Saab 99 Test Mules: When the Swedish Company Used Their Prototype ‘Paddan’ and Labeled It “Daihatsu’ to Test a Car

In 1966 SAAB was secretly developing a new model. They took a body from the old 96 model and widened it 20 cm so they could test the new chassis. It worked fine at first but soon they got caught when a real 96 passed it side by side. The car got nicknamed Paddan (the Toad).

Saab Padden prototype (on the left) vs. Saab 96 (on the right).

On April 2, 1965, Gudmund’s day in Sweden, after several years of planning, the SAAB board started Project Gudmund. The reason for this project was to preserve secrecy during development of the new model, the SAAB 99, which was the company’s first radically new body shape since the first cars made in 1947.

The Toad used the body of a SAAB 96, which was long enough for the purpose but had to be widened by 20 centimeters (7.9 in). This was achieved by cutting the body in half lengthwise and inserting 20 cm of steel ‘spacer’. The windscreen (windshield) and rear window clearly showed the ‘seam’. Of course, the bonnet (hood) and grille required widening in a different way, to prevent changing the appearance of the centrally-placed features, as the picture shows. The Triumph ‘in-line four’ engine of the future Saab 99 replaced the ‘Ford Taunus V4 engine’ of the SAAB 96.

The Toad project was quite short-lived. It was rightly believed that the wider body would not be noticed on Sweden’s roads, where so many SAAB 96 cars were an everyday sight. This deception was successful, for a while, until test drivers allowed a grey 'toad' to be followed by a similarly-colored but 'normal' SAAB 96, making the different proportions obvious to any observer.

Four Toads were made, but only one remains, in ‘Dark Grey’ paintwork. It is currently on display in the SAAB museum in Trollhättan, Sweden.

Further development was carried out on the SAAB ‘daihatsu’, a test car with the new body but badged ‘daihatsu’, to prevent its identification by journalists as a developmental SAAB. This vehicle is on display in the SAAB Museum in Trollhättan.

Project Gudmund with ‘daihatsu’ label.

20 Amazing Photos Show the Household Survey of Sweden in 1945

How were the living conditions in Sweden 1945? Just see the photographer Lena Böklin’s documentary photos from Swedish homes in the middle of the 20th century.

The Swedish National Board of Health and welfare wanted a pilot study of the differences between households in the city and the country. Swedish living conditions and household habits would be documented! Nyköping would represent the city. Tuna, 10 km outside Nyköping, represented the rural areas.

These amazing photos from Sörmlands museum is part of a survey conducted by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare from 1945 to 1946. The aim was to examine the standard and living conditions between the city (Nyköping) and the country (Tuna).

Doing homework in the kitchen of the family Lindgren in Tuna, 1945

Gardener Karl Bertil Karlsson's living room, Tuna, 1945

In the home of shoemaker Knut Gunnar Johansson, Enstaberga in Tuna, 1945

In the kitchen of the family Eriksson, in Tuna. Mrs Eriksson did the dishes after every meal, 1945

Taking care of the garnement, in the kitchen of the family Jansson in Tuna, 1945

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Stylish Beards, Satin Outfits and Blocky Fonts: 40 Awkward Album Covers of Swedish Bands That Are So Bad, They’re Good

Sweden has had a long, beautiful relationship with pop music. In the 1970s there was ABBA, in the ’80s there was Roxette, and in the ’90s there was Ace of Base and The Cardigans. Music from Sweden is incredibly versatile and most often magnificent. In recent decades, the success has extended to Sweden’s surrounding countries. But sometimes the album covers are so magical that it doesn’t really matter if the songs are good or not.

Blocky fonts, stylish beards, satin outfits, ball-huggingly tight pants and some of the most hideous fashion you’re ever likely to see, it’s all here and more, designed to make your eyes bleed.

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24 Cool Pics That Show the 1980s Fashion Styles of a Swedish Teenage Man

A cool photo collection that shows fashion styles of a Swedish teenage man named Lars Eriksson in the 1980s.

1983. Lingongatan Snowman

1983. Finn Upp 83 Award Ceremony

1983. Finn Upp 83 Award Ceremony

1984. Bredsand Black Hair Topless Beach

1984. Bresse Black Hair

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38 Fascinating Photos That Capture Everyday Life of Eskilstuna, Sweden in the Late 1950s

Eskilstuna is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. It has a large Sweden Finn population. The town is located on the River Eskilstunaån, which connects Lake Hjälmaren and Lake Mälaren.

These fascinating photos were taken by Lars (Lon) Olsson that documented everyday life of Eskilstuna, Sweden in the late 1950s.

Eskilstuna. Fristadstorget

Eskilstuna. Fristadstorget

Eskilstuna. Furugatan

Eskilstuna. Furugatan

Eskilstuna. Furuhällsgatan, backyard

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Vintage Photographs of an Old Man and His Christmas Tree in 1973

These beautiful photographs from Sten-Åke Stenberg that show a story of his old uncle named James Waldemar Stenberg and his Christmas tree in 1973.

