Saab Story

Have you ever fancied your own car company? Word has it that Saab is for sale. Last week, after the Swedish government declined to issue a bailout package, parent company General Motors consigned the Saab unit to the Swedish equivalent of Chapter 11. "[I]t was determined a formal reorganization would be the best way to create a truly independent entity that is ready for investment,” said Jan-Åke Jonsson, Saab's managing director. In other words, ready to consume someone else's money, hopefully to the good fortune of the company and the investor/buyer.

This is hardly what GM foresaw when it purchased the Swedish automaker in 1990. That was a heady period when the big global companies thought established boutique brands might enrich their market share. GM took Saab, Ford latched onto Volvo and Jaguar, and BMW and Volkswagen went completely nuts, one-upping each other over other struggling British makes. What a difference two decades make.

For Saab it's all too sad. Born of the aircraft industry after World War II (the name is an acronym for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget or Swedish Aeroplane Company), Saab's first car, the Model 92, was a front engine, front-wheel drive compact torsion bar independent suspension and a two-cylinder two-stroke powerplant. (There had been 91 aircraft projects.) It was in production from 1947 to 1956. Its successor, the 93, used a three cylinder two-stroke of 750 cc displacement. By 1958, annual production reached nearly 14,000 and in the US the car had achieved cult status. The funny little Swedish cars were favorites on the rally circuit.

The 93 was evolved into the 96 in 1960, and received a new grille for 1966 when a four-stroke engine, a V-4 acquired from Ford of Germany, was introduced. Four-strokes were the way of the future, as in 1967 an all-new Model 99 adopted an inline four, developed in conjunction with Triumph, who used it, turned back to front, in the Dolomite and later in the much-maligned TR7. Initially Saab bought engines from Britain, but in 1972 took production in-house in Sweden. In 1977, Saab started offering turbocharged engines, and was an early proponent of four-valve-per-cylinder designs. A brief flirtation with a Sonett sports model from 1968 to 1974 was not a success. Although the Sonett looked the part, the Datsun/Nissan "Z-cars" were smoother, faster and cheaper and took the majority of segment sales.

The GM acquisition provided deeper pockets to Saab, and resources for new models, derived from cars that GM was building in Germany. The 99 had evolved into the 900, which in turn was replaced by an Opel-based model, and a 9000, which had been jointly developed with Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo, was succeeded by the 9-5 (presumably 90000 would have been unwieldy from a marketing standpoint). Similarly Opel-derived (and related to the L-series Saturn), the 9-5 also offered a wagon.

Although GM retained Saab hallmarks like turbocharging and a floor-mounted ignition switch (latterly moved to the console), the faithful found The General's Saabs too bland and too mainstream - which ironically has driven them out of the mainstream. Recent sales have been about 1,000 a month in the US, down nearly 50 percent from a year ago. You can probably get a good deal from your local dealer, if he's still in business. Can't afford a car company - or even a new car? Buy part of a company. At closing time today, GM stock was $2.55 a share.

I'm a Maverick

During last fall's presidential campaign we had our choice of mavericks. Senator and presidential candidate John McCain had made his political name as one, but once he chose Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate there were arguments over which one was the greater maverick. In the end it didn't matter, but it could be said that either one was more of a maverick than Ford's car of that name.

Ostensibly a successor to the compact Falcon, the Maverick was introduced in 1969 as a 1970 model. It was, however, smaller and lighter than the Falcon had become, and sold for $400 less. In fact, Ford pitched it as a Volkswagen competitor, which it wasn't really, despite being priced under $2,000. This was the crux of the "maverick" name, it went against the grain, bucked the conventional wisdom.

Offered initially as a fastback coupe, it was plain, yet stylish, with simple adornment. Ford billed it as easy to service, which it was because mechanically it was pure Falcon. In a bit of whimsy consistent with the times, the marketeers went bananas in naming the color choices, but all manufacturers did the same in that psychedelic era.

By 1971 a four-door model appeared, and soon trim options abounded: Exterior Decor Group and Luxury Decor Option to name two. Interiors were upgraded and a dressed-up Grabber model was added midway through the first year (who thought up the name and what did it mean?). The Grabber has been called "muscle car themed," but the theme was primarily visual - there were no performance enhancements save for a floor shifter for the standard three-speed transmission and some white letter Wide Oval tires. Power options were Ford's 170, 200 and 250 cubic inch ohv sixes, and a 302 V8 was later added to the list.

Special edition Mavericks included a Sprint version, said to celebrate the 1972 Olympics, and a Stallion package in 1976, when the Grabber had been dropped. Maverick gained a sibling in the Mercury Comet (the fifth generation to bear that name), introduced in 1971. Comet and Maverick offerings paralleled one another until the end of production in 1977, although a variation was produced in Brazil through 1979.

Comparisons between Maverick and Volkswagen vanished after 1971, when the Pinto, Ford's real VW competitor, was introduced, as did mention of most other Maverick attributes, since the Pinto was smaller, cheaper and more economical to run. So if it was not really a maverick, was it a success? Indeed it was, selling more than 575,000 in the first year, nearly 2,100,000 over its lifetime, not including the Comets. It truly did take the Falcon's place and built a following. Today the Maverick Comet Club International looks after the welfare of surviving cars, including a number of those helping to illustrate this CarPort.

