Imagine for a moment: you're a Swedish engineer specializing in fighter jets. It's 1945, the war has just ended, and your boss says, "Okay, guys, we're going to make cars now." Except there's a small problem... in your team of 16 people, only two have driver's licenses. And you've never touched a car in your life.

Welcome to the craziest story in the European automotive industry. That of Saab , a brand born in the sky that revolutionized the road.

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I swear this story really does begin like this. We're in Sweden, a neutral country during World War II, and the Swedish government created a company in 1937 that they called Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget - literally "Swedish Aeroplane Company." The acronym? Saab . Their mission? To manufacture fighter planes to defend Swedish neutrality.

During the war, everything went smoothly for them. Military orders poured in, their engineers worked on revolutionary fighters, and Swedish aerodynamics worked miracles in the European skies.

But in 1945, things got complicated.

The war ended, and suddenly, no one wanted fighter jets anymore. Order books emptied, engineers were left with their hands full, and Saab management was left scratching its head wondering how to keep this company of aeronautical geniuses alive.

Enter Gunnar Ljungström . Born in 1905, he's a whiz at aerodynamics. He's spent his life making machines fly faster and more efficiently than anything else out there. And he has a completely crazy idea: "What if we applied our aeronautical knowledge... to cars?"

The Dream Team Who Couldn't Drive

Now, I have to tell you an anecdote that still makes me laugh. Ljungström sets up his car development team. 16 engineers , all aviation specialists, all brilliant in their field. Except there's one... juicy detail.

Out of these 16 guys, only 2 have a driver's license . I swear, this is not a joke! These guys who can fly fighter jets at 600 km/h, they don't know how to drive a car.

So can you imagine the scene? Ljungström telling his team, "Okay, guys, we're going to revolutionize the automobile." And half of them replying, "Uh... boss, what's that thing with three pedals again?"

But these geniuses, they're going to do something crazy. Rather than panic, they're going to go out and buy cars —Opels, DKWs, Volkswagens—and they're going to take everything apart. Screw by screw, bolt by bolt. To understand how a car works.

Let me put myself in their shoes: imagine that tomorrow you are asked to build a fighter jet without ever having seen the inside. That's exactly what they do, but the other way around!

The UrSaab: when a drop of water meets a Beetle

In 1947, after two years of intensive tinkering, Ljungström's team released the UrSaab . Prototype number 92001. And that, my friends, was unprecedented in the automotive world.

This car, it looks like nothing else on the road at the time. Why? Because it's literally shaped like an airplane wing . I swear, from the side, it looks like it's about to take off!

Sixten Sason, the designer - we'll talk about him again - designed this body with a drag coefficient of 0.32 . To give you an idea, that's exceptional even today! Most modern cars struggle to get below 0.35.

But the craziest thing about this story is that in their brilliant DIY project, these engineers recovered... the headlights of a Volkswagen Beetle! I'll let you imagine: a futuristic body inspired by aviation with headlights from a German Beetle. Now that's R&D just the way we like it!

Sixten Sason, the designer who fell from the sky

I have to tell you about this guy, because his story is crazy. Sixten Sason—real name Karl-Erik Sixten Andersson—is a former fighter pilot who lost a lung in a crash. This guy, trained at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, became an industrial designer and would revolutionize Saab's visual identity.

You know what I love about him? His pseudonym. "Sason" is a Spanish word for "spice." He believes good design should enhance the flavor and surprise.

And Sason, he would create all the first Saab models : the 92, the 93, the 95, the 96, the 99, and even the little Sonett. Every line, every curve, it all came from his mind as a converted pilot.

What fascinates me is that he systematically applies the aerodynamic principles of aviation to the automobile. The small, reinforced rear windows ? Like on a fighter jet. The wheel arches inspired by aircraft fairings ? Logical to him. This overall shape optimized to cut through the air ? It's his pilot DNA coming through.

The 1949 Revolution

In 1949, Saab launched the Saab 92 into series production. And then, there was total incomprehension on the market. This car was unlike anything else known. People saw this apple-green UFO with its teardrop shape, and they wondered if it was really a car or if it was a Swedish spacecraft.

