Back to the future: SAAB Car Museum celebrates 40 years of SAAB history

On Saturday 24 October, the SAAB Car Museum in Trollhättan turns 40. Back in 1975, at the initiative of SAAB-Scania’s head of external relations Albert Trommer, a small exhibition in the basement of the SAAB-ANA dealership opened its doors. The museum has since moved to its current location at Åkerssjövägen 18, which is also where the celebrations will take place!

SAAB Museum

SAABMuseum_40years

Translation of the above official invite:
Time flies. The SAAB Car Museum was founded in 1975 at the initiative of Albert Trommer in a basement at Tunhemsvägen in Trollhättan. The facility was really low-key, but both the cars and the legacy could be found there. And the SAAB spirit. We’ve experienced quite a bit over the past 40 years and now we’re at the brink of an exciting future.
Join us in the celebration and share your SAAB Car Museum-story.
We’ll have open house, with coffee and cake.
Saturday 24 October between 11:00 and 16:00.
Welcome!
Peter Bäckström & the staff at SAAB Car Museum

Back to the future
So if you haven’t made plans for the weekend yet, this is a great opportunity to visit the museum!

If anything, check out the SAAB 900 turbo 16 EV-1. This prototype (or, “experimental vehicle”, as this is what “EV” stands for in this context) is one of the many unique models that are on display. Designed by Björn Envalls and built by famous Leif Mellberg, the project was kept top-secret. So secret that the assembly facility was shielded off from the outside world entirely and that the final product was delivered in the middle of the night using a fully covered trailer for public presentation the day after.
The EV-1 was really ahead of its time, with 66 solar cells mounted on the roof (now implemented with Toyota’s latest Prius models), black panel (the function that dims all instruments but the speedometer at night and was taken into regular production in 1993 with the launch of the 900NG) and a really aerodynamic design. The car is in fact fully road-worthy, has impressive performance stats: 0-100kmh in just 5.9 seconds and a top speed of 270 km/h.

SAAB’s vision for the future made quite an impression in the press and even caught the eye of the producers of the film “Back to the Future II”. Today, 21 October 2015 is in that context a special day as this was the date main character Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) set on his time machine. So today we’re in fact “back to the future” 😉

Unfortunately, I can’t be in Trollhättan myself on Saturday but wish all the SAAB fans a great celebration! Here’s to the next 40 years…

5 thoughts on “Back to the future: SAAB Car Museum celebrates 40 years of SAAB history

  • Michael, Thanks for this message.
    The Saab museum is the best we Saabists do have to remind us of what this company has developed in the past.
    Hope once this collection can again be growing by adding newly developed Saabs.

  • This summer I enjoyed the museum and its friendly staff for some hours. It is really worth a visit and now as the Rally Coffee i bought there is run out Imight have to return …

    • Can only agree! Great and unique place to visit for all SAAB fans.

  • Auf den Filmhinweis warte ich schon den ganzen Tag 🙂 Ein wenig tragisch ist es aber schon, dass es den roten EV-1 heute nicht auf den Straßen gibt.

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