"It was 904 hours hell”

Few today realise how tough the Spa-Sofia-Liège rally was, yet Erik Carlsson and Gunnar Palm twice made the podium in a Saab 96 Sport

- Ton Roks

Gunnar Palm is standing beside the century-old Olidan powerplant of Trollhättan, the home of Saab. In front are three 96s: a standard white Sport and two rally cars, from which Palm (85) saw a lot of scenery fly by as co-driver for Erik 'On the Roof' Carlsson.

It's a miracle what we did with those cars,' says Palm. “We had much less power than everyone else, so Erik's motto was to never take his foot off the throttle. Our Saabs were also relatively heavy and they understeered, but the general handling was very good. They were strong and reliable - and the mechanicals were straightforward. In addition, we always made sure that we were prepared to the extreme. As a result, on more than one occasion we were able to outperform the bigger factory teams, which had budgets that were five to 10 times ours.”

Our presence here in Trollhättan began with Dutch collector Michiel Bakker, a great fan of the idiosyncratic Swedish brand. Some time ago Bakker learned that the 96 Sport Carlsson and Palm drove on the 1963 Spa-Sofia-Liège rally was somewhere north of Stockholm in the hands of an enthusiast, and was due to be auctioned. He immediately leapt into action and bought it. “The previous owner had taken over the car from the factory, but without an engine,” Bakker explains. “He managed to get hold of a correct triple-carburettor unit, and restored the car to the way it was when Palm and Carlsson drove it.