Love cars like this that you can never get a ticket in but have a blast anyway, mine and my kids favourite car to drive / be driven in is a 2012 Renault Twizy that has 17hp that's it but it's such a blast to drive and as its rear engine rear wheel drive with skinny tires I can and have drifted round bends 😂 at 40mph
@@Sekir80 I would totally let Robert drive me in his Trabant to a local burger stand where we could share a cool snack even though it's not a Factor meal 🍔😁👍 (Insert joke here about Hamburg being German something something) 😂
I’m not old enough to have experienced the two-stroke, but the V4 is one of the engine sounds of my childhood. They were everywhere in Finland. We never had one but everyone else did. The story about the move to the V4 is rather interesting. Customers were abandoning two-stroke but Saab leadership refused to look at options. Some engineers set up a secret skunkworks facility and made a few prototypes, one of which had the German Ford V4. Leadership eventually let it happen but insisted on leaving the two-stroke in production for a while longer. We all know how long that lasted. The last two-strokes made were engine swapped and the engines were used for spare parts. There’s a thank you letter from Bob Lutz (then at Ford) to Saab for being a loyal customer for the V4 engine.
I am old enough to have grown up while these two-stroke Saabs were still fairly common on Swedish roads and I have such a weird nostalgic love for them. Same goes for the V4 Saabs which sounded absolutely fantastic at wide open throttle and 4,000+ rpm.
@@amogusenjoyer I think the reasoning was that moving to four stroke would have required a lot from the service network. Just like VW moving to water cooling.
Ngl, I really liked the small history section you gave for the cars before the 96. Felt like watching a bit of a car documentary instead of a review! Well, that and the cinematic opening, straight out of TV. Great work as always.
@@jesper509the engineering never was a problem in eastern Germany. In fact, they were absolute geniuses in making something of nothing. They had advanced plans and inventions in the drawer, only to be held back by the party or lack of material/infrastructure. Blame the system - not the ones suffering from it.
Being a native swedish speaker from Finland, I commend you on your pronounciation. My first car was a 1975 Saab 95 that had seating for 7 people, my third car was a 1978 Saab 96, both with the boring but reliable 1,5 liter V4. (My second car was a Ford Taunus which I totaled in 1989). I miss Saab, wishing they'd come back some day, however that is unlikely.
My uncle had one of these. Keep tightening the wheel nuts regurlary, they tend to come loose and you're all of a sudden driving on three wheels or less!
Two-stroke SAABs are the bees knees. They're slow but they're wonderfully odd. As you said, it's obvious the people who designed it came from an aeronautics background and had no clue how cars were built. If you ever come to Sweden, let me know and we'll roadtrip to the various museums that are SAAB-related. And yes, due to [reasons] that also includes the Volvo-museum.
The reason why the gap between 3rd and 4th gear is so big is probably because the previous owner put in a v4 transmission, which is equal to a 3 speed 2 stroke transmission and the 4th gear is essentially overdrive. Also the 66 and 67's originally all had the 42hp triple carb engine
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. My dad and my brother and I had a bunch of two-stroke Saabs. We had sedans, wagons, and even Sonnets. Whenever a crankshaft would ruin a bearing, we would go to the junk yard and get a worn out engine, tear it down and salvage the crankshaft bearings. I would then press the crankshaft apart and replace the bearings. It was really time consuming to realign the crankshaft, but it worked. Thanks for sharing the video. 👍
My mom was obsessed with the SAAB 95. I think she had three or four. The last one was in the mid 80s, at that point it was so old it was classified "veteran car" and was tax-exempt. So many memories from that horrible car.
5:23 Would you believe Kurt Vonnegut? He wrote about an incident he had with the two stroke engine in "Man Without a Country." He had let it sit for like two weeks without running, then tried to start it on a really cold day. He heard people talking about the mysterious smoke cloud for a long while afterwards
I used to work building their newer model, the 9-3, between 1996 and 2000. In Trollhättan, Sweden. The impersonation of a typical Saab worker was pretty spot on!
Always fun to hear what non-Swedes think of "our" cars! I live quite close to the Saab-factory and we always had a lot of Saabs in my family, including the 96. My grandma had a orchid-white (pink/beige) 1976 96V4 and my dad ha a "meatball-sause-brown" 1973 96V4, so I know them well - except from the driving experience. Only ever tried grandma's once and as I was quite new to driving, me and the gear-shit did not get along very well - so it was a very short trip... my dads car was long gone by then, disolved by corrosion. And of course you have to drive a red two-stroke Saab like a rally-driver: Eric Carlsson, who won the Montecarlo rally in such things would be proud of you!
