Motoring Discussion > SAAB 99 Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Herr Sandwichmann Replies: 33
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 Thu 8 Apr 10 22:52 
 SAAB 99 - Herr Sandwichmann
I've had a real hankering after one of these for years. Never driven one, never sat in one, but there's something about it that I really like. Similarly the mk1 Golf. Such simple lines. All the cool teachers at school had Golfs. To me the 99 seems to have a bit of soul. Anyone else had a similar experience?
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 Thu 8 Apr 10 22:55 
 SAAB 99 - Bellboy
never liked the 99 no room for your feet and they did indeed smell of pipe tobacco from the ex teacher who had the glasses on the string and wore sandels in winter
golf mk1 car ,superb even in basic guise,such a breath of fresh air after worn out fords and austins of the same era
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 Thu 8 Apr 10 23:08 
 SAAB 99 - Herr Sandwichmann
No! You've shattered the dream!

Yes, I drove a friend's Golf several years ago - it's gone to the great driving range in the sky since - great fun. I particularly liked the way the doors shut with a clang to rival Big Ben's.
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 Thu 8 Apr 10 22:58 
 SAAB 99 - Alastairw
The cool teacher at my school was the art master. He dabbled in car dealing/ repairs, so turned up for school in, among others, a 911, a 944 and most impressively (to me) a fully restored Lotus Elan. I don't suppose I will ever own one, but the Elan is what I have always fancied.

Rather put the English teacher in his Citroen Dyane to shame, though I always had a soft spot for the French teachers ex police Wolesley.
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 Thu 8 Apr 10 23:09 
 SAAB 99 - MrTee43
I had a 99 turbo 2 door way back and inthose days it was quite a machine. No power steering meant it was heavy work at low speeds by modern standards.

Picture in the link is a scan from an old photo so excuse the quality.

They are quite a classic these days and quite rare.

i184.photobucket.com/albums/x33/209AZ/BPT-99W.jpg
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 Thu 8 Apr 10 23:15 
 SAAB 99 - Herr Sandwichmann
Nice picture - thanks for that, MrTee.

I'll never own one, having no technical skills, nowhere to garage one, no money, etc. Oh well. I'll have to settle for the Corolla Verso. At least the accelerator pedal is kosher, or so I'm told!

CM
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 Thu 8 Apr 10 23:17 
 SAAB 99 - Bellboy
a good friend of mine used to specialise in these cars as he had changing the gearboxes down to a walk in the park
anyway one night i called in to see him fitting a windscreen to one and struggling,after at least half a bottle of the coops finest fairy liquid lookalike had been splattered everywhere he and i finally managed to get the screen in and he patted the top corner in just to get the rubber seal flat,the screen cracked and i learned a valuable lesson, treat laminated windscreens supported by bits of rubber with kid gloves :-(
ive gone on to break plenty of my own since though while fitting
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 Thu 8 Apr 10 23:19 
 SAAB 99 - Fenlander
Snap.... I enjoyed a 99 2-dr Turbo too in the mid 80s. Mine was red and a minter. Huge fun driven in 3rd/4th gear on boost. I was running it for work though at my expense and the costs were just too high.... I've never bought so many tyres for one car.

My Dad also had a bog standard 99 about 10yrs ago. It was low mileage and in as new collectors condition but felt a lumbering unrefined thing after my turbo.
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 10:41 
 SAAB 99 - Bagpuss
Mate of mine left school at 16 to serve an apprenticeship as a mechanic at the local Saab dealership. At the age of 17 his boss made the mad decision to let him deliver one of the very first 99 Turbos to a customer. He never appeared. The car was found in a field wrapped around a tree and he was found some distance away having gone through the windscreen because wearing seatbelts wasn't cool.

This tragic incident had a massive impact on our driving at the time in that we behaved marginally less like immortal lunatics when we got behind the wheel, but I always think of it whenever anyone mentions the Saab 99 Turbo.
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 10:54 
 SAAB 99 - Fenlander
I know the performance may seem tame by todays standards but the strong power delivery in its boost range was a new driving character to get used to back then. The torque steer was quite strong and with a smallish leather wheel and no PAS it needed care exiting corners and roundabouts. In the wet it could be a real handful.

I still remember the salesman (and club rally driver) at the Saab dealers taking me for my test drive... on his demo we reached 100mph several times on country roads... thrilling. Then when I collected it he gave me a very stern warning about easing myself in gently before pushing it.
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 13:19 
 SAAB 99 - MrTee43
I remember trying to increase the boost pressure on mine by altering the wastegate setting. Trouble was, this was a mechanical setup, no electronics then, and if you went too high it would knock or pink (pre ignite). Something you would not get these days with ECU's in control.

