The Saab 96 is an automobile manufactured and marketed by Saab from 1960 to January 1980, replacing the 93. The 96 featured aerodynamic two-door bodywork, four-passenger seating and at first a two-stroke, three-cylinder engine, later a four-stroke V4.
Body design
Compared with its predecessor, the Saab 93, the 96 featured greater and more easily accessible storage space and a larger rear window. The front end was lengthened for 1965 models, in preparation for a new engine, and the radiator was placed ahead of the engine, rather than above and behind, a leftover from when earlier models had thermosiphon cooling. Both front and rear windows were enlarged slightly for 1968 models.
Engine
The Saab 96 had a longitudinally mounted engine layout. As first designed, it had an 841 cc displacement, three-cylinder Saab two-stroke engine. By 1965 this was increased to . An optional version of the engine, with triple carburetors and oil injection, was used in the Sport/Monte Carlo models. The additional power was obtained from a modified cylinder head and filled crankshaft counterweights offering higher overall compression ratio. For 1966 models, the standard 96 841 cc engine, using pre-mix oil, appeared with a three throat Solex carburetor in which the center carburetor handled start, idle, and low speed functions, increasing the power to . The same carburetor had been used in the Sport/Monte Carlo models. A common throttle shaft minimized carburetor synchronization problems.
In 1967, Saab began marketing the 96 V4, with the Ford Taunus V4 engine, a four-stroke 1498 cc V4 engine, originally developed for the 1962 Ford Taunus 15M. Saab's project to source a four-stroke engine was dubbed 'Operation Kajsa'. The two-stroke option was offered until 1968. Four-stroke engines had been tested before, between 1962 and 1964 Kjell Knutsson and Ingvar Andersson under Rolf Mellde tested three different engines: a 45 PS Lloyd Arabella of 897 cc; a 33 hp BMC A-Series 848-cc engine and a Lancia Appia engine of 1089cc and 48 hp. However Rolf Mellde's view that Saab needed to switch to a four-stroke engine was stopped higher up by CEO Tryggve Holm. Mellde then went behind the back of Holm and made contact with Marc Wallenberg, son of Marcus Wallenberg, Saab's major stockholder. The coup succeeded and testing could begin. The tested engines were Volvo B18, Ford V4, Triumph 1300, Lancia V4 engine, Opel, Volkswagen and Hillman Imp.
The B18 was the most reliable, but the Ford V4 was not far behind and was significantly easier to fit into the engine bay of the 96. The testing was done in secrecy. Per Gillbrand took a leave of absence and said he was going to run his father's paint shop. In reality he went to Desenzano in northern Italy with a 96 V4 prototype for testing. With five months to go before production only seven persons knew about the new engine. To maintain secrecy they rented a house west of Kristinehamn. To keep purchases of V4 specific parts secret they started a front corporation, Maskinverktyg AB (meaning Machine-Tool Company). The ordinary purchase department at Saab was oblivious to what was going on, something that caused an incident when Rune Ahlberg cancelled the orders for cables for the two-stroke engine and the purchase department called the supplier and sharply told them to keep their deliveries. In the last week of July, just before the summer holidays, information about the new engine was released to further people and they were informed that full-scale production would start in four weeks. To keep secrecy, 40 of the ordinary staff were told to report to work to fix a problem with the disc brakes. Just prior to the official introduction, a journalist noticed a lorry loaded with 96s with V4 stickers on the front bumpers.
The ordinary V4 engines produced between 1967 and 1976 had . Cars from the first year of production had engines with "Ford Motor Company" stampings. For the Swedish 1976 model year, the car - now known as the 96L - had its power reduced to 62 PS due to new Swedish emission regulations. However, the 1977-1980 models had , due to a two-stage Solex 32TDID carburetor. The V4 96 managed 0–100 km/h in 16 seconds. In August 1975 (called "1975B" in Sweden as the less powerful engine was kept for cars marketed after the beginning of the new year, when the new emissions standards took effect), the car received new impact absorbing bumpers similar to those on the 99 and an altered bottom plate which allowed the rear seat to be moved further back.