I have an unusual minibike that I started to restore and then got too busy and it’s been sitting for almost four years now in a couple of big cardboard boxes, dozens of marked Ziploc bags, and is otherwise mostly disassembled. I know that I’ll never finish it on my own and I wonder if that’s the case with this 1974 Saab Sonett III. This one is listed here on eBay in Slatington, Pennsylvania and there is an unmet opening bid price of $5,000 and no reserve after that.

The seller says that this great-looking Sonett is 90% done, so close to being a gem after what was probably a long restoration. We don’t know any of the backstories on why they couldn’t take it the final 10% but as with almost everything on the planet, the last 10% of anything is always the hardest to complete.

I bet this auction has a lot of lurkers, or watchers as they say on eBay. Folks who are going to wait until the last few minutes and try to get it for $5,000 or as close to that as possible. For the record, Hagerty is at $6,100 for a #3 good condition car and $11,000 for a #2 excellent car and I have to believe that an experienced person could take it to the finish line and keep it under that $11k mark.

Saab made the Sonett III – obviously, the third version of this sporty two-seater – from 1970 to 1974, and just over 8,000 of them were made. Supposedly, about half of them are still around today. The biggest thing to look for is rust on the floors and cargo area floor and the seller says that it’s been taken care of. It also has a new interior and some of it just has to be installed.

The engine doesn’t appear to have been restored but maybe it’s just dirty and dusty from sitting while the rest of the car was being restored? It’s a Ford-sourced 1.7L V4 with 65 horsepower and the seller says that it ran great before the restoration so hopefully it can be brought to life without too much trouble. Any thoughts on this Sonett III?