly recall 80s America and the Middle class being enchanted by Audi and Saab ... before boring Lexus appeared. Rode in a 900 one time. It was quiet and the seat was extremely hard - yet comfortable. Preferred the 5 cylinder Audi and it's noise. That said preferred the 5.0 Mustang to anything Euro at the time.
"Killed a bunch of orthodontists wives" now I'm dead. I have a 2003 SAAB 9/5 wagon that sometimes actually runs, has the best ride and most comfortable seats I have ever experienced.
@@dzgaming1 I have two viggens. The one I spent an eternity fixing and working on still refuses to run right. The other one that I daily drove for 4 years (without problems) and then abandoned outdoors for 4 years started right up and runs perfectly after the other one pissed me off sufficiently enough that decided to park it and pull the abandoned one from hibernation.
Had exact same car and loved its ride, interior and thoughtful design. Reliable for the most part but finding parts got harder towards the end of our ownership in 2014. Have a Tesla now but have fond memories.
Here in the UK, I've seen a decent Saab 9000 Aero lightly and sympathetically restored for a very good price - there are only 100 of them left here, so getting very rare. If I had the money, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. I have owned 2 9-5 saloons, albeit the 2.0 LPT petrol versions. Absolutely solid and safe cars - I was involved with an accident with a small car and a 7.5 ton lorry/truck while I was towing a 0.75 ton trailer. I won't go into details, but the police, fire service and the ambulance crews who attended the accident all commented on how safe the Saab was. Myself, my wife and my son walked away from that accident without a bruise, and the car was repaired and back on the road about 6 weeks later. Icing on the cake - my insurance provided for a courtesy car and they arrived at my door 24 hours later with a 6 month old Mercedes 220 CDI Avantgarde!
Am I the only one who immediately goes to Kramer trying to find the range of the vehicle with the gas gauge on "empty" with the salesman whenever I see a SAAB 900? 🤣 My dad owned a very special SAAB, a 1974 Sonnett III, here in the USA...powered by a Ford Taunus V4! P.S. my dad was a Dentist...
My uncle owned 3 of these. Tweed jacket wearing New England college professor. He had a minor meltdown when they stopped making new Saabs and sadly had to convert over to BMW. It was always fun riding in his Saab as a little kid just because of how unusual these things are versus your regular Ford/Chrysler/Chevy domestic market cars.
I knew a man that had one of those three cylinder leaf blowers and I believe it had a four speed on the column gear shifter. It sounded like it would rev to the moon and back. He said it had roller bearing main bearings, and he would just hold it to the floor for what seemed like a minute or so and it never missed a beat. I was truly impressed by the ugly little thing. I never figured out the shifter though. Has anyone else ever heard of a four speed on the column? I also asked a man about the lack of cup holders and he told me "Son, this is an automobile, not a pick-nick table."
I have heard of them, and even a five speed column as well, but I am from europe. (Five speed was in a Mitsubishi van if youre curious). Surely those arent the only cars to feature it, but just as surely its got to be very uncommon in the US indeed. Cup holders were seen as a terrible thing for safety, why would you need a cup holder if you are standing still? Doing anything but driving was frowned upon in places were they take driving seriously, i.e. europe. Of course, times change and the US market is an important one, hence why all modern cars got them.
On the drive... passing that Benz... talk about the purest 80's yuppie moment. Two of the most amazing cars ever made. The only thing that could top it was if you also passed a either a BMW 3 series or a Porsche 944 turbo from the mid to late 80s.
Bill's breadth of knowledge of cars is amazing. I grew up in a college town, and his profile of a typical Saab owner is spot on. There was a time I wanted one after the GM acquisition, but there was simply none available during the global financial crisis.
Minus 8 degrees centigrade here in North Staffordshire, England this morning, Bill. That's our version of shitty weather. Great video. Nothing else looked like a Saab. Much missed.
@@waggitnshaggit6592 It sure does, i spent the week before doing a ride along with a distribution truck, it got cold, a lot over 5 days, so to no surprise on Thursday/Friday i felt like a skunk, starting to feel better now which is good since school starts on Monday.
14:11 GM actually beat both Porsch and Sabb with the introduction of turbochargers in the Olds F85, and then the Corvair, but, as usual, they didn't stick with it (at least not in their American offerings). Cadillac also introduced heated seats as an option for 1965, but, although I assume it stayed on their options list from there on, most people didn't know it existed.
Great review, Bill, as usual! The 900 turbo convertible is the best! I have a later 9-3 convertible. Despite what people say, it's all SAAB, in look and feel. SAAB may have used some minor GM mechanical elements by then, but the design, body panels, interior appointments, ride, features, switches, seats (best in the world) are still all SAAB. Be it 9-3 or 900, a fantastic drop-top 2+2 for non-city daily use, weekend excursions, very long vacation trips. I made a 3,000 KM and still make regular 1,000 KM trips with a boat in tow and have no problems and no back discomfort whatsover. They do everything well (except drag race). They tow boats, haul groceries, children, dogs -- all in style and surpassing comfort! They are exquisite for drives in the open countryside. Unique with SAAB, the interior appointments are soft on the eye -- no jagged lines or chrome or fake wood. The dashboard is real walnut. Sitting inside is like having a brandy and a cigar at an old-world men's club. Odd and elegant, they are TREMENDOUS fun to drive (rather than drag race)! People drive like they make love -- so many are just too fast, have no rhythm, trying to prove something while fooling no one -- in other words, can't dance, so to speak! Where German cars drive like either high-speed trains or tractors on rails (it's OK, I have an old SL too), and French cars...well..., SAABs dance! The engine purrs and so do the passengers! Fantastic!
