In the autumn of 1945, Saab decided to start making cars. Small, light
and robust cars of a type that had grown popular immediately before World
War II. The project was assigned number 92 (civil Saab projects were
assigned a number starting 9) and work on it was begun immediately under
the direction of design engineer Gunnar Ljungström.
Stylist Sixten Sason sketched the bodywork, while the engine, gearbox and
some other mechanical components for the prototype were taken from a DKW
and other cars.
By the middle of January 1946, the preliminary drawings for the bodywork
were ready and a full-scale model in wood was made from them.
Modifications to the model were subsequently made but the work was
already completed by April 15. Work on the metal body had been started
two weeks before. It was handmade - one of the panelbeaters used a block
of oak that stood in the middle of a heap of horse manure to give the
right springiness to the beating.
Prototype car No. 001 was ready to drive by the summer of 1946 and was
immediately road tested round the clock, day and night, without a stop.
By this time, the blueprints for Saabs own engine and gearbox were ready
- the prototype used a DKW power plant and transmission unit. The road
tests provided useful information on how Saab could be improved and
adapted for production. Styling was among the first things to be tackled,
and the final body shape was settled in September. But serial No. 001 was
kept hard at work and, one year later, it and its sister cars -
prototypes 2 and 3 - had covered a total of 280.000 kilometres on every
possible type of road surface. During its active period, prototype 001
had registration number E 14783; Saabs automotive division still had
Linköping in Östergotland county as its homebase.
Saab-Scanias Head Office is still situated in Linköping.