1977 SAAB 99 EMS from North America - Comments

Something in the gearbox suddenly locked up on the highway - the front wheels locked and it skidded for a while and then SNAP! Gearbox dead.

Dreaded water pump leakage.

I loved this car. Felt like it could really move. I think it had 121 hp. Nimble, comfortable, sporty. Loved the pull-open sunroof. The velour ems seats were a bit tattered. Not sure if the EMS version had anything special on it other than the wheels - I know the engine was the same.

Great engine - except for the design of the water pump. It was down inside the engine and driven by the idler shaft. If you didn't replace it properly, the gears on the idler shaft would get stripped.

Unfortunately they had a tendency for the back end to swing out unexpectedly and fishtail. It happened to me a couple of times before ultimately it happened to me on a snowy road and I ended up spinning and getting hit by a cop car.

I just finished reading your review of an old Saab 99 EMS

that you'd once owned. It brought back many memories,

as my Dad owned a 1970 99E, and I owned both a 1975 99LE

and a '76 EMS.

If ever there were a love/hate relationship, it was with these

odd cars. They looked quirky, but were as technologically

advanced as anything on the road at the time.

Fuel injection; free wheeling;dual diagonal braking; headlight high beam/low beam as a lever on the steering wheel; a rear seat that folded down to allow access to the trunk from inside the car.

In so many respects, the Saab 99 was a rolling technological platform, and even to this day a fine road car.

I remember driving in more than one snow storm, as most cars had slid or deliberately pulled off the road for their own safety. I would just drive right on by, never concerned about the weather conditions.

The Saab 99 was the kind of automobile that encouraged that

type of confidence.

Although all was not always well in Saab Land. The car

certainly had its problems, and more ideosyncrasies

than any other automobile that I have ever owned.

While there were numerous problems at times, the ones that stand out the most are as follows:

EMS -- the ignition switch froze and I could not turn the engine off.

Motor mounts failed (after the prior owner used oil on them),

quite literally forcing the engine to shift position

under hard accelleration.

Had the two front control arms crack.

Had the rear shocks cause bad enough metal fatigue to start

coming through the trunk floor.

Had to have the head re-honed after the car overheated --

my fault, not the Saabs.

99E -- it was actually possible to lock yourself in this early model of the 99.

Had the clutch fail on a ride home from college. My Dad

drove up to help me out, and managed to get the car into

third gear, which enabled him to drive it home -- not a fun ride at all though.

99LE -- Actually had the trunk on this car fall off when one of the pins in the headliner by the rear windshield let go.

When I was driving back from Long Island's Hamptons late one night, the tranny locked up on me which resulted in having to spend the night sleeping in the Saab. Nice to drive, but not comfortable to sleep in. It turned out that the first gear

had chipped. My mechanic told me that I was lucky that the

car was a '75 and not a '76, since with the '76 the entire

gear set would have had to have been replaced, rather then just the

first gear.

The '75 was the most problematic of the three Saabs we had during the 1970's. My mechanic once said "the '75's were so unreliabile that they'd break down even if you just left them

sitting in your driveway." Given the expense that I had with the '75 I would have to concur.

Overall though, when these cars were running properly they were a lot of fun to drive, inspiring confidence with every turn.

As with most standard transmission cars of the time though,

the 99's could have used a 5th gear.

I put around 100,000 miles on these three Saabs, most of the mileage being run up on the '75. It was also the most confortable of the three.

The '76 EMS had a tighter suspension, which did tend to allow the back of the car to swing out without warning; something that the softer sprung 99's did not have a tendency to do.

I do miss the Saabs and there's a part of me that would

still like to own an old 99. But given most of the

aforementioned problems, I would rather just keep the good memories of the 99's and avoid having to deal with the reliabilty problems and substantial expense of owning one

again.

These days I drive a Ford SVT Contour (rare car) and a

Honda Silverwing Maxi scooter. Both are a lot faster than my old 99's; more reliable and more fuel efficient.

But neither offers that feeling of safety that the Saab 99's did. I think that few cars ever will, regardless of how

technologically advanced they get.

Thanks for reading this post.

Jim.

Hello. to the above, if you might know of someone selling a 99 in vgc, could you let us know?

Thanks and happy spring.

James.

Was it your first car? Mine was a rusted out '74 EMS which I used to make a running 71 4 door LE a sleeper. The EMS would spin out, on you if you did not know how to drive in the wet sloppy snow, as I did the one winter I drove it. But man was it a fun car. It would burn first, squeal second, chirp third and by fourth be doing 90 all in the hill on 125 coming out of middlebury college.