Teh Car Blogz

These days, Saab is mainly known by the public for being… well, somewhat odd. Turbocharged engines, gauges that shut off, ignition switch near the handbrake and shifter, hatchbacks, etc are the norm for Saab. But today’s Saab is a far cry from the old days when SAAB (all caps) was it’s own brand, not a General Motors satellite. Back then, Saab was known for practical technological innovations. They were the first brand to introduce a turbocharged car for normal people and really bring it mainstream; the 99 Turbo back in 1978 really turned the world on it’s ear.

They lead the field in other innovations, of course. APC (Automatic Performance Control) in 1980 was the world’s first automatic knock sensor which allowed a turbocharged car to be run on whatever gas you so chose without engine damage. Trionic in 1991 used a 32-bit processor to run many parameters of engine management and adapt them real-time to world conditions. Their cars have always been on the leading edge of smart thinking - at least until GM bought them. But before all that, SAABS (Svenska Aeroplan AB) was basically a shed full of ex-airplane engineers who decided to make cars instead. So of course, they did things their own way. The resulting cars were like nothing else on the road. The first bodies were hand-formed over molds with hammers. But perhaps the most fascinating thing about those ancient SAABS were the motors.

Those Ur-Saabs, if you will, used two-stroke engines rather than the typical 4-stroke Otto cycle engine. The original SAAB 92 used a 764cc 2-cylinder 2-stroke based on a design by German manufacturer DKW. In original form it ony managed a ferocious 25 horsepower, which was enough to propel the upside-down wing-shaped 92 to a top speed of 100km/h (62.5 miles an hour.) Again, not bad for 25 horsepower.

When the 92 was replaced by the 93 in 1955, the 2-cylinder was replaced with a 3-cylinder motor. This 3-cylinder 2-stroke displaced a slightly smaller 748cc’s and had a single carb, which made 33 horsepower. The now-longitudinally mounted motor was mated to a 3-speed manual transmission with a freewheeling device, which allows the driveshaft to disconnect while in gear to prevent overrunning the motor. This is because 2-strokes rely on the oil in the fuel mixture for lubrication, and spinning them past their designed redline results in fueling failure and quickly thereafter, engine seizure. Sort of like if a bike didn’t have a device that allowed you to coast down a hill, the speed of the crank behind directly connected to the road would break your legs!

Isn’t that the most adorable engine you’ve ever seen? You could probably pick it up by hand if you had a strong back. But it gets better! Sure, the standard 93 only got one carb. But SAAB introduced a sports version of the 93 called the GT-750 in 1958, with a 50-horsepower version of the three-cylinder two stroke. And as the changeover to the 96 body continued, the GT-750 became the SAAB Sport, known in the US as the Monte Carlo 850. The Monte Carlo 850 was unique in that used three Solex carbs, one per cylinder, to get a better fuel/air mixture. Also, there was no water pump - this was back in the days when cooling was done by the hydrosiphoning principle - cold liquid weighs more than hot so it will move down and vice versa. In street trim, the 850 Monte Carlo made 52 horsepower, which made it one of the first engines to approach 1 horsepower per cubic inch. Check out the triple-carb triple-cylinder setup:

Now this engine shot is cool because it was one from under the hood of my mom’s first car. Yeah, that’s right! I come from classy genes, clearly. The other nice thing about the SAAB Sport’s was that they had oil injection, which meant that you only occasionally had to fill a reservoir rather than pre-mix your gas and oil.

Here’s a picture of the same 850 Monte Carlo getting to work on an autocross course. These cars had a tendancy to pick up the inside rear tire on tight corners.

By the end of the two-stroke era at SAAB, these cars had acquired the nickname “The Shrike.” Mainly because Shrikes eat Beetles. Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the motorsports success of the otherwise innocuous-looking 2-stroke SAABS. Their factory drivers back in those days included well-known names like Erik “On-The-Roof” Carlsson and Stig Blomqvist, who later drove for Audi during the Group B era. Carlsson captured the checkered flag at the Monte Carlo Rallye in 1962 and 1963, and placed 4th in 1961. This is one of the factory-prepared SAAB Sport’s.

and I can’t end this post without mentioning one of the rare factory prototypes. This car, nicknamed “Monster” wasmade in 1959 when SAAB was getting serious about creating a more powerful competition car. They made it by mating two 748cc three-cylinders, mounted transversely in the front end - making an inline six. It made somewhere in the area of 140 horsepower and could top out at 125 miles an hour. Unfortunately the handling was reported to be quite atrocious (hardly surprising) and the idea was canned. Still, that is one cool set-up there.

The two-stroke also powered a variety of other cars. The 95, a wagon version of the 96, used the big two-stroke motor. And of course the two-stroke was what originally powered the Sonnett I (of which 7 were made) and Sonnett II (of which a bit over a thousand were made.) But the Sonnett is a story for another day; for now I shall just mention one last car with two-stroke SAAB power: the Quantum.

These cars were actually built in the USA, with the chassis designed by an IBM Engineer. They used the triple-carb 850cc motor, but were still front-engine and front-wheel-drive. I’ve actually seen one of these running at a vintage race car event - it’s quite a sight (and obviously sound!) to behold. There were only 5 of them made, then they switched to single-seater Formula Junior cars. A neat footnote.

SAAB finally phased out the two-stroke engine in 1968, finally fully replacing it with the Ford-sourced 1500cc V4. While the V4 was a much lower-maintenance engine that worked better on the mass market than the two-stroke, it was considerably larger and heavier but didn’t really provide considerably more power. That’s a story for another day, as well. For now, enjoy this video of a two-stroke SAAB running at a historic rallye.  Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Car Theory, Oddballs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.