Saab 96 & V4The front-wheel-drive Saab 96 made the brand into a rally icon in the 1960s. It succeeded in events as diverse as the Monte Carlo, Britain's RAC rally, special stage events in every Scandinavian country, and the rough-and-tough Spa-Sofia-Liege Marathon. The big change came in 1967, when the 96 became the V4. Works cars continued to be competitive in carefully chosen events for many years, and when they became outdated, the V4's successors – the much larger and more powerful 99 and 99 Turbo types – proved that Saab wasn’t done with rallying yet. More than any other car of its era, the 96 and V4 models proved that front-wheel-drive allied to true superstar driving could produce victory where no-one expected it. |
Contents
5 | |
7 | |
9 | |
11 | |
15 | |
18 | |
20 | |
V4 replaces straight three | 27 |
1962 | 62 |
1964 | 70 |
1966 | 80 |
1967 | 86 |
1968 | 89 |
1970 | 94 |
The long goodbye | 105 |
1974 | 109 |
Motorsport development improvements | 29 |
Was the Saab 96 and the V4 unique? | 40 |
Building and running the works cars | 41 |
Personalities and star drivers | 44 |
Competition story The works Saabs career 1960 | 55 |
1961 | 59 |
1975 | 110 |
Past its best? What rivals took over? | 118 |
How could Saab replace the | 119 |
Worldmajor European rally wins | 121 |
127 | |
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Common terms and phrases
95 Estate car 96 Sport Acropolis Åke Andersson Alpine-Renault Austin-Healey 3000 became Bo Swaner body shell British RAC rally car’s Carl Orrenius Carl-Magnus Skogh co-driver Coupé driveshaft Eklund engine bay Erik Carlsson Erik’s European Championship factory fastest final drive finished Finnish 1000 Lakes Ford-Germany four-speed French Alpine front-wheel-drive gearbox Gunnar Palm Hankiralli headlamps ISBN Lancia Stratos layout Lotus-Cortina machines Makinen Mercedes-Benz Midnight Sun Mini-Cooper Monte Carlo rally Moss motorsport outright victory Pat Moss performance place overall Porsche 911 power output production cars RAC rally rally car rally driver rally team rear retired rivals Saab 96 Saab rally Saab sent Saab V4 Saab’s season Simo Lampinen Sonett special stages Stig Blomqvist Sweden Swedish rally third place three-cylinder took second place Trana transmission Trollhättan Tulip rally two-stroke 96 two-stroke car two-stroke engine tyres V4 engine Volvo Weber carburettors won the event World Championship