RCR Stories - The Life and Death of Saab

[dinizintheoven]

Previously, on the "Deaths of notable people in the automotive industry who weren't involved in F1 let alone Rejectdom" thread, I've directed your attention to one of Regular Car Reviews' previous RCR Stories - the life and works of Lee Iacocca. Regular RCR videos usually involve Brian - "Mr. Regular" - making acerbic comments in the style of "3edgy5u" American comedians of yesteryear like George Carlin or Bill Hicks, with ridiculous "stoopid drunk redneck" voices where he thinks they're necessary.

However, Roman (who usually does the RCR outro song) gets to narrate the RCR Stories, and does so deadly seriously. To that end, and because I knew in advance that it wouldn't annoy me (not until the end, anyway...) I have just found the time to spend the three and a half hours that "The Life and Death of Saab" requires.

Take someone who might never have heard of Saab, or someone who has heard of the company and their cars but just can't see what all the fuss was about, or was too young to have noticed them while they were in existence. That person, after watching this video, will completely understand at the end of it and will give the big "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" when the final curtain falls. Tales of military aircraft, two-stroke engines, wacky designs by free-thinking designers, turbochargers, and Erik Carlsson's rallying success (there's some motorsport-related content just in case there are any indignant screeches of "OFF TOPIC!" that should remain resolutely silent) will feature heavily. As, unfortunately, will an American automotive giant.

This is, without a shadow of doubt, magnificent. Do yourselves a favour and put aside three and a half hours of your own lives for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwhxH9SB9h8

And here's some bonus magnificence from my recent visit to Festival of the Unexceptional. This - alongside the earlier 99 Turbo (preferably in black, with the brick-red velooouuurrrr! seats) - would be in my Ideal Garage of Chod.

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

Thanks for mentioning this, I've added it to my list. Must say, quite the eclectic collection of comments below the video, many were interesting to read.

[dinizintheoven]

It's even more of an outsider here, because Saab - as far as I can see - spent so little time in motorsport; Erik Carlsson and Greta Molander's exploits in rallying in the 1960s were about as far as it went. Unless anyone knows of Saab entering, say, the Swedish Touring Car Championship in the 1980s, if it existed then...

[dinizintheoven]

Incidentally, if anyone else (not just Mr Grrrrrjjjjjn) is looking for any more RCR Car Stories, or at least the longer-form versions, here's a list of as many of them as I can find:

The (Ford) Edsel: A Brief History (23 January 2017, 23:47)
History of the Chrysler / Mercedes merger (13 March 2017, 30:32)
James Dean and the Cursed Porsche (30 March 2017, 37:27)
The Legend of Lee Iacocca (6 June 2017, 50:00)
Isle of Man TT: Gladiators, Glory and Grief (9 October 2017, 1:24:54)
The Case of John DeLorean (28 February 2018, 1:07:23)
Cash For Clunkers (25 March 2019, 46:22)
The Life and Death of Pontiac (22 July 2019, 1:20:27)
Car Meets - A Sentimental Defense (sic) (28 August 2019, 40:57) - not an official RCR Story, but close enough
The Tale of the Dale (Revisited) (7 October 2019, 53:03)
Let's Talk about Angry Cars (10 December 2019, 41:17) - also not an official RCR Story, but close enough
Dieselgate: The Volkswagen Emissions Scandal (30 March 2020, 1:15:22)
Harley Earl and the Corvette (23 June 2020, 1:19:04)
Why was 1983 the Year Without A Corvette? (14 July 2020, 49:03)
Corvette: The March to Mid-Engine (7 September 2020, 1:00:57)
The Algar Ferrari Heist (2 November 2020, 29:50)
The Life and Death of American Motors (12 April 2021, 2:27:05)
Fordlândia: America in Brazil (18 October 2021, 1:02:27)
The Life and Death of Saab (6 June 2022, 3:36:50)

[dr-baker]

Isle of Man TT: Gladiators, Glory and Grief (9 October 2017, 1:24:54)
The Case of John DeLorean (28 February

These two sound interesting to me.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

It's even more of an outsider here, because Saab - as far as I can see - spent so little time in motorsport; Erik Carlsson and Greta Molander's exploits in rallying in the 1960s were about as far as it went. Unless anyone knows of Saab entering, say, the Swedish Touring Car Championship in the 1980s, if it existed then...

Certainly Saab doesn't have the racing pedigree of a Ferrari or a Porsche. Indeed their rallying efforts from half a century ago were about as big as it got for them, but they've popped up elsewhere:

First we have the curious Formula Junior car they produced at the end of 1960. It was unquestionably a Saab design with its two-stroke engine driving the front wheels (not often you see that in single seaters!). Two cars were raced by Erik Carlsson and Carl-Magnus Skogh in the Nordic countries throughout 1961 to mixed success. While boasting excellent straightline speed, they understeered horribly and tended to break down a lot:


Then we have their stint as an engine supplier for Madgwick Motorsport in British F3 in the mid-1980s... I'll leave to the imagination how well that went:


Staying in Britain, we also have the short-lived Saab Turbo Mobil Challenge from around the same time, a one-make championship often running in support of larger events. A young Damon Hill even turned up and won one race in 1989 when Tiff Needell was busy elsewhere (not pictured):


And finally - at least in terms of factory support - we have their engine supply for the now-defunct Barber Pro Series in the States in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before being replaced by Dodge: