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Anyone remember the 2-stroke Saab 95? They were very popular in Maine in the 60s, where they were thought of as an excellent winter car, maybe outselling VWs there. There were also a few DKWs, which were also 2-stroke. I drove a DKW briefly, almost bought one in New Brunswick, but don't remember much about the feel of it.
I have a funny story about a Saab from the 60's. I think they were 3 cylinder cars, as I remember. Anyway, one weekend we were at the local drag strip racing, and there was a guy who brought his Saab. At first, he was in a class with things like VW bugs, and he beat them and moved up to the next class.
The way it worked was a handicap system, where they would let a slower class car get a head start, and the faster class car would sit on the starting line until his light went on, then he would try to chase down the slower class car. So, if a 15 second car was racing a 11 second car, the slower car would get a 4 second head start to even things out.
The Saab kept somehow getting to the finish line before all the cars he was racing, as they progressively sat longer and longer on the starting line, and he moved up the classes.
He finally got to Top Elimininator, where he was up against a blown dragster ! His light blinked down, and he took off (by now he was all fired up and his little front tires actually spun a little off the line ) He ran down the track while the dragster sat and sat, until finally it was the dragsters time to take off. By now, the Saab was 3/4 down the track, and the dragster was flying to catch up, but the Saab just squeaked over the finish line before the dragster got there !
So, the Saab took Top Eliminator that day, and the next weekend he came back and tried it again, but was beaten early on in his class by some VW. But at least he had his 15 minutes of glory !
Back in their day, the 2-stroke Saabs were great European rally cars, winning the Monte Carlo rally, the most prestigious rally of that time, several times:
I had a friend who had a 2-stroke Saab. They were known to have a very rough idle. He went to an outboard motor shop to see if somebody could solve the problem since outboards idled smoothly. Back then, outboard manufacturers had some of the best 2-stroke technology.
Had a Saab 96.
The 2-stroke ended. Early emission standards or something.
Came with a German V4 I think.
4 speed on the column.
Those real Swedish cars had high quality.
I had one of those.
Had a handle on the floor that you could pull out and free-wheel.
I remember kind of stirring it along with that 4-speed on the column. The 4 cylinder engine had a balance shaft that worked to counter the vibration of the crankshaft. There were a couple of times I bounced the tach off the stops at 7000 rpm.
I had a SAAB 99 in the late 70's and was somewhat familiar with the previous models. My roommate at the time picked up a cheap SAAB 96 with serious rust problems as a daily beater, and it served him well for a period of time. He never paid more than $300 for a used car, so you can imagine its condition. But it ran well and as I recall it had an excellent heater. I'm certain his had the 4-cycle V4 engine and not the earlier inline-3 two-stroke engine.
The V4 was a German Ford, the Cardinal design. It was used in a US Ford, so you could get parts for it. A very tight fit in the SAAB engine compartment. Two different variations of it had two different spark-plug reaches, so you would occasionally hear the pistons tapping against the (wrong) plugs.
The freewheel was because the two-stroke engine had a ferocious jerk on overrun. Brought a passenger out of his seat once.
Rough idle was because they never got the carburation right -- single and triple Solexes. The triple was funny because it fed a single intake manifold which, to my mind, made its effect no different from a single-throat.
What killed all the 93-95-96's was that the unibody cracked at the front suspension, from the repeated flexing.
I have a funny story about a Saab from the 60's. ..
The Saab kept somehow getting to the finish line before all the cars he was racing, as they progressively sat longer and longer on the starting line, and he moved up the classes.
He finally got to Top Elimininator, where he was up against a blown dragster ! ...the Saab just squeaked over the finish line before the dragster got there !
I was hoping that the story would have ended differently... In the final race, there was a fault at the lights. Instead of getting spotted 7 seconds in the quarter mile, the Saab driver ended up taking off after the dragster. Infuriated, he took off, running the dragster down, and beating him by several lengths, going on to post a 6.9s 1/4 mile at 215 mph... a new record.
All of the winning cars had to submit to post-race detailed tech-inspection. It wasn't until examination in the pits that it was revealed that the Saab was actually sporting a blown 426 Hemi running on mix of methanol and nitromethane... RWD conversion (of course), tube chassis, all dressed up to look like a Saab.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed Ferris
The V4 was a German Ford, the Cardinal design. It was used in a US Ford, so you could get parts for it. ...
It was a clever and promising engine-design, that should have been developed further. It's hard to be more compact and spacially efficient than a narrow-angle V4. Best would be an all-aluminum block (aluminium if British), with cast iron cylinder liners, cam-in-block (overhead valve) for compactness, around 3L displacement. Exhaust headers flowing forwards, for two front-mounted turbochargers. Forget balance shafts... let it shake! Even better, use motor-plates to use the engine block as a stressed chassis member.
I love the smell of 2-stroke in the morning. Smells like Victory!
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His light blinked down, and he took off (by now he was all fired up and his little front tires actually spun a little off the line 
