Saab 92: How an Aircraft Maker Built Its First Car

This page is about the first Saab car. The full company story, from the 92 to the 2011 bankruptcy, is in our Saab history.

Saab 92 key facts

Why an aircraft maker turned to cars

Saab was founded in 1937 to build military aircraft for Sweden. In 1945 the Second World War ended and demand for warplanes fell sharply. The company needed new work for its factories and staff. According to Saab Planet and the old 1cars text, the managers looked at kitchen appliances, prefabricated houses and light commercial vehicles. They chose a small car.

The timing made sense. Sweden had few car makers of its own, and the old 1cars text notes that Volvo's cars were too expensive for many families. A cheap, tough small car could sell well in a country of long winters and gravel roads. The new car took the next project number after the Saab 91 Safir trainer aircraft, so it became Project 92.

Project 92: sixteen engineers and a borrowed engine

Gunnar Ljungström led the engineering team. Its 16 members came from aircraft work and had never built a car. Only two of them held a driving licence.

The engineers studied the pre-war DKW F8, a small German car with front-wheel drive and a two-stroke engine. Both ideas suited the Swedish brief. Front-wheel drive removed the propeller shaft and helped traction on snow. A two-stroke engine had fewer parts, and it was easy to start in the cold because its oil was mixed into the fuel. The first prototype used a borrowed DKW twin of about 13 kW (18 hp) and a DKW gearbox. Ljungström's own engine and gearbox replaced them later.

The body showed the team's aircraft background. It was a monocoque, a self-supporting shell with no separate chassis. The prototype panels were 1.2 mm steel sheets shaped by hand over a wooden jig. To keep the shell stiff, the rear window was small and split, and there was no boot lid.

Sixten Sason and the Ursaab shape

Sixten Sason was an industrial designer and a former military pilot. He drew the first sketches in 1946. The shape looked like a wingless aircraft fuselage: a smooth roof, curved sides and wheels hidden under wide arches.

A 1:10 model reached a drag coefficient of 0.32 in Saab's wind tunnel, and the production car is quoted at 0.30. Those are very low figures for a small car of the 1940s. The first prototype, 92001, became known as the Ursaab, "the original Saab". Four prototypes, numbered 92001 to 92004, came before production. Saab showed the Ursaab to the press at its headquarters on 10 June 1947. It survives today in the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan.

According to the old 1cars text, the leading Swedish car dealer Philipsons asked for 8,000 cars and paid in advance. Saab Planet writes that orders at one point passed 30,000. Either way, demand was far ahead of what the small factory could build.

From prototype to production

Production began on 12 December 1949. Compared with the prototype, the production car got a new front with a different grille and headlights. The old 1cars text says the wheel cut-outs were opened up after winter tests in which snow packed into the enclosed arches. The body was stamped from a single large sheet of steel, then cut for the doors and windows.

Saab Planet counts about 1,400 cars built by the end of calendar 1950. The difference from the 700 above comes from counting model years and calendar years.

Engineering: two strokes, three gears and a freewheel

The production engine was a transverse, water-cooled two-cylinder two-stroke of 764 cc. It gave 19 kW (25 hp). Cooling worked by thermosiphon, without a water pump, according to the old 1cars text. The gearbox had three speeds, and first gear had no synchromesh.

A freewheel was fitted for a reason particular to two-strokes. The engine was lubricated only by oil mixed into the fuel. When the driver lifted off downhill, the engine received almost no fuel and so almost no oil. The freewheel let the car coast with the engine at idle, which protected it. Torsion bars sprang all four wheels.

With a kerb weight under 800 kg in the old 1cars text, the 92 had about 24 kW per tonne by our calculation. That is modest, yet the car's low drag let it hold 105 km/h. You can compare the figure with modern cars in our power-to-weight calculator, and the power converter turns old hp ratings into kW.

Rally wins that built a reputation

Saab used motorsport to prove the car. Two weeks after the 92 went on sale, Saab's chief engineer Rolf Mellde finished second in his class in the Swedish Rally. In 1952 Greta Molander won the Coupe des Dames, the ladies' award, at the Monte Carlo Rally. Her 92 had been tuned to 26 kW (35 hp).

These results set a pattern. Saab's later two-stroke cars, especially the Saab 96, became strong rally cars, and the brand kept its image of tough front-wheel-drive cars for decades.

What the 92 started

The 92 shaped every Saab that followed. The 93 of December 1955 took a three-cylinder two-stroke engine. The Saab 96, which kept the 92's basic shape, stayed in production until 1980. Front-wheel drive, a strong body and aircraft-style thinking remained Saab trademarks up to the Saab 9-3.

Buying a Saab 92 today: our view for collectors

Our view: a Saab 92 suits a collector who wants an important car rather than a fast one. It is the first car of a well-known brand, its design story is well documented, and with 20,128 built it is rare but not unobtainable.

• Most sought after, in our view: early green 1950 cars, because the first year had one colour and the smallest output.
• Easiest to use: a late 92B with the 21 kW engine and the opening boot lid.
• Check first: rust in the self-supporting body, the condition of the two-stroke engine, and correct oil-and-petrol mixing in use.

More Swedish cars are in our Swedish cars list, and the rival from Gothenburg is covered in the history of Volvo. Later Saab models are in the Saab catalogue.

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