Saab 92001
Encyclopedia
The first Saab Automobile
was the SAAB 92001, the Ursaab.
As the Second World War was drawing to a close, the SAAB company, a manufacturer of warplanes, realised that it needed to enter a different market. An automobile
project was envisaged codenamed XP92, meaning experiment-personbil 92 (experimental car 92). What they aimed for was a replacement for small German cars like Opel Kadett
, DKW
and Adler
. The target consumer price was 3200 SEK in 1942 value. The final decision to start the automobile project was made in the fall of 1945. Bror Bjurströmer, who was then head of the design department, developed a 1:25 scale sketch and the overall design specifications, which included the following:
The choice of suicide doors was made by Gunnar Ljungström (head of the development team) as he wanted to lessen the risk of damaging doors whilst driving out of a garage.
Development was started in Linköping
by a 20-person team led by Ljungström. The immediately preceding Saab production code was for an aeroplane - the Saab 91 Safir
. It was for this reason that the first car project was called the Saab 92 (92001). Normally the development would have been handled by the testing workshop, but it was busy with the Saab 91 Safir and the Saab 90 Scandia. Thus the tool workshop, which had a lighter workload at that juncture, was given the assignment.
The engineers responsible for making the prototype
had no prior experience in making cars, and out of the 16 engineers only two had a driving license. They needed information about the car manufacturing process, but had to simultaneously keep the project secret. A few visits were made to Nyköpings Automobilfabrik (later ANA
), but as the extent of their work involved the simple installation of bodies on imported ladder frame chassis, the engineers were not able to gather as much information as they had hoped. Also, since all available literature only described how cars were made before the war, they realised that much of the manufacturing process would have to be learned on their own. Close to SAAB's factory was, and still is,
a junkyard
where the engineers found both parts and inspiration.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=58.402979~15.662459&style=a&lvl=18&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=29610811&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1 They also purchased a number of cars to study, including a DKW, a Hanomag
, an Opel Kadett and a Volkswagen
.
Structural integrity concerns led to other design decisions. The team tasked with that portion of the project was used to building aircraft where every opening was covered with a load-bearing hatch. Since this was not viable on an automobile, it was decided that the body structure should be strengthened through the use of a rear window that was as small as possible and which used a split-window design, and omission of a rear bootlid.
Because the car had to have a very low drag coefficient
, aerodynamic tests were part of the early evaluations. Thus, the body was of novel design and, with safety in mind, it provided damage-resistance in the event of an accident. Winter driving capability was enhanced via front-wheel-drive and wide wheel arches which allowed for snow accumulation without obstruction of the wheels.
Using some carpenters from Motala
, a full size mock-up in alder
wood was built in the spring of 1946. The model was coloured black using shoe polish. Some extra workers were recruited from Thorells Kylarfabrik in Linköping for building the steel body. Hand-shaping the 1.2 mm thick steel sheets proved to be difficult work. By summer 1946 the first prototype body was ready, hand beaten on a wooden jig.
The colour was a problem - the Managing Director wanted it painted black, but the vice MD wanted it blue. But the workshop had already purchased black paint, making it a moot point. The SAAB paint workshop did not have the capacity to handle the paint job so the builders contacted Aktiebolaget Svenska Järnvägsverkstäderna (ASJ), the Swedish railroad works in Arlöv
. The firm was experienced in painting railway cars and buses. Having been told that their assistance was needed in painting a car, the company was initially reluctant to help since it was thought that the vehicle was a management car such as a DeSoto
or something that would take a lot of time. However, when it was learned that the vehicle was a prototype of a new car, ASJ quickly took the job.
The prototype had a borrowed 13 kW
(18 hp
) two-cylinder two-stroke engine, which was placed transversely in the front of the vehicle. The first engine and gearbox came from a DKW vehicle, but they were later replaced with an engine and gearbox designed by Gunnar Ljungström. The prototype engine blocks were made by Albinmotor. The head of the firm, Albin Larsson, was hesitant to take work since the cooling pipes in the engine block were considered to be complicated. After test driving the prototype, however, Larsson changed his mind.
The original 1946 Saab 92001 was driven over 530000 kilometres (329,327.6 mi), typically in utter secrecy, and usually on narrow and muddy forest roads and in early mornings or late nights. Today it is in the Saab museum in Trollhättan
, with a cleaned grille and more roadworthy headlights. It is called Ursaab, meaning 'original SAAB'.
The 92001 design was improved by Sixten Sason
in 1947, resulting in another prototype: the 92002. The most remarkable difference between 92001 and 92002 is the hood. The earlier hood design and the use of a hood mechanism from an Opel Kadett made removal of the engine difficult, as one would have to turn it 90 degrees and bring out the drive package with the gearbox first. Inspired by American cars that had cascading front-ends, the redesigned hood allowed for improved access to the engine bay. After an additional four prototypes the design was ready for production as the Saab 92
. The aerofoil shape of 92001 was echoed in that and later Saab models, up to and including the Saab 96
.
