Swede John Ahlberg is an electro-historic enthusiast (just see his website dedicated to radio technology) and fan of old cars, you might say – a lover of all the old technology. He owns several oldtimer cars, including the Saab 96 and Saab 95, and has rearranged both cars according to his own ideas and needs.
Of these two, the old Saab wagon – Saab 95, which John made for a ride about a month ago and further refurbished into a real “retro-SUV”, is particularly interesting. First start of “Frankenfrog“‘s (what he calls this car) little two stroke engine after complete rebuild was immediately after the new year. According to him, the base of the engine is from a 1968 Saab, but it incorporates parts with three such (scrap) engines and he added a few more new spare parts. This is his first two stroke Saab and it is like all his other old Saabs modified after in his personal Rat Look style -shiny sticky black.
By some modern definition of a “RAT LOOK” (“RAT ROD“) the term designates a custom car with a deliberately worn-down, unfinished appearance, typically lacking paint, showing rust, and made from cheap or cast-off parts. Typically, Rats are made from American cars, often pick-ups, manufactured pre-1960, but cars of any other brand can also be converted into a Rat Look car. Of course the old Saab may be an interesting Rat Look car. And that was exactly what John was doing.He is a proud member of “Rat Bastard Crew Sweden“, and this is how they roll. His everyday ride is a 1975 Saab 96 V4, built in the same sticky black rat style, but much lower. His second, the rat project car, is the Saab 95.
John call Frankenfrog a “1968-ish” because it’s put together from scrap parts he has collected for free or almost for free during the years. As far as John can remember, he used parts from as many as seven other Saabs for this car, Saabs from early 1960’s to late 1970’s. “Frankenfrog 95” originally had the 1500cc Ford V4, but He really wanted to try the two stroke, at least for a while. It only makes about 40 hp and with a V4 transmission and huge 235/75R5 offroad wheels the tiny engine have some work to do. according to his idea, “Frankenfrog” will not be suitable for rock crawling despite it’s hardcore offroad look. A rat look Saab 95 is customized into some sort of offroad monster with big 235/75R15 mud tires and 40 cm ground clearance. Ground clearence is raised a lot to 30 centimeters in the front by using the stronger V4 springs and in the rear to 40 cm by welding 12 centimeter spacers below the springs. The huge wheels contribute with about five centimeters.
The car is characterized by a great sound, but to be street legal he had to remodel the exhaust system with a second muffler, with an exit to the side, between driver door and left rear wheel. Then fix some electric problems, align the headlights that (of some strange reason) now points to the ground close in front of the car. It’s a roadworthy car now, but must pass the MOT inspection (“kontrollbesiktning”) to get street legal. Many smaller things still remains to take care of. Frankenfrog now has a proper exhaust system, a fuel thank without leaks, working fuel meter and is painted all shiny and black on the inside, so John can now install the interrior such as seats and side panels.
A lot have happened to Project “Frankenfrog” since this first start during the spring of 2019, and you can follow the development of this project on his Youtube channel.
For John these cars were never just “projects”, because a project is something you at least have the intention to finish. He prefer to call it “lifestyle“, and exactly because of that his cars are never finished, they are a continous process. We will continue to follow his interesting projects and publish on this blog as long as he arrives in his pursuits.