Sounds like a 70s snowmobile. Car looks amazing. As an Austin Healey Sprite driver, I'll bet that 850cc two stroke is a beast. That v4 is a cool engine. But wow that car is cool as hell. The guys at Lane Motor Museum will love to see it.
The SAAB will enjoy its new home...Southern Missouri (south of I 70) has a lot of wonderful back roads and 2 lane highways that are fun for the good driver. I live in the St. Louis area, and some time back I was near Hillsboro, and saw a Fiat 126, then realized that was likely little Maluch...who else would have one of these around these parts? When I was a kid, one of my dad's buddies at work had a beater '60 SAAB 93, and that thing was quite the noisy little car. Keep up the good work!
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew I had seen a glimpse of a red saab in one of the older videos! Lovely car, now remember to take it IKEA shopping from time to time ;) Greetings from Göteborg Sweden
When I was just out of high school, one of my friends bought a Saab with a t-stroke triple in it. I loved the sounds it made and was intrigued by the "four-on-the-tree" shifter. I always enjoyed the sound of a two-stroke triple. When I was 10 years old, Kawasaki introduced one, and I'd lay in bed at night, listening to the sound of those engines as they drove down the freeway (or drag-raced on a nearby secondary road). It was music to my ears.
3:44 "Wait that wasn't the cue for a transition STOP!" Sure, the intro was epic with dramatic shots and promo audio pans... But this is what I'm here for.
This makes me so unspeakably happy... I found this channel from the SAABs and stuck around, but nothing brings me joy like a little swedish car. (Not that my 900 would know anything about that lately!) I especially like the ode to the airplane logo. Unfortunately my 900 is a year too new to have the airplane anywhere, but I have stickers, 3D prints, and even a Pebble watchface that I made with it. (Robert, if you still wear your Pebble Time at all, hit me up and I'll send you the watchface file!)
Being the age of 87, I remember these cars well, as my friend's Uncle held the franchise for SAAB cars here in the UK. Having to change to the Ford engine, spoiled the magic of these wonderful little cars.
My first car was an old beat up 1984. two stroke DDR Wartburg. It had an 800-850 cc engine. No fancy oil injector, just a good old greasy oil/fuel mix in the tank. It had a freilauf (freewheel) system, a four speed on the column. It was leaking water when it rained. It had no functioning cabin heating to speak of. Despite all of this, I loved that car. It was bulletproof. I loved the smell of two stroke. It was the smell of freedom to go anywhere with friends and have fun. I wish you had the opportunity to own one of those, instead of that dinky little Trabant.
Saabs and Citroens are my two favourite cars - ever - and I've never seen this one ( 6:43 ) and now I'm obsessed. I am *so* jealous of you for owning the 2 stroke. Brilliant car.
Got fond memories of my mom driving us kids around Västra Götaland in one of these. Despite the lower speed it usually puts out, if you drive it on a gravel road through a Swedish forest, it feels like you're doing 120km/h.
Yeah, recalling that sound and the 2 cycle oil smoke, sturdy yet flimsy and light. Part dirt bike, part phone booth, part airplane. Taking a ride was always an adventure.
I had one for 5-6 years in the 70s. You need to drive like you are in a Grand Prix race. Full throttle and lots of shifting. I lived in southern Indiana, nothing but hills, with no problems. It screamed up hills all day and flew around curves like it had a giant magnet in it(see left foot braking)
I had three Saab two-strokes in the 1969-70 period. One was the standard 3-cylinder, one-carb model. I loaned it to my younger brother to drive some friends to a hockey game about an hour away. They filled the gas tank on the way back but forgot to add 2-stroke oil…it siezed on the interstate highway before they got home. I was working as a VW/Porsche mechanic at the time so it was no big deal: unbolt the hood, unbolt the engine and lift the engine out by hand. (It was a sleeved engine, so all he had to do was buy me replacement pistons and sleeves and it was as good as new working one afternoon in my parents’ garage. My last one was a 3-cylinder, THREE carb model. It really flew.
When I was young in 1983 I worked for a Saab-centric garage/foreign car store in Somerville , MA. I worked as a driver delivering stuff and generally driving what and where needed to be driven. I drove many a stroker 96 as well as V4 96 (some station wagon with no rear suspension, LOL). This was by far the most fun car to drive through wild streets of Boston in the 80's. I myself owned a 1977 99 EMS and loved that car. In General, I think old pre-GM Saabs are some of the most interesting cars around. I honestly was surprised you did not get one of these earlier (I know... couldn't afford one). ENJOY!!!
