Wow – we’re certainly a fan of low mileage vehicles on this page, but a mere four miles on the clock may take the cake as being one of the lowest ones yet we’ve seen for a car of this vintage. This is a very late production Saab 96, which obviously continued being manufactured overseas long after the last one was sold stateside. The listing claims the Saab was quite literally never driven after being delivered to its first owner, for some reason going right into the barn shortly after it showed up. The colors are great and the condition is outstanding but it’s still a non-runner at the moment. Find the Saab here on NetAukion.se and thanks to Barn Finds reader Espen for the find.
While this isn’t necessarily a high-dollar car, it’s an instant centerpiece to a collection of old-school Saab vehicles or just vintage European cars in general. The green paintwork is definitely unique and period-correct, and of course, it appears to be flawless. The listing reports that the last model years of the Saab 96 were built in Finland by SAAB Valmet, where this model was produced. The color is called Acacia green and comes with a matching green interior; like I said, this is straight out of the 1970s. Although I can’t be 100 percent certain, this later 96 appears to have some styling details I don’t recall seeing on any U.S.-market cars, like the rear spoiler.
The interior truly is of a time-warp quality, and everything in here is perfect, from the steering wheel to the door panels to the carpets – there’s literally nothing to fault. I dig the colors, too, as it seems perfect for a Saab of any vintage, but especially a 96. The curious thing about it is that the cabin is still in such good order after years of being left standing. Did the original owner intend for this to be a museum-type car someday, preserving it for posterity’s sake out of a love for the brand or hopes of a windfall (or both?) Final production year models make people do funny things, as if the end of the line somehow guarantees the car in question will be an instant collector’s item.
But even a car with a mere four miles on the clock isn’t immune to the perils of age, as the rusty air cleaner goes to show you. It makes you wonder if the underside photos would show an otherwise perfect car pockmarked by surface rust up and down the frame rails. While many of us know this to be superficial, the concern would still be that a potential buyer of rare, low-mileage cars will be scared away from bidding because the second they get it home, they’ll have to distort the originality to make the engine bay appear as perfect as the rest of the car. However, if you can track down an original air cleaner that’s never been painted and is in mint condition, you might be able to get away with a swap. Regardless, this is an unrepeatable car!
Oh, man, I would so love to daily drive this!
I know it would be sacrilege to the Saab faithful (of which I am one), and a shame to waste the last, all-original, literally new 96 left on the planet. But it would be so much fun! I don’t care that this car would be slower, less comfortable, not as safe, etc. etc. than any new car. It has character! It has personality! Every drive would put an ear-to-ear grin on my face the likes of which no modern box could ever do. Plus you’d get smiles and waves from everyone on the street, and every stop for gas would be a conversation starter. Think of the Cars&Coffee possibilities!
I think it would be totally ‘practical’ enough. We drove cars like this every day 40 years ago, and somehow, the world didn’t come to an end.
Unfortunately, in this time of absolutely insane collector car prices (see: BaT), this car will probably sell for more than a house goes for in many parts of this country, and will be relegated to museum-like display only purposes. It will likely end up as but one of a great many cars in some uber-rich person’s collection.
They won’t know what they’re missing.
Now that Ive seen the Holy Grail I can start my day. This will not be on the road but in a museum or someone’s collection. Look for this to possibly show up on BAT at some point. Flippers gotta flip you know.
Probably no point in the new owner getting it running- just push it into place at the museum or 20 car garage and there it will sit for posterity. Kinda sad.
I think I saw on another Saab-centric site that it sold for ~$50,000 USD!
Yes you are correct there.
Even though I am not a fan of Saabs, any car which is ultra-low-mileage and has survived in that state for forty-plus years is something to be admired and enjoyed.
I had a particular thought after seeing the pics.
Sometimes a low-mileage (but not ultra-low mileage) vehicle will show up here on Barn Finds. There will be surface rust underneath and (especially) underhood. Comments will be along the lines “I don’t believe the mileage claim, look at that rust!”. Here is an example of what time and humidity will do. Underhood parts often got a thin coat of paint, sometimes no paint at all. So they rust. It has next to nothing to do with mileage, as Jeff points out.
looking at all the pics on the Swedish site, there is quite a lot of surface rust on the body in various areas. It would need a complete repaint to make it look new again, and prevent further corrosion, not to mention the mechanical work needed
This is a V4 Super, and the spoiler was part of the package. Depending upon when this car was built (could have been late ’79 for 1980) it could have been one of the final 96s built…which, I believe, were V4 Supers with this appearance package. 1980 was the end of the line for the 96. Bruce Turk, if you’re out there, might know more about this.
