Gunnar A. Sjögren
Gunnar A. Sjögren ("GAS"; 1920–1996) was a Swedish engineer who worked for Saab Automobile and the author of The SAAB Way - the first 35 years of Saab cars, 1949–1984.
Biography
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Born in Stockholm in 1920, he spent his youth in the northern Swedish city of Umeå. During this period he developed a passion for drawing cars, trains aeroplanes and boats. It was soon to become focused on cars, and remained such throughout his life.
After leaving high school, he spent a year in an engineering workshop manufacturing trolleybuses, whereafter he went to engineering college in Örebro in order to realise his dream of fully understanding cars and entering into the auto industry. The most notable event during his education was an essay written at high school entitled "About cars and car makes" that would have gained the maximum mark had it not been for his error of spelling "Orient" with a small "o".
On December 1, 1941, he was taken on at General Motors in Stockholm as a draughtsman, after having submitted his drawings along with an employment application. He was later transferred to the advertising department where he produced illustrations for the variety of GM products marketed in Sweden.
In his spare time, he started submitting drawings to auto magazines and soon became a regular contributor to "Motor" in Sweden. He also was appointed editor of "GM-Revyn", the company's customer magazine, thanks to his talent for both writing and illustrating. It was at this time, the fall of 1946 that he bought his first car, a Chevrolet Fleetmaster Sport Sedan (model 2103), model year 1946. Color: grey.
After 13 years he left GM and became a freelancer with commissions from advertising agencies and magazines. After five years of the irregular hours of a self-employed person, he decided to return to industry. He had his eyes set on one particular firm: Saab. As luck would have it Saab advertised for an illustrator and Gunnar Sjögren moved down to Saab's headquarters in Linköping in the fall of 1959.
Association with Saab
[edit]He remained loyal to Saab ever since, moving to wherever the passenger car business had its headquarters: first to Södertälje and finally to its present location in Nyköping, just 60 miles south of Stockholm.
At Saab, Sjögren became deeply involved both in the shaping of the advertising material used to sell the cars as well as in the design and color scheme advisory groups.
Over the years Sjögren assembled a wealth of material about the Saab car, its design philosophy and the marketing strategies followed in bringing the cars to the eyes of the car buying public. In doing so he became owner of a vast fund of knowledge of the cars for which he became a key figure behind the scenes.
His knowledge about cars was legendary and, without hesitation he could correctly sketch with unfailing accuracy most of the important cars of the last 40 or 50 years - particularly if they happened to be made by Saab or General Motors.
Other interests
[edit]In addition to his interest in cars, Gunnar Sjögren pursued several other interests. He studied nature, learned the Latin names of the flora and fauna he encountered, and depicted them in line drawings. He also painted nature scenes, including works in oils. From 1975, he was a philatelist, arranging his collection on sheets he designed and adding explanatory notes. His other interests included classical music, particularly the Vienna school, smoking a pipe or cigar, and drinking wine or Scotch whisky. He disliked sports, entertainment programmes on TV, and popular music. Sjögren retired from Saab at the age of 60 but continued to undertake some Saab-related work, including writing the book "The Saab Way". Retirement allowed him more time for his other interests, while he maintained his interest in cars and gasoline engines.
References
[edit]- Source: "The Saab Way", pages 100, 101.