S Is For: 1969 Saab 95 vs 1983 Subaru GL-10

Good morning! We’re up to the letter S in our trip through the alphabet, and I hesitate to even show you the cars I chose for today, because I already know which one is going to win. I knew the second I saw it that I wasn’t going to find a worthy competitor for it. But I did my best.

Yesterday ended up being a bit of a blowout as well, with the Renault 17 absolutely obliterating the Reliant Robin. I don’t think most of you actually wanted either one of them, but the Renault took the win based on it already being in this country, and possessing a sensible number of wheels.

I not only choose the Renault over a decrepit tricycle an ocean away; I actually kinda want it. If I had a warehouse stocked full of tools and a lift, I fear my real car collection would closely resemble my RC car collection: very silly, often broken, and far too numerous. Good thing I’m limited to a two-car garage and a carport, I guess.

I wasn’t sure which way to go with S. There are some good S makes – Simca, Saturn, Studebaker – but I know that Saab is always a big crowd-pleaser here. But it couldn’t be just any Saab; I had to find something you all haven’t seen before. And oh boy, did I find it. To go along with it, I first checked to see if that Sunbeam Alpine coupe that has been kicking around the Pacific Northwest for a decade happened to be for sale again at the moment; no dice. But I did find a very nice old Subaru that I think you might like. Let’s take a look.

1969 Saab 95 panel van – $8,900

Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter overhead valve V4, four-speed manual, FWD

Location: San Leandro, CA

Odometer reading: 42,000 miles (probably rolled over at least once)

Operational status: “Runs like a champ”

Panel vans are cool. So are old Saabs. But never in my fifty-two years did I have any idea that such a thing as a Saab panel van roamed this Earth, nor that you could buy a good-running one in California for less than ten grand. I’m sure someone out there was aware of the existence of these things, knowing the intense nerdery of this crowd, but I certainly wasn’t. Just look at that image above. Have you ever seen anything quite so fundamentally, inherently right?

This 95 is new enough to be equipped with a Ford-sourced V4 engine instead of the two-stroke triple of earlier cars. It’s easier to live with, and just as weird. It drives the front wheels through a column-shifted four-speed manual, which I believe is still equipped with a freewheel mechanism, so don’t expect any engine-braking on downshifts. This one runs very well, according to the seller, and has been well-maintained. It looks like it; if you know old car engine bays, you can usually see if something has been looked after just from the general appearance. Nice shiny hose clamps, a smattering of new parts, and a lack of leaks and grime are all good signs.

This car is actually a seven-seat wagon with two rows of fold-down seats; the second row faces forward, and a third row faces out the back, Country Squire-style. I can only imagine how sluggish this thing is with seven passengers, but it is theoretically possible. Personally, I’d just leave those seats down and use it as a van.

Outside, it’s straight and rust-free, but it looks like the front fenders came from a different car. It’ll need some paint if you want it to look its best. But honestly, I think it looks all right as-is. My only gripe is that the seller installed those awful-looking aftermarket LED headlights. Yeah, I know, they’re brighter than halogens, but they look out of place on a car this old.

1983 Subaru GL-10 sedan – $5,000

Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter overhead valve flat 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Portland, OR

Odometer reading: 133,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

Model names for cars didn’t used to be strictly necessary. Back when automakers only made a bunch of variations on one basic car, you could just say “1953 Chevy” or whatever, and, barring a few trim differences, everybody knew what you meant. Up until the latter part of the 1980s, Subaru only sold one basic car in the US, in four or five body styles, and although that car had a model name in other markets (Leone), it wasn’t used here. Hence, this is just a 1983 Subaru sedan, in top-of-the-line GL-10 trim.

Not only did Subaru in the early 1980s not have model names, they didn’t necessarily all have four-wheel-drive. The front-mounted boxer engine was there, and had been since the late 1960s, but it drove only the front wheels, unless you specifically ordered 4WD. You could also get a turbocharged engine starting in 1983, but this car doesn’t have that either. What it does have is a five-speed manual transmission and a whole list of recent services and repairs. It has a few minor issues, namely a slight coolant leak and some minor electrical gremlins, but basically it runs and drives just fine.

The GL-10 package included a whole bunch of options, including power windows, a sunroof, and a digital dash. It also has air conditioning, but the seller says its output is weak; you’ll probably have to have it converted to R-134a if you want any real cooling. It also has some service indicator lights in the message center that come on at odd times. Old cars; what are you gonna do?

It’s clean as a whistle outside, and in a nice shade of green. This is another one of those cars that, because of where I lived, I have a twenty-year gap in seeing them. They were fairly common when I was a kid in Chicago, but few of them made it out of the 1980s due to rust, and during my years in Wisconsin and Minnesota, there were none to be found. When I moved to the West Coast, suddenly they reappeared, and they’re just normal-ass cars there. This car was daily-driven for eight years until the seller bought it last year.

Look, I already know the Saab is going to win. But humor me, and let’s pretend this is a competition. I mean, as Subarus go, that’s a pretty nice one. Make your choice, and I’ll see you back here tomorrow for the letter T.