Benign Design

This week's column is a visual commentary. A few weeks ago this publication carried a syndicated review of Subaru's B9 Tribeca (above left).

It has sort of a retro look, don't you think? But few would recognize the origin of that look. It is not Subaru or even Japanese. Instead it looks like something from the drawing board of Sixten Sason, a Swedish industrial designer who penned the designs for many early SAABs. One of those was this SAAB 95 (above right).

(Historical trivia: Sixten Sason also designed the Hasselblad camera.)

This particular version of the model 95, with a 3-cylinder, two-stroke, 850cc engine, was built from 1959 through 1964. The 95 was the "Estate" or station wagon version of the SAAB 93 sedan. (The model 93 was redesigned from the doors back in 1961 and given the model designation of 96.) The model pictured here is often referred to as the "bullnose" or short nose 95. In 1966, SAAB redesigned the front end of the 96 and 95 to accommodate a larger engine, one more in line with modern technology. That new engine, a 1500cc, four-cycle, V4 built by Ford in Germany, did not arrive on the market until 1967. Saab sold the V4 model 95s and 96s in the U.S. through the 1973 model year, but continued to build both models for other markets until 1980.

I don't know if the designers of the "Benign" Tribeca really had the old SAABs in mind when sketching the new SUV for Subaru, but the similarity is remarkable.

For extra credit on your permanent record, do you know the origin of the name SAAB? Hint: It is an acronym.

(Saab photo taken by Tim Winker at the 2005 International Saab Clubs Meeting in Essen, Germany.)