Saab 96 Trailer
28.07.2023
My third Saab 96V4 - model year 1968
In Norway they say: "All good things come in threes". For me, my third Saab was the one I had the longest, and maybe it will be the last. It was manufactured in 1968, but first registered in January 1969. The first owner had it for just over a year before it was bought by my brother-in-law (my wife's brother). It has been in "family ownership" for 52 years so far. Since selling my '70 model, I had told my brother-in-law, "If you ever sell the Saab, tell me." A few years passed, but in the spring of 1983 I was told that he was now going to buy a Saab 99 and that I could take over the old one. The car was now 15 years old and I only paid NOK 3,500 for it. When I came to work with a "new car" there was much laughter and humour. Two of my colleagues had recently bought a Simca and Nissan. Both were much newer and more modernly equipped, but the Nissan was replaced again and the Simca delivered to the car graveyard 3 and 4 years later, ... the Saab is still alive. I used it as an everyday car from -83 to -92 and it worked great. Then it stopped for a few years, then I had an "everyday car" again and I have to admit that I had also thought about a car graveyard. During this time I received a call from my friend Bjørn from Nord. He had heard that Saab was to celebrate its 50th anniversary as a car manufacturer in 1997. There was to be an anniversary race from Oslo via the North Cape to Trollhättan. I was hesitant, but Bjørn was persistent and full of good arguments. This led me to join the "Friends of the Old Saab" and start discussing things that needed to be done on my Saab. Some rust needed to be removed, new shock absorbers, new tyres. I got help from a local garage who helped me with something and the tyre dealer sponsored me with new tyres and an advertisement for "Dekkmann" on the car in return for driving. During and after the said trip it was then also called "Dekkmann-Saab".
The SAAB Anniversary
There were participants of all ages and from half the world, also Australia, New Zealand and the USA were represented. One of "our people", who lives in Hammerfest (way up north), also travelled the long way (1870 km) to be there from the beginning. He then rode uphill again, past his hometown, the entire round of about 5700 km with us, before riding the 1870 km back home once more. For those of us who think 5,700 km was long, it was little compared to his journey of 9,440 km. Throughout the journey, Swedish rally legend Erik Carlsson (1929-2015) was also there. And when he later crossed the finish line in Trollhättan, it was he who greeted every single participant.
So the day came and we started with 168 old Saabs from Oslo. Pleasant stops and shared campsites along the way led to many lasting friendships. Cars were repaired on the way, one got a new engine, a new gearbox, a clutch change. I myself had to fix a radiator leak and change brake pads, but there were always helpful people and access to parts was always available. At the North Cape there was a separate reception, entertainment and dinner before we turned south through Finland and Sweden. In the north of Sweden I met a man who had exactly the same type of car at home as me. I got his business card and an offer to buy it for NOK 1,000 if I needed spare parts (It was to come in handy). The whole trip ended in Trollhättan with a big anniversary, a test drive and a show on Saab's test track and very pleasant days in good company.
Arrived at home
Then I was back home and a little noise I had heard in the engine got worse and worse until one day it suddenly stopped altogether. After all the experiences on the trip, the previous thoughts about a car graveyard for the Saab were finally buried. There were many new friends who would never forgive me for such an act. Now I also had access to the "spare Saab", which was stored in Enkøping, just outside Stockholm. A good friend who had helped me before came over, we borrowed a trailer and picked up the replacement Saab. To get it into Norway duty free, it had to be physically split in two before we crossed the border. Tools we had brought with us were used, the doors removed, the car sawed in half and re-strapped. When we arrived at the customs office, it was already late evening and dark outside. I went in with the papers and asked if they would come out to see if it was done properly? But no, they stamped the papers and wished us a good trip without checking if we had actually split the car in two. A winter of work in the garage followed. The best of my own car was kept, but doors, wings, engine from the other were taken over. In addition, several hundred metres of welding wire and large pieces of putty were used. The car was previously painted with synthetic varnish, this does not harden but has to dry by itself. The combination of ordinary paint and synthetic paint causes the paint to boil, so we had to use the same type that was used before. After a long autumn and winter, the car was in much better condition, the paint was beautiful and ready for many new years.
Is this rubbish?
When I finished the restoration of my Saab with the help of the parts donor picked up in Sweden, there was a lot of "mess", "junk" lying around in the garage. My wife asked me to remove the mess and throw it away. I tried to explain to her that it was "Swedish Saab steel" and not "clutter". Then came the idea of a trailer.
At that time I had cut the car off at the rear where the door ends. The best doors, windscreen etc. were used on my own Saab. Now I have the scraps lined up on the side of the rear axle... the rear edge of the rear wing, welded together with the front edge of the front wing, could be useful as a "side". There was also a lot of welding inside the trailer. Then we tried to put up the grill with headlights and found that it worked well. Half the bonnet was hinged at the back and put on. Also, the sides of the body were bent backwards at the bottom of the rear window and a piece of the roof of the parts dispenser was cut out and put on top, welded tight, a plexiglass pane was cut and fitted with a rubber seal around the windscreen.
For fun, we also welded in mounts for windscreen wiper arms and fitted two, as well as a washer nozzle fitted to the back of the bonnet. We found an old overrun brake from a caravan and welded it on at the front, extended with two large pipes reaching all the way to the back (Here I was able to use a flex pipe to route the car's exhaust out through the two pipes at the back of the trailer). It all came about through a few pleasant Saturdays in the garage together with a good friend who knows everything about cars and mechanics.
After the first trip, which was to the Norwegian meeting for Saab vintage cars in 2000, I realised that the original 1.5-litre, 65-horsepower engine was a bit weak for driving over country roads with the trailer. So a 1.7-litre engine was brought from Sweden. However, after reassembly, it turned out that two pistons were broken. My friend got two new pistons, used a new crankshaft and the block from my old engine and assembled this. I took the engine to meetings in Latvia or Finland and sometimes to Trollhättan. Here the trailer got a lot of attention and was also mentioned in the Gothenburg trade newspaper.
Later some modifications were made, among others a double Weber 36/36, a 2-inch exhaust, sport filters and last winter also a bigger radiator from a Mercedes W120, separate expansion tank and a 10-inch electric fan. The car runs very well but now I have had it for 40 years, I am 71 myself and no longer feel comfortable lying on the garage floor. So the car is now up for sale. Now someone else MUST take over the equipment.
