Bidders are hot for this 1967 Saab 96 triple, it’s a low-mileage original car that has had a recent restoration. That’s unfortunate in my world as I would much have rather seen it in original-original condition with the original paint and any fading and flaws that were there from the factory. It’s listed here on eBay in Waterford, Connecticut and the current bid price is $12,700 but the reserve isn’t met.
This is a master wish list car for me, in this color, too. I have a thing for three-cylinder vehicles and by 1967, Saab was towards the end of the run with those two-stroke corn-poppers, having moved to a Ford Taunus-based V4. The 96 was a bit bigger than the 93 and 94 which it replaced and was almost like a Model T compared to the 99 which replaced it.
The seller says that this one has just over 38,000 original miles which brings up the question: (no, this isn’t a Floyd R. Turbo response) why was it restored if it only had 38,000 miles on it? It’s an “unmolested piece of history” but almost everything has been redone. I’m all about restoring things back to original spec and this looks like one that has gone in that direction so kudos to the previous owner who took on the work.
My second vehicle was a Dodge van with a three-on-the-tree manual shifter but I have never driven a four-speed manual with a column shifter as Saab had. The interior looks great but some of the details in regard to the paint make me a little nervous. Some of the cracks and crevasses look a little rough and I hate to see fresh paint being put over metal that isn’t laser straight and smooth. Hagerty is at $17,600 for a #2 excellent condition car and when I look at the details here, I don’t see that but the bidders sure like what they see.
The seat covers have been replaced and I think I see a dash crack so that’s about the only flaw that I see inside, other than some possible bodywork issues on the door sills and frames. I’d want to see those details in person before laying down a $15,000+ bid on this one. I’ve had cars show up on a trailer and then have been super disappointed that they looked so great online but in person, it was clear that things were painted over that shouldn’t have been. I’m not saying that’s the case here, but give me original every time.
Here’s the “shrike” that the seller mentions, a nickname for the 841 cc triple-cylinder two-stroke engine, and this one looks perfect. They say that it runs like new and overall this really looks like a gem. If the details don’t prove to be an issue, this could be a real find. Check out the photos and let us know your thoughts on this Saab 96.
Didn’t the Paris Climate Accord ban these?
No. It is to old.
Nope.
Does anyone really pay any attention to that?
Yes, but the federal government moves slow so in time you won’t be able to drive it anymore. Unless you put a electric motor in it
The car have a Monte Carlo Engine, 3 carb.
Not necessarily. Saab used triple carbs on non-Monte Carlos from 65-68. To tell if an engine is a true Monte Carlo is not easy. You have to check the casting numbers on the block, head and intake manifold. You also have to confirm if it has a Monte Carlo high compression crank and high compression pistons. Without X-ray eyes– that ain’t easy :-)
1967, Cape Cod Mass, nigh time, my cousin Ara driving one of these in blue, Procol Harum “Whiter Shade of Pale” on the radio. Ara passed me my first joint. Didn’t much care for the weed, but loved the car.
This one is beautiful. They had 100k mile guarrantee. I got one for free in 1977. I had a gas station and it was towed in and stuck in gear. We gave the owner a high estimate to fix and he never came back to get it. A few years later when vacating the gas station I went to move it out , it started up and I drove it home, unstuck! I gave it to a friend who sent me a postcard 4 years later and said the Saab got stuck in gear on the Blue Ridge Parkway and he left it there.
A guy that lives in my town has one of these I love it when I hear him coming up the road sounds like he’s going 100mph then passes my house at like 30. Cool and different than most of the classics drivin around my area.
Amazed people bid on cars based solely on photographs. Viewed a beautiful Lexus is200 a few years back when looking to buy another car. Lovely metallic red paint and a faultless body. Made a date to view it in person.
The paint turned out to be more of a pink colour and had that ‘rattle can’ finish. The interior could best be described as ‘a shed’. Nothing matched the photographs I saw on the internet. Worse, the owner turned out to be a car mechanic; and you know what they say about about these owners.
I walked away. Fast!
Good luck in California. I read, 2021 is the last year for new 2 stroke sales in California. Off road enthusiasts are outraged. I can’t help but think, some over anxious newbie LEO, trying to impress the Captain, could easily make your day suck by passing them in a cloud of smoke in this. A smoking vehicle, and don’t say these don’t puff, even with modern oil they do, and with the tree huggers I live around, it’s the smoking gun ( pun intended) for all our pollution problems of the world. I’m sure the methane gas from all the cows is a far greater threat, but we don’t hear about that, do we? That and these can’t get out of their own way, and are a nuisance to those that demand right of way simply because they have a bigger vehicle. Choose your path well, Grasshopper.
the ignorant inviro wachos are pushing to do away with cows to eat bullsh** plants (or dirt)
The car got stuck in gear because the shift linkage got bound up.
Easy fix. Hardly worth leaving by the side of the road.
I’d love to own this just to piss off my neighbors. They are willing to Sue all the way to the Supreme Court if I try to use a legal weed killer on the tree sized weeds around here. Imagine tootling past in this car!
We do hear about methane, Howard. A lot. In fact it was one of the most talked about things in Glasgow this year.
