My last Saab
Actually, only once did I ever get to drive one of these weird little Swedemobiles, and it was a hoot. I was in a 900 westbound on I-40, approaching I-44, and the engine seemed kinda loud, but it seemed to have plenty of pep: even at 55 I was passing people left and right.
It was at this point that I discovered that I had been looking at the tachometer, which was indicating 5500 rpm; I glanced down at the shifter, somewhere in front of the ignition key, and apparently I’d gone from third to fourth back to third, missing fifth entirely. And my speed was, um, a bit in excess of 55 mph.
This might even have been my first experience with front-wheel drive; about the same time (1980 or so) I got some seat time in a Fiat Strada, the US version of the Ritmo. It, too, was enjoyably wacky.
And Fiat is coming back, but Saab’s feeding tube is being pulled. Maybe there’s room for only one cheerfully-demented Eurocar these days.
