GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

The designer of Saab’s defining cars also penned some of Sweden’s most recognisable products, and died too young

Saab design guru Sixten Sason

IT’S HARD TO PASS BY a Saab, any Saab, and not feel sad that this wonderful Swedish marque died such a painful death in the wake of the 2008 economic meltdown, undermined by the ineptitude of its custodian General Motors. Saab had been a credible competitor to premium heavyweights such as Merc and BMW. It innovated constantly, won rallies, and gathered a devoted customer base. But while 9-3s and 9-5s still run around, their source has gone.

Saab’s demise would have bewildered Sixten Sason, the man responsible for the quirky yet logical appearance of its products. With the company’s relative isolation and corporate bravery, he was allowed to forge an unmistakable image for Saabs that really did embrace the aircraft influence that its late 20th Century advertising broadcasted.

Sason, born in Skövde, Sweden in 1912, had a sculptor father. The young man likewise trained in fine art, including a spell in Paris, before beginning his career as an illustrator. He then branched into draughtsmanship, producing motorcycle technical drawings, and he gained a fine reputation for ‘ghosted’ pieces showing working parts within the outer shell of the machine itself.

Hopes of becoming a World War Two fighter pilot were finished when his training aircraft crashed, but Sason found a key role at Svenska Aeroplan AB (SAAB), where he was part of the design team for aircraft including the 17 propeller fighter and 18 bomber.

After the war, Sason set himself up as a freelance industrial designer. Pretty much the first project he was asked to contribute to was Saab’s all-new car, intended to take up the slack created by the steep fall-off in demand for military aircraft.

With his unusual position at the axis of art and design, Sason lost no time in producing fantasy brochure-like renderings of how he saw the new car – light, strong, aerodynamic and futuristic, with a bullet-like profile and a low frontal area. He showed them to chief engineer Gunnar Ljungström and was promptly engaged as chief designer.

Saab 92001 was built as 20 running prototypes that translated Sason’s teardrop design to metal reality. His aerodynamics instincts were bang-on: wind tunnel tests produced a drag co-efficient of just 0.32, a blessing for the hard-working twin-cylinder two-stroke engine. The wheels were tucked under fairings inspired by Saab’s J21 aircraft, that aided airflow and, in theory at least, kept snow out of the wheelarches.

The 92 production car of 1949 looked less radical but its structure was impressive, with airframe-like strengthening (even the rear window’s dividing pillar played its part), and a ‘safety cell’ passenger compartment to withstand crash impacts. There was a first principles freshness here; like the entire development team, Sason had never worked on a car design before. Nor was he a skilled driver, the factory mechanics complaining that he was always knocking into things.

‘AFTER THE WAR, PRETTY MUCH THE FIRST PROJECT SASON WAS ASKED TO CONTRIBUTE TO WAS SAAB’S ALL-NEW CAR’

Saab wouldn’t launch new cars often. There was time for the Sixten Sason AB consultancy to work on other products, such as the bodies for a series of medium-format cameras for Hasselblad. Another Swedish classic bearing Sason’s signature was the versatile Electrolux Z 70 vacuum cleaner introduced in 1957. There was work on the Husqvarna Silver pilen motorbike and Monark Mono scoot scooter too, plus fridges, power tools, waffle irons; even preliminary designs for the epic Oresund bridge linking Sweden and Denmark that was not completed until 1999.

However, Sason was back whenever a new Saab was called for, honing the style for the subsequent 93 and 96, and the 95 estate. He’d drawn the lines for a one-off glassfibre GT car called the ASJ Catarina and then created the Sonett two-seater roadster in 1956 with similar plastic bodywork. Just six experimental examples were built. Sason’s design was chosen for the production Sonett GT, finally launched in 1966.

That year, Sason began work on Saab’s most significant car of all, the 99. A paragon of safety and comfort, this once again fused road car aerodynamics with aerospace thinking, notably in its dramatic, wraparound windscreen. It ushered in numerous Saab innovations throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, from headlamp wipers and heated seats to side-impact bars and integrated head restraints, and it became one of the first turbocharged production saloons before forming the basis for the much-loved 900.

Not that Sason was to know any of this. Since his pre-war air crash, when he’d lost a lung, his health was not the best. He died aged just 55 in spring 1967, six months before the 99 made its startling debut.

Always an intriguing mix of artist and showman, the Saab designer was actually born plain Sixten Andersson, but changed his surname in his 20s to something snappier. He chose Sason – Spanish for ‘spice’.

Despite his premature passing, Sason’s ideals endured to Saab’s bitter end. His apprentice Björn Envall took over as head of design in 1969 and stayed until 1992. Thanks to him and his mentor Sason, Saab enjoyed a rare level of design consistency and high ideals. Until General Motors got involved.