When I turned 18, I got a 10 year old Saab 96, purchased from an older lady in Connecticut (first owner), and its colour as I liked to say, was "faded blue jeans". And as with every New England 96, mine had major rust issues, but I put about 150 thousand miles in it for the 8 years I owned it, and as a student at RISD, leaving for grad school in NY, my ad to sell it produced two very interested potential buyers (both students), that initiated a bidding war that drove my asking price to well above the value I paid for it, which was mind blowing. Curiously, two years later, after finishing my MFA, I took off for a 7-month tour of Europe with my girlfriend (the Dollar went a long way in Europe in 1986), and the first week there, staying in Lisbon, we bought a 1967 German Ford Taunus, and when I opened the bonnet, to my amazement, it had the exact same engine as the 1969 96!!! My first two cars were vintage cars from different manufacturers, and bought in different continents, and both had identical engines; what were the odds?

Long live the SAAB may it live in the memory of all Aging Wheels fans.

OK In order to fully realize, understand, and appreciate the oddities of a SAAB automobile you need to realize that SAAB is an aircraft company that also makes cars!

I'm sure you're aware, but just to put it out there: As mopeds and other two-stroke vehicles were common in Sweden at the time, you didn't have to "pre-mix" the oil and gas, as such a mix was available at the gas station. If I recall correctly you could choose how much oil you wanted mixed in.

@Ragnar8504

5 жыл бұрын

Yup, back in the 60s large two-stroke engines were still somewhat common in Europe so you didn't only have the puny moped pumps that put out just enough fuel to fill up a bunch of mopeds but proper car-sized pumps for two-stroke fuel. German DKW stuck with two-strokes well into the early 70s I think, then you had Saab and a few others. Lloyd already switched to four-strokes in the mid-50s but I guess there were still a few of those left in the late 60s. Then of course there were the East Germans with their love of the two-stroke - in the Trabant, the Wartburg and the Wartburg-based Barkas van.

Haha.. Aaah.. I laughted out loud when you tried to say "säkerhetssolskydd"! Mostly bacause I am a Swede. Love your videos.

@Templarofsteel88

3 жыл бұрын

why is that every time people try sounding Swedish they go full german?

Oh, this enginebay brings back memories. Had a '71 Ford Capri with the V4 many, many moons ago. Such a weird engine which virtually nobody knew much about but it buzzed along insanely if you were game to take the risk.

96's are very cool cars, keep it alive. rust isn't that hard to fix if you have the skills. lot of fun to drive once it's running.

When i turned 18 last year, i was gifted my grandpas old 96 V4 which has been in a barn sinne 1984, only 12 yesrs in traffic. My plan is to fix the car up in memory of my grandpa who Past away 1999, never got the chance to meet him

@bend8353

Ай бұрын

how is it going?

@oskarjennische2490

Ай бұрын

well, i fixed it up and it made it the through car inspection. i put a simons exhaust on it and then i put it back in the same barn it has stood for 40 years. that was 3 years ago, i haven't touched it since :D mostly because of university...

Oh My....brings back memories! I had a '66 with the 3 cylinder. Mine had a oil reservoir under the hood, so no mixing for me. FOUR speed, THREE cylinder, TWO cycle, ONE (uni) body haha. I remember I had to pull the engine to replace the clutch. :) I did some repairs and kept the thing running for my first few years of college. Only thing I hated was the door locks were inop so I had to climb through the trunk to get in, if I had to lock the car for any reason. Thanks for the flashback!

I get it, I've owned at least 15 pre 1970 VW's, easy to work on and if maintained will last forever, in fact you could probably build one from scratch just buy new reproduced parts out of one of the 2 VW magazines, except for probably the body, the frame is a pan readily available from many places new. I don't live in SoCal anymore, so no VW's out here in S.C

DAMN...that sounded sweet! I see why they were used as rally cars

that is a really nice engine sound

Or it could just be that the car is adorable. OwO I like it. It makes me think of what my versa would be like in 1969

My dad had a 70-something Saab 99 as his first car. If you wanted to get the hazards on, you first had to turn on the right blinker and then press the hazard button. If you didn't, you would only have the left blinker on when you tried to turn on the hazards ;D

Your America. Need I say more. It's a Saab. We are proud of this automobile engineering. I too live in America and love it. But we do go home once in a while. You love that car and it will love you! Best regards 👍

Great video! nicely done.

