Tell me about the Saab..

hmm this is what wiki has to say..

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In the 1970s the Sonett design started to feel a bit outdated. In the USA, the motoring press railed against its appearance while extolling its handling characteristics. For their new design, to be called the Sonett III, Saab called in Sergio Coggiola. It was important that the middle section would be unaltered, but Coggiola ignored that and made a significantly wider car. The Coggiola design was altered by Gunnar A. Sjögren to fit the middle section. The hinged rear window glass itself became the hatch to the rear luggage compartment, improving the access. The engine compartment, however, was accessed via a small, matt-black panel in the top of the front section. For extensive work, the entire front section had to be unbolted and removed. Coggiola's name did not appear on the new car, perhaps because his proposed design had been altered so much. Due to demands from the US market, the Sonett III had a floor shifter instead of the column shifter as used in previous models. It also came with optional dealer installed air conditioning, also a request from the US market.

In 'quirky' saab fashion, the pop-up headlights were operated by means of manually operated levers. In 1973, the car received the Saab self-repairing bumpers.

The Sonett III had the type indicator '97' in the chassis number and used the same Ford V4 engine as before, with 1500 cc in 1970 and from the fall of 1970 (model year 1971) with a 1700 cc in later versions in order to handle the new US emissions controls. Both engine types gave 65 hp (48 kW). The Sonett III made 0-100 km/h in 13 s and due to a 'longer' differential gear ratio, had a top speed of 165 km/h. The drag coefficient was 0.31.

Production was ended in 1974 due to stricter automobile emissions control in the USA. A total of 10,236 Saab 97 (Sonett II and III) were made.

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anyone have any info on euro models?
Its a hit with the chicks..

I think they're basically 96's under the skin. Certainly the wheels fit 96's so that means they must share the same odd stud pattern and so brakes etc. are no doubt the same.

Here's one I saw at Classics on the Common a couple of years ago.

FWD and fibreglass shells I think. Very light, so both V4 and two stroke sonnetts go well.
The two stroke triples sound incredible.

Mmm, I love those Federal bumpers. The Sonnett is a bit of a 'random' car for Saab, I love it.

I like the rear view, and that's about all - but it's worth seeing anyway!




Apparently, this one is Turbo'd...it's definitely worth looking at the build up pics on the owner's site: www.martin-roth.com
While you're there you can check out his Turbo 96 too!: