With Saab’s future teetering on the brink, we thought it prudent to look back at the vehicle that they started with. Like some other European carmakers, Saab originally had its place in the aircraft manufacturing industry. And, like its brethren, the end of the second World War meant branching out to other aspects of manufacturing. Its first creation, the Ursaab (meaning ‘Original Saab’), came to be after 16 aircraft engineers collaborated on a vehicle that would ultimately be one of their finest creations. Out of the 16, only two had drivers licenses, and virtually none had automaking experience. Using a few junked cars and some intuition, the Saab team developed a prototype that racked up over 300,000 miles during late night and early morning super-secret test runs. With their background, the team also managed to make the car with an extremely low drag coefficient; by utilizing a streamlined design and eliminating a large back windshield and boot, the Ursaab was more aerodynamically advanced than the more recent Porsche 996 and Ferrari F40. Obviously, the Ursaab proved to be a huge success and paved the way for the Saab 92, their first production vehicle and an automotive icon. The ‘Original Saab’ has since been cleaned up and is on display at the company’s museum in Trollhättan, Sweden.
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Source: The Coolist