…or perhaps “the family and friends edition”?
Sometimes you learn new and surprising things about old friends. Jens Christian is an old friend of my family and his facebook profile was the last place I expected to see a stunning action shot of a proper Saab.
Otto Øen and Jens Chr. Jacobsen finished first in their class. The year is 1964 and another three years went by before the V4 hit the rally circuits. Jens Chr. also posted a picture of the car they used the next year. Their new car was produced by a different Swedish manufacturer and instead of winning the race they got stuck in a ditch.
Note: The bilsportogcaravan.com site contains more than six decades worth of Norwegian rally circuit scoreboards. It is noteworthy how many SAABs were competing in the sixties and how well they performed. In the 70s and 80s, apart from a 900 Turbo placing second in 1989, there weren’t many victories for our brand.
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A couple of days ago my dad sent me a picture of a pickup truck. I am not sure what brand it is, but the big sign on its roof may provide a clue. Observed in the Swedish city of Slussfors. Slussfors is further away from Trollhättan than Berlin, but somewhat closer than Amsterdam. They speak a more similar language in Slussfors though.
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TTela reports that the Griffin has disappeared from the factory sign. From reading the comments to that article it appears workers from SAAB have been busy today removing the Griffin from all signs near and on the factory property.
Peter Bäckström comments that the museum already has its fair share of Griffin logos and are not looking for more.
It is not known what will happen to the signs.
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Finally, Cristophe posted a funny picture on facebook that I think deserves a wider audience.
If SAAB had used something like that for an ad, I would not have bought a 9-5. I would have bought at least two!
I wonder if you can buy those griffins…
Those signs should go on Ebay. Or sent to me 🙂
LOL! I looked at that last picture before reading the caption and thought maybe the dog had tried to crawl in through the passthrough access to the trunk (boot) and had the door shut on it. The actual caption is much more funny.
Definitely a more appropriate ute, but also much harder to find!
I’d happily give a griffin a home.
Great write up Rune.
Wander what they will put In place of the griffin, looks a bit odd having a big white circle on the sign.
The story and picture of the 96 bring back some memories.
The two-stroke rally cars of the 60’s were said to be successful in part because the lack of torque made it easier to maintain traction on snow and loose surfaces. Is there any validity to this? Regardless it made interesting press.
The Northeast was by far SAAB’s largest US market in the 60’s, but in reality even here there were not many SAABs. When SAAB owners passed on the road it was common practice to wave at each other.
Was it Erik who said that they kept their foot heavy on the throttle at all times, because everybody could clearly hear when you took it off and the drivers did not want to be perceived as chickens. 🙂
Swade recently discussed friction over at his blog, and at least one gentleman observed that on ice you want the front wheels to roll as easily as possible. Apply the brakes or speed up and you will loose grip.
I somehow doubt low torque will help a rally driver, because they should know when to speed up and when to let the wheels roll as easily as possible.
I suspect relatively low weight and low center of gravity was more important. That is my impression after reading Gunnar Ljungström’s article from 1960. The Saab was FWD and that made it easier to lower its center of gravity. I would also expect that as engines grew bigger, this advantage became less significant. After all, eventually you’ll experience slower accelerations given the better traction of the rear wheels.
Jörgen might have something to add on this topic?
why NEV’S did not make the arrangements for griffin rights
This topic was discussed some time ago. Scania who owns the rights to that particular version of the griffin did not want to play ball.