My favourite part about this video is that I’m currently working at a cycling event, and they just had the Derny bikes (2 stroke motorised bicycles used for pacing races) go around the track, so as you’re driving the SAAB, I can smell that lovely 2-stroke exhaust
What an adorable little car! Having seen a couple of 2CV conversions with modern motorcycle engines in them, I'd love to see one done for an otherwise non-running one of these cuties, just to keep it on the road and making folks smile.
Nice car! Those wheels were a 96 factory option but they were stock OEM on the 99EMS. AS for the grey engine bay, that is common practice for rally cars. Reason is that it makes diagnosing the engine easier because the engine bay doesn't look like a black abis. In Germany there used to be a tuner that shoehorned a Ford V6 2.6L or 2.8L in the 96. That made the 96 kinda fast!
I have been watching this video together with my father-in-law who has been driving two-stroke Saab 96 in the 1960s (and still drives Saab to date). He definitely remembers the gutless engine "I was going uphill in Germany following a co-worker of mine, I could not keep up with him in the hairpin bends. And downhill was pretty difficult for the brakes". He didn't recognize the engine sound at first, but then you explained it was a much modified one so that figures.
Brilliant, thanks for posting up this video. Here are my recollections of my 1974 purchase of a white 1966 Saab 96. "..... 1966 Saab 96 3-cylinder two-stroke. Purchased September 1974 in Gloucester. A spark plug would regularly foul up : I cleaned it, renewed it, nothing seemed to make any difference. What with the 2 stroke engine and no flywheel effect, and also the freewheel, it felt a bit interesting and weird to drive, at first.... Drive downhill, take your foot off the accelerator, the revs drop away to just about zero , the speed keeps increasing,.... Erik Carlsson won 2 Monte-Carlo Rallies with one of these, barely different to the road version. An education that in ice and snow, a car without much power, but massively capable in balance and handling.. can overcome. After 6 months I put it up for sale, muttered something about needing some new plugs. Prospective purchaser offered to pay by cheque. I accepted..., yes, I know, I know. This all happened on a dark, wet winter's night. The new owner got in and drove off. And I settled down to watch some telly, with that satisfied glow that sometimes comes from the input of money. A couple of hours later, about half past ten, there was a loud banging on the door of my flat. It was him. He'd got about 15 miles down the road, and the engine had seized. He was soaking wet, and furious. His pal had towed him, and car, back to Cheltenham. He demanded his cheque back, so I gave it to him. I can't actually remember what I did with this car then, I think someone bought it for parts. Lovely to drive, when it was driveable. ". From what I read later, I beleive that the crankshaft middle bearing was a major culprit when the 2-stroke engines failed. The plug that kept fouling on my car was the middle one.
If you have not read the September 2000 Car and Driver article about driving a 2-stoke Saab across New Zealand written by John Phillips; do it! Right after watching this excellent video.
Years ago you old Saab 96 is what inspired me to get into old Saabs. My first car was a 68 Saab 95 wagon and I still have it. It’s awesome to see you with a Saab again, especially a two stroke.
4:02 is actually better Swedish than I expected. It though has a rather strong German accent, and unsurprisingly a hint of an English accent as well. But as a Swede myself I understood it.
We got something even better then Flyby's.. We got "Average Suburban Speed Limit-by's" which is even funnier considering Saab is an aircraft company. Still cooler then 90% of stuff on the road though. Thanks for the cinematic opening sequence
Saab 96 has so many nicknames in Finland because around 66 000 units were built here and it was a popular rally car. The nicknames can't all be translated to English but a lot can be: Kayak, Twin kayak, Half a pear, Ditch Pike, Sunday Shoe, Submarine, U96, Assault Bun, Jungle Drum, Cock Roller, Enema, Carrot Lathe... Have fun with it!
I had a Saab Sonett for years. On paper, old Saabs look pathetic. But drive one, and you get the silliest dumb smile on your you face that you just can't explain. So many "car guys" didn't understand until I handed them the keys and they came back with that same smile. Congrats on a beautiful car!
Two strokes are one of the greatest sounds and smell combinations mankind has ever invented. I sped ran through my childhood and early years just listening to the intro and I'm pretty sure I got a whiff of 2 stroke in the morning.
My grandma had one (I'm a swede, so surprise-surprise...). It was in the absolute worst shade of 70's orange you can imagine. She says she loved it, and I think she owned it for quite a while.
