Vintage Aussie Saab ad – bloody bewdy, mate!

by

Golfhunter has hunted down a vintage Saab ad – from Australia!

By the look of the seats in the car, it looks like it might have been made in 1979 or 1980, when the Saab 900 was brand new to these shores.

Click here to go to SaabLog-in and watch the ad.

As an Aussie, this made me laugh. So much fun in a cultural cringe sort of way. I would have been around 10 years old when this was made and back then, I don’t think you had to venture too far out of town to find a bloke like this one.

If the humour didn’t translate too well, the ad is emphasising that the car’s full of features, many of which the farmer wouldn’t have thought to use or wouldn’t need to use. In essence, the Swedes built too much into this car.

It’s also interesting to see that Saab made specific ads for Australia back then, too. That’s something I can’t imagine them doing now.

40 thoughts on “Vintage Aussie Saab ad – bloody bewdy, mate!”

  1. Haha, I remember having seen it here too (in the Netherlands), back in the day. In fact it was broadcasted only a few times, but some Saab periodical gave the times in advance.

  4. Any other news – Volvo is starting to get it…are you listening Saab? This is really gonna help with resale value and residuals for lease vehicles.

    Volvo NA Introduces Factory Scheduled Maintenance Program for CPO Vehicles:

    -An exclusionary warranty that provides factory-backed coverage on thousands of components, systems, and operations
    -Six-year/100,000-mile protection covering replacement or repair of defective components
    -Volvo On Call Roadside Assistance for six years/100,000 miles
    -$0 deductible
    -Automatically transferred to new owner
    -CARFAX Buyback Guarantee

  5. Funny. Back then it must have been hard for Saab here with Ford and Holden dominatng, although I wasn’t even born in 1980. With ads like that and Crocodile Dundee we would have the rest of the world we were all farmers living in the outback.

  6. Indeed this was on Dutch TV as well !
    I remember it clearly; back then I drove my first Saab; a 99 Turbo….

  7. Funny Add.

    I remember adds is the Netherlands with a text like: “Saab introduceert weer een auto die nergens op lijkt.” Roughly translated as: “Saab introduces another car that resembles nothing else” The power is lost in translation, as the Dutch text has a double meaning, much like this Australian Add. Emphasizing the difference or features one might not need.

    Swade, I am sorry though about you fellow country man in the add. He is under the belief that Holland is part of Scandinavia. The past weeks the heated seats were probably pretty useful in Holland as well.

    I live in New England and a couple of years ago in your “Saab Proud” campaign you dubbed me as the Saab ButtWagon as my entries showed the rear of my 9-5 Wagon in b/w. About three weeks ago I traded my 2001 9-5 Wagon in for a 2008 9-3 Sport Combi. The deal was to good to pass up, and I received excellent service at Crossway Saab in Montpelier, VT.

    I really like my new car, what I have noticed though is the quality of materials, which were better in the 9-5. One other major difference is the fact that in rain and snow the rear window is getting dirty a lot quicker than on the 9-5 wagon. It must have something to do with the angle of the rear of the car, which I hope on the new 9-5 wagon is more similar to the old 9-5 wagon. I like the aggressive front and the compact feel of the car, even though it is rather roomy inside.

    Later, Nico

    • Hi Nico,

      I remember the buttwagon! Good to hear from you and congratulations on the new acquisition!

      I think the Dutch reference in the ad was probably deliberate. Here in Oz, we don’t mind having a laugh at ourselves for messing things up, so anyone who knew anything about Saab would have known the truth and had a giggle at this guy being quite simple in his needs and knowledge.

    • Nico: Hirsch sells a spoiler that will help keep your SC’ rear window clean.

      I wanted that spoiler when I had the SC, but never got around to actually buying it.

    • The thought of Holland (or better: Netherlands) being part of Scandinavia It’s pretty common here in the USA as well. Some even think Holland is in Denmark. I don’t blame them though. Many people from outside the USA wouldn’t be able to identify most US states.

