Historic SAAB to compete at Elkhart Lake Vintage Rally

A rare 1950 SAAB 92 is set to compete in a renactment rally in Elkhart
Lake, Wisconsin, home of Road America Raceway. The driver/navigator team is
nearly as historic as the car. Jon Davis of Houghton, Michigan, will be
behind the wheel, while Tim Winker of Twig, Minnesota, will try to keep the
team on time. The 2007 Elkhart Lake Historic Rallye celebrates the 55th
anniversary of the SCCA sponsored Monte Carlo style rallies held in
conjunction with open road sports car races during 1951 and 1952. The rally
will be held on October 5 and 6, 2007, and includes a tour of the original
Elkhart Lake race course that used public roads.

1950 was the first year that SAAB produced cars, and this is the earliest
92 known in the U.S, the 218th of only 1246 Saabs to roll off the
production line in Trollhattan that year. SAAB did not begin importing cars
to the U.S. until the introduction of the model 93 in 1956. This 92 was
imported to the U.S. by a private owner. When it was purchased by Saab
enthusiast Larry Williams of Waterloo, Iowa, it bore a small dash plaque
from the 1952 Elkhart Lake Rallye.

Williams found the rusty 92 at Trio Motors in Flint, Michigan, where it had
been sitting for over 25 years. He acquired it in 1991 and dragged it home.
He was able to get the car's 750cc, two-cylinder engine unstuck and even
running, then went on to hand fabricate many floor and body pieces that had
rusted out. The car had been repainted grey at some time in its life, and
much of that was flaking off. Williams was able to get down to the original
green paint on much of the car, but bare metal was sprayed with black
primer. That is how the body still appears today.

Once it was safe to drive on the street, he drove it to a Saab Owners
Convention in Wisconsin, a 500 mile round trip. In a true test of faith in
the 92, Williams ran it around the autocross course at the convention.

After Williams passed away in 1998, the SAAB 92 went to Tom Donney, another
Iowa Saab collector. He, too, has driven the 92 to Saab events, including
Saab Owners Conventions in Hilton Head, SC (1998) and Troy, Michigan
(2007). On a recent trip to Sweden, Donney acquired many parts to do a
restoration of the 92, and intends to bring the car closer to original
condition over the next few years.

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JON DAVIS - Former SCCA ProRally Champion Jon Davis ran his first rally in
1959 in a Triumph TR3. He later switched to the more robust SAABs and took
many trophies in both two-stroke and V4 SAAB 96s. When SCCA instituted the
ProRally Championship in the 1970s, Davis was one of the first to get
involved. He ran a very competitive Saab 99 for many years, but the car
suffered regular engine problems due to aftermarket parts. Davis was one of
the first to compete in the Production Class, driving a Saab 99, and
captured the National Championship in 1980 and 1981, with Harry Ward as his
co-driver.

TIM WINKER - Tim Winker's rally career began when he was a student at the
University of Minnesota in 1969. He competed locally for many years, and
occasionally ventured across the country for a National Rally. Over the
years he has also raced cars on the ice and road race courses, driven and
co-driven on stage rallies, and navigated on several prestigious endurance
rallies such as One Lap of America, Alcan 5000 and Targa Newfoundland.
Winker was also part of a Saab factory organized team of journalists that
drove a Saab 900 to a world speed record at Talladega International
Speedway in 1996, and set the fastest lap during his stint at the wheel.
Tim Winker
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Vintage Ice And Gravel Rally Racing Association
[ V. I. A. G. R. R. A. ]