Saab 92001 aka: UrSaab
 

Hi,

I just found out about another old beauty, that is pretty aerodynamic: the Saab 92001 also known as the UrSaab:

http://www.motivemagazine.com/emAlbu...ursaab-008.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...1/Saab_001.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../44/Ursaab.jpg

The Cd is 0.32, so not quite as impressive as the Tatra T77A, but I suspect the latter was calculated w/o the bumpers, etc. I like the front wheel drive, and I like the size of the UrSaab, too.

Saab was started by aircraft engineers. They knew their aero pretty well, as you can tell from the above.

-soD

Looks like a fast-back mini-cooper. :thumbup:

The Ursaab in particular, and early SAABs in general, are really cool cars. A while back, I actually saw a '71 SAAB 95 (2-door wagon, in baby puke green) in person. It was a tiny car, but looked fairly roomy inside.

Jay Leno has a two-stroke SAAB 93: Jay Leno's Garage

The two-stroke cars are actually fairly efficient, even if they do pollute like mad. My dad knew a guy who had one-- he said it was a really great car, even if you did have to mix oil in when you filled the gas tank, and it always sounded like you were doing about 200mph, the way those little engines scream.

Love that styling! :thumbup:

Wish I had one...

So, it may be that Saab is thinking of building a modern version of their first car!

Report: Saab looks to BMW for supermini 92 sucessor — Autoblog Green

Neil -

Great catch, I was looking for this yesterday! There's a picture in Motor Trend, but I couldn't find it on the Interweb. It's got rear wheel skirts and reminds me of the Volvo C30.

Dig, dug, dig, dug ... Here it is :

Saab Plans A Retro Small Car - Motor Trend
http://image.motortrend.com/f/future...lustration.jpg
CarloSW2

Very niiiiice....
http://image.motortrend.com/f/277256...lustration.jpg
Wheels/tires are a little over the top... I wonder what it would look like with a complete boattail?

Who said there was no room for stylists to work with low-drag forms?

Is there information on the Cd of this concept? Probably not, since its got it's high-drag wheels on.

Notice the spokes? They're angled like fan blades. They'll extract air from the wheelwells at that angle. Now I'm wondering if the other side is mirrored or if both sides have the same rims, causing the other side to suck in air.

Hello,

How could we miss them? ;) The issue with this is it doubles the cost of the wheels, because they have to make mirror image version for each side.

I don't know how realistic those tires are -- super low profile tends to be very impractical. And we cannot tell very well how wide/narrow they are. I like the fact they have wheel strakes on the rear anyway, but I think they should be a bit larger.

Here's another image:

http://www.saabsunited.com/upload/im...AMSSaab9-2.jpg

I'd definitely put my money down on a car like that. I agree with the previous comment that it goes to show you really can be creative even on a very aero-oriented design.

It just needs to be the right weight, and have the right engines. I'd be really disappointed if it was any heavier than something like a MINI and they'd given it masses of power to compensate (as is the trend with things like hot hatchbacks at the moment).

I'm thinking around 1000kg... two or three cylinder engine of no more than about 1200cc, either turbocharged, supercharged or both, or a hybrid motor... well, it's fun to dream...