NORMAN — Tom Shehan and four of his chums in early 70s Cleveland Heights, Ohio didn’t go for the muscle cars of the day. They distinguished themselves from the pack by driving small utilitarian cars assembled exclusively in Trollhattan, Sweden.
“We became enamored of driving these old crazy little Saabs,” the Norman businessman said. “My first car out of high school was a 1966 sedan with a 2-stroke, 3 cylinder engine.”
These were not sports cars favored by little pampered rich kids. The Saabs of this era were no-nonsense vehicles engineered by a generation used to necessary frugality caused by WWII’s devastation of Europe.
“They were definitely a people’s car,” Shehan said. “New they were priced about the same as a VW Beetle, around eighteen hundred bucks.”
This gang of automotive rebels in the American industrial heartland liked the little cars because they were different. It was an exotic ride for cheap.
“I don’t think I paid more than $500 for my first Saab,” he said. “It ran forever and got great gas mileage.”
Shehan didn’t lose his affinity for the unusual cars as he began a career and started a family with wife Jane. Their son Tom Jr. now a junior at the University of Oklahoma still drives a 1973 Saab 96 he had while at Norman North High School.
There’s also an early ’70s yellow Saab Sonett, the 2-seat fiberglass body roadster in the garage. It’s undergoing restoration and Shehan estimates he’ll have it completed in about a year. Junked or wrecked identical models are dragged home to rob parts from. He showed me a basket case Sonett sitting outside his workshop with the floor rusted through to almost nothing. It still has some salvageable pieces.
His 1968 model 96 is special because it has never been restored.
“We found it in 2000 when we were living in Atlanta,” Shehan said. “A professor at Emory University had put it up for sale. As soon as I saw it I said, ‘I have got to have that car’.”
It was the same color and style as the first 96 he’d owned as a youthful enthusiast. Saabs have a reputation for being favored by tweed sports coat with elbow patch academics, so its background was perfect.
The Emory professor wasn’t the original owner but his aunt had been. Most assuredly this little blue car has always been sheltered in a garage. It had 85,000 miles on it when Shehan took the keys.
That’s an average of well less than 3,000 miles a year from trips to the library and bridge club. The interior is all original and doesn’t need replacement. Powder blue and white vinyl seats and a dash with no cracks are in amazingly good condition for a car pushing 44 years old. It has its wheel covers with the familiar Saab aircraft-design logo, body side molding trim, mud flaps and distinctive rectangular grate grill.
Certainly not a luxury car by any stretch of the imagination, it does have cleverly elegant touches. There’s no air conditioning but “elephant ear” side scoops built into the body draft a breeze for rear seat passengers whose windows also pop out a few inches. The trunk is surprisingly large and under a wooden shelf there’s even room for a full spare tire. Overall the old Saab is just cute as a bug and everything works just as it did in 1968.
If this car was mine I’d name it Britt, for Swedish film star Britt Eckland (69) who also still looks fabulous.
“Basically all I’ve done is clean and take care of it,” Shehan said. “We’ve made a couple of minor changes.”
The old ignition system was replaced with an electronic one to be more reliable. He described some typical Saab over-engineering that’s no longer necessary with electronic ignition.
“On the distributor there’s a fourth hole that looks just like it would be for a spark plug but instead it’s for a plastic tube that runs up near the windshield,” Shehan said. “Outside air is forced into the distributor to keep moisture from accumulating inside and interfering with ignition.”
The Saab’s engine is a 3-cylinder, 840 cc, two-stroke engine that develops 47 hp. Most Americans only associate this kind of engine with chainsaws, outboard motor boats and small motorcycles.
“Mixing motor oil with the gasoline is counter-intuitive,” he said. “You pull this car into a gas station put in six gallons of gasoline and pour in a half quart of oil as well.”
He uses Golden Spectro 2-stroke motorcycle oil, 18 ounces to 7 gallons of preferably non-ethanol unleaded fuel. Because all the engine’s internal lubrication comes from the fuel, the transmission was designed differently to assist with that.
“It has a free-wheel clutch,” Shehan explained. “If the car is going faster than the clutch, it somewhat disengages. If you’re coasting at 50 mph it allows the engine to pretty much go to idle.”
When the driver has reached fourth gear this free-wheeling feature allows her to down-shift to third or second gear without putting the clutch in.
Finding parts has been a challenge.
“Maintenance items like a new front brake cylinder and wheel bearings that wear out and have to be replaced are mainly what I’ve had to buy,” Shehan said. Certain parts are more readily available because Saab used some common British small car parts in their production runs.”
“Every part was engineered to be repaired or renewed,” Shehan said. “Today everything is built to be replaced. You can figure out how to fix virtually anything in that car.”
Metal cases are screwed together rather than welded so they can be taken apart, a component can be worked on and then put back together.
“It’s pretty easy to troubleshoot what’s wrong,” Shehan said. “There’s no computer issues or emissions equipment to deal with.”
Very little plastic was used throughout the car. The seat belts are aircraft-issue with heavy steel buckles and the exterior trim is all metal. Saabs are notorious for being rust buckets. Happily this one is structurally solid with only a few spots of minor surface corrosion.
Shehan doesn’t consider his car beautiful. Its styling is unique.
“It’s really kind of an ugly car,” he said matter-of-factly. “It’s not a pretty automobile.”
Shehan described seeing an early magazine advertisement for the Saab 96 sedan which pictured the car in profile and comparing it to three airplane wings.
“It’s a swoop, a swoop and another swoop,” he said. “They designed it to resemble three wings stacked on each other.”
This quirky uniqueness has spoken to many people who appreciate the difference.
“It’s notable that there’s a worldwide community of those with the same silly passion for these cars,” Shehan said. “It’s not a valuable car and it’s not a fine sports car. We just love driving them, the challenge of working on it and the interaction with people when they see it.”
Shehan gets smiles everywhere he drives the little blue car. Folks approach him at stores and gas stations to tell a story about a friend or relative who had one.
“Oklahoma couldn’t have been a big market for these cars but people remember them,” Shehan said. “Other than my son’s, I have never seen an old Saab on the street here.”
It was difficult for him to adequately articulate the satisfaction he’s felt working with Tom Jr. on these old autos throughout adolescence and now into young adulthood.
“It gave us something to have in common,” he said. “For the most part we won’t let anyone else work on these cars, we much prefer to do it ourselves and that’s the fun of it, deciphering what’s wrong and then fixing it.”
Jane Shehan has been fully supportive of this male bonding and motoring pastime in the family.
“I love these little cars,” she said. “I’m just not real fond of driving around in them when it’s really hot though.”
Have you seen a cool vehicle around town? Writer Doug Hill’s always on the lookout for future Dig My Ride columns. E-mail him at Hillreviews@hotmail.com.