Saab stopped exporting the 96 (and the 95) in 1973 or 1974, so this car was built in Uusikapunki, Finland for the Scandinavian market. The interior is straight out of the Saab 99. Drivetrain would have been the Ford V4 and a four speed manual on the floor. I’ve seen cars similar to this at shows and they do present well.
One thing, tho……this car is sitting on the incorrect wheels. It should be wearing “soccer ball” wheels..so named because they do bear a resemblance to soccer balls. I wonder if these wheels were put on the car when it went into hibernation to spare the soccer balls?
Nice car…..would love to add it to my fleet of Saabs, but the price to ship it to the States would be ugly………..
I don’t doubt you know SAABs much better than me – but the 96 has a 4-on-the-tree manual…! 😏
Great time capsule. I was a Saab maniac during the years of the 96. I’d love to own this car. They are wonderful-driving vehicles, stable and secure-feeling in ways other small cars were not, and loaded with safety features including roll cage construction. The 96 was a highly successful rally car in Europe.
The impact bumpers arrived after 96 sales ceased for the US (1973), and the rear spoiler with revised tail lamps appeared toward the very end. The final model year was 1980.
“The listing claims the Saab was quite literally never driven after being delivered to its first owner”
who must have lived at the end of the production line.
I wonder why they didn’t detail the engine compartment,
& paint some of the pieces in their.Of course you’d take “before”
pictures.
Located in Sweden
I’m guessing that someone who had been driving round-body Saabs for going on 30 years found bought it and put it away so he’d have a new one when his then-current daily driver wore out, much like the “Last Convertibles” a few years before.
Both the spoiler and the steel rims were standard equipment for the Swedish market (together with seat warmers and headlight wipers)
A Swedish article I read indicated that no one really knows why the car was just parked when new. It was owned by an older, and reportedly rather abrasive man and the car was found after he had passed.
It’s an interesting car, but I can’t quite see the point of a car that you can’t really use. I did like the “Veefyra” (V4) which was all they were called in Sweden (can’t ever remember anyone saying 96) but I’d rather have one from the late 60’s or early 70’s as I think they became quite ugly with the big turn signals, plastic grille and huge bumpers.
It looks like everything under the hood is rusted. Did they not paint the parts?
They painted them but the air cleaner, heater fan housing and some other small parts under hood received what seemed like one coat of a semi-gloss paint that held up OK in daily use, but was susceptible to slow onset of surface rust due to moisture in the air. So this is about normal for 42 years of absolutely no maintenance.
For my part, I’d rather receive the car this way and refurb those parts to my standard, rather than receive whatever someone else decided was good enough.
So true, I have been around too many ultra mileage cars where the next owner, often a flipper, pulled it out of an estate then starts meddling with detailing the engine. They actually are making it more difficult to resell, as seen on here many times times where a 5k mile car is listed and the flipper sprayed the valve covers or something else minor and every one immediately starts questioning the miles because the valve covers have fresh paint. Best to leave as is for top dollar.
Here is proof that the US was not alone in fitting ugly black rubber bumpers.
really like the 96 waggys (super w/period correct rack on top) or as the monticarlo model (rally).
Maybe I’m becoming cynical in my old age. But I’ve got to regard and original mileage claim like this with a healthy dose of skepticism. Let’s apply Occam’s Razor here. Which is more likely, that somebody bought a brand new car with LESS than delivery miles on it trucked it home and parked it for 40 or 50 years; or is it that somebody did a fairly decent refurbishment after the odometer rolled over? Not straight calling BS on the mileage claim, but I’d need quite a bit of proof before I believed it.
It does happen. Seen it several times in the court settlement estate line of work I do. Not sure what the story on this one is, but I don’t doubt the miles all. People aren’t buying a new car and simply storing it. Normally these type of cars come out of complicated estates, or court settlements, prison terms, family fighting over estates, lost heirs, long term illness, etc. Often cars like this were bought and the owner died days later. The spouse didn’t drive, or there was no spouse and family members didn’t want it, or someone went to prison. Had that happen 3 years ago when we pulled a 1972 Thunderbird out of garage with less than a 1,000 miles. There are actually tons of cars in garages that are 40 years old with less than 10,000 miles on the clock. The circumstances almost always are unique in each situation. I realize that may be hard to believe but I deal with it regularly.