This little Swedish meatball is a 1968 Saab Sonett II and it’s as nice as they get. It’s listed on eBay with a current bid price of just over $6,000, but the reserve isn’t met. This perfect little car is in Hotchkiss, Colorado.
No, that’s not a stock exhaust, it’s a Monza exhaust system. For someone who prefers things original spec, I would rather have a stock exhaust, but it looks ok here. It’s almost a little comical but I’m sure that it adds a little zing. This car is #464 out of 1,610 Sonnet V4s made. This is a Sonett II made from 1966 to 1969 and the V4 was added in middle of 1967 so in that year you could have either a Ford V4 or a Saab 3-cylinder two-stroke engine.
This car is a jewel, the quality of the work that has been done makes it almost a museum piece. It’s wearing Sonett III wheels and they look great, but being a purist, I’d personally want to put on the original wheels which are included in the price.
This interior is nicer than it would have been from the factory, or, at least the leather seats are. I don’t believe that they came from the factory with leather seats but it’s a nice upgrade if a person isn’t looking to win points at a concours. This car is nice enough to do that so it’s a shame to see a couple of things that aren’t factory-correct, but when a person is redoing their car they can do what they want with it, of course. I wouldn’t mind sitting on these beautiful leather seats at all. This car will probably be in the $15,000-$20,000+ range, so I won’t be sitting on them, unfortunately. The Sonett was/is a fiberglass car so they had a roll cage to offer some protection.
This is Ford’s 1,498 CC four-stroke V4 and they were an option halfway through the 1967 model year and were quite an upgrade from the 3-cylinder 2-stroke engine that powered the early Sonetts and Saabs, in general. This particular engine has just been rebuilt and the seller mentions that the free-wheeling feature works as designed. This would be a halo car for any Saab collector or anyone interested in unusual vehicles.
Sports car with a column-shifted four speed. Nobody does it weirder than Saab.
Weirder? Well, ever seen a French car from the era?
Nice Saab anyhow. GLWTS
Once you got the hang of it, it wasn’t so bad.
The Sonet was one of those “love it or hate it” types. I liked it only because it was a Saab. I had a friend that had 2, never did get a ride in them ( something was wrong with both of them) so I can’t say, but looks like a lot of fun. I agree, the column mounted shifter is pretty lame for a sports car, and the proportions always looked incorrect. Love the color ( my GoldWing was this color) and sure is clean. Too weird though, give me the TR-6 anyday.
I could live with the exhaust tips IF the were at least straight out the back or angled up some…would improve the look….just saying
Flat out beautiful.
Only way it could be better is if it didn’t miss the 3 cylinder 2 stroke cutoff date.
Now when the young kids ask what it is you can say Saab Sonnet. And they will ask “what’s a Saab?”
Little known fact, the Sonnet shared taillights with the Porsche 904, so when I needed taillights I bought a whole Saab rear clip!
Cool, Adam! Wish I’d known that when I was driving my Sonett (correct spelling) in the early ’70s. Then again, the 356 in our garage might have been jealous. Sold the Sonett, still have the 356.
I think you made a wise choice.
Looks to be pretty darn clean and well sorted most others i have seen are pretty bad even has the Factory mags believe there pretty rare.
I think the Sonett 2s look much better than the Sonett 3s. My friend had one with no badging, it was amazing to hear people guess what it was.
Technical question here–did the ’68 V4 Sonett have a manual choke? I don’t remember one on mine (which was totally stock), but I have forgotten a few things in the past 45 years. Anyone know?
D. King, they had an automatic choke from what I understand. Lots of Sonett II V4 owners look for manual choke conversions.
Thanks–I knew there was a reason I didn’t remember it!
Auction update: this fantastic Sonett II was a no sale at $10,456.51.
Anyone know what the reserve was?