I gotta say, the intro to this was quite cinematic, and very beautiful. I'm sure you've seen the rally clip where you hear, from a distance, a 2 stroke Saab approaching. The sound builts for some time, sounding like it's going 400 mph. Eventually, the lill Saab comes around the corner. Not particularly fast. But you can tell the driver is having about the maximum fun possible in a moving car. Clearly, this Saab needs a lill turbo or supercharger.....
I absolutely love this car. Would love to have one too. A friend and engineer told be to be careful with adding more oil to the mixture because more oil also means a less fuel to air ratio and with it higher temperatures when firing.
Ah yes, the background sound of my youth. A classmates dad had a 2-stroke with the freewheel. Wasn't my favorite since I bought an old -57 Volvo PV when I got my license. It had the 1.6 liter B16 engine that cranked out a whopping 51 horses, coupled with a 3-speed tranny that was un-synchronized between 1st and 2nd gear... Happy times!
![ประสบการณ์ จ้าง Developer ที่ผมจะไม่มีวันลืม [ภาค1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bzivN4KDg-k/mqdefault.jpg)
Use code AGINGWHEELS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box plus 20% off your next month of orders at bit.ly/3V1yeVj!
use the code to get 50% off of a new saab!
Drive it like you stole it pretty much applies to anything 2 stroke and I'm so jelly, I want one so bad!!!!
I enjoyed seeing the quirks and features of this car.
I love your videos man, every time i see you uploaded i click so fast
Despite the sound
*The Speed Limit Was Never Broken In This Video*
No speed limits were harmed in the filming of this video
No need to go to mexico
No need to go to Mexico
You can't break the speed limit when the car can't even reach it.
Love cars like this that you can never get a ticket in but have a blast anyway, mine and my kids favourite car to drive / be driven in is a 2012 Renault Twizy that has 17hp that's it but it's such a blast to drive and as its rear engine rear wheel drive with skinny tires I can and have drifted round bends 😂 at 40mph
Wow, this vehicle sounds like a leaf blower powering an egg beater connected to a moped's drive chain 😮
With no muffler.
Agreed, and I want 4 of them, please.
Hi! Nice to see you around! What's your opinion about the Trabant? I had the pleasure to daily drive one some 20 years ago.
In a tin can
@@Sekir80 I would totally let Robert drive me in his Trabant to a local burger stand where we could share a cool snack even though it's not a Factor meal 🍔😁👍
(Insert joke here about Hamburg being German something something) 😂
You implied this would be artistic in the Patreon update, and WOW that intro was great.
The intro implies you cannot see it, but hear it.
Very artistic, very demure.
That opening was killer! The shots reminded me of old school top gear.
Looked the movie Fargo, in the summer
reminded me of the mr. bean movie scene where it takes forever for the biker to show up 😂
Today... I drive a car... made by a Swedish airplane company, James gets a haircut and Hammond breaks the sound barrier speed... on a leaf blower!
It looked like Mad Max to me XD
Älskar att du försöker prata lite svenska!
Det gör mig väldigt glad och stolt.
Hälsingar från Martin i Göteborg, Sverige
That thing is in amazing condition, someone really loved it a lot.
I’m not old enough to have experienced the two-stroke, but the V4 is one of the engine sounds of my childhood. They were everywhere in Finland. We never had one but everyone else did.
The story about the move to the V4 is rather interesting. Customers were abandoning two-stroke but Saab leadership refused to look at options. Some engineers set up a secret skunkworks facility and made a few prototypes, one of which had the German Ford V4. Leadership eventually let it happen but insisted on leaving the two-stroke in production for a while longer. We all know how long that lasted. The last two-strokes made were engine swapped and the engines were used for spare parts.
There’s a thank you letter from Bob Lutz (then at Ford) to Saab for being a loyal customer for the V4 engine.
I am old enough to have grown up while these two-stroke Saabs were still fairly common on Swedish roads and I have such a weird nostalgic love for them. Same goes for the V4 Saabs which sounded absolutely fantastic at wide open throttle and 4,000+ rpm.
Why did they like the 2 stroke so much? Was it because it was an in house engine?
@@amogusenjoyer I think the reasoning was that moving to four stroke would have required a lot from the service network. Just like VW moving to water cooling.
Ngl, I really liked the small history section you gave for the cars before the 96. Felt like watching a bit of a car documentary instead of a review! Well, that and the cinematic opening, straight out of TV. Great work as always.
4:04 That's the most Danish sounding attempt at speaking Swedish that I have ever heard
Ye
Thats funny, I'm Danish, and it definately sounds Swedish to me
I'm Swedish and it sounds pretty much like Swedish to me too. Not perfect but close enough.