In those days the very word "turbo" had an aura about it, then the marketing men got hold of it and we had everything under the sun, including mens aftershave labelled "turbo".
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 14:11 
 SAAB 99 - Bagpuss
>> In those days the very word "turbo" had an aura about it then the marketing
>> men got hold of it and we had everything under the sun including mens aftershave
>> labelled "turbo".

If my memory still serves me correctly there were was a range of vacuum cleaners in the early 80s called "Turbo" as well as a soft drink called "Quatro" (spelled with 1 r) which I remember being thoroughly revolting, tasting of sherbert dib dabs and giving the sensation that your teeth were melting.
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 14:11 
 SAAB 99 - Fenlander
>>>I remember trying to increase the boost pressure on mine by altering the wastegate setting.

Same here. I found it very hard to get a setting to give the absolute max that didn't stray into pinking which would sound somewhat terminal.

After about 15-20,000mls I traded it back into the Saab dealers for a newer 900. I remember telling them it had a light missfire after cold starts but that it needed a service.

They were happy with this but grumbled weeks later telling me they'd found the head gasket was gone and it cost them most of their profit to sort it. Ooops!
Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 9 Apr 10 at 14:11
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 14:55 
 SAAB 99 - Zero
These turbo SAABS were lethal. The problem was the turbo lag. You pressed the go switch and nothng much happened for a while, then suddenly bang all the power arrived.

Problem was the power arrival arrived so late it was at the wrong moment when you didnt want it all in one go, usually beckoning iminent ditch entry.

As it was the first turbo car I had driven, I had no idea of turbo lag, on or off boost, or any of that fancy stuff.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 9 Apr 10 at 14:56
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 16:56 
 SAAB 99 - Stuu
A later day example of the 99 in some ways was the Rover 420 Turbo. Fairly small and light car though, but powered by an unruly all or nothing turbo engine - boy did they shift though. Very rare though - in my nearly 4 years at an MG Rover main dealer, I only saw one Turbo saloon and one Tomcat Coupe as people called them. A total hoot, but not for the faint hearted.
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 18:15 
 SAAB 99 - Bellboy
do you have any idea how many tomcats were made stunorthants29?
ive only ever known of 1
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 18:27 
 SAAB 99 - Stuu
>>do you have any idea how many tomcats were made stunorthants29?<<

It was a nickname for the 200 coupe. No idea where it came from but alot of people referred to them as such when I was in the trade.
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 18:39 
 SAAB 99 - Bellboy
i thought they had a slightly different engine setup so thanks for that
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 17:31 
 SAAB 99 - MrTee43
I wouldn't say lethal, more like good fun.

I did once tow a borrowed caravan with mine down to Cornwall and found myself often doing 80 on the motorway because of the turbo lag and on/off power delivery.

We can criticise now, because we are spoilt by modern technology, but back then I thought it was fabulous and it made me feel good.

I also remember on one occasion at a "TLGP" with a big Bentley roadster type thing, it was obviously something special and as we were in adjacent lanes, I think we just knew it was going to be competitive.

The lights went green and we both floored it, he quickly got ahead, but then the turbo kicked in and I soon overtook him.

Next set of lights, he turns to me, smiles and shouts something like "Fast car that".



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 Fri 9 Apr 10 18:33 
 SAAB 99 - Iffy
I have an interesting Saab 99 Turbo fact.

You had to remove the turbocharger to change the battery.

A pal of mine had one and found this out after the battery failed.

I only ever had a ride in it, but agree with others who say it had soul, was a bit different, and quite tasty quick.

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 Fri 9 Apr 10 22:06 
 SAAB 99 - Herr Sandwichmann
Thanks for all the posts on this one. I wasn't really thinking of a turbo, just any 99 really.
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 Fri 9 Apr 10 23:51 
 SAAB 99 - Fenlander
>>>I wasn't really thinking of a turbo, just any 99 really.

Ah but you said Saab 99 and it's sort of a forum rule when someone says Saab 99 I tell the story!

Here is mine from 1985 (I think) at the holiday cottage and backed up to the sea at John O'Groats.

i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg72/SealgairC420/Saab99JohnOG.jpg

i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg72/SealgairC420/Saab99cottage.jpg

And I never like to spoil a good tale with facts but your mate ifithelps.... well just look how easy it is to get to the battery.

i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg72/SealgairC420/Saab99engine.jpg

A car carved from the solid and one I'd have again as a classic.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 9 Apr 10 at 23:53
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 Sat 10 Apr 10 00:00 
 SAAB 99 - Iffy
...And I never like to spoil a good tale with facts but your mate ifithelps...

