Images are from the brochure collection of Hemmings Motor News
The “Born from Jets” tagline of the mid-2000s may have seemed fresh at the time -if a bit far-fetched for the then-GM subsidiary- but as we see in this charmingly colorful 1959-printed brochure, SAAB was using the same advertising theme nearly a half-century earlier, calling out the other (aeronautical) transportation products built by Svenska Aeroplan AktieBolaget.
Early SAAB cars were famous for their two-stroke engines, as well as their sturdy, aerodynamic bodies and front wheel-drive. The 748-cc,38 hp three-cylinder 93 model had been available in the U.S.A. since 1957, and was refined into the 1958-’59 93B, before the one-year-only 1960 93F debuted in late 1959. This new letter denoted its front-hinged doors, which replaced the butterfly-opening doors of 92s and earlier 93s. Despite this substantial engineering change, the brochure still shows some 93s with rear-hinged doors, thanks to carryover artwork on the last two pages.
And while the external trunk opening was a feature from the late 92, the small rear window visible in the photo below would soon be history;
The 96 that followed the 93F in late-1960 featured a much larger the wrap-around rear window and re-contoured rear side windows whose shape created this marque’s characteristic “hockey stick” side window profile.
And as we see, Nash wasn’t the only automaker to offer a bed conversion in its cars; Sweden’s largely unimproved roads and paucity of American-style motels in the 1950s meant both Saab and Volvo offered convertible bed-style seating.
The 93F had a very short production run, with some sources citing just over 5,000 final 93 models built in 1960. We know of a few still on the road… have you ever experienced one?
Click on the brochure images below to enlarge.
from Hemmings Daily – News for the collector car enthusiast http://ift.tt/2auH9qK
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