Description
A historic road rally car without the stickers!
This SAAB 96 V4 has an incredible history, restored modified and built by Mike Woolf. Mike is a staple of SAAB history in the UK for his legendary Turbo V4 SAAB 96. Not a lot of people know he also built a non-turbo sister car.
The car was in long term storage immediately after being built until recently where it was recommissioned and returned to the road.
This 96 has some fantastic modifications which position it as a historic time trial, road rally or even classic autocross car. But it's road manners are also fantastic, once you get used to the low ratio gearbox and straight cut timing gears! I have thoroughly enjoyed the time I've had with this car and despite a short ownership period, I've probably done more miles in it and had more use out of it than any other owner has!
The engine was built by Oselli and invoices are included for every nut and bolt which went into this car.
It is a 1531CC (91mm bore) with S&R Pistons, B8 main bearings, competition spec gaskets and oil seals, uprated oil pump and large high flow lines to a remote oil cooler, stage 2 Piper camshafts, stage 2 ported and flowed cylinder heads, heavy duty cam followers, and a completely balanced bottom end. Fueling comes from a Weber with an S&R inlet manifold and exiting through a full Janspeed competition exhaust.
The clutch is a Tilton TLT66 with braided lines. Provided in the service history is a 1992 dated Oselli Power reciept outlining all the work done during the rebuild.
The shell is fully seam-welded with a works strengthening kit fitted. Spax adjustable dampers front and rear with Saab Sport forest springs. I've attached "underneath" photos.
Included in the service history are two portfolios of photographs showing the full restoration of the car, an enormous main dealer SAAB service history, pages and pages worth of hand written notes, specifications, correspondence between SAAB and the owner as well as letters from the SAAB owners club about the car and displaying it etc. The service history is a goldmine and the stuff of dreams. I have enjoyed many hours reading through it and getting an insight into the love and care this car has had, and seeing the passion the previous owners have had for it.
So how does it drive -
Beautifully. The close ratio box takes a bit of getting used to, but 4th gear is long enough you can use it comfortably. The chassis and handling is so neutral, so planted and so confidence inspiring that it is a joy to drive. The big tires accompanied by the adjustable dampers give a fantastic feel on the road.
The engine has bags of torque and a very flat power delivery, it rewards a good hard rev (I've never taken it past the 7000 indicated on the rev counter as max), it's all very solidly mounted so you feel like you're very much a part of the car. The gear change is very tight, brakes are firm and have great feel but you do need to use a lot of force. There is a quick release, rear wheel handbrake fitted so handbrake turns are a breeze.
The Mini Cooper S seats whilst not my first choice do fit the car well, are very comfortable and provide decent support. They make the car useable and enjoyable, but there's scope to make it "racier" if you wanted. Rear seats are fitted, I haven't got a clue who would use them.
The interior is very motorsport, but the flat dash and dials look great. It has 80lbs of oil pressure, ammeter and battery voltage gauges are present. All the electrics work including the proper motorsport passenger map light.
It is of course MOT and TAX exempt.
This is a special car, and I'll be totally up front when I bought it I was completely unaware of it's history or quite how special this car was, nor was the previous owner!
You could easily sticker this car up and use it competitively, it truly is a historic rally car for the road. And what an experience it is.
I've been into classic SAAB's for 20 years now and I've never seen one like this. The right buyer will be delighted with this car, any inspection is welcome. Come and have a drive!
The honest part -
The panel gaps are not the greatest, but it's just nuts and bolts these can easily be moved around and adjusted if you wanted to.
The clutch would probably benefit from a re-bleed, in normal operation it is faultless and great to drive but it doesn't like a rushed gear change at 7000RPM.
There is a little bit of bubbling on the offside rear 1/ 4 at the body join, but it is absolutely solid.
Which leads us onto the paint. It's been painted DIY with a spray gun, it's a motorsport paint job not a show paint job. If you threw a £3000 paint job at this car you'd have a £14, 000 car you didn't want to drive enjoy and use. I like it's character.
That's it!
Collection from NE40 3DG, which is just outside of Newcastle.
The price is firm on this, it's for a buyer who knows what they're looking at. This 96 is truly a piece of UK SAAB history, a historic rally car which was built in period and stored immediately after. It's fantastic to drive, sounds amazing and turns heads everywhere.
If you want a historic race car for the road, this is it.