But that aside, yes these smoke like mosquito foggers and they are a joy to witness screaming, crackling and popping by (and not going very fast despite the screaming) Two stroke Saabs epitomize the old saying that it’s more fun to drive a slow car fast than it is to drive a fast car slow lol
These cars are a charming reminder of when we were ignorant of what our incessant burning means to the larger reality. And it’s not like your gummint won’t be banning your favorite ICE in your lifetime. So get real about it, and clean up you ignorant “I’m in no relationship the cause of the world’s problems’ attitudes dudes. Cars are great. How we move them is changing, and for the better.
You might want to check your water supply too.
Respectfully I do not believe cars have gotten better. Over the last 30 years they have improved quality, fuel economy, safety etc but in the process completely lost their soul.
Drive down the highway now and all a person sees are blobs that look like melted bars of soap. No styling and nothing distinctive anymore.
As to electric propulsion, I live in ND where it is cold in the winter, darn cold and until an electric vehicle can go just as far on a charge as my ice vehicles, refuel in 10 minutes or less all while pulling an 8000 lb trailer count me out. Not to mention no decent heaters either
I rode a Lyft not too long ago and it was the vaunted Tesla. Not impressed at all. Rear seat was hard as a rock, lots of wheel and road noise and no where near even the luxury of a 30 year old car so count me out for now. Terrible ride quality too I might add.
Fine in theory but they have a long way to go
Very cool! Love the sound of these…. like a “pop-corn” machine!
I had a wagon in brown. Great car the kids loved the rear seat that faced backwards. We (wife and I ) where In Canada one winter to do some skiing and it was an honest 40 F below and the car started like it was a warm day. The two stroke with out oil in the crank case did not know it was cold. I did have to take the battery out and bring in in next to the stove to warm it up a bit.
p.p.s. We skipped the skiing at the temperature!
My Dad was one of the first SAAB dealers in the US. Grew up listening to the 3 cylinder, and inhaling 2 cycle smoke, which would explain the brain damage. Wish I had a place to keep this one, lots of memories. We
Would that be Trio Motors in Flint/Burton, Michigan?
Kurt Vonnegut the sci fi author used to sell these, although not too successfully. I love em.
When I was a kid an old neighbor had one, I could hear it coming a mile away and he would shut the thing off and coast the last half mile into his driveway half the time. You could see the blue smoke from the exhaust half a block away. I used to run to the front door to see it go by. I dont think he had kids ,when he died the house was literally abandoned with the car in the driveway for a few years. Maybe the smoke got to him?
My grandmother had a widow friend in upstate NY who ice-raced a Saab. I was maybe 13 one winter when she drove her car, complete with number on the door, down to VA to visit. It was treacherous when she left NY, so the studded tires stayed on. At my age then I’d been practicing breathing 2-stroke exhaust for at least 10 years, so I was more comfortable with it than with our Pllymouth wagon. I was allowed to drive it carefully down our 3/10 mile lane. She rode with me. She drove back at warp speed, drifting into our driveway. The first time I heard the song “Little old Lady from Pasadena” I figured she’d been reincarnated!
Its very nice and I always liked SAAB. Its has the best engine of all of them. This will be the first vehicle to the crusher in 2060.The younger generations do not want mosquito burners on the planet.
Bought one of these new , 3cyl , oil injection , disc brakes , also it came with a lifetime guarantee to the original owner , 4 speed on the column , good little car , I only put a few ks on it when my brother came home on leave from the Navy , took my Saab out one night and rolled it , it caught on fire the end , I replaced it with a Ford Cortina with a Lotus motor that was a really fun car
john lyon ice raced one for 2 winters in nh auto crosed same car with a reverse cone megiphone and drove car to work often very loud this all in the late 50 or early sixtys they had free wheeling so not to deselerate in gear if you did no oil got to the crank rally the car as well great times
2-stroke engines received a bad rap by people who had no idea, know-nothings. They managed to OUTLAW the 2-stroke ebgine in Germany in the early 1960´s, even though Germany had been 2-stroke country for decades. The prohibition destroyed the entire nmotorcycle industry and a goodly part of the automotive scene as well. Great machines like the DKW, Fichtel & Sachs and Ilo engines, Adler, Goliath, Gutbrod, Tempo ad infinitum – all killed because a few ignorant idiotic tree huggers had made a racket. What a shame. When looking at the magnificent Auto Union 1000Sp convertible, my heart stands still, or the Goliath 700-GP Sports roadster or the DKW RT-350 twin, gorgeous and advanced machines, all, not to forget the incredible Suzuki 2-stroke 4 cylinder racing bike, developed by a German engineer who had defected from former socalled East Germany.
I have one and love it, I get more thumbs up then a new Corvette
I have one also. Bought it from Don.
Worked in a Sunoco station in high school, a hippy chick came in with one of these. This brings back fond memories of all the things she taught me! The chick, not the car….
Back in the early nineties Chrysler had a development project where they were developing a two stroke motor. I was a supplier of high performance plastics that they were looking at to mold various components out of. They built some prototype engines that looked promising, but as I recall the project was dropped a couple of years later. They had an old Saab two stroker in the development garage.
When I was a teenager in upstate NY, a frowned had one of these and put and electric motor driven “key” on the trunk. Looked like a giant wind up car driving down the road.
I have 3!
I own 4 DKW`s, 2 SAAB 96`s including a 1967 tripple just like this one, and a SAAB 95 V4. Also want a Wartburg and another Trabant. Great place to dump old straight 30 or 40 weight oil, pour a quart in the tank and fuel up! Get strange looks at the pump too!
Auction update: this one ended because it’s no longer available.