Launched in 1960, the Saab 96 enjoyed a far longer production life than even the most optimistic company managers could have anticipated. The last cars rolled off the line in 1980, and Saab marked the occasion by producing the Jubileum Edition. Our feature classic is one of those cars that presents extremely well for its age. An exceptionally low odometer has aided its cause, with the robust nature of these vehicles virtually guaranteeing that it will provide years of faithful service to its new owner. The seller has listed the Saab here on eBay in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They set their price at $34,900 with the option to make an offer.
This Saab carries the hallmarks of the Jubileum Edition, including the dazzling Blue Metallic lacquer paint, the Black lower rear trunk lid and spoiler, and the distinctive Ronal wheels. Faulting the presentation is seemingly impossible, because the paint shines beautifully, and the panels are as straight as an arrow. The beauty is more than skin deep and is also unsurprising. Saab designed and engineered its vehicles to cope with harsh climates, and this approach has allowed this classic to remain rust-free. The trim and wheels are in good condition, and the glass is clear.
The Saab 96 didn’t merely feature quirky styling upon its release, because it derived its power from a 795cc two-stroke engine. However, the two-stroke eventually made way for Ford’s Taurus V4 in 1967. The company utilized the 1,498cc version, which is what we find hiding under the hood of our feature car. It sends a relatively modest 68hp to the road via a four-speed manual transmission with a column shift. However, don’t be fooled, because with a curb weight of just over 2,000 lbs, the 96 is a surprisingly energetic performance. It is also mechanically bulletproof, helping to explain why the 96 enjoyed a very successful rally career. The seller mentions an odometer reading of 36,000 original miles for this gem without mentioning verifying evidence. They confirm that it runs and drives perfectly and that a range of spare parts are included in the sale.
Saab decided to lavish attention on the Jubileum Edition’s interior, utilizing cloth trim using the same stock as featured in the 99. Scandinavian buyers received Blue trim and carpet, but the rest of the interior features were “standard” 96 items. This interior presents well, with a seam separation on the driver’s seat the only flaw worth mentioning. An upholsterer may be able to address that shortcoming and would be my first port of call if I became the car’s new owner. The remaining trim is excellent, the carpet looks exceptional, and there are no dash issues. The interior represents motoring at its most basic, with a heater as the only creature comfort or luxury feature.
Saab anticipated that production of the 96 would end in the early 1970s, but ongoing buyer demand meant that the final cars rolled off the line in January 1980. Saab celebrated the occasion by releasing 600 examples of the Jubileum. Of that total, 300 featured a Brown interior and were only sold in The Netherlands. The remaining 300, including our feature car, were reserved for Scandinavian buyers. That makes these very rare vehicles that don’t hit the market very often. It also means that it is almost impossible to place a value on this classic. However, if you are a fan of Saab’s long-lived 96, this Jubileum deserves a close look.
Sounds like a Saab story to me.
Dang, that is the sharpest 96 series I’ve ever seen. As much as I like these cars, somehow history has prevented me from having one. Look at it, right there with Hummers and other such unattainable vehicles for the masses, stacked two high. Hey, newsflash GRAutogallery: Nobody on earth gives a diddle if it’s 1 of 300, it’s a Saab 96, talk about a misfire there.
đź‘Ť reply button’s not working again.
Ambitious pricing but no doubt one of the nicest 96GL available anywhere.
Some minor things about the posting here – the engine was not used in Ford Taurus but rather the Taunus. Saab 96 was not renowned for its rust protection, they were rather well known for rusting. (The 99 and 900 were pretty good though!) And finally, despite what the Ebay ad says that’s not 36,000 miles but rather 36,000 kilometers! It does seem correct both because of the presentation of the car but also because the last recorded mileage in Sweden before the export was at 28,000 km. Both the car and the added thermometer on the dash points to a car that was bought new by a ”senior citizen”. No matter of how much Saab tried to modernize these cars, no one under the age of 75 bought them new as they were awfully outdated and still not particularly competitively priced.
As a side note, by this time they were no longer built by Saab in Trollhättan but by Valmet in Finland. So they rolled off the line as some kind of ancestor to the Porsche Boxter, Cayman and Mercedes AMG GT.
Very pretty Saab, but for that money, they need to repair the seat!
A question for the readers here – was this the last car made with a column shifted manual gearbox?
For those not familiar with these cars, they have a really neat transmission with a freewheel that makes it so that you only need to use the clutch when driving away from standstill. As soon as you are under way, you just let off the throttle and can shift without using the clutch. The freewheel mechanism was necessary for the early two stroke engines but was retained also for the V4. It got a reputation for being fragile when coupled with the torquier engine but as long as you drive with some level of mechanical sympathy and ease back into power it’s not something I have ever had any problems with.
I had a 66 2-stroke with the free-wheel. I was never aware that you could shift without the clutch so I never tried. I found the free-wheel to be a little disconcerting as you became solely reliant on the (less than stellar) drum brakes (not a good approach in hilly areas at all). As such, I didn’t use the feature after trying it.
The instance vehicle is very pretty, but the price is rather daunting.
If you’re asking about the US, the last passenger car sold with a column-shifted manual was the 1979 X-body Chevrolet Nova. Chevy pickups continued to offer 3-on-the-tree through the 1986 model year.
No. Renault’s 16 model ended production in 1980; all models, both manual and auto always had column-mounted gear change, the difference being that the top TX model having a 5-speed, rather than the normal four
Beautiful looking car. If only more pictures were posted. It looks brand new. However gorgeous it may look, $35k seems like a lot of money. If I were to buy the car, the most I’d be willing to pay would be $15k.
