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This insane V-8–powered 1971 Saab 95 wagon is our Bring a Trailer pick of the day, in an auction that ends on Monday, March 21.Instead of the factory-supplied 73-hp V-4 engine, this Saab features a 502-cubic-inch big-block Chevy V-8 under the hood.This 95 has also been converted to rear-wheel drive and squeezes huge drag-racing tires under the rear fender skirts.This 1971 Saab 95 wagon may look like a dainty relic, but if you pulled up next to it late at night looking for an easy win in a red-light drag race, there’s a good chance you’d be left in its dust. That’s because this quaint little Saab has a massive 8.2-liter V-8 engine stuffed under the hood and beefy drag-racing tires hiding under the rear fender skirts. This ultimate Swedish sleeper is now up for sale on the Bring a Trailer auction site—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos—with bidding ending on Monday, March 21.

Bring a Trailer

The Saab 95 was built from 1959 to 1978 as a wagon counterpart to the 96 sedan, and starting in 1971, U.S.-market versions were powered by a 1.7-liter Ford V-4 making 73 horsepower. But this example ditched the dinky V-4 for a big-block Chevy powerhouse, and it has been converted from front- to rear-wheel drive to maximize its drag-racing prowess. The steel 15-inch wheels are wrapped in BFGoodrich Radial T/A tires in the rear, which look plenty adept at putting the power down, and HKP 880 Sport IV tires up front. Before it gets to those BFGoodrichs, power is routed through a two-speed automatic transmission.

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer

Despite featuring only two doors and stretching only a couple of inches longer than a Chevy Trax, the original 95 wagon could seat seven occupants thanks to a rear-facing third row. This example, however, is down to five seats, with trunk space eaten into by a large black box that likely accommodates a differential and those huge rear tires. Otherwise, the interior and bodywork appear largely stock, with the exception of four-point racing harnesses for the front seats and a SuperTrapp dual-outlet exhaust that peeks out from under the rear bumper.

Saab 95 wagons come up a few times a year on Bring a Trailer, but so far none has been as wild as this example with its 502-cubic-inch engine and rear-wheel-drive drag-racing conversion. It may not be the most practical car, but the sleeper Saab is certainly unique. Bidding is currently at $12,500 with five days to go.

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Prodrive, the British company famous for building some of the most iconic race cars on the planet, has revealed a road-legal off-roader based on its championship-leading Bahrain Raid Xtreme competition car. Called the Hunter, it uses the same engine, drivetrain, and suspension, but comes with more power, more suspension travel, and a more livable interior.

The front-mounted 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 engine, free from the World Rally-Raid Championship’s restrictions, now makes 591 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque, a 50 percent increase over the race car’s output. Like the race car driven by Sebastien Loeb, it sends power to all four wheels via a six-speed sequential gearbox. But the shifter lever from the race car has been replaced with easier-to-use paddles near the steering wheel. The double-wishbone suspension, which features parallel uprights on all four corners, has 15.7 inches of travel, up from 13.7 in the competition car. The Hunter is fitted with 35-inch off-road tires, but the company estimates the car could hit 62 mph on pavement in less than four seconds if fitted with sticker rubber.While the Ian Callum–designed body of the Hunter hasn’t changed much in the switch from race car to road car, the interior has been given a total revamp. Most of the cage has been tucked away but there’s still plenty of visible carbon fiber on the dash and lower body panels. There are two carbon-fiber bucket seats and a real center console, along with a digital gauge cluster for the driver. You’ll also find six-point harnesses and a dual fire extinguisher system inside. Ben Sayer, a spokesperson for Prodrive, told Road & Track that testing and development for the Hunter has already been going on for over a month. But much of that testing is down to final calibrations and refinement. “Because [the Hunter] is based on the competition car, it’s done a huge amount of endurance [testing] already,” Sayer told Road & Track. “The three [competition] cars have done a total of 25,000 kilometers. So the whole of the powertrain and the suspension has been tested to the extreme and passed that endurance testing. Now it’s very much about refining the car for the kind of person who’s going to drive it.”

