Practically Classics Forum

Troubled Swedish carmaker Saab has filed for bankruptcy
after failing to secure fresh funds from potential Chinese
investors.

General Motors (GM), which owns part of Saab, did not
want Chinese carmakers accessing technology licences.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16242115

This is a pity, as Saab made good cars (I don't know what the General Motors era cars were like). I haven't seen a new Saab for ages, so they clearly don't sell as well as they did when people like Bjorn Borg made them fashionable. Volvo still seem to be selling but I don't think they sell quite as well as they did (They have moved into other areas, with things like 4 X 4s, which will no doubt help sales). The Germans, French and Italians have managed to hold on to their indigenous motor industries (Though I recently heard that Gadafi was a major shareholder in Fiat), so clearly it can be done

The BBC have some cool pictures:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16252503

I never been a SAAB fan, but it's a shame to see them go under all the same.

bnicho wrote:I never been a SAAB fan, but it's a shame to see them go under all the same.

It is indeed, especially as even now, many Saab specialists can and do supply Dolomite water pumps, timing chains, bearing shells and head-removal tools at far less than Rimmers.
Does anyone remember when most of the older Saab spares were tipped a few years ago?
Let us hope they don't do that with anything that still has its Stanpart number on the box.

It is very sad, though the intrinsic Saabness was watered down in recent years. The very latest saloon is very attractive if you manage to see one (I can't remember the name), the rear window/ c pillar kink reminiscent of the original 900. I've always admired Saabs and had a 9-3 for a while. My 900 I've had for only 4 months and I've become a convert to its usually well though out engineering and occasional oddities. I've yet to change the auxilary drive belts yet though, this may put me off for good. (For those that don't know the engine is in back to front so they're up against the bulkhead. The engine's that way round to angle it downwards so it goes under the passenger compartment in a frontal impact but still enables the gearbox and final drive to fit in and drive the front wheels. They're lovely to take apart though, the bits I've done so far anyway.

MidgetSaab wrote:.....The engine's that way round to angle it downwards so it goes under the passenger compartment in a frontal impact but still enables the gearbox and final drive to fit in and drive the front wheels......

Funnily enough, that's the exact same reason - as given by Canley's marketroids in the launch brochure - for its being mounted high to the front in its RWD application, so that the bellhousing and the shorter (rear, so no chain bulge) end of the camshaft cover can, along with the subframe, "submarine" in a frontal collision. Like Saab's back-to-front way, it worked to a point, but as most frontal hits are offset, the unfortunate soul farthest from the POI would, more often than not, have been pretty badly hurt back then.
So while Saab were first to fit the slant back-to-front, BL's solution to submarining would tend at least to save the ankles and feet of both occupants though as neither car would have rear belts in 1967 or 1971, the very real possibility of people having their heads torn clean out by flying passengers was probably the bigger problem. I tend to try not to hit anything in the first place, it's better for the cars.
I do like the idea of the ignition key on the floor and the requirement to put the car into reverse before it could be removed though but. That gimmick alone was probably responsible for preventing a fair few parking-related incidents and is still available today:


Another example - there in the daily modern - of Saab's lead being picked up by other makers eventually!

Quite a close relationship between Saab and Triumph in that time of course, both my cars aren't Triumphs but have Triumph engines (very loosely so in the 900 admittedly) be interesting to know if they nicked that idea from Triumph though. My favourite Saabism on the 900 is that the driver's side screen pillar is angled so as it presents the narrowest possible section to the driver while being very strong to fend off errant Elks.
Your offset frontal impact comment is interesting as I think Saab were the first to routinely test cars for such impacts, not sure when they introduced rear belts.

Oh and what is the modern with the Saab inspired ignition? Their idea was that knee and key don't collide in accidents, they're obsessed with accidents these Swedes.

I'm sad to see Saab go, but this is tempered by the fact that the Chinese didn't get their hands on it, like they seem to do with so much else.

It's not that I wish to be racist (that would be double daft when Mrs M! is "Oriental Asian"), it's more to do with the way that the Chinese government operate and allows Chinese companies to operate - for a supposed "Communist" country they do seem to beat the rest of us hands down at the "capitalist bastard" game.

Hard working and clever they are, but the average Chinaman in the street gets to see precious little of the fruits of his labours.