SaabsUnited.com

I received the following information via email from a guy in Norway named Jørgen R. Eggs and I have written about the Saab-Lancia 600 before (here and here) but I thought this would make a good addition to the available library of information on this little known model in Saab’s historical range.

My thanks to Jørgen for the info and images.

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I was googling the Saab-Lancia 600 today and your web site came up. It looks like this car is kind of a “mystery” car to many people!

Well to start with, this car was only sold under this name in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland).

To take the history first, The old 96 was coming to an end so SAAB was looking for something to replace it with. They were afraid that many of their old customers couldn`t afford to go upmarket for a 99, so something had to be done. They felt the Italian Lancia brand was closest to their own ideology when it came to cars. They had been in discussions with the company before, about Lancia Appia engines for the 96, but as everybody knows, it was Ford who got the longest straw with those.

So they turned to the Lancia company again, and they found out that soon they would introduce a new car, but the model was almost completed so there was not much they could do to “SAABifie” it. What SAAB could do (and did do) was to improve the heater, put a stronger starter to the engine, improve the ignition and give it better rustprofing for the cold climate in Scandinavia.

In this deal they also signed up for developing a new bigger car together with the company (this would become the 9000 and Lancia Theta), and they would also import and sell Lancias through their dealer network.

The Lancia Delta (that the Saab Lancia 600 was based on) won the the car of the year award in Europe, and the first cars apperaed at the dealers in may 1980. But the car was priced too high, only a few bucks more would buy you a “scandinavian budget 99!, so it wasn`t to become a replacement for the 96 as it was meant to be.

Unfortunatly the build quality wasn`t as good as it should have been either, the cars that had metalic paint had problems with the paint shipping off after only a few years.

Overheating was also a problem. The reason for this was Saab’s own fault, because to get a better (warmer) heater system they hadn`t just put in a bigger heater core but they also changed the thermostat of the engine from 82`c to 92`c, and to top this, the summer of 1980 was on of the hottest for many years in Scandinavia. This is why so many cars overheated. So after they finally figured this out and changed it back to 82`c for the summer and 87`c for winter, the problem was solved.

But it was too late; the car had got a bad reputation and had become stone cold on the second hand market too.

The car was a real gem to drive, except for the gearbox, which didn’t have the easiest shift in the world. They got a better gearbox in 82, but it was too late. They still sold the model in 1984 in Norway, but not many were sold in that year. “Most” 600s alive today would be from 1980/81.

I have`t seen one in trafic for about a five years now, and before that probably another five years earlier. I have sure been looking because I want one. I almost bought one when was living in Sweden in the 90s (working at the saab factory in Trollhattan) but bought a 1974 Saab 95 instead.

In the 90s you could by these cars for silly money, so most ended up in the hands of youngsters who drove them to pieces, and finaly ended up in a breakers yard : ( .

My daily drive is a 9000CD from 94, and I have Fiat 125 from 69 as my classic car. My daily work is as a car mechanic, but not at SAAB unfortunately. I grew up with these cars, my dad bought his first SAAB (a 67 model 95) in 1972 and he only drove Saabs until his death two years ago, except for two years when he owned a Ford (which he hated).

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Again, my thanks to Jørgen for this additional insight into one of Saab’s lesser known badge jobs.

Following are the images from the Norwegian sales brochure. Click to enlarge.

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There are plenty more images from the brochure after the jump…..

Read the rest of this entry →

There were a few questions asked in my previous post about the 9-3, as to how Saab could possibly make up to 4 different body styles of a new 9-3 on the production line as well as the Saab 9-5.
Saab has one of the most efficient and flexible automotive plants in the world and are currently producing a variety of vehicles on the one production line.
This year, Saab brought the 9-3 Convertible to Trollhattan from it’s previous place of manufacture in Graz, Austria. The addition of the Saab 9-3 Convertible meant that all three body styles of the 9-3 range were being produced on the line – sedan, wagon and convertible.
That’s three model lines and it wouldn’t be too hard to add a coupe/hatch to that mix in the future.
That’s not all, though.
Saab are now producing the new Saab 9-5 on the same production line, in addition to the 9-3. Right now, it’s just the sedan but they will add the wagon to that production schedule later on.
So some time in the near future you’ll have the following models all being produced on the same line at the Saab factory:

• Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan
• Saab 9-3 Sportcombi (incl 9-3x)
• Saab 9-3 Convertible
• Saab 9-5 sedan
• Saab 9-5 wagon.