Well it doest sound swedish or Norwegian so Danish is the only one left to pick
@@testcardsandmore1231 om de där lät som svenska borde du gå och kolla upp din hörsel. De där var tyska.
The whole history section with the impersonation of the Saab guy was super entertaining. Great video as always!
Ok…we need a comparison between this and the Trabi!
I would've done that a little in this video, but I was crunched for time
@@agingwheels you still should! Even as a Patreon bonus or something. Well if you have time that is.
Oh you KNOW the Trabant is PISSED there is another 2 stroke care in HIS roost LOL.
Of course the Swedish engineering is better than the DDR/Sovjet. My grandfather had a Saab 96 and upgraded to a fiat 126 in the eighties.
@@jesper509the engineering never was a problem in eastern Germany. In fact, they were absolute geniuses in making something of nothing. They had advanced plans and inventions in the drawer, only to be held back by the party or lack of material/infrastructure.
Blame the system - not the ones suffering from it.
Being a native swedish speaker from Finland, I commend you on your pronounciation. My first car was a 1975 Saab 95 that had seating for 7 people, my third car was a 1978 Saab 96, both with the boring but reliable 1,5 liter V4. (My second car was a Ford Taunus which I totaled in 1989). I miss Saab, wishing they'd come back some day, however that is unlikely.
My uncle had one of these. Keep tightening the wheel nuts regurlary, they tend to come loose and you're all of a sudden driving on three wheels or less!
Two-stroke SAABs are the bees knees. They're slow but they're wonderfully odd. As you said, it's obvious the people who designed it came from an aeronautics background and had no clue how cars were built.
If you ever come to Sweden, let me know and we'll roadtrip to the various museums that are SAAB-related. And yes, due to [reasons] that also includes the Volvo-museum.
2 stroke, 3 cylinder - best sound ever
The reason why the gap between 3rd and 4th gear is so big is probably because the previous owner put in a v4 transmission, which is equal to a 3 speed 2 stroke transmission and the 4th gear is essentially overdrive. Also the 66 and 67's originally all had the 42hp triple carb engine
I absolutely loved the cinematic intro on this episode, that little Saab screaming its lungs out on such a pretty stretch of road was just pure art!
Wow, Robert. You really stepped up your game!!! Artistic Drone shots and slices and slow fades? You been watching Top Gear again?
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. My dad and my brother and I had a bunch of two-stroke Saabs. We had sedans, wagons, and even Sonnets. Whenever a crankshaft would ruin a bearing, we would go to the junk yard and get a worn out engine, tear it down and salvage the crankshaft bearings. I would then press the crankshaft apart and replace the bearings. It was really time consuming to realign the crankshaft, but it worked.
Thanks for sharing the video. 👍
It sounds like an 80’s chainsaw and I love it lol. Also that “I can afford it now” clip should be a running gag lol
My mom was obsessed with the SAAB 95. I think she had three or four. The last one was in the mid 80s, at that point it was so old it was classified "veteran car" and was tax-exempt. So many memories from that horrible car.
5:23
Would you believe Kurt Vonnegut? He wrote about an incident he had with the two stroke engine in "Man Without a Country." He had let it sit for like two weeks without running, then tried to start it on a really cold day. He heard people talking about the mysterious smoke cloud for a long while afterwards
I used to work building their newer model, the 9-3, between 1996 and 2000. In Trollhättan, Sweden. The impersonation of a typical Saab worker was pretty spot on!
Always fun to hear what non-Swedes think of "our" cars! I live quite close to the Saab-factory and we always had a lot of Saabs in my family, including the 96. My grandma had a orchid-white (pink/beige) 1976 96V4 and my dad ha a "meatball-sause-brown" 1973 96V4, so I know them well - except from the driving experience. Only ever tried grandma's once and as I was quite new to driving, me and the gear-shit did not get along very well - so it was a very short trip... my dads car was long gone by then, disolved by corrosion. And of course you have to drive a red two-stroke Saab like a rally-driver: Eric Carlsson, who won the Montecarlo rally in such things would be proud of you!
Sounds like a 70s snowmobile. Car looks amazing. As an Austin Healey Sprite driver, I'll bet that 850cc two stroke is a beast. That v4 is a cool engine. But wow that car is cool as hell. The guys at Lane Motor Museum will love to see it.
Triples were the go to engines in old snowmobiles
As an austin healy sprite driver, you are a tremendous dork. XD
Lane's a good place, but this car really needs to be driven to the Saab Museum outside of Sturgis, SD.
The closed captions trying to figure out the 2 stroke and alternating between "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" and "{Music}" was so appropriate.
