Gudmund

    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!