James Waldemar Stenberg and the Christmas tree, Småland, Sweden, 1973

“James Waldemar Stenberg had lived the USA for about 30 years. Working in Red Woods and as a trapper in Alaska. He lost his arm while he was digging for some mineral in Alaska. He died in 1991, 89 years old.”

My uncle and the Christmas tree before cutting, Småland, Sweden, December 1973

My uncle and the Christmas tree after cutting, Småland, Sweden, December 1973

My uncle bringing the Christmas tree home in Småland, Sweden, December 1973

My uncle had a hook in Småland, Sweden, circa 1973

My uncle and my mother, Småland, Sweden, circa 1973

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40 Amazing Photos That Capture Street Scenes of Sweden in the 1900s

These amazing photographs from Swedish National Heritage Board were taken by unknown photographers that captured town views, city environments, harbours, streets, squares and individual buildings - such as palaces, dwelling houses, official buildings, school buildings, railway stations, castles, etc.

A range of different towns are represented, from north to south: Stockholm - the capital of Sweden, industrial and university towns, commercial and cathedral towns as well as port towns. Towns with medieval roots like Visby (today a UNESCO World Heritage), and towns founded in different centuries in between.

Åmål. The western part of Åmål, after the fire on the 9th of May, 1901. People and ruins

Åmål. The western part of Åmål, after the fire on the 9th of May, 1901

Åmål. View over Åmål, from Kungsberget (King's Mountain), before the fire in May 1901. Åmål church to the right

Arboga. Market at the Main Square. To the left is the Lundborg building, in the middle is the Stenberg house

Arboga. Two children on a road by the Arboga Stream. In the middle, the tower of the Holy Trintiy church, and left of it the tower of St. Nicolai church

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Paintings by Hilma af Klint, the Swedish Woman Who Found Abstraction Before the Modernists

When Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) began creating radically abstract paintings in 1906, they were like little that had been seen before: bold, colorful, and untethered from recognizable references to the physical world. It was several years before Vasily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, and others would take similar strides to free their own artwork of representational content. Yet af Klint never exhibited her remarkably forward-looking paintings and, convinced the world was not ready for them, stipulated that they not be shown for 20 years following her death. Ultimately, her work was not exhibited until 1986, and it is only over the past three decades that her paintings and works on paper have received serious attention.

Hilma af Klint was born in Stockholm in 1862 and went on to study painting at the city’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, graduating with honors in 1887. She soon established herself as a respected painter in Stockholm, exhibiting deftly rendered figurative paintings and serving briefly as secretary of the Society for Swedish Women Artists. During these years, she also became deeply engaged with spiritualism, Rosicrucianism, and Theosophy. These forms of spirituality, which were also of keen interest to other artists, including Kandinsky, František Kupka, Malevich, and Mondrian, were widely popular across Europe and the United States, as people sought to reconcile long-held religious beliefs with scientific advances and a new awareness of the global plurality of religions.

Af Klint developed her new approach to art making together with her spiritual practice, outside of Stockholm’s male-dominated art world. She had begun to regularly hold séances with four other women by 1896. During a meeting in 1906, one of the spirits that the group often channeled asked af Klint to create a cycle of paintings. Af Klint immediately accepted. She worked on the project between 1906 and 1915, completing 193 paintings and works on paper collectively called The Paintings for the Temple. These works, which included her first forays into nonobjectivity, were a radical break from the more staid paintings she produced as part of her public practice. Stylistically, they are strikingly diverse, utilizing biomorphic and geometric forms, expansive and intimate scales, and maximalist and reductivist approaches to composition and color. She imagined installing them in a spiral temple, but the building never came to fruition. After she completed The Paintings for the Temple, af Klint continued to test the limits of her new abstract vocabulary. In these years, she experimented with form, theme, and seriality, creating some of her most incisive works.

Hilma af Klint - 1906 - Chaos - Nr 2.

Hilma af Klint - 1907 - Altarpiece - No 1 - Group X - Altarpieces.

Hilma af Klint - 1907 - De Tio Största - no 2 Barnaaldern.

Hilma af Klint - 1907 - De tio största - nr 3 Ynglingaåldern Ur Grupp 4.

Hilma af Klint - 1907 - The Ten Biggest - No 7.

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50 Black and White Studio Portraits of Beautiful Swedish Women in the Early 1930s

Women's fashion in the 1930s was more conservative than that of the optimistic 1920s. Another contrast in fashion in the 1930s from that of the decade before was a return to a more feminine look for ladies.

Women's curves were no longer being de-emphasized, skirts became longer, and clothes returned to being near the natural waistline.

So what did Swedish women wear in the 1930s? Check out this gallery below of 50 stunning studio photos taken from 1930 to 1935.

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