Saab please...

[Zephyr Whizz]

These are the cars I would like in the game. I mean come on there rally LEGENDS!

Thanks for taking the advice...

-Sam

[Zephyr Whizz]

The saab 95's are what I really want.

[Lantea]

I am sure everyone has cars they would love to see in the game, not just classics but also modern 2010+ rally cars, hopefully we will see lot more added during the early access and hopefully Codemasters is working on licenses to get them all, if they don't have them already

[TheJudge24]

As a Saab 93 owner, I would love to see a Saab in this game! However, due to licensing, I don't know that it's gonna happen.

[TIZZLA]

Saab is hardly a rally legend. No offence...

[TheJudge24]

Originally posted by scrublord69:

Saab is hardly a rally legend. No offence...

Fair enough.

[Darth Vido]

The original saab turbo was and is considered a legend but for what it did to the way people saw power combined with safety. Licensing may be a problem tho as who do you contact for it GM motors was their last partner before saab went bust or it could have been spiker if i remember correctly and it was they who gambled it to bust by releasing their last car before it was finished.

[TIZZLA]

Maybe i'm too young to remember Saab, I started watching WRC when Colin McRae was in the Subaru :)

I noticed they had a few Saab rally cross cars in the real life Global rx series, maybe they will make it in

[Hadji]

No rally legend?!? So I guess RAC, Monte Carlo etc doesn't count?

1960
Erik Carlsson wins the British RAC Rally, his first of three consecutive victories. This year Saab also builds two Formula Junior racing cars.

1961
Erik Carlsson enters for the Monte Carlo Rally in a Saab 95 — the factory’s only four-speed car. Finishes in fourth place.

1962
Erik Carlsson and Gunnar Häggbom win overall in the Monte Carlo Rally. The starting number of the winning car is 303.

1963
Erik Carlsson wins the Monte Carlo Rally for the second time, now with Gunnar Palm as his co-driver. Starting number this year is 283, Erik Carlsson and Gunnar Palm come second in the Spa-Sofia-Liege “Marathon de la Route”, one of the most demanding rallies.

1971
Stig Blomqvist wins the Swedish Rally in a Saab V4. A new generation of drivers takes over as Erik Carlsson becomes Saab’s roving ambassador, accredited to the whole world.

1976
Stig Blomqvist wins the Belgian Rally Boucles de Spa. The winning car is a Saab 99 with double overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. 220 h.p. is the rating, against 170 trimmed horses from the ordinary engine with only one camshaft.

1977
Stig Blomqvist wins the Swedish Rally in a Saab 99 EMS.

1979
Stig Blomqvist wins the Swedish Rallye in a Saab 99 Turbo – the first win by a turbo-charged car in a World Championship rally.

1980
Saab shuts down its competition department and retires from all rally activities.


Erik Carlsson (whom I have met on several occasions) IS a rally legend and so are the cars he drove. The Monte Carlo winner is actually displayed in a museum in my home town.

[Roy Rodgers McFreely]

Originally posted by scrublord69:

Saab is hardly a rally legend. No offence...

But SAAB is a rally ledgend... SAAB was unserpassed in rally for decades.

Take a look here!
http://saabmuseum.com/en/saab-history/saab-rally-achievements/
A nice list of some of their achievements.

They (along with Volvo) make the safest and the fastest cars around!

[sgspenceley]

Nicely said El hadji and Feathers

The problem is you need to be over 50 years old to remember the world class Saab days, before GM accountants tied the hands of Saab engineers and closed the competition department in 1980.

I was lucky enough to get a short press demonstration ride with Eric Carlson in a road going Saab 99 turbo and a ride with Stig in a rally prep 900.

Both days will live with me forever, they changed my mind what can be done with a car in the hands of world class drivers. It was a real honor to be in the presence of such talent.

The Saab 96 triple carb two stroke has such an amazing sound for a car with only 55bhp! It was my first love affair with a car, I was about 8 years old when dad bought his GT750...

I owned and rallied Saab 96 V4, run in blue and white Finish colors

Also owned Saab 99 EMS and 900 Turbo

Sadly I never expect to enjoy these in a rally sim!

The little Saab 93 Two stroke singing in the forest.
http://youtu.be/dXVRdSbKDT8

This video shows Stig driving Saab 96 and Saab 99 EMS
http://youtu.be/1GNyVZ-87i8

[sgspenceley]

For Saab lovers... Another fun. Video
http://youtu.be/tQxD0E62m7s

[Hadji]

GM didn't ruin SAAB until the 90's though. The racing department was shut down long before that. SAAB struggled with financial problems almost from the very beginning. Brilliant ideas, great cars but too expensive to build and built in much too small series to generate enough profit. GM only drove the final nail into the coffin I'm afraid.

I have also owned a few SAAB's over the years:

1985 SAAB 9000 (serial no 8!) converted to Aero with 2.3l 225 bhp turbo engine)
1991 SAAB 900 Aero
1998 SAAB 95 2.3 Turbo

[sgspenceley]

GM was involved with Saab in the late 70's, with loans and major stock options which could not be fully exercised until the early 90s. So the drip feed finance situation stopped most of the company research and development.

Without GM support the Saab 900 would never have been developed in 1978.

Saab management often insisted on doing its own thing, hiding projects from GM which never helped the relationship.

[Hadji]

I am not aware of any real GM involvement before 1989? Do you have any source for this? I mean I live in Trollhättan, SAAB's home town, and I have worked in the automotive industry for several years (including SAAB) but haven't heard about this. In 1990 they owned 50% of the company together with Investor AB who owned the other half and they launched the "new" 900. From the late 60's and until GM entered the scene in 89, SAAB was owned by Saab-Scania and the Wallenberg family (a Swedish banking and investment dynasty). It is true that SAAB made a failed attempt with rebranded Lancias (owned by Fiat but prior to their alliance with GM) in the 70's but as far as I know no GM money was involved.

[sgspenceley]

I have been to Trollhättan a few times in the design department back in the early 90s.
It's a small world I worked with automotive companies most of my career, designing the software used by many companies for the exterior and interior styling. Saab, GM, Ford, BMW, Fiat, etc.

I will look through my books on Saab history, to see if I can find the exact source of my information. I remember reading why the family was so bitter about the stock option deal because the company price was fixed, long, long before the formal GM deal in 1989, to the point many other investors backed away because of a fine print legal clause with GM.

My information is totally "second hand" so I have no idea if this was true!
But it made a very logical and interesting read for person with a passion for these great cars.