Yesterday I was talking about the plans for a new Saab to revive the Sonett name, and today whilst googling around the information super highway I found some information about a new book that looks to set the story straight on a missing Saab Sonett.
First, a little history re-cap:
Back in the 1950s, Saab engineer Rolf Mellde started sketching a sports two-seater. Saab management showed little interest. So work began in peoples spare time at a barn in Asaka, some 60km (37m) from Trollhättan.
Mellde designed a special stressed-skin light metal box, in preference to the tubular frames used in sports cars of the day. Mellde's design weighed less than 70kg.
Sixten Sason made a model that was to be taken as an original from which the glass-fibre reinforced plastic body was moulded. Glass-fibre was an exciting and futuristic material in the 1950s and nobody at Saab had any experience of it. The assistance came from SOAB (Svenska Oljeslageri Aktiebolaget) of Gothenburg.
On 14 October 1955 at 2am the Sonett was ready to go. Mellde and his colleagues had constructed this car in secrecy and, until that point, only the chassis had been out on trial runs.
Saab Management felt that the Sonett would be a sensation at the forthcoming Stockholm Motor show of February 1956 and that it should remain under wraps until that time. The Sonett, with it's light-metal chassis, plastic bodywork and a two-stoke engine tuned to deliver 57.5hp and giving a top speed of 210 km/h, was a sensation.
Four engineers were involved in the Sonett project: Rolf Mellde, Lars Olov Olsson, Olle Lindkvist and Götta Svensson. Sixten Sason styled the open top Saab.
Test runs with the Sonett were underway by Spring 1956 with the car covering over 5,000km by the autumn. The Sonett project now had the recognition and approval from Saab management and was designated the Saab 94.
The Sonett was much in demand by dealers and was shipped to the United States for the Saab introduction there in April 1956.
In November 1956 Rolf Mellde received an internal memo ordering that another five test cars be built. The barn in Asaka had been outgrown so the work was sub-contracted to Svenska Järnvagsverkstäderna (ASJ) in Linköping who, in turn, put the construction of the body out to Knossverkstaderna in Katrineholm.
The Saab Sonett Super Sport was assembled on an all steel box frame (aluminium on the first car). The Saab 93 748cc three-cylinder two-stroke was tuned to develop 57.5hp through a three-speed gearbox mounted forward of the engine. The rotation of the engine was reversed to give three forward and one reverse gears. The Sonett weighs only 500kg in full road trim.
OK, well, that was quite a long history re-cap, but it puts you in the picture. Here are the known locations of each of the six Saab Sonett Super Sports that were built:
Sonett No.1, White, currently in the Saab Car Museum at Trollhättan, aluminium frame, glass-fibre plastic reinforced body. This car set a new speed record in 1996 for cars under 750cc reaching 159.4kph.
Sonett No.2, Red, previously in Philipsons Museum in Solletuna until mid-1980s, now with American collector, steel frame, aluminium body.
Sonett No.3, Red, with private collector in Trollhättan, steel frame, aluminium body.
Sonett No.4, Green, converted into a coupe in mid-1960s but was subsequently written off in a crash.
Sonett No.5, Blue, in the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan, three gears, steel chassis, aluminium body.
Sonett No.6, White with blue stripe - belongs to collector in America, steel chassis, and aluminium body
Now, this is where it gets interesting. A couple of years ago I heard a story that Sonett number four had been discovered by a Doctor in Germany. Previously it was said that this car had been given a targa-top by an employee of Saab and the vehicle was later subject to a crash. More recently Sonett number four turned up at the Saab Festival in Sweden having been fully restored.
Since I have only discovered this information today, I am unclear as to the accuracy of this knowledge, but it would appear that all is revealed in this 96-page little book. I'm ordering the book and will look forward to reading the strange story of Saab Sonett Super Sport chassis number four.
