VINTAGE SAAB SPEEDOMETER CABLES

Somebody said, "Hey! Reconditioning speedometers is great, but...what about the speedometer cables?" What? Your speedometer won't run without a cable? Oh, all right, then, I'll build you a new speedometer cable.


Vintage Saabs [1961-80, models 95, 96 and 97(Sonett)] used two different style cables, each in two different lengths. The Saabs through 1969 used the early style cable, shown above. This is about the early style cables. I'll deal with the later style...ummm...later. You can see that the early cables used metal screw-on connectors on both ends.

I need your old, dead-as-a-doornail cable, even if it looks like this, which most of them do. I need the end connectors. The rest is junk.

The INSIDE cable shown here is a not-quite dead-as-a-doornail Saab 95/96 cable. The OUTSIDE cable shown is one of my new cables. Saab thought they needed a fat, bent, rubber section on the transmission end. Not one of their better ideas, because A--the cable is constantly bending in that area, and B--the rubber rots and breaks [see the photo above]. Later cars did NOT have the fat, bent rubber piece and guess what? The speedometers worked just fine with a "normal" cable. I do add a piece of plastic sheath about 8" long at the transmission end, to protect the outside of the sheath. I also use modern sheath material with a vinyl tube inside, so the rotating cable never rubs metal-to-metal. So if YOUR speedo cable is dead-as-a-doornail, I can make it all better!