Worked at a place with a small road outside, A 2 stroke SAAB use to drive there. It always sounded like he was doing 60mph when in reality he did 30.
The SAAB will enjoy its new home...Southern Missouri (south of I 70) has a lot of wonderful back roads and 2 lane highways that are fun for the good driver.
I live in the St. Louis area, and some time back I was near Hillsboro, and saw a Fiat 126, then realized that was likely little Maluch...who else would have one of these around these parts? When I was a kid, one of my dad's buddies at work had a beater '60 SAAB 93, and that thing was quite the noisy little car. Keep up the good work!
wait is everything working on this car? Nothing to adjust in a follow up?
Like I need another project
@@agingwheels
Lol
Not like you have a ton of them to work on, right?
Eh give it a couple weeks
@@thechannelofrandomvideos789not even a bus-load
@@cragonaut yup
I LOVE a good Saab story.
Better than a SOB story!!😂
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew I had seen a glimpse of a red saab in one of the older videos! Lovely car, now remember to take it IKEA shopping from time to time ;)
Greetings from Göteborg Sweden
I absolutely loved the intro, the way it was screaming, when you passed the cam, you mustve been doing at least 25
When I was just out of high school, one of my friends bought a Saab with a t-stroke triple in it. I loved the sounds it made and was intrigued by the "four-on-the-tree" shifter.
I always enjoyed the sound of a two-stroke triple. When I was 10 years old, Kawasaki introduced one, and I'd lay in bed at night, listening to the sound of those engines as they drove down the freeway (or drag-raced on a nearby secondary road). It was music to my ears.
You sound rather excited for it - so much so that your video disobeyed you and made a transition without your consent lmao
This is already amazing
3:44 "Wait that wasn't the cue for a transition STOP!"
Sure, the intro was epic with dramatic shots and promo audio pans... But this is what I'm here for.
Sounds like a large chainsaw, or an old outboard boat engine... Which would make sense :)
Just aging wheels and his wheeled Johnson
Or a Kawasaki triple😊😊
This makes me so unspeakably happy... I found this channel from the SAABs and stuck around, but nothing brings me joy like a little swedish car. (Not that my 900 would know anything about that lately!) I especially like the ode to the airplane logo. Unfortunately my 900 is a year too new to have the airplane anywhere, but I have stickers, 3D prints, and even a Pebble watchface that I made with it.
(Robert, if you still wear your Pebble Time at all, hit me up and I'll send you the watchface file!)
Makes me miss Saab. I loved their quirkiness.
I really want to have the Saabaru, too bad they cost a lot over here & finding one in a good spec is a pain
@@Sithhy Same, Always wanted a Saab 9-3 aero from (around) 2002, but in my country it's hard to find one that doesn't need few thousand in parts.
Good lord that exhaust crackle!
Being the age of 87, I remember these cars well, as my friend's Uncle held the franchise for SAAB cars here in the UK. Having to change to the Ford engine, spoiled the magic of these wonderful little cars.
My first car was an old beat up 1984. two stroke DDR Wartburg. It had an 800-850 cc engine. No fancy oil injector, just a good old greasy oil/fuel mix in the tank. It had a freilauf (freewheel) system, a four speed on the column.
It was leaking water when it rained. It had no functioning cabin heating to speak of.
Despite all of this, I loved that car. It was bulletproof. I loved the smell of two stroke. It was the smell of freedom to go anywhere with friends and have fun.
I wish you had the opportunity to own one of those, instead of that dinky little Trabant.
Ah aging wheels, you crazy bastard
Thank you for documenting your nugget journey so my broke ass can live vicariously through you
Had both two-stroke and V4. Good cars
That intro further reinforces why I find every video you make very entertaining.
ohhhh. Someone got a drone, nice. Also great video, I love the sound of my chainsaw. :)
Thank you for this episode. Old SAABs have a special place in my heart. Really enjoyed this.
Woah, pit sighting! Haven't seen that for a while. Awesome editing on this one.. Your humour and style keep going from strength to strength.
Swede here, appreciate hearing you speaking my tongue ^^ :-D
And those SAABs are just so effing cute :-D
Ring a ding ding ding, love the smell and sounds of an old 2 stroke
“I suddenly realized”
Somehow I think this is an accurate recreation of that exact moment.
it shouldn´t... but it is...!!!
That sounds glorious! Now I'm sad that the days of 2-stroke motorbikes is pretty much over :-(
That intro is GLORIOUS! That engine screaming its guts out while under the speed limit is fantastic!.
Saabs and Citroens are my two favourite cars - ever - and I've never seen this one ( 6:43 ) and now I'm obsessed. I am *so* jealous of you for owning the 2 stroke. Brilliant car.