Although I am a big fan of American cars of the 60's and 70's l have a soft spot for Saab. They were so unique and well engineered. Saab really destroyed them but the last models were incredibly beautiful and capable. Unfortunately it was too late.
Be really cool if you could find a 96. Growing up my dad had a 1971 and he’s the only conservative I’ve ever known to drive a Sabb carrying on the tradition I love them too….
Such a cool car. I'm sure that photo of a tree having fallen on the roof of a 900 with a UK number plate was in 1987/88 when we had a notoriously strong hurricane which ripped up masses of big trees. I was a baby at the time and was in a car with my dad (it would've been either a Peugeot 305, Triumph Dolomite, Volvo 264 or Mercedes W123) waiting for my mum to finish a teaching course she was giving. My dad decided to move the car to a better space after which a huge tree fell and landed where we had been parked. My geography teacher at school had a burgundy pre-facelift Saab 900 saloon (sedan) with chrome hubcaps which I thought looked like the Pontiac Le Mans from the French Connection (I was an oddball at school, thinking about crap like that in the late 90s/early 2000s). She replaced it with a gold early Saab 9000 hatchback I believe. I own 4 cars, none of which are particularly exotic: a Volvo 740GL estate (wagon), a Vauxhall Vectra C, a Saab 9-3 sportswagon with Hirsch conversion and half an MX-5 (my brother in law owns the other half and we take it to autotesting). The Vauxhall and Saab are offerings from GM's British and Swedish divisions and, unintentionally by GM, both those companies have griffins as their emblems. As fancy as the 9-3 is, it doesn't have the ergonomics of the Vectra. The Vectra is, I will admit, as dull as dishwater, but it fits like a glove and doesn't piss me off day-to-day. The Saab does have annoying foibles and eccentricities that really get on my tits after a while. In Saab's defence, I think that's a result of them trying to fit their features into a GM platform.
Es and me. Have had over ten of them. Oldest was the ugly duckling station wagon! Cutest little car. Drove it to Killington ski area in blizzard as I delivered 200 doz3n choc chip cookies in that baby. Had to use chains then to get up to the lodge to deliver. And those were the days. Tested out my 1991 Saab turbo convertible in a rain storm, top down. Was told if I go 65 mph I will not get wet. I didn’t!!
sweet ride. Putting together a vid like this has got to be time consuming, good thing ur familiar with Saab....they are very unique, so sad that G$ had to f#@$ it all up . Had a 9.5 I've heard stories of it hitting 146 mph with ease (allegedly) Cough.....cough Fun but way to expensive to maintain for a lowly window licker like myself... no regrets on owning or selling that one Love your work!!
Besides Jerry Seinfeld driving a Saab in his sitcom, I believe Jack Nicholson drove a convertible just like this one in "As Good as it Gets". I'm a little disappointed that you missed it Bill, especially since Jack played one of the biggest assholes the screen has ever seen. I don't recall if he won an Oscar but I'm pretty sure he was nominated for one.
I had a 99 when I was 17. Twas shit hot. We managed to install big bastard rally spotlights under the reverse opening bonnet, it had slidey heater controls in the centre console which I used to tell people were boost controls, and pull backwards whilst accelerating. Also there was a windscreen wiper setting where the washers would operate full time. If you turned them on you had to shout made up rally instructions at each other in made up Swedish. Also, with the back seats down you could get horizontal in the back, which was charming fun at that age, and finally, my friend had a post office van with double opening back doors, so if you parked back to back with the hatch open, 7 teenagers could get completely stoned in a lay by in total comfort. Not so sure about the " tremendous handling" though. It understeered like a bastard, though that didn't seem to matter when you were stoned and shouting at each other in pretend Swedish. God, I loved that car. Also, handbrake worked on the front wheels, which is just perverse.
I love all the car reviews but I really only watch these for Bills weather commentary which absolutely cracks me up every single time. Legit hilarious!
The first one I saw often was driven by our junior high librarian, and I often wondered how she afforded a luxury car. After that, the most well known Saab was Seinfeld's. Now, thanks to Bill, I know better. It's not really a luxury car, but it'll always be a quirky Scandinavian alternative to European makes. I love GM, but they led to its downfall.
That’s a great capsule history of Saab, Bill. Truly enjoyed your account of a car that has interested me ever since my aunt’s boyfriend owned one in the 1960s.
The S.A.A.B. 900 used the uncommon rear-mid-engine longitudinal front-wheel-drive, like the Citroën SM, another incredibly high-tech, innovative, aerodynamic car, which has a history from an incredibly weird and innovative company. I’d like to see Bill review one.
My uncle Bob had a few of these in the 80's and 90's on the Isle of Man (where he lived). I loved going for a ride in the latest one when I visited. There was black Saab 99 coupe, a red 900S coupe and dark green 900SE 4-door and a couple more I can't remember. The other thing that made me a Saab guy was reading Icebreaker by John Gardner as a kid, which was a James Bond story continuation novel. The 900 was a James Bond car in three of those those continuation novels. He wrote 14 JB continuation novels according to Google, but I only remember reading Icebreaker. @33:10 You've got my Uncle Bob nailed.
On the subject of cool sounding car names that really are pretty lame; Audi standing for "Auto Union Deutschland Ingolstadt" , the equivalent of calling an American company car "Union America Detroit City". Or BMW, "Bavarian Motor Works" which would be like calling a car company "Michigan Auto Manufacturer". And of course Volkswagen which most people know means Car for the People, an "Average Person's Car", not exactly something to aspire to. Germans have been very non-creative in naming their marques, and then doubling down by not even giving individual models actual names but giving them cold, logical, generic alphanumeric designations rather than names that elicit any emotion whatsoever. Typical.