But while everyone else is laughing, Saab's engineers are laughing their heads off. Because their car consumes half as much fuel as the competition! With its incredible aerodynamics, it zips along Swedish roads using almost no fuel.

And then there's this brilliant detail: front-wheel drive . All the other manufacturers are still doing the classic thing with the engine in front and the rear wheels pushing. Saab, on the other hand, puts the engine in the front and pulls with the front wheels. The result? Crazy stability on Swedish snow and ice.

I often think that at the time, the Saab engineers must have felt like aliens arriving with their future technology in the middle of a still very conservative automotive industry.

Erik Carlsson, the king of gliding

And here I have to tell you the story of Erik Carlsson . This guy is the absolute legend of car rallying. Nicknamed "Carlsson på taket" - literally "Carlsson on the roof" - because he had the annoying tendency to turn his Saab over like a pancake.

But be careful, he's not a Sunday driver who crashes. No, Carlsson is a driving genius who used barrel rolls as a driving technique !

I swear, there's this Safari Rally anecdote that kills me every time. Carlsson gets stuck in a quagmire with his Saab. Instead of looking for a rope or calling for help, you know what he does? He intentionally flips his car over to use the roof as a ski to get out of the hole!

The journalists who arrived later didn't believe his story. They looked at the roof of the Saab: not a dent, not a scratch. "That's impossible, Carlsson, you're lying!"

So this madman, to prove he's telling the truth, rolls the car over in front of them again ! And then the journalists understand: Saabs are so well built that they can drive on their roofs without deforming.

That's the Saab mentality: when someone tells you it's impossible, you prove it by doing it a second time!

The art of "borrowing" in the middle of a rally

But I have even better things with Carlsson. During a rally in England, his Saab 96 has a mechanical problem. He needs a specific part, and obviously, no local garage has it in stock.

Carlsson and his mechanic are out for a walk and come across... a brand-new Saab 96 parked in a parking lot. Without further ado, they grab their tools and start taking the car apart!

Can you imagine the scene? The owner comes back and sees two guys taking apart his new car! He goes berserk, of course.

But Carlsson's co-driver, as clever as a fox, calmly explains to the owner that his driver is Erik Carlsson himself, Saab's official driver , and that the brand will provide him with a new car in exchange.

The crazy thing? It works! The owner, impressed to meet the legend, accepts. And these two became friends! They were still exchanging Christmas cards decades later.

That's the Saab spirit: even when you take someone's car apart, you end up making a friend!

Continuous innovation

But what fascinates me most about Saab is this obsession with innovation . These guys don't know how to do classics. Every time they come out with something, it has to be revolutionary.

In 1962, Saab became the first manufacturer to fit seat belts as standard equipment . This was several years before they became mandatory! At the time, most manufacturers considered them superfluous. Saab, on the other hand, was already thinking about the safety of its customers.

And then there was 1976, the year Saab released the world's first commercially available turbocharged car . The Saab 99 Turbo. Another world first! While other manufacturers were fiddling with carburetors, Saab put a turbocharger on a production engine.

At the time, no one understood the point. "A turbo on a car? But that's for airplanes!" Exactly! That's why Saab had thought of it first.

And there's a Saab sales technique I love. When they wanted to demonstrate the safety of their cars, they invited journalists to... watch their cars get crushed by construction cranes ! Because the Saab cabin didn't deform.

Imagine the scene: you're a motoring journalist, you arrive at Saab to test a car, and they tell you, "Come and see, we're going to destroy it in front of you to prove it's solid." Now that's crazy marketing!

Aeronautics at the service of the automobile industry

What strikes you when you look at Saabs from the 1950s to the 1980s is this omnipresent aeronautical identity . Everything about these cars breathes aviation.

The wheel arches ? Copied from aircraft fairings. The headlights ? Integrated into the bodywork like navigation lights. The overall shapes ? Always optimized to cut through the air with minimal resistance.

Even the cabin looked like a cockpit! Saabs had this wraparound dashboard that enveloped you like you were in a fighter jet. And that famous ignition key in the middle , between the seats, because in an airplane, the important controls are in the center.