Driving a slow car fast is more fun then driving a fast car fast. Just try it
Got fond memories of my mom driving us kids around Västra Götaland in one of these. Despite the lower speed it usually puts out, if you drive it on a gravel road through a Swedish forest, it feels like you're doing 120km/h.
Thank you for sharing your SAAB story.
I also love two stroke engines
Literally how James "Captain Slow" May would be introduced meeting up with the other guys. I love it.
Im Norwegian and the Swedish parts are funny and understandable
Yeah, recalling that sound and the 2 cycle oil smoke,
sturdy yet flimsy and light. Part dirt bike, part phone booth, part airplane.
Taking a ride was always an adventure.
I may not know much about cars but that is one bee-a-utiful machine.
I had one for 5-6 years in the 70s. You need to drive like you are in a Grand Prix race. Full throttle and lots of shifting. I lived in southern Indiana, nothing but hills, with no problems. It screamed up hills all day and flew around curves like it had a giant magnet in it(see left foot braking)
These videos are so good. You don't know how close I came to digging into my pocket for 12k because of this video.
I hope Wade gets to see this, bet he’ll love this nugget. I know I do! ❤
DankPods the nuggeteer
I love old Saabs...I like the shape, and the engines, and the way they handle.
I had three Saab two-strokes in the 1969-70 period. One was the standard 3-cylinder, one-carb model. I loaned it to my younger brother to drive some friends to a hockey game about an hour away. They filled the gas tank on the way back but forgot to add 2-stroke oil…it siezed on the interstate highway before they got home. I was working as a VW/Porsche mechanic at the time so it was no big deal: unbolt the hood, unbolt the engine and lift the engine out by hand. (It was a sleeved engine, so all he had to do was buy me replacement pistons and sleeves and it was as good as new working one afternoon in my parents’ garage. My last one was a 3-cylinder, THREE carb model. It really flew.
Finally going back to your roots. Not that I hate your other content. Just love the 2 stroke buzzing from time to time. Keep it up
Absolutely freaking awesome you should get a sticker put in the back window that says BRAAP 😎
1:27 "How cool is that?"
ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING cold open 🙌🙌🙌.....worked even with the thumbnail giving it away 🔥🔥🔥
Love the shout out for the Alfa Romeo logo. I agree with your assessment 👍
Thank you for going into its many oddities and qualities (and there are many) without using any banned words or substances
When I was young in 1983 I worked for a Saab-centric garage/foreign car store in Somerville , MA. I worked as a driver delivering stuff and generally driving what and where needed to be driven. I drove many a stroker 96 as well as V4 96 (some station wagon with no rear suspension, LOL). This was by far the most fun car to drive through wild streets of Boston in the 80's. I myself owned a 1977 99 EMS and loved that car. In General, I think old pre-GM Saabs are some of the most interesting cars around. I honestly was surprised you did not get one of these earlier (I know... couldn't afford one). ENJOY!!!
My favourite part about this video is that I’m currently working at a cycling event, and they just had the Derny bikes (2 stroke motorised bicycles used for pacing races) go around the track, so as you’re driving the SAAB, I can smell that lovely 2-stroke exhaust
What an adorable little car!
Having seen a couple of 2CV conversions with modern motorcycle engines in them, I'd love to see one done for an otherwise non-running one of these cuties, just to keep it on the road and making folks smile.
Back in Maine during the late 60s, ice racing was THE thing and the 96 2 stroke was the car to beat. Great video!
Nice car! Those wheels were a 96 factory option but they were stock OEM on the 99EMS.
AS for the grey engine bay, that is common practice for rally cars. Reason is that it makes diagnosing the engine easier because the engine bay doesn't look like a black abis.
In Germany there used to be a tuner that shoehorned a Ford V6 2.6L or 2.8L in the 96. That made the 96 kinda fast!
abyss
I have been watching this video together with my father-in-law who has been driving two-stroke Saab 96 in the 1960s (and still drives Saab to date). He definitely remembers the gutless engine "I was going uphill in Germany following a co-worker of mine, I could not keep up with him in the hairpin bends. And downhill was pretty difficult for the brakes". He didn't recognize the engine sound at first, but then you explained it was a much modified one so that figures.
Brilliant, thanks for posting up this video. Here are my recollections of my 1974 purchase of a white 1966 Saab 96.
".....
1966 Saab 96 3-cylinder two-stroke. Purchased September 1974 in Gloucester. A spark plug would regularly foul up : I cleaned it, renewed it, nothing seemed to make any difference.