That rust pattern sure brings back memories.

I owned a 1969 Saab 96 from 1978 to 1985 when I was a student in the US. Mine did have rust everywhere as well, but when I decided to sell it because I was off to grad school in NYC, two kids from my college got un a bidding war to purchase it, and I ended up selling it for more than I paid for it 7 years earlier. But the guy who ended up buying it trashed it completely in less than 6 months.

Only the 1968-69 versions were designed with the signal on the windshield wiper lever... Because those two production years had a 'security padded' center of the steering wheel :-) No other 96's have that. The freewheel construction was a heritage from when the car was powered by a two stroke engine where you were forced to keep your right foot on the throttle to keep the engine above a certain rpm to have lubrication :-P 'Left foot braking'

I doubt a classic car restorer would recommend this, but I think you should weld in some high-quality steel plates to patch the rusted-out panels.

@agingwheels

9 жыл бұрын

Maxaxle I was planning to do that for the floor, but I would something more cosmetically pleasing for the outside facing body panels. It's all conjecture right now since I don't have a welder yet.

@Maxaxle

9 жыл бұрын

It's not impossible to hire someone decent with a welding torch, and then have the patched-up car painted.

@mattadrev471

8 жыл бұрын

+Aging Wheels yes exactly!

Introduction to the ‘69 96

Yeaah that's a cologne issue 1.5L engine. You know you can bolt on that cologne V6 engine right up, the transmission bolts up right to it as well as the engine mounts as far as i know.

@jackcole3146

7 жыл бұрын

You can do that, but you have to move the radiator forward. It also messes up the weight distribution big time, so the front springs and shock absorbers need uprating.

Also, how did these things not go up like Ford Pintos? THREE gas tanks in the trunk?

69!!!!

did you know that most saabs were build in Finland?

A SAAB 96 from '69

Lmao a 1969 Saab 96 *wink wink* 😉

@5:11 Body is too far gone? That's only s phrase that makes sense from a cost-benefit stance. You aren't worried about monetary investment, so go for it. However, I really would like to see you learn welding, patch the holes yourself, and then fix the body yourself. Then it'll be super cheap to fix the body on your beloved Saab, and you'll have done it yourself which is even more better.

My aunt bought a 1990 SAAB 9000 as a status symbol, but she didn't know that GM owned SAAB at the time. When she found out she called it The Fucking Chevy. Prescient, because a 2003 SAAB 93 was basically a Chevy Malibu.

@AndersJackson

5 жыл бұрын

No, it wan't. It was close, but the Swedish engineers made some major changes in the SAAB 9000 so it was much better then the other two cars that use the same bottom plate. Like putting in some extra bolts to fasten the chairs. And most important, make the bottom plate way stiffer then the others. As they was not allowed to do that change on the bottom plate in manufacturing. But they couldn't been stoped how they mounted the chairs. :-)

AW: This car looks like a good one for an electric conversion. Its light, small, and had enough room for the motor and batteries.

O the past. Before he learned how to edit.

666th like. im sorry

That saab is made in Finland not in Sweden

Man, I'm sorry to say this but this car is a wreck. You will spend years working on this. I wish you good luck and I hope that you will succeed (there are not many of these cars left), but to be honest I doubt it. I have never seen a car with that much rust. You must be a real enthusiast and have a lot of spare time if you are going to restore this car. But if you have all that time, just go ahead! :) But I'm sure that you will spend years before you get this one on the road again anyway

@agingwheels

9 жыл бұрын

+HateIronMaiden You're completely right. I'm not going to try to restore. I actually tried to sell it, but had no luck. I plan to make it road ready, and have a fun, beater, patchwork Saab. I've also toyed with the idea of making a rally car out of it eventually.

Has the typical Saab problems it seems