  9. I wish Holland was part of Scandinavia;
    then we wouldn’t have so much traffic jams, we’d have less crime, cleaner cities, friendlier people, less crowds, less tress, more nature, more space, prettier girls etc etc…

  10. I guess that I misread this whole thing. I thought that it was a European commercial using the unusual Australian setting to point out features that Europeans would want.

    The greatness of this ad cannot be overstated. It is perfect. I would reprise this advertising campaign with the new Saabs. Chose Australia, a tropical island and perhaps the Arabian desert for each of the cars with a similar schtick.

    I tell you, it would work. Humor, car facts and lots of exotic locations. It could be great.

    • I agree. It would certainly stand out and the humor would make it memorable….an ad people might actually watch rather than skip over when watching a program they had recorded on their DVR. Trust me, there are some here in America that think that is what Australia is really like. 🙂 Great ad!

  11. Love the green velour interior. Perhaps it’s time for Saab to get a little more daring with materials and colours.

  12. That is just priceless!
    Have never seen the ad before, but I love it. I hope Saab-US have the guts to make some different TV-ads here now.

    Really – which ads stick to you (can only speak for what is shown in New England) – the “bla, bla, bla, drone, drone – pretty pictures” or the crazy ads?

    I saw a Geico ad (car insurance for you non-US readers) yesterday that I surely won’t forget: a pig (OK, not real) strapped into the back seat of a SUV being driven home, having the window down and squealing all the way. Not much mentioned about car insurance, but I remember the name and the ad/squealing made me look up from my newspaper and smile. (At least seeing it the first time. Ask me again if I have to see it umpteenth times..)

  14. Nice ad!

    Today I finally heard a commercial from SaabUSA on our local radio here in LA. Haven’t heard anything from Saab ever here before, and moved here from Sweden two years ago.
    We need the marketing though, haven’t seen a single new 9-5 here yet.

    Some tv commercials would be nice as well.

  16. Hey I’m an Aussie who’s lived here for fifyty years – except for two when I lived in Sweden in the 80’s, I’ve never seen this don’t tell me it was on TV when I was away!!!
    It’s priceless, there were plenty of that type around in those days who would have agreed with that guy.
    We were brought up on luxury versions of a car coming with a radio and a heater!!!
    OK that was the 70s but hey still ived in the bush in the 80s.

  17. I can’t seem to remember that ad. Maybe it didn’t go to air in all states of Australia? It looks a 79-80 model with the Turbine wheels and TRX tyres. It would have been great to blow one of those in the outback! I always preferred Incas with normal tyres.

  18. I almost wonder if this ad wasn’t shown in the USA. I can’t say for sure but it seems faintly familiar.

    I remember Saab used to have a lot of weird ads back in the 70’s. I remember one where they showed a bunch of Scandinavian guys jumping into an ice cold lake or something like that, back in the early or mid 70’s when I was a kid.

      • This one as a Super Bowl ad? You’d scare 100 million Americans for life 🙂 How about an updated version with ‘the hot’ car, four Swedish girls and some slomo camera action? It would become an instant hit on U2b the following Monday and put SAAB back on the map in the US.
        It must be Friday.

        • What really worries me is that it would probably be OK to show those naked guys on the TV here, but some people would object if you replaced them with the girls you mentioned. 😛 (the slomo camera action would probably harvest some objections in both cases though)

  19. That is a great ad, although many ads in TV or print were back then. This ad is informative, entertaining, eye-catching, watchable, charismatic, etc, but mostly FUN. What would be wrong with running that ad now? People might actually watch it, and remember it. And isn’t that what advertising should be about? And at the end, have an end tag of a new 9-3 / 9-5, and something said to the effect, You ought to see what we have done in the past 20 years. The new 2011 Saab. Or something like that. Old resurrected commercials could be enough to stand out and be “watchable”, and 99% of the production costs are already paid for. Do any of us really pay any attention to ads these days? Aren’t they all about the same? Image?, with no substance. Be informative, and have fun.

Comments are closed.

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close