Saab Automobile
Saab Automobile AB, better known as Saab , is a Swedish car manufacturer owned by Dutch automobile manufacturer Swedish Automobile NV, formerly Spyker Cars NV. It is the exclusive automobile Royal Warrant holder as appointed by the King of Sweden...
was the SAAB 92001, the Ursaab.
As the Second World War was drawing to a close, the SAAB company, a manufacturer of warplanes, realised that it needed to enter a different market. An automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
project was envisaged codenamed XP92, meaning experiment-personbil 92 (experimental car 92). What they aimed for was a replacement for small German cars like Opel Kadett
Opel Kadett
The Opel Kadett is a small family car produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel between 1937 and 1940, and then again from 1962 until 1991 , when it was replaced by the Opel Astra.-Original model :...
, DKW
DKW
DKW is a historic German car and motorcycle marque. The name derives from Dampf-Kraft-Wagen .In 1916, the Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen founded a factory in Zschopau, Saxony, Germany, to produce steam fittings. In the same year, he attempted to produce a steam-driven car, called the DKW...
and Adler
Adler (automobile)
Adler was a German automobile and motorcycle manufacturer from 1900 until 1957. Adler is German for eagle.-History:The Adler factory produced bicycles, typewriters, and motorcycles in addition to cars...
. The target consumer price was 3200 SEK in 1942 value. The final decision to start the automobile project was made in the fall of 1945. Bror Bjurströmer, who was then head of the design department, developed a 1:25 scale sketch and the overall design specifications, which included the following:
- A wheelbaseWheelbaseIn both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels.- Road :In automobiles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the center of the front wheel and the center of the rear wheel...
of 2.75 metres (108.3 in) and total length of 4.5 metres (177.2 in) - Employment of a monocoqueMonocoqueMonocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...
design - 50% less dragDrag (physics)In fluid dynamics, drag refers to forces which act on a solid object in the direction of the relative fluid flow velocity...
than other cars - 800 kilogram maximum weight
- Power from a transverse-mountedTransverse engineA transverse engine is an engine mounted in a vehicle so that the engine's crankshaft axis is perpendicular to the long axis of the vehicle. Many modern front wheel drive vehicles use this engine mounting configuration...
two-stroke engineInternal combustion engineThe internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine... - Front-wheel driveFront-wheel driveFront-wheel drive is a form of engine/transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and...
The choice of suicide doors was made by Gunnar Ljungström (head of the development team) as he wanted to lessen the risk of damaging doors whilst driving out of a garage.
Development was started in Linköping
Linköping
Linköping is a city in southern middle Sweden, with 104 232 inhabitants in 2010. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality with 146 736 inhabitants and the capital of Östergötland County...
by a 20-person team led by Ljungström. The immediately preceding Saab production code was for an aeroplane - the Saab 91 Safir
Saab 91 Safir
|-See also:-References:*Smith, Maurice A. . Flight, 23 October 1947, pp. 459–462.-External links:* * * *...
. It was for this reason that the first car project was called the Saab 92 (92001). Normally the development would have been handled by the testing workshop, but it was busy with the Saab 91 Safir and the Saab 90 Scandia. Thus the tool workshop, which had a lighter workload at that juncture, was given the assignment.
The engineers responsible for making the prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
had no prior experience in making cars, and out of the 16 engineers only two had a driving license. They needed information about the car manufacturing process, but had to simultaneously keep the project secret. A few visits were made to Nyköpings Automobilfabrik (later ANA
AB Nyköpings Automobilfabrik
AB Nyköpings Automobilfabrik founded in 1937 was an automobile manufacturer in Nyköping that assembled trucks from Chrysler, DeSoto, Plymouth, Fargo and later also Škoda and Standard and from the mid 1950s also Simca. In 1960 the company was bought by SAAB and renamed SAAB-ANA and changed into...
), but as the extent of their work involved the simple installation of bodies on imported ladder frame chassis, the engineers were not able to gather as much information as they had hoped. Also, since all available literature only described how cars were made before the war, they realised that much of the manufacturing process would have to be learned on their own. Close to SAAB's factory was, and still is,
a junkyard
Wrecking yard
A scrapyard or junkyard is the location of a dismantling business where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brought, their usable parts are sold for use in operating vehicles, while the unusable metal parts, known as scrap metal parts, are sold to metal-recycling companies...
where the engineers found both parts and inspiration.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=58.402979~15.662459&style=a&lvl=18&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=29610811&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1 They also purchased a number of cars to study, including a DKW, a Hanomag
Hanomag
Hanomag was a German producer of steam locomotives, tractors, trucks and military vehicles. Hanomag first achieved international fame by delivering a large number of steam locomotives to Romania and Bulgaria before World War I....
, an Opel Kadett and a Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
.
