Yorkshire restorer keeping Swedish icon on the road!

By Classic Yorkshire correspondent Tony Lofthouse

Over the years, owning a Saab wasn’t just about trusting in their durability, for some, it was also about choosing an attractive alternative to buying German.

It’s fair to say Saab owners also have a strong loyalty to the car.

Today, a Huddersfield garage is doing a great job in keeping these Swedish classics on the road, eleven years on from Saab folding.

Malbrad Saab is run by Steve Broadhead whose love for the car began as an apprentice at a local Saab dealership over 40 years ago. Since 1991, he’s become sole owner of the business.

Steve and his mechanics team of John and Charlie carry thousands of parts for various models and specialise in 95, 96, Sonett, 99 and classic 900 Saabs, right up to the last models manufactured.

The team at Malbrad are also experts in preparing vintage Saabs ready for rallying up and down the country.

Earlier this month I was delighted to find out more about some of the restoration projects underway and enjoy a tour around the garage with Steve.

Steve explains: “I’ve worked on Saabs all my working life and you get to know all the intricacies of the different models.

“They’ve always been ahead of the game, from being the first turbocharged production car with the Saab 99 to the safety features built into every car.”

Among one of the current projects at Malbrad is the rebuilding of an early Saab 96 ‘Bullnose’.

The 1963 model, in polar white, is owned by Trevor Oxley, Secretary of the Ebor Saab Owners Club.

Trevor gave me background on his Saab, he said: “The car came off the road in 1970 after the owner sadly died and had been kept garaged for many years. I purchased the car in 2020 from someone who was treating it as a restoration project and it only had 46,000 on the clock.

“When I bought it I thought that most of the work required had been done and basically it only needed a respray. It was only after I took it to Malbrad that it’s true condition was revealed.

“Steve, John and Charlie have really started from scratch, repairing body panels and fitting replacements, where needed, along with re-chroming the bumpers. They will then look at restoring the 3-cylinder 841cc two-stroke engine. To finish things off the car will be fully repainted.”

Typical prices for a restored early 96 can be anything between £15,000 and £20,000.

The team have also been busy stripping and restoring a Saab 900 16v Turbo brought to Malbrad by owner, Phil Wright.

Phil bought the 1991 model 12 years ago having had fond memories growing up with Saabs as part of his family life.

He said: “I heard about Steve’s expertise through the Saab Owners Club and it’s fair to say he gave me a thorough diagnosis of what was needed.

“The car looked solid enough but ‘below the surface’ it needed a lot of work to chop out areas of corrosion. John from Malbrad has carried out a lot of welding to the shell and Charlie worked on restoring the engine.”

The red 900 is now going through the paint shop and Phil is looking forward to doing a lot of the reassembly work alongside Steve at his garage. 

Phil added: “Once it’s all complete, I’m looking forward to taking my 900 over to Sweden for the Saab Car Museum Festival in Trollhattan.” 

The Saab 900 was launched in 1978 and was based on the Saab 99 chassis. It came as a five-door hatchback, two and four-door saloon and also a cabriolet version. 

Over 900,000 were made over two generations spanning 20-year production – covering 1978-1993 and 1994-1998.

Steve also tells me about one of his favourite projects. Five years ago he built a replica of the famous Saab 96 two-door V4 driven by rally legend, Stig Blomqvist in the 1971 RAC Rally championship.

It all came about when Saab rally enthusiast, Ian Clark, picked up the shell of a 1973 Saab 96 V4 on eBay.

Using Malbrad’s extensive collection of Saab parts, Steve and his team were able to restore the body, rebuild the gearbox and convert the engine from the original 1500cc to a high performance 1760cc racing unit.

The car was then expertly re-sprayed in the original Saab red by Bury Autobodies.

Owner Ian said: “The car was in Steve’s workshop when the deal was reached with Stig Blomqvist to be the guest of honour at Castle Combe and they were looking for a Saab 96 to replicate the one he drove when he won the World Rally Championship

“But time was tight. Rally day was only six weeks away with lots of work to do to get the car ready for Stig to drive. Set the task, Steve and his team pulled out all the stops to get it finished for the race event.

“It was extra special to see Stig Blomqvist join us and he was thrilled to take our race replica for a few circuits at Castle Combe.

“As a lovely finishing touch to the project, I tracked down the original old style number plate – PA 57003 – from Stig’s 1971 winning car. It came from a Swedish garage owner, Lars, who I met at the NEC Classic Car Show in 2016.

“It was in amongst boxes of spare parts from Saab’s competition department that Lars had bought and I managed to buy the real plate from him!”

If you would like to see Ian’s replica, it will be displayed at the NEC Classic Car Show next month (11-13 November) on the Rallying History Stand. 

I will also be doing a follow-up blog on the making of the Saab 96 replica to share with Classic Yorkshire readers in the New Year.

Coming away from the Malbrad garage, it’s clear Steve not only knows every inch of a Saab but has a real passion for keeping them on the road. Keep up the great work Steve and team!

If you have a Saab restoration in mind, need specialist parts or just want to find out more about these Swedish classics ring Steve on 01484 544556, email: steve@malbrad.co.Uk or visit www.malbrad.co.uk

Declaration – I can confirm that Classic Yorkshire received no payment or benefit from this feature.