A car with a human face?

[Ed Ferris]

Is it just me, or does the old SAAB 93 look strangely anthropomorphic?

(I tried pasting the picture here, but it didn't render. See attachment.)

Anybody else remember:
turn the key and pull the T-handle to start?
the radiator blind?
suicide doors?
the single overhead fanshaft?
the generator getting sprayed by the water pump?
an engine you could lift out by hand, if you didn't mind getting your T-shirt greasy?
the clock that always seemed to be wound down?
the temperature gauge filled with ether?
those pathetic rubber-disc U-joints?
Girling natural rubber brake seals?
the fuel pump that you had to whack with a hammer occasionally?
and, in the end,
cracks where the front suspension attached to the unibody?

[Ed Ferris]

This may be getting into 95/96 territory:

one-inch spark plugs, from NGK when Bosch stopped making them;
circular vents in the wheel wells, which you were supposed to open, half-open, or close according to the temperature;
four engine mounts, the firewall one was usually torn but it didn't make any difference;
stopping by the side of the freeway to pull an ignition cable partly off an oiled plug, to give it an air gap and get it firing again;
the freewheel, and how the engine braking would jerk your passenger out of his seat if you locked it;
the GT-750 ignition cables, which consisted of bare copper wires in a transparent plastic tube;
the little shield that was supposed to keep the rain coming through the grille off the distributor;
how practically any Bosch points would fit and work in the distributor;
two mufflers but only one exhaust pipe.

A comment I got more than once was that the car looked like a Hoover vacuum cleaner.

[Ed Ferris]

exhaust gaskets consisting of gypsum between two aluminum stampings;
the dashboard-mounted rear-view mirror (and none on the sides), which combined with a small rear window and blind rear quarters made driving in traffic hazardous;
the GT850 oil-injection tank with its sight glass reading "Ni Har Kvar" ("you have left") and feeding seven tiny oil passages drilled in impossible directions through the nickel-steel block;
the door windows which could not be completely lowered, preventing elbow-on-the-sill driving -- probably a good thing considering the suicide doors;
the toggled rear windows on the 95 wagon, which would open one inch at most;
the bus-size steering wheel and its necessary leverage in slow-speed turns.

With all this oddity, though, it was a good city car. It would overheat on expressways.

[engineman]

My 59 had suicide doors. The engine ran a rod bearing. I unbolted the engine and lifted it out with my bare hands. You had to pour oil into the gas tank and then fill it with gas. I welded a church key to the underside of the gas cap.

My 61 had regular doors and a full length fabric sunroof. The starter ring gear failed and I had to take that engine out to replace it.

They were good snow cars, I lived on Long Island in those days.

[NORTY FLATZ]

Edsel...

Yes, I'll find the door...

[unit731]

I had the Saab 96 with 4 speed on column.
Was a high quality car.

Saab had the market here many decades ago. Long before Subaru became the car of choice here in snow hill and mountain country.

[adjusterjack]

The 1958 Pontiac taillights and back up lights comprised a "face." A pretty angry face, at that.