"In our feature article ‘The Quiet Collaborator’ (Influx April Edition) we refer to the Saab 90 as a classic of the Oeuvre, and so it was.
But when you close your eyes and picture the perfect Saab, the Classic Saab, we’"
Did you drive a Saab in the early 1980s and imagine you were travelling around in your own little piece of Swedish mechanosphere?
If so, here’s some news, the chances are you were equally likely to be enjoying a piece of Finnish car building excellence. In fact if you were, or still are, lucky enough to own that classic of the Saab oeuvre – the beautiful 90- then you can be certain of its Finnish heritage as all 25,000 of them were built in a town in Finland.
With a population of just over fifteen thousand Uusikaupunki is notable for two things. It is the home of the Bonk museum, a repository of absurdist (fictional) machines, which run on anchovy oil. And It also houses the main production facility and HQ of Vamlet Automotive Inc. whose own creations run on petrol, diesel and more recently, electric power. They’ve been quietly building cars in this northern outpost since setting up in 1968 as a partner with the then Saab Scania Company, initially manufacturing the Saab 95, 96 and 99.
"Top 11 Scandinavian cars
Zenvo ST1
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Where do you start with the Zenvo ST1? With the fact this it is Denmark’s first and only supercar? With its extreme, angular, ground-breaking looks? With its equally extreme power and torque figures, "
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Sometimes, to really understand a car, you have to see it in its native habitat. So if you’ve never really got Swedish cars, and never really understood why some people are so obsessed with them "
"The demise of Saab is one of the more painful episodes in the collective memory of car enthusiasts worldwide.
Saab was always a manufacturer that did things its own way – and that sense of principle and engineering purity has left "
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Not sure wether it's just the motorsport success or not - but there's something about the older generation of Saabs that we really dig. I was always fascinated by the 96 (below) - not least because an old teacher of mine "
"There are at least two key launches this year from Scandinavian manufacturers, and both of these are in the rather crowded 'premium saloon' segment.
After announcing their best first quarter for eighteen years, Volvo are throwing their hat in this "
"The talismanic design of the Porsche has received, perhaps, more than its fair share of artistic accolades.
Whether or not it's a case of stating the obvious, the legend is about to be furrowed deeper when the North Carolina Museum "
"Few concepts are guaranteed to get us hot under the collar like Audi's resurrection of the original Quattro.
The Audi Quattro concept car from 2010 commemorated 30 years of Quattro all-wheel-drive and specifically paid homage to the revered Sport Quattro of 1984. First "
"Scotland’s unique landscapes provide some incredible backdrops for bike photography, with many of its most iconic locations accessible in a single day
Whether you’re born and bred in Scotland or visiting it for the first time, it’s "
"Steve Sanderson and Oi Polloi have become a fixture on the streets of Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
I set up Oi Polloi with my business partner Nigel, almost exactly 20 years ago. We’re a menswear retailer and now a brand "
"The nice people at Influx suggested earlier this year that they wanted three films off us.
One on minibuses, one on bubblecars and one on car detailers. Trying to find an interesting angle on minibuses was tough I’ll be "