If they can squeeze out a fourth body style in the next generation of the Saab 9-3 then it shouldn’t be that much trouble to add it to the production line.
A complete extra model line like a Saab 92 (small vehicle) might be a different story, but then Saab’s got the physical space for another line if needed.

Earlier today I shared a story from Canada about a classic car rally that featured – and I quote – “the guy in the skirt…… a leather kilt and felt bedroom slippers” – who drove a Saab 96 850 Monte Carlo. I wondered out loud who that might be as characters like that usually see the light of day more than once in a small community like the Saab community.
As it turns out, the man himself was reading. His name is Phil Lacefield Jr. And, as it turns out, we’ve actually met once before, rather briefly, at the Great TS Pacific Northwest Meetup a few years ago in Washington state.
Phil’s been kind enough to provide some details about the event, as well as some photos.
Click to view a whole heap of photos from the journey.
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It’s not leather. It’s cotton.
But I digress.

Two weekends ago, my lovely bride and I (and out little dog, too) made the 3-hour drive north – border traffic permitting – to the tiny hamlet of Hope, British Columbia, there to start the second annual Spring Thaw Rally. Our steed for this weekend of hills, twists, turns and shenanigans was our trusty 1966 Monte Carlo 850, a car that only eight days before had a completely barren engine bay. And my kilt was not made of leather. More on that in a bit.
In early 2009, we saw a quick write-up on BringATrailer.com about a first-time fun run taking place just north of us in the interior of BC. Since we had nothing better to do that weekend, and being in possession of a car bred directly from rally genes, we signed up and headed north. That first Spring Thaw Rally started in Squamish, a small town minutes from the ski resorts of Whistler, and headed north and east into the uncharted interior of British Columbia, a place as foreign to us as driving on the far side of the moon. Organized by car nuts Dave Hoard and Warwick Patterson, the Spring Thaw was open to import cars of 1979 vintage or older, and consisted of three days of unimaginably beautiful vistas, harrowing climbs, and nail-biting descents (made more so by the fact that we were the only 2-stroke entry and therefore had no engine braking whatsoever).
The trip took us to the exotic locales of Merritt, Kamloops, Green Lake and elsewhere in the wilds of this massive Canadian province, and along the way we had a tremendous time playing road tag with all the other entrants as the lone Swedish representative in a field thick with Minis, Beetles, Fiats and various English iron. All was well until just before the end of Saturday’s ride, when we blew the plug clean out of the head at cylinder three, taking the weakened threads along with it. Quick roadside repairs got us to the final night, but the next morning further hasty repairs to the plug resulted in detonation and plug fouling (full of aluminum, that is), so sadly we finished the rally in the chase vehicle and received the Hard Luck Award at the end.
Fast forward one year. We signed up again, not even knowing if we’d have a car to run, as getting the MC850 engine rebuilt had continued to slip down our list of priorities. Three weeks before the run, however, we found ourselves fatefully in Anaheim, a mere three miles from the shop of one Bud Clark, he who had rebuilt the engine last for me back in 2003. As luck would have it, Bud just happened to have an exact match set of pistons, and after a quick once-over with his skilled hands pronounced the motor ready to go. Getting it in proved difficult, though, as the notoriously fickle Seattle weather refused to give me more than 30 straight dry minutes for over two weeks.
Luckily, we did dry out enough to get things in order, set the timing, pack a bag and head north. This year’s Spring Thaw was opened up to 60 entrants, ranging from a brace of Lotus Europas to an Aston Martin DB2, a Canadian-market-only Beaumont Acadian convertible, and more 2002s and 356s than you could shake a traffic triangle at. The weather for this run wasn’t quite as nice, starting out cool and drizzly, but the sun did find its way to us and again much fun was had by all.


To clarify the Globe & Mail article, my kilt isn’t leather, but 12 oz Duck cloth, much like Carhartts, made by that fine Seattle institution Utilikilts. They weren’t felt slippers, just really comfy surfer shoes. And I didn’t received an award, but rather presented this year’s Hard Luck trophy (built from the mangled piston and plug from my deceased engine) to none other than Dave Hoard, one of the event’s organizers and a chap who had the singular misfortune of losing his brand-new stroker VW motor on the last leg of the rally.
My wife, Calye (who writes a regular column in NINES), and Troll, our ever-faithful companion, were really not entirely certain what they were supposed to be impressed with, but did enjoy the fine food and comradarey along the way. Can’t wait till next year!

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I might have to talk to my Canadian relatives about this one…… sounds like too much fun. SW
My thanks to Phil for the writeup, and just for being who he is.