This Pick of the Week is not your Uncle Olaf’s Saab. It’s an ultra-rare 1970 Saab 96 V4 factory rally car, a full-on dirt-road warrior built for FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) competition.
The seller says the car is outfitted with “a bare-metal race-car interior, full roll cage, racing seats with 5-point harnesses, Halda Tripmaster, gauges, dead pedal for the navigator, dual fire extinguishers, battery cutoff switch and many extra toggles on the dash.”
“Opening the hood reveals many unobtainium Saab race bits both seen and unseen,” the seller notes. “The 1,850cc motor was built by Saab engine guru Bengt-Erik Strom, (Strom built virtually all of the factory rally engines, including those of Per Eklund and Stig Bloomqvist), and features dual cross-flow manifolds feeding the dual Weber carbs. The valve train … includes many one-off machined pieces, and the engine is good for 145-150 horsepower.”
Painted in the brightest of blues, the rally Saab is listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by the Classic Car Gallery of Southport, Connecticut, with a list price of $24,900. That’s a pretty cheap entry point to the world of vintage rally racing, and the seller notes that if it were a Porsche or BMW similarly equipped, you’d have to add another zero to the price tag.
“This particular car has been written about extensively in Saab circles, is well-known, and one of the rarest Saabs,” the seller says. “With full FIA papers, and known history from new, this car is the most collectable of all Saabs, and would be a great addition to any collection.”
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