Welcome back! Well, after last week’s imaginary doom-and-gloom scenario, I figure this week I should feature some more cheerful choices. These will all just be cars that make me happy, with the hope that they make you happy too. We’re going to go in ascending price order again, but not as strict as the last time. We’ll just start out cheap, and get more expensive as the week goes on.
But first, we should wrap up the zombie stuff. Your mission on Friday was not to choose one car above all the others; it was to choose which one you were going to drive in our imaginary apocalypse. To my surprise, when I opened up the poll to see the results, I found a two-way tie between the Chevy van and the Crown Vic for the top spot. I guess that means I get to cast the tie-breaking vote, and I choose… the van.
So there you have it: The best vehicle to find during a zombie apocalypse is something of a zombie itself: the seemingly-immortal GMT600/610 Chevrolet Express or GMC Savana. And you can still buy one new. Shamble into your local Chevy dealer for a test-drive today!
Now, it’s no secret that the world is a stressful place these days. And in times of stress, it’s good to have a hobby or two to fall back on, and I think it’s safe to say that if you’re reading this, one of your hobbies is cars. As it so happens, it’s one of my hobbies too. (Go figure.) So this week, we’re just going to have some fun looking at cool cars, starting with these two dirt-cheap projects.
1970 Saab 96 – $500
Engine/drivetrain: 1.7-liter overhead valve V4, four-speed manual, FWD
Location: Temecula, CA
Odometer reading: 64,000 miles
Operational status: Last ran 20 years ago
The history of Saab automobiles is a study in gradually decreasing weirdness. The earliest Saabs were little streamlined coupes with suicide doors, two-stroke engines, and front wheel drive. And the last, or course, were basically Chevy Malibus. Before the GM takeover, the Swedish airplane-maker-turned-automaker gained a reputation for not only marching to its own drummer, but often inventing its own drums. This car, the 96, originally came with a three-cylinder two-stroke engine, but this one has a more normal four-stroke overhead-valve engine provided by Ford of Europe.
Okay, “normal” might be pushing it. It’s a V4, an arrangement not often seen because it’s not the smoothest-running shape for an engine. This one, designed by Ford in Germany for its Taunus model (that’s Taunus, not Taurus) has a balance shaft added, and uses a split-pin design on the crankshaft, to quell the shakes. I can tell you that it makes an exhaust noise unlike anything else you’ve heard. This one has a Weber carb installed, and was a reliable daily driver, until the seller had a kid twenty years ago and parked it. It hasn’t moved since.
The 96 has a four-speed manual gearbox, with a column-mounted shifter. It’s equipped with a freewheel mechanism, which allows the car to coast with the engine at idle while decelerating. This was meant to keep the two-stroke engine from running out of oil, but it was retained for the four-stroke version. This one has had the freewheel locked out, so it acts like a normal manual.
It has a cool hood-mounted tachometer which the seller says works (or will, once the car is running again). They re-did the interior upholstery in 1998, and it still looks good. It has some gauges dangling from the dash that will have to be put back, but really, it looks good inside for the price.
It was repainted in 1998 as well – by Maaco, so don’t expect a concours-worthy finish. It also has bits of a cheap car cover stuck to the paint here and there that you’ll have to get off. But it doesn’t look rusty, and it has those cool Saab “soccer ball” alloy wheels.
1979 Triumph Spitfire 1500 – $1,100
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter overhead valve inline 4, four-speed manual, RWD
Location: San Ramon, CA
Odometer reading: 30,000 miles (not accurate)
Operational status: Runs and drives
The Triumph Spitfire came out in 1962, when British sports cars were on top of the world. It was introduced as a competitor to BMC’s low-cost fraternal twins, the Austin-Healey Sprite and MG Midget. By 1979, when this Spitfire was built, Austin-Healey was gone, and Triumph and MG were under the same British Leyland corporate umbrella, but still competing with each other for a dwindling small sports car market – and doing so while hobbled by restrictive smog equipment and heavy bumpers.
The Spitfire and Midget also shared the same engine, a 1500 cc four-cylinder. In the UK, it was fed by two SU side-draft carburetors like British four-cylinders are supposed to be, but US emissions control regulations required a single carb that did nothing for the engine’s meager power output. Slow as it may be, it sounds like this one runs well, and it has had a lot of work done recently. It needs a smog test if you’re keeping it in California, and it’s not exactly clear whether or not it will pass.
It looks like this car was prepped for racing at some point: the interior is mostly gutted, and it has a full roll cage, racing seats, and a quick-release steering wheel installed. It has two fire extinguishers inside, not a bad idea in an old British car whether you’re racing or not. It also has racing seats, four-point harnesses, and a hardtop that fits over the roll cage.
It’s straight and rust-free, and it looks pretty good, except for the sun-bleached rubber bumpers. You could probably hit up a British car swap meet and find some small chrome bumpers off a Mark IV Spitfire to replace them, and save some weight in the process.
I know I sometimes feature cars that some of you don’t consider “cheap,” but I don’t think that complaint applies here. These are both straight-up bargains in my book. And hell, one of them you can even drive home, if you get temporary tags for it. Obviously the purchase price is only the beginning with projects like these, but the lower the cost of entry, the more room you have in the budget to fix them up. So what’ll it be – the derelict Swede, or the race-prepared Brit?
I actually saw a Saab 96 several years ago, out at California’s central coast. In running, good condition, a driver, not a show car. It’s quite attractive in a quirky way, and the V4 is definitely unique. I’m more interested in this one than the modified Triumph that probably won’t pass smog.
I feel like this post was aimed at me specifically. The family boneyard is about 2/3 Triumphs (mostly Spitfires) and 1/3 Saabs (mostly 900s). I guess I’ll pick the 96 since we’ve never had one.
I’ll take the Spit, but it’s mostly because I have an insane tropism for British sports cars and I know that model really, really well. Like, pull the engine and rebuild it level of really well. So whatever’s wrong with it, I can fix. The only SAAB I know anything about is the 900.
I never know what to think when a car I own winds up on this feature.
Growing up near a university meant that in the late 70’s and early 80’s, even as a kid, you could tell which students living off campus may have come from money.
I definitely have seen examples of both of these before, but in different colors. The Saab was some kind of dark blue, but the Spitfire was red with a black top.
The Saab was just weird, but the Spitfire always looked cool to me. In this case, the Saab looks like it might be in better physical condition, but $500 for running car is low enough to make me nervous. That’s like….1990’s prices.
So, I’m going with the Spitfire. A running softop (no-top?) for $1100 leaves plenty room to revert it back to a cool, occasional summertime roadster.
If the Saab had the original 2 stroke 3, I’d own it already. With the replacement V4, it’s Triumph all the way.
Not a replacement. Saab switched to the V4 in 1967.
I stand corrected.
“Switched” isn’t quite the right word for 1967. SAAB started using the V4 in 1967 but most of the production run still had the two-stroke. For 1968 most had the V4 but some still had the two-stroke. The transition to the V4 was complete for the 1969 model year.
The 1968 two-stroke engines were of slightly reduced displacement so as to be classified as small enough for exemption from US emissions standards. For this year only they also came with a warranty of repair or replacement for the lifetime of the original owner, which was still being honored when the company ultimately went out of business.