Good stuff, Fenlander.

I do have the clearest recollection of the battery thing - my mate had a car accessory shop and couldn't change the battery himself - but it was more than 20 years ago.

It was around the mid-80s, so perhaps my mate's car was the next model, maybe a 900.

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 Sat 10 Apr 10 07:04 
 SAAB 99 - Herr Sandwichmann
Thanks again for the pics - they're cracking - sob! There is a 1974 beige 99 on Ebay for £2k. I'm not brave enough...and SWMBO would kill me.
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 Sat 10 Apr 10 07:45 
 SAAB 99 - MrTee43
Oh and a few other things of note.

The bonnet mechanism baffled a few who did not know how it worked in that it popped up and then the whole thing tilited forward, which made it impossible to flap up over the windscreen at speed if ever the bonnet latch failed.

Also the clutch was at the front of the car and could be changed without taking the gearbox out, which was quite a clever design. It could all be done standing up, stood over the engine bay.

Although my memory is not quite clear, I seem to recall that they had heated seats ?, maybe Fenlander could confirm or deny.

And yes, it truly was a car that felt as though it were hewn from a solid piece of metal.
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 Fri 16 Apr 10 22:05 
 SAAB 99 - Stuu
cgi.ebay.co.uk/SAAB-99-1-7-1970-tax-exempt-2-door_W0QQitemZ250616300937QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAutomobiles_UK?hash=item3a59e54589

Saw this and thought someone mentioned one recently :-)
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 Fri 16 Apr 10 22:29 
 SAAB 99 - Zero
Nice car, those seats could be dyed back to orginal.

I see it has trade plates lying in the passenger footwell.
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 Sat 17 Apr 10 06:55 
 SAAB 99 - Herr Sandwichmann
Yes, lovely. That's just the kind of example that I was thinking about. Thanks for the link.
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 Sat 17 Apr 10 07:03 
 SAAB 99 - Herr Sandwichmann
...and it's got a full sized spare wheel!
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 Sat 17 Apr 10 10:54 
 SAAB 99 - Fenlander
That example is pretty well exactly what my Dad had (as a 3rd car) about 10yrs ago. About a 1970/71 with just one or two owners, a genuine 50k and original mint condition. His was a sandy beige colour.

Each to his own but it was so chalk and cheese with the turbo model in all respects. The non turbo engine is not that smooth and it was a very staid/lumbering car to drive. You do need to experience one on the road before buying.

If it's a dealbreaker/maker the spare wheel is probably the easiest to access of any car when you have a full boot :-)

BTW mine didn't have heated seats but it is the kind of option they may have had.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sat 17 Apr 10 at 10:57
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 Thu 22 Apr 10 16:26 
 SAAB 99 - grumpyscot
My first (of many) 99s was a 1971 model complete with metal bumpers and a free-wheel device. I got a clutch change down to 20 minutes thanks to it being at the front, and because of free wheel, could easily get 40mpg. In those days, Saab led by having seat belts, head restraints, hazard warning lights, heated rear screen (warm air), and a back seat that dropped down for extra load carrying.

Chap in a mini ran into the front of mine - he wrote his engine off when my metal bumper smashed it. I had to repair my bent number plate!
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 Tue 27 Apr 10 21:56 
 SAAB 99 - mattbod
I'd imagine these to be quite rare now. The old boy who lived next to my grandparents had one ane still remember the distinctive hoarse growl of the slant four.I'd go for a 900 myself but even decent examples of those are rare now :(

Oh my history teacher had a Bentley 4.5 litre and an Aston DB6 as well as his Mini daily driver but was to the manor born and teaching just a hobby for him.
Last edited by: mattbod on Tue 27 Apr 10 at 21:58
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 Tue 27 Apr 10 22:26 
 SAAB 99 - Herr Sandwichmann
Yes, a 900 would be great. Still a few of those around my neck of the woods, though no turbos seen for ages. Was this the last pre-GM SAAB?

CM
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 Tue 27 Apr 10 23:42 
 SAAB 99 - Typ 8L
>> Yes a 900 would be great. Still a few of those around my neck of
>> the woods though no turbos seen for ages. Was this the last pre-GM SAAB?

Yes the first-generation 900 was the last "proper" Saab, unless you count the 9000, which was partly a Fiat. Though now they're independent of GM, maybe we'll see more "proper" Saabs in the future...
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