Structural integrity concerns led to other design decisions. The team tasked with that portion of the project was used to building aircraft where every opening was covered with a load-bearing hatch. Since this was not viable on an automobile, it was decided that the body structure should be strengthened through the use of a rear window that was as small as possible and which used a split-window design, and omission of a rear bootlid.
Because the car had to have a very low drag coefficient
Drag coefficient
In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment such as air or water. It is used in the drag equation, where a lower drag coefficient indicates the object will have less aerodynamic or...
, aerodynamic tests were part of the early evaluations. Thus, the body was of novel design and, with safety in mind, it provided damage-resistance in the event of an accident. Winter driving capability was enhanced via front-wheel-drive and wide wheel arches which allowed for snow accumulation without obstruction of the wheels.
Using some carpenters from Motala
Motala
Motala is a locality and the seat of Motala Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 29,798 inhabitants in 2005. It is the third largest city of Östergötland, following Linköping and Norrköping...
, a full size mock-up in alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
wood was built in the spring of 1946. The model was coloured black using shoe polish. Some extra workers were recruited from Thorells Kylarfabrik in Linköping for building the steel body. Hand-shaping the 1.2 mm thick steel sheets proved to be difficult work. By summer 1946 the first prototype body was ready, hand beaten on a wooden jig.
The colour was a problem - the Managing Director wanted it painted black, but the vice MD wanted it blue. But the workshop had already purchased black paint, making it a moot point. The SAAB paint workshop did not have the capacity to handle the paint job so the builders contacted Aktiebolaget Svenska Järnvägsverkstäderna (ASJ), the Swedish railroad works in Arlöv
Arlöv
Arlöv is the seat of Burlöv Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden. It is statistically not defined as a locality of its own, but forms part of the contiguous Malmö urban area, 5 km northeast of downtown Malmö. Out of Malmö's 280,000 inhbitants, 11000 live in Arlöv...
. The firm was experienced in painting railway cars and buses. Having been told that their assistance was needed in painting a car, the company was initially reluctant to help since it was thought that the vehicle was a management car such as a DeSoto
DeSoto (automobile)
The DeSoto was a brand of automobile based in the United States, manufactured and marketed by the Chrysler Corporation from 1928 to 1961. The DeSoto logo featured a stylized image of Hernando de Soto...
or something that would take a lot of time. However, when it was learned that the vehicle was a prototype of a new car, ASJ quickly took the job.
The prototype had a borrowed 13 kW
Kw
kw or KW may refer to:* Kuwait, ISO 3166-1 country code** .kw, the country code top level domain for Kuwait* Kilowatt* Self-ionization of water Kw* Cornish language's ISO 639 code* Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada...
(18 hp
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
) two-cylinder two-stroke engine, which was placed transversely in the front of the vehicle. The first engine and gearbox came from a DKW vehicle, but they were later replaced with an engine and gearbox designed by Gunnar Ljungström. The prototype engine blocks were made by Albinmotor. The head of the firm, Albin Larsson, was hesitant to take work since the cooling pipes in the engine block were considered to be complicated. After test driving the prototype, however, Larsson changed his mind.
The original 1946 Saab 92001 was driven over 530000 kilometres (329,327.6 mi), typically in utter secrecy, and usually on narrow and muddy forest roads and in early mornings or late nights. Today it is in the Saab museum in Trollhättan
Trollhättan
Trollhättan is a city and the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 44,498 inhabitants in 2005. It is located 75 km north of Sweden's second-largest city, Gothenburg....
, with a cleaned grille and more roadworthy headlights. It is called Ursaab, meaning 'original SAAB'.
The 92001 design was improved by Sixten Sason
Sixten Sason
Sixten Sason was a Swedish industrial designer.Sason started working for Saab, designing aircraft throughout World War II. Following the war, he was asked to contribute to Project 92, the result of which would be the first Saab automobile, the Saab 92 which began production in 1949...
in 1947, resulting in another prototype: the 92002. The most remarkable difference between 92001 and 92002 is the hood. The earlier hood design and the use of a hood mechanism from an Opel Kadett made removal of the engine difficult, as one would have to turn it 90 degrees and bring out the drive package with the gearbox first. Inspired by American cars that had cascading front-ends, the redesigned hood allowed for improved access to the engine bay. After an additional four prototypes the design was ready for production as the Saab 92
Saab 92
Saab 92 is an automobile from Saab. The design was very aerodynamic for its time, and the cW value was 0.30 . The entire body was stamped out of one piece of sheet metal and then cut to accommodate doors and windows. Full-scale production started December 12, 1949, based on the prototype Saab 92001...
. The aerofoil shape of 92001 was echoed in that and later Saab models, up to and including the Saab 96
Saab 96
For the modern car, see Saab 9-6The Saab 96 is an automobile made by Saab. It was introduced in 1960 and was produced until January 1980, a run of 20 years. Like the 93 it replaced, the 96 was a development from the old Saab 92 chassis and, on account of its improvements and modernisation, it...
.