In the autumn of
1964, Saab began to work on the calculations and
drawings for a new, larger car. The various departments involved were
ready for a decision on April 2, 1964 and the Board decided to go ahead
with the project. It was assigned the code name of Gudmund as that was
the days name in the Swedish calendar.
Development work continued according to plan. By 1966, Gudmund was out on
the roads in the shape of the
Toad. On June 5, 1967, only
five months before going on sale, the 99 was fitted with the first prototype body.
Manufacture took place in an old aircraft workshop called Vinterpalatset
(Winter Palace) because the white paint on the ceiling continually flaked
off and floated to the floor like snow.
The pre-production series embraced 50 cars which were used for all
conceivable manner of tests. many of them were driven extensively on the
road in northern Scandinavia and eastern Europe, where the test crews
could get on with their work undisturbed by journalists. For safetys
sake, the test cars driven on the public roads were disguised.
The museums test car is called Daihatsu. We didnt want to use a
completely fictitious name, its originator, Gustaf Sperr explained. That
might have made people think os Saab. We knew about Daihatsu and the make
was not completely unknown in Sweden. But no real Daihatsu had ever been
registered in Sweden, so we took a chance and let the Japanese lend their
name to an experimental car. On top of that, the name could be put
together from the letters in Saabs sports car emblem so that it looked
like a production vehicle.
Cars that were not taken out on the road were flogged mercilessly
indoors. The final station was an old hangar in which the cars were
driven round and round to ascertain how long the constant-velocity joints
lasted. That was where the first accident with a 99
took place when a car lost its steering and ran into a wall. Indoors!