August 2018 – Disassembly
A press release has been issued to four of Sweden’s vintage car magazines following the project being made public. The Classic Motor magazine has responded by publishing a short article and a photo related to the project in its recent edition. Furthermore, we have also been informed that the project will also be highlighted in both the Swedish Saab Club´s magazine, Bakrutan, and the Norwegian Saab Club´s magazine,9-posten in due time.
Work on stripping the car of its components has come a long way the work being done in Zackrissons workshop based in Munkedal. All components have been carefully marked for identification purposes and safely packed in storage boxes. Both the front and rear axles have now also been removed and a special body support fixture is currently being manufactured. When complete it will assist in allowing the body to be rotated and ease the work cleaning the underside of the bodywork and final paint application etc. Quite remarkably, we only encountered one seized bolt that sheared off during removal!
All wheel arches have been removed of underseal and surfaces have been cleaned to the metal with a rotary steel brush etc. We now have gained a clear picture of the condition of the body-shell regarding metal corrosion and rust -The floor panel itself is fully intact however a great deal of rust corrosion is present on the left lower body side section where it meets the wheel-arch. A new side section has been obtained and is planned to be shortly welded in place. Other than that, there is very little damage that needs to be professionally attended to. As far as we can see there are no further panel sections in need of repair.
We have also identified several components that need to be obtained and replaced. Where possible these will be purchased from the Swedish Saab club’s collection of spares etc at a discounted price – a form of sponsorship by them. Paint and various rubbing down equipment prior to respraying will be sponsored by Lackman in Uddevalla and Vikens Maskin, also from Uddevalla, has promised to supply new fuel lines and hoses, etc. From Mr Christer Wigren in Landskorna a set of Four Sport wheel rims have also been donated.
On the 13th of August the projects work-group met with members of Saabs original Competition department (Rolf Ebefors, Torbjörn Trollby and Nils- Gunnar Svensson) who shared with us valuable information related to the competition cars of the 1960´s.
I´m very pleased to also announce that the project has received a donation of 25,000.00 kronor from an anonymous donor. We are extremely grateful for the donation which will be used in financing the renovation of the car to a condition as practically and economically possible to the original. A challenge we have ahead of us is finding a suitable company that can help in respraying the body colour from blue to the red used on Saab´s group 3 competition cars.
We are also currently searching for period Auto Trygg shock absorbers, a lap buckle safety belt and a new fuel level sender unit.