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A little-heralded sports car, the Saab Sonett borrowed an American/German engine and Italian design cues to make something distinctly Swedish.
No Saab Story Jokes!
Saab Sonett I – netcarshow.com | Shop Saab Sonett on Carsforsale.com
I am not necessarily opposed to bad puns. Comedy is about timing and if a pun is apropos to the moment, pun away, young man, pun away. But the sheer number of “Saab story” jokes in articles about Saab and the Saab Sonett I ran into while researching this article had me pining for the high-brow humor of vintage Family Circus comic strips. And besides, the story of Saab’s only real sports car, the Sonett, is not so much sad as it is appropriately quirky.
First, the name. The Sonett is not a misspelling of a poetry form, it is derived from Så nätt den är, which translates from the Swedish as something like “how neat it is,” which is what one engineer said when he saw the first Sonett prototype in 1955. Though the eventual road car was leagues from the initial prototype, the Sonett II and Sonett III were indeed “neat” in the way that word perfectly captures that singular form of thoughtfulness seen in those cars.
Sonett I
Debuting in 1956, the first of the Saab Sonetts was intended as a race car. The lightweight (just over 1,300 lbs) and aerodynamic roadster was a natural fit for a company that had long specialized in building airplanes. The first Sonett has some Porsche 550 Spyder vibes with a little of the Meyer’s Manx dune buggy sprinkled in. Those two attributes of light weight and an aerodynamic body were indeed necessary for the car to achieve any sort of speed given its tiny 750cc two-stroke three-cylinder engine. Saab originally referred to the car as the “Super Sport” or Saab 94 before it was christened the Sonett.
A racing rules change made the project obsolete with just six cars built, and the Sonett name went dormant for almost a decade.
Sonett II
Saab returned to the Sonett in 1966 with plans for both a road car and a race car. The fiberglass body of the Sonett II gives the car a striking appearance, borrowing the best sports car designs of the time. Its flat rear end is reminiscent of the Shelby Daytona’s, the round headlights echo cars like the Porsche 911 and Alfa Romeo Stradale, and the overall shape owes more than a little to the Ferrari 250 GTO.
Like the Sonett I, the Sonett II started life with a two-stroke three-cylinder engine. Displacement was upped to 841cc, which allowed the little engine to make a thundering 65 horsepower and jog from zero to sixty mph in 12.5 seconds. US emissions regulations forced a switch after the car’s first year, swapping one weird engine for another. Midway through 1967, the Sonett II was now running a 1,498cc (1.5L) Ford Taunus V4. The V4 was built by Ford of Germany and was used in numerous cars including the Ford Taunus, Transit, and Capri as well as the Saab 95, 96, and the Sonett II (and III).
The new engine was a bit too large for the Sonett II’s engine bay. The solution was a bulging hood, set slightly off-center for better visibility. Now the Sonett II had its signature look. The Sonett II’s unusual aspects did not stop there, however. Unlike many sports cars, the Sonett II had front-wheel drive. Unlike many production sports cars, it had a roll bar from the factory (both for safety and to add rigidity to the fiberglass car). The Sonett II’s manual transmission featured a free-wheeling clutch that disengaged when you let off the throttle.
Sonett III
Once again, emissions regulations forced a change for the Sonett which embarked on its third iteration in 1970 (the Sonett II’s body design made necessary alterations to the car’s exhaust system difficult). The new Sonett III’s design was an amalgam of ‘60s Italian sports cars like the Iso Grifo and Maserati Ghibli Spyder. The Italian influence was not a coincidence, the Sonett III’s new design was penned by Italian Sergio Coggiola, formerly of Carrozzeria Ghia design house.
Among the car’s new elements was a sloping rear end and hunched rear fender that together presaged those of the Datsun 240Z, which debuted a year later, along with a new wedge-shaped front end with pop-up headlights and a new geometric design to the wheels.
The Sonett III did keep the prior version’s Ford V4 engine, now churning out a robust 73 horsepower. Though billed as “bulgeless,” a vestigial hump remained part of the car’s small hood to accommodate the air cleaner. The Sonett III was still lightweight, less than 1,800 lbs, and fared well in SCCA competition despite the front-wheel drive layout and lack of raw power. Handling was good, and the V4 sounded like a growly half V8. The Sonett III’s interior was at turns simple and sumptuous. The leather and cloth bucket seats even came with an adjustable lumbar pillow.
Seeking, and Finding, Balance
Saab Sonett III – netcarshow.com | Shop Saab Sonett on Carsforsale.com
Just 8,368 Saab Sonett IIIs were built before emissions regulations and poor sales forced its cancellation after 1974. Though low in numbers and modest in racing achievements, the Saab Sonett’s unique design makes it one of Sweden’s coolest classic cars. The Swedes have a word, lagom, to describe their culturally distinct notion of moderation and balance. Lagom is easily identified in the Saab Sonett, a car that is comfortable and handles well, a racing car with a small and unusual engine and a “neat” mix of the decade’s best sports car styling.
The Sonett therefore ranks, in my estimation, amongst Sweden’s great cultural contributions along with death metal bands, Koenigsegg supercars, and the acting of Stellan Skarsgard. (Can you believe I made it this far without a single reference to IKEA, ABBA, or Swedish meatballs? Me neither.)
