If Victor Muller really does plan to make a modern small based based on the ideals of the original Saab 92, he’s got a lot to live up to.
Autocar have just re-posted online a copy of their original road test of the Saab 92 from 1949.
It makes for some very entertaining reading and you can’t help have a beaming sense of pride as the little Swede wraps the reviewer around its proverbial finger. Here’s the summary:
When a car is created by aircraft engineers, one is inclined to expect something really outstanding in both design and performance. This attitude of mind comes in no small measure as a result of those special qualities demanded by modern flying, which, when translated to car terms, generally produce the succès d’estime.
Such were my reflections when I took over the new Swedish Saab 92 at the start of a 500-mile road test, the first to appear in the British Press, and I was not disappointed. Indeed, it would be a very biased motorist who could find any serious complaint against a twin-cylinder family saloon of less than 28hp* which can put 53 miles into an hour without strain and has the road-holding properties of real sporting machinery, albeit at a petrol consumption of nearly 40mpg.
The Saab aircraft company and its chief car designer, Mr Gunnar Ljungstrom, are to be congratulated on a really intelligent attempt to produce a small, inexpensive car, which, in the words of the high-pressure salesman, “has everything”.
* the Autocar text has just 8hp written there, which I’m sure is a typo.
The car received 4.5 out of 5 stars. Magnificent. It makes for some fantastic Sunday reading. Enjoy.
Thanks to Morten for passing it on.
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