My favorites from that era are the Saab 96s from the 1960s. Those little cars with their two-stroke engines that sound like airplanes at idle, their teardrop-shaped profile, and that rock-solid durability. I swear, even today, seeing a well-maintained 96 does something to me.

By the way, if you want to see what the Saab spirit was like at the time, I have some miniatures from that period on my site. Not run-of-the-mill reproductions, but pieces that really capture that unique aesthetic of the car from the sky. Saab 92s, 93s, 96s, with their small two-stroke engine and airplane wing profile. It's on bernardminiatures.fr, free delivery from 75€ in France, and as usual I never have a lot of stock so if you like something, it's best not to hang around too long.

Now, let's talk a little more about the evolution of this extraordinary brand...

The turning point of the 80s and 90s

In the '80s, Saab started to grow, but it remained this niche brand for people who didn't want to look like everyone else. You know, that "I drive a Saab because I'm different, I'm smart, and I like well-designed things" side of things.

And then came 1989. General Motors bought 50% of Saab Automobile. At the time, it seemed logical: Saab needed capital to develop new models, GM needed European technology. A marriage of convenience, in other words.

Except that little by little, the Saab identity is beginning to dilute. The new cars still retain a bit of that Swedish madness, but they increasingly look like... GMs with Saab badges.

It makes me nostalgic when I think about it. Because Saab's heroic era was really when aeronautical engineers who didn't know how to drive revolutionized the automobile by applying the laws of aerodynamics.

The end of an era

In 2000, GM completely bought Saab. And that was the beginning of the end. The new Saabs became GMs in disguise. Sure, they retained some original features—that famous ignition key between the seats , a few interior details—but the aeronautical soul evaporated.

GM doesn't understand Saab. For them, it's just a European premium brand that needs to be made profitable. They don't just understand Saab; it was above all a philosophy : that of doing things differently, of thinking differently, of applying solutions from elsewhere.

In 2010, another rescue attempt was made with Spyker , a small Dutch manufacturer. But it was already too late. Saab's identity had been diluted too much, and the brand had lost its bearings.

2011: Bankruptcy. Saab Automobile disappears. End of story.

There will be an attempt at a revival with NEVS in 2012-2014, but they will even lose the right to use the Saab name. Ironic, isn't it?

The Swedish UFO Legacy

Today, when I look at the car market, I think we lost something important with Saab. This ability to think outside the box , to apply solutions from other fields.

Tesla, in a way, reminds me of the Saab spirit. Engineers who come from elsewhere—computer science, aerospace—and who revolutionize the automobile by applying their logic.

But Saab was more poetic. It was this magnificent idea that people who flew airplanes could create the most beautiful cars in the world. This natural transition between the sky and the road.

The real Saabs—the ones before GM—they had this special soul. When you drove one, you felt that this car had been designed differently. The sound of the engine, the driving position, the way it took corners... it all had a little aeronautical feel to it.

And then there was this Saab community . These owners who recognized each other, who shared this passion for a brand that dared to be different. People who chose Saab precisely because it wasn't a BMW or a Mercedes.

Looking back, the story of Saab is ultimately the story of a magnificent misunderstanding . Aeronautical engineers who found themselves making cars and who created, almost by accident, one of the strongest automotive identities of the 20th century.

Gunnar Ljungström and his 16 engineers who didn't know how to drive, Sixten Sason who transformed his racing dreams into automotive designs, Erik Carlsson who used barrel rolls as a driving technique... All these people created something unique.

And that is Saab's legacy : having proven that in the automotive industry, too, you sometimes have to come from the sky to revolutionize the earth.

Today, when I see a well-maintained old Saab 96 or 99 Turbo drive by, I think that these cars still carry that Swedish madness within them. That magnificent idea that to create something exceptional, you sometimes have to be completely crazy.

And deep down, that's perhaps what I like most about this story: Saab reminds us that the most beautiful innovations are often born from unconsciousness and passion . When people who don't know it's impossible decide to do it anyway.

This is why Saab will forever remain the Swedish UFO that thought aeronautics. A brand that came from elsewhere, left too soon, but left its unique mark on the automobile industry.

A brand that taught us that between heaven and earth, there is sometimes room for dreams on four wheels.