1967 SAAB Sonett II

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Taken at Gärdesloppet 2024-05-26

 

The SAAB Sonett is an automobile manufactured by Swedish automaker SAAB between 1955 and 1957 and again between 1966 and 1974. Sonetts share engines and other components with SAAB 93, 95 and 96 of the same era. It was mainly intended for the lucrative American export market and was only offered intermittently in the Swedish domestic market (model years 1968 and 1972).

 

The first prototype, now known as the Sonett I, is a two-seat, open-top, lightweight roadster racer which, ten years later, evolved into the commercially distributed Sonett models II, V4, and III.

 

In the 1950s, Rolf Mellde — a SAAB engine developer and race enthusiast—along with Lars Olov Olsson, Olle Lindkvist, and Gotta Svensson, designed a two-seat roadster prototype in a barn in Åsaka, near Trollhättan (the site of the main SAAB manufacturing facility). The limited research-and-development project, with a total budget of only 75,000 Swedish kronor, became known as the Sonett, a name derived from the Swedish phrase Så nätt den är ("how neat it is", or more literally "it's so neat") supposedly said by Mellde when faced with the prototype.

 

The SAAB Sonett, also called the Super Sport or SAAB 94, was introduced on 16 March 1956 at Stockholm's Bilsalong (motor show). Featuring a three-cylinder 748 cc two-stroke engine generating 57.5 horsepower (42.9 kW) and a 70 kg aluminium box-style chassis from Swedish designer Sixten Sason, the Sonett I was an advanced low-weight 600 kg racer based on aircraft design concepts.

 

With a projected top speed of 190 km/h, the Sonett I had the prospect of success on the European race circuit, and a production run of 2,000 units was planned for 1957. However, race competition rules changed, permitting modified production cars into race classes that SAAB had envisioned for its purpose-built Sonett, and the economic and marketing viability of the project faded.

 

Only six Sonett I vehicles were made between 1955 and early 1957, all RHD. The original prototype, known as "No. 1" and built with a manually-crafted glass-reinforced plastic (GRP, or "fiberglass") body, served as the reference model for the other five cars. An extremely rare vehicle, only two Sonetts I exist in the United States. Chassis number 2 was in the GM Heritage Center Collection but it was sold to SAAB Cars North America (SCNA) after GM's 2009 bankruptcy. After SAAB, too, went bankrupt in 2012, it was sold on to the SAAB Heritage Car Museum USA in South Dakota.

 

In September 1996, rally driver Erik Carlsson broke the Swedish record for the under–750-cc engine class with a speed of 159.4 km/h in the restored Sonett I original prototype "No. 1".

 

Sonett II

Also calledSAAB 97

Production1966–1969

DesignerBjörn Karlström

Body stylecoupé, LHD

LayoutFF layout

Engine841 cc SAAB two-stroke I3

1,498 cc Ford Taunus V4 engine

 

In the early 1960s, Björn Karlström, an aircraft and automotive illustrator, and Walter Kern, an engineer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, independently suggested a two-seat roadster with SAAB components and a two-stroke engine called the "Shrike". Two prototypes were developed: the SAAB MFI13 by Malmö Flygindustri, and the SAAB Catherina by Sixten Sason.

 

After some modifications, the MFI13 was put into limited production (28 units) in 1966 as the Sonett II, manufactured at the Aktiebolaget Svenska Järnvägsverkstäderna (ASJ) in Arlöv. Inside SAAB, it was designated model 97. A further 230 units were assembled in 1967, but as the two-stroke engine became increasingly uncompetitive in the US market, a switch to the Ford Taunus V4 engine was made in the middle of the 1967 production year, and the model was renamed the Sonett V4. Apart from the engine and related drivetrain, the Sonett II and Sonett V4 share much of their componentry. The additional weight did require some strengthening of the chassis and suspension pieces, and the wheels were half an inch wider than the four-inch units used on the Sonett II. Approximately 50 percent of the Sonett II production has survived, preserved or maintained by museums, collectors, and race enthusiasts. The 1967 year holds the distinction of becoming the last 2 stroke engine passenger automobile sold new in the United States.

 

Like the Sonett I prototype, the Sonett II fiberglass body was bolted to a box-type chassis with an added roll-bar to support the hard top. The entire front hood section hinged forward to allow easy access to the engine, transmission, and front suspension. Equipped with a three-cylinder, two-stroke engine generating 60 PS (44 kW; 59 hp), the Sonett II achieved 0 to 100 km/h (0–62 mph) time of 12.5 seconds, with a top speed of 150 km/h (93 mph). All Sonett IIs were left hand drive (LHD).

 

Designed as a race car, the Sonett II competed successfully against other small European sports cars, including the Austin-Healey Sprite and Triumph Spitfire, in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) races of the period.[citation needed] Due to low production volume, Sonett IIs were disqualified from certain competitions. By 1967, the two-stroke engine failed to meet US emission control standards.[10] In 2011 a two-stroke Sonett II achieved 175 km/h at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Of the 28 Sonett IIs manufactured in 1966 all were equipped with 841 cc three cylinder two-stroke engines. SAAB produced serial numbers 29 through 258 with the two-stroke engine, serial number 259 was the first Sonett to have the V4 engine.

 

All Sonett II transmissions had a freewheel that could be engaged and disengaged while in motion via a pull handle down near the throttle pedal. The freewheel was required in the normal (non-oil pump engines) SAAB two stroke engines but not in the racing engines that had an oil injection system fed from a supply tank, nor in the Sonett V4 since it had a four-stroke engine with the common recirculating pressure lubrication.

 

Source: Wikipedia

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