Who's on First?

[jack@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Jack Hagerty)]

From: Matthew Killick <m.killick@domain.elided>

>I had thought that Fiat were first to put the gearbox end-on, hence my
>assertion that Fiat invented the layout (not fwd).  I hadn't been aware
>that the early Saabs were tranverse engined.  The earliest Saab (a
>2-stroke) I have seen was (I think) in-line.  

Not to really wanting to prolong this thread, but in the interests of
historical accuracy, the original Saab 92 had a two stroke, two cylinder
engine (bought long-block from DKW) with an end-on transaxle. It was
placed transversely in the chassis for maximum passenger room and all the
other reasons that companies do it today. When they enlarged it to three
cylinders with the 93, there wasn't room in the tiny chassis to accommodate
this "big" powerplant sideways, so they moved it inline, hanging it in front 
of the transaxle.

The 92 was built from 1949 to 1956 with just over 20,000 units produced. 
They are *extremely* rare today and are found only in museums and a few 
private collections. Seeing one on the road is about as likely as coming 
across a Bugatti Royale being driven on the street. In fact, it's *less* 
likely since I actually have seen a Royale being driven casually in public 
(but that's a story for another time).

- - Jack

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| Jack Hagerty                |                                             | 
| jack@domain.elided   |                                             |
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