Saab Pride – Nairobi 96 style

by Swade on July 7, 2009

Today’s quick Saab Pride entry is a car with what’s quite possibly a very interesting history.
The current owner is a guy named Steve G and he writes as follows:
——
The car started its working life in Nairobi, East Africa in 1962 with the first registered owner being ‘SAAB’ themselves. The vehicle is in right hand drive format.
A story that comes from the son of a ex-Saab dealer from the 1960′s (one of the first registered dealers in the U.K.) is that this car was the ‘back up’ vehicle for the 1962 East African Safari rally. The cars original Nairobi registration number was KHD902 and if this story is true then being a RHD version it would probably have been for the use of Pat Moss Carlsson.
SteveG.JPG

Related posts:

  1. Helping the Lane Motor Museum by driving a Saab 96 V4
  2. Saab 96 rally car for sale – Jalopnik style
  3. Saab Pride – Alcan 900 style
  4. Saab Pride – the start of a new series – Aero Style
  5. Saabs United – bringing people and cars together….

Tagged as: Pride, Saab 96

{ 5 comments }

1 Ian Glenday July 8, 2009 at 1:55 pm

Very interesting. I was on an AF mission in East Africa in 1974 and was in the Nairobi airport in the latter part of the year. I noticed a Saab exhaust sitting in the baggage area that had come in on a flight. I have often wondered about the destination of such a unique part in such a remote area. I think I now know.

2 Rune July 8, 2009 at 8:35 pm

Looking at the picture, I notice some vents towards the rear of the bonnet. Surely that is not standard issue on the 96?

3 riku1100s July 8, 2009 at 9:04 pm

Those vents are actually called ‘safarigälar’ by saabisti. Common in rally/race two-strokers, but may even have been standard in Kenyan climate ?
I doubt that the RHD has much to do with Pat Moss but rather with the wrong-hand-side traffic of Kenya, if the car was to be sold as a customer car later on.

4 Rune July 9, 2009 at 6:45 pm

I wonder why this entry did not harvest more comments. A beautiful classic 96 with a potential interesting story behind it.
OK, so the Pat Moss story probably did not pass mustard, but even so… To Africa and back is still quite a feat.
And now I’m curious about the Saab exhaust observed by Ian. There must have been more than one Saab in Nairobi, so it could have been for someone else. Did the cars have a service history back then? :P

5 aussielars July 9, 2009 at 8:52 pm

Here is a link to a Saab site with safari gälar or safari gills galore. http://www.albertodomingo.com
There sure is some nice old strokers and V4:s in Uruguay

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