The '74 Maverick that heads this page was being sold at Hershey in 2008. A "secret Grabber" without the graphics package (what else is left?), it had the 302 engine, automatic transmission and air. The price was high, too high, but it gives the lie to the notion that 70s cars will never be collectible.

Rétro-active

These days everyone is looking for alternatives in the automobile industry, so what could be a more appropriate theme for Rétromobile, France's midwinter old car show, than alternative energy, or énergies nouvelles as the French say. Showcased in the center of the exhibition hall were examples of steam, electric and hybrid vehicles covering more than a century of history.

Steam was one of the earliest forms of power, the earliest example of which was an 1885 DeDion Bouton dog cart. France has had perhaps more use of electric cars than most nations, most notably during World War II, when Peugeot built many VLV electric runabouts. More substantial was the STELA, a battery-powered full-size sedan built in 1940. More recent alternatives included the British-built Sinclair C5 and a novel little electric runabout built by the brothers Jarret. There was even an electric model of Bugatti, the Type 56 of 1911. One of the granddaddies of all electric cars was La Jamais Contente, an electric racer that set the land speed record in 1899. A replica of the car was on exhibit - the real machine is preserved in a museum at Compiègne, not from from Paris.

Another wartime alternative was gazogen, the generation of flammable gas from charcoal or manure, to burn in place of scarce gasoline in internal combustion engines. A Peugeot 402 equipped for gazogen demonstrated how this works, with a digester mounted on the rear and a huge "gas tank" on the roof. Biofuels are nothing new, nor are hybrids. The 1947 Gonnet used a motorcycle engine to generate electricity for a rear-mounted motor.

Rétromobile is anchored by vehicle manufacturers, both Peugeot and Citroën having a large stake. Both of them host clubs dedicated to various models of their marques. >BMW, on a lesser scale, was celebrating 50 years of the Mini. Other clubs, like the Corvette Club France have their own stands. The American Car Club de France was raffling a 1956 DeSoto Diplomat, a badge-engineered Plymouth.

Joining the manufacturers and clubs are a host of dealers offering all manner of old cars, like a brace of Mercedes, both with Saoutchik roadster bodies. Others specialize, as Jeep Village, offering this Hotchkiss-built Jeep, and Mustang Passion, whose specialty is obvious at first glance. Others have unrestored vehicles, like this Citroën bus whose resuscitation is an ambitious task indeed.

Around the periphery one can buy brass lamps, steering wheels, model cars and all sorts of automobilia, or talk to advertising specialsists like Joris Bergsma of PreWarCar.com.

Headlining the first weekend was a Bonhams auction. Among interesting lots was Gabriel Voisin's own Biscooter, but the heavy money went for the 1913 Bugatti "Black Bess" (2.2 million Euros or $2.86 million) and an newly discovered Type 57 Atlante formerly belonging to the Earl Howe. It was the star of the sale at 3.1 million Euros ($4 million).

Rétromobile runs through Sunday, February 15th at Paris Expo at Porte de Versailles. On weekends it's hard to see the cars for the people, so tomorrow or Friday may be your best bet.

How's That Again?

Two weeks ago, I posted this same picture with the caveat that it was "not an inauguration picture." It seems, however, that I may have to eat some crow, for there is evidence that it was indeed taken during Calvin Coolidge's 1925 inaugural celebrations.

When I bought the photo from a British source many years ago it was captioned "President Harding." I know that couldn't be the case, for not only does he not resemble Harding but the car in which he's riding is a 1924 Packard Single Eight, a model introduced in December 1923. Harding died the previous August. Others, older than I, have recognized Coolidge immediately in the photo.

In speculating on event depicted I opined that the military man sitting next to Coolidge looked like a Russian general, perhaps Joseph Stalin. Silly me. Both Dennis David and Randy Poole, both CarPorters of long standing, emailed immediately to say it is General John "Black Jack" Pershing. But the date and reason for the photo remained a nagging mystery. I wondered if the pennant or flag on the car yielded a clue. Jim Merrick, the insightful archivist at the Stanley Museum and who was responsible for much of the research in my Stanley Steamer book, said the shield looked like that on the Massachusetts state flag, and so it does, in reverse as it might appear on a pennant intended to face the crowd. Close examination suggests it's not on the car at all, but is strung up to remain unfurled before the assembled audience.

The big breakthrough was Dennis's discovery of newsreel footage of Coolidge's 1925 inauguration on YouTube. Fortunately, YouTube allows the inquisitive historian to stop the film almost frame by frame for a closer look. If you watch the movie carefully you'll see the president and party getting into one of several Pierce-Arrow touring cars. Then you'll see bands and more cars in the inaugural parade. At 2:53 I'm sure I see "our" Packard, disc wheels, Winterfront and all, but I can't make out who's in it. Then at 4:28 comes the clincher, a view of the reviewing shelter or kiosk, which I swear is decorated exactly as it appears in our photo. The photo, then, must have been taken during that inauguration.

There are some connections that help corroborate my conclusions. Coolidge, although a Vermont native. spent his entire pre-Washington political career in Massachusetts, becoming the 48th Governor in 1919, before moving on two years later as Harding's running mate. And Pershing? Well, the US Army Band, instigated by Pershing and known as "Pershing's Own," were making their inauguration debut in that parade. They've marched for every presidential inauguration since.