What with the 2 stroke engine and no flywheel effect, and also the freewheel, it felt a bit interesting and weird to drive, at first.... Drive downhill, take your foot off the accelerator, the revs drop away to just about zero , the speed keeps increasing,.... Erik Carlsson won 2 Monte-Carlo Rallies with one of these, barely different to the road version. An education that in ice and snow, a car without much power, but massively capable in balance and handling.. can overcome.
After 6 months I put it up for sale, muttered something about needing some new plugs. Prospective purchaser offered to pay by cheque. I accepted..., yes, I know, I know. This all happened on a dark, wet winter's night. The new owner got in and drove off. And I settled down to watch some telly, with that satisfied glow that sometimes comes from the input of money.
A couple of hours later, about half past ten, there was a loud banging on the door of my flat. It was him. He'd got about 15 miles down the road, and the engine had seized. He was soaking wet, and furious. His pal had towed him, and car, back to Cheltenham. He demanded his cheque back, so I gave it to him.
I can't actually remember what I did with this car then, I think someone bought it for parts. Lovely to drive, when it was driveable. ".
From what I read later, I beleive that the crankshaft middle bearing was a major culprit when the 2-stroke engines failed. The plug that kept fouling on my car was the middle one.
If you have not read the September 2000 Car and Driver article about driving a 2-stoke Saab across New Zealand written by John Phillips; do it! Right after watching this excellent video.
sounds better then any $hit-block V8
Years ago you old Saab 96 is what inspired me to get into old Saabs. My first car was a 68 Saab 95 wagon and I still have it. It’s awesome to see you with a Saab again, especially a two stroke.
And this one actually runs!
…for now…
Your editing are on point, loved it!
Get out, bot!
Wow that audio recording is incredible. What a cold open.
0:25 It sounds like a dirt bike inside a box.
4:02 is actually better Swedish than I expected.
It though has a rather strong German accent, and unsurprisingly a hint of an English accent as well. But as a Swede myself I understood it.
We got something even better then Flyby's.. We got "Average Suburban Speed Limit-by's" which is even funnier considering Saab is an aircraft company. Still cooler then 90% of stuff on the road though. Thanks for the cinematic opening sequence
Saab 96 has so many nicknames in Finland because around 66 000 units were built here and it was a popular rally car. The nicknames can't all be translated to English but a lot can be: Kayak, Twin kayak, Half a pear, Ditch Pike, Sunday Shoe, Submarine, U96, Assault Bun, Jungle Drum, Cock Roller, Enema, Carrot Lathe... Have fun with it!
I had a Saab Sonett for years. On paper, old Saabs look pathetic. But drive one, and you get the silliest dumb smile on your you face that you just can't explain. So many "car guys" didn't understand until I handed them the keys and they came back with that same smile. Congrats on a beautiful car!
Two strokes are one of the greatest sounds and smell combinations mankind has ever invented. I sped ran through my childhood and early years just listening to the intro and I'm pretty sure I got a whiff of 2 stroke in the morning.
My grandma had one (I'm a swede, so surprise-surprise...). It was in the absolute worst shade of 70's orange you can imagine. She says she loved it, and I think she owned it for quite a while.
I gotta say, the intro to this was quite cinematic, and very beautiful.
I'm sure you've seen the rally clip where you hear, from a distance, a 2 stroke Saab approaching. The sound builts for some time, sounding like it's going 400 mph. Eventually, the lill Saab comes around the corner. Not particularly fast. But you can tell the driver is having about the maximum fun possible in a moving car.
Clearly, this Saab needs a lill turbo or supercharger.....
I absolutely love this car. Would love to have one too.
A friend and engineer told be to be careful with adding more oil to the mixture because more oil also means a less fuel to air ratio and with it higher temperatures when firing.
I have been waiting since you sold the other 96 for you to get another Saab and I'm so excited to finally see the reveal!
Just love the sound 2strokes make. Takes me back to twin and triple motor cycles of the 70s
This sounds exactly like a Bajaj two stroke engine in an Auto Rickshaw or TukTuk in Asia but way way more refined
That is soo cool. You have yet to bore me with your quicks and features.
OVER half the video talking about what's "wrong" with the car, but you can't stop smiling! perfect ❤
Ah yes, the background sound of my youth. A classmates dad had a 2-stroke with the freewheel.
Wasn't my favorite since I bought an old -57 Volvo PV when I got my license. It had the 1.6 liter B16 engine that cranked out a whopping 51 horses, coupled with a 3-speed tranny that was un-synchronized between 1st and 2nd gear... Happy times!