Speaking of buyers, Prodrive is currently on tour with its first Hunter model in the Middle East. Sayer says this region of the world will likely be the car’s most valuable market simply because it has exactly the type of terrain the Hunter was designed to conquer. But he also acknowledged its potential for North American sales.”This car is about driving at high speed over rough terrain,” Sayer said. “There are parts of North America where you’re able to do that, where you can turn off the road and you’re fairly free to do it. So North America is one of our markets.”The Hunter shown here has already been sold, and buyers for the next few examples have already been lined up, says Sayer. With a starting price of roughly $1.6 million, the car isn’t cheap. And because it fills such a narrow niche, Prodrive doesn’t expect to sell many. Its sold allocations will keep the team busy until at least the end of the year, according to Sayer. If you want one any time soon, we suggest getting your order in ASAP.

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The Aston Martin V12 Vantage’s twin-turbo V-12 engine will make 690 horsepower and 555 pound-feet of torque.It will be limited to just 333 cars globally and comes only as a coupe.The V12 model features a revised suspension, a wider track, and a dramatic-looking aerodynamic kit.We have long loved the combination of large engines in small cars, and few encapsulate the relative imbalance better than the freshly unveiled 2023 Aston Martin V12 Vantage. Aston has stuffed the mighty twin-turbo 5.2-liter V-12 from the DBS Superleggera into the baby Vantage. The combination will be produced in a limited run of 333 cars, and Aston says that the order book has already closed “due to unprecedented demand.”While the previous-generation Vantage spawned multiple V-12–powered variants, all of which used the older 6.0-liter naturally aspirated engine, there will only be a single version of the new V12 Vantage this time around. It’s only available as a coupe and there won’t be a roadster version. The engine is closely related to the one in the DB11 and DBS, sharing the latter’s headline power figure of 690 horsepower produced at 6500 rpm. Although impressive, the 555 pound-feet of torque is 108 pound-feet lower than in the Superleggera. The regular V-8–powered Vantage is no slouch, but Aston Martin claims that the V12 Vantage will have a power-to-weight ratio more than 20 percent better.

Aston Martin

The gearbox is an eight-speed torque-converter automatic—a manual would have been too much to hope for—but with a unique calibration for quicker shifts. But unlike the regular Vantage, which uses an electronically controlled rear differential, the V12 features a conventional mechanical limited-slip differential, a feature previously only offered on the manual Vantage.

Other changes include extensive chassis revisions, many of these related to the ones made to allow the Vantage-based V12 Speedster to accommodate the V-12 last year. Aston CEO Tobias Moers recently told us that the revisions to the V12 Vantage are significant enough for it to be considered a new model, with these including spring rates increased by 40 percent at the front and 50 percent at the rear, new top mounts, revised sway bars, and a new secondary spring for the rear axle to improve ride comfort.

Aston Martin

Aston says the V12 Vantage is 1.6 inch wider than the standard car and features many carbon-fiber panels. A rear strut brace and additional reinforcements have improved structural stiffness over the V-8 model, too. The steering system is revised and carbon ceramic brakes are standard, along with 21-inch wheels. There will be an option for a lightweight version of these wheels, and all V12 Vantages will wear Michelin Pilot 4S tires.Much of the revised exterior design has been dictated by the need to manage the V12 Vantage’s high-speed airflow. The bonnet’s vast “horse shoe” vent seems to occupy more than half of the hood area and the radiator grille is also 25 percent larger than the regular Vantage’s. A new splitter element below the front bumper and a diffuser at the back improve aerodynamic performance, but the vast new wing makes the greatest contribution. Buyers will be able to forego this for a stealthier look, although doing so will diminish the 450 pounds of peak downforce the wing-wearing V12 Vantage is claimed to be capable of generating at peak speed.

Aston Martin

Buyers will be able to choose between leather sports seats or lightweight buckets with exposed carbon shells and manual adjustment; selecting these will save another 16 pounds of mass. Buyers will also be able to use Aston’s Q customization service to select bespoke exterior and trim colors. The company is not expecting any two completed cars to be the same. There is no official word on pricing yet, but we are told to expect around $300,000 before options in the U.S., with deliveries starting later this year. That would be more than twice as much as the standard Vantage, but this is also set to be a much rarer car. Aston has already said its V-12 engine is approaching emissions-enforced retirement; the Vantage will be one of its final applications.
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