There’s 94 photos in the Item Description section of the eBay listing, may take a couple-few seconds to load, then look for the “Full Size Photos →” button to click.
I bought a 1970 96 from the original owner when my daughters were in high school. I paid $800 for it, as it was not running. A little squire of starting fluid and a jump to the battery, and Bob’s yer uncle.
The girls promptly named the car “Sadie.” We all speak of her fondly to this day, 35 years later.
These cars do need to be driven with a certain amount of care and finesse; the transmissions are not exactly bulltproof. Trying to teach a 16-year-old how to baby the transmission when shifting was a challenge.
Still, Sadie was a great little car–and got the girls a lot of attention around the school parking lot–“What IS that? Can I get a ride?”
We sold her to a genuine Saab aficionado.
I agree with all of the positive comments. Our family had several 96’s, all V4 powered. The first was purchased new so I could safely commute to college in the late 1960’s. Aside from the water heated choke, it was just about perfect for our purposes. When it finally succumbed to rust (New England, you know) we found another driver as well as a parts car, and my parents had their beloved 96 until they both gave up driving about 1999 or 2000. If their SAAB hadn’t been nearly at its end, I would have driven it myself until it failed. To this day, I’ve never had a vehicle I liked any better than 96. This one’s a gem. I hope the next owner cherishes it as the treasure that it is.
Looks so old for being a 1980 vehicle.
It was its last year of production, with fairly incremental changes since the ’40s. I didn’t know they kept making them that long. But compared to the VW Beetle (1938 to 2003) or the CitroĂ«n 2CV (1948-1990, but designed before World War 2) the Saab was practically a teenybopper.
The general configuration of these comes from the early 1950’s when SAAB (an acronym for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, as I recall) decided to move into the automotive market and, as you would expect from an aircraft company, developed aerodynamic prototypes. The profile didn’t vary much throughout the entire model run, from models 92 and 93, through several iterations of the 96’s, and the 95 station wagon was fairly “slippery” as well. So, indeed, the origins were quite old, but highly sophisticated aerodynamically. Even the underside of these were smooth and devoid of drag-inducing clutter. Those clever Swedes knew what they were doing!
I believe the European 96s had heated seats
I always wanted a 900 turbo when I was a young adult, but this 96 has some strong, quirky appeal for sure. I would love to try out the “4 on the tree”!
Very easy to get used to with a stand H. As I recall, reverse was pull the stick towards the right side of the car (while of course in neutral), then pull it back and down. Pretty smooth operation. Going through the forward gears, you weren’t going to win any speed shift contests, as with any on-the-tree shifter.
That Cologne Taunus V4 is a very stout engine. I had a Saab 95 wagon and loved it! The exterior was in red primer and someone had rear ended the passenger side so one of the tail fins was toast but it was a solid runner, comfortable, and handled well in any weather. Swallowed a huge amount of gear but best of all, it reminded me of the “spaceship” held up by wires in the old 1930’s Buck Rogers movie theater serials. Bulbous and ungainly but it got you to any galaxy you chose!
This is a really nice example, and if I had the money and the space I’d give it a serious look. I’ve always liked the quirky design, and I drove one of the 2 cycles that I found for sale in Denver back in the day, but I didn’t like it all that much due to the lack of power (and because I’d never liked the 2 cycle sound all that much), so I went for a Toyota Corolla instead. I had no idea these were updated to a Taurus 4 cylinder later on though or I might have been interested, but instead I opted for an early Saab Wagonback after a year with the Toy and I traded it straight across.
As someone else has already said, it wasn’t the Taurus V4 engine, it was Europe’s TauNUs V4 – a completely different engine.
I traded Harley flathead 45 engine parts for a 93 back in 1970 was living in Louisville, KY. Well when I got it home lo and behold it was setup as WRC race car, had rollbar light weight seat, hardly any gauge in the dash.1960’s tech at it’s best, It didn’t run, but everything down to clip on dash for notes was there.
Having little or no knowledge to fix 3 cylinder,3 carburetor, 2 cycle engine I found an old Hemmings manual for it , and tried to get it running.Did all the usual things clean carbs, points and condenser wouldn’t even sputter.So sold it to guy who loved Saabs, he comes driving the car up my drive 2 weeks. later, tells me seals between cylinders were dried out so compression was going out exhaust.Hell it would have taken me months to figure that out.He was gracious enough to let me drive it, first ttime 4 on the tree, quite hilarious, got it back to him in 1 piece, and thanked him , and mentally was kicking my ass for selling it.Well that’s my Saab story.
I don’t particularly care @Daymo. Adam said it, I read it, and I didn’t see the other comment correcting him. Maybe you should consider not trying to be the barnfinds police and cut other folks some slack.
I live 5 miles from this classic car dealer. Most of their stock is overpriced. Most of it is consignment also, so you have owners with an inflated value, probably used Hagerty’s Valuation Tool and went with “Oh yeah, this is a #1 concours for sure!” and then the dealer adds their upcharge. I could see $20k for this under the right circumstances. I believe Wheeler Dealers restored an older 96 also. If you are truly interested, the dealer’s website usually has a good amount of photos. Ebay only allows so much.
Had four 96s. Rolled one doing about 70, flipped it back over and drove home. No glass short one wheel and no exhaust. What fun!! Cut the roof off and put another one on. Fixed like new and drove another two years. Incredible tough car. Great in the woods unstoppable.