The Saab Sonett has roots dating back to the mid-fifties, with manufacturing beginning in 1955 and running through 1957 for the first go-round, but it took a several-year hiatus before returning to the market again in 1968 with production wrapping up for the final time in 1974. The car underwent some more refreshing in ’70 when it became known as the Sonett III, with approximately 8,368 examples of this variant made between 1970 and 1974, so while it’s not extremely rare these cars aren’t exactly common sightings nowadays either. This 1972 Saab Sonett III here on Craigslist could use some work, but it seems affordably priced at $4,500, so maybe you’ll have some cash leftover to pour into the car once it’s yours. The Swedish sports car is located in Redding, California, should you want to take a look.
Numskal, many thanks for your tip here! Though the seller doesn’t specify how long he’s owned the Saab himself, he does tell us that prior to his acquisition the car was parked sometime during the mid-nineties, but it was in a garage under favorable circumstances as the vehicle was lifted in the air and had all fuel removed from the tank. The motor is not positively identified as original, but a Ford V4 is the correct powerplant, and considering when the car was taken off the road I’m thinking there’s a good chance the engine is a factory component. A new battery, oil change, and external gas source were enough to get her fired up, so even if the car does need additional attention under the hood at least we know it’s running and not locked up.
Another positive is these cars came with a fiberglass body, so there’s no rot outside and the panels appear to line up reasonably well. The finish is showing some fading as are the decals, but it doesn’t look like a whole lot of prep would be required to get the exterior ready for a respray. One area that’s not addressed at all is the undercarriage, with no photos and no mention of whether or not any rust is present, but we do get to see the topside of the floors. While the floorboards aren’t exempt from any corrosion, I’m not spotting any actual holes, so hopefully, all we’re seeing is just some surface rust and the lower components are all still solid as well.
I’m a bit uncertain about the mileage, which has been listed as 29,000 as shown by the odometer. The seller believes this is actual, based on what nice shape he says the Saab is in. Looking at the interior, if it’s been on the road less than 30k miles somebody must have been pretty hard on it and those exposed wires aren’t a very welcoming sight. But for $4,500, maybe this is a worthwhile project, and the car seems like it would make a fun driver given some TLC. Is this 1972 Saab Sonett III a car you’d enjoy taking to the next level?
The article is so historically inaccurate I don’t know where to begin; not that it matters in the grande scheme of things. Mileage is obviously not as stated; again, not that it matters, considering all the work it needs.
A little more research would improve your Saab-related articles.
I agree with both earlier comments about SAAB and specifically the Sonnet. This is a fun car to drive but and it is a huge but the car is not fast. I will do highway speeds with no problem but acceleration is not that great. Being front wheel drive was useful and it did that and turned well. It is warm in the winter time and not that hot in the winter time. DO NOT PAINT ONE. BLACK as a friend did. That will get it hot as hell in the. late summer. A simple car and a fun one, not as fast as an MGB or Triumph TR-6 but still fun and can hold. more than either on a trip. Gets great milage. I wonder if it could make it across the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70. I have owned some cars that would not due to emission requirements of the day. Great around town car and these days very different and they will attract crowds because they are so different.
If the frame is in good condition (the only real weak point on this version) it is a good car at a fair price and could easily be made in to an excellent one. and Yes I am a fan of these.
Looking at that interior, how can the seller claim 29,000 original miles. Why were the floor covering & the door panels removed? Was the car in a flood?
Putting that vinyl? plastic? roof on a Saab Sonnet counts as a crime against humanity.
Looks like that may just be black paint on the roof, still a dubious choice as you say, but easy enough to repaint over, along with the rest of the body.
When I worked at TI in Dallas, one of the engineers located in the North Building had one of these, and it was a very light color (don’t remember the actual color). He liked it because it was different, and he only lived about 5 miles away.
Is this ugly date week on BF? I’ve never seen so many at once! This thing looks like a Pantera hooked up with a Fiat and produced an offspring.
So you think Pantera (a beautiful car) and Fiat (owner of Ferrari, btw) giving birth to a sports car would be bad? Uh…
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think it’s very cool.
I hate to be picky, but the correct spelling of this model is S-O-N-E-T-T, not Sonnet or Sonnett.
Picky as I am, I will pass on this tired little Swede.
Nice, but useless here in Sacramento – no AC means a heat trap in the summer. Ah well…
Curious the headlights are popped up in all photos, but at least confirms they can go up! IIRC they’re entirely mechanical, operated via cable to a handle on the dash, so no worries about finding ancient unobtanium motors for them, just gotta sort out the mechanical linkage issue (maybe just needs a new cable?) if they won’t go down.
Flintstones, meet the Flintstones…..
I don’t need a Saab to sob over I have a smart car
And you’re smarting?
For anyone who is interested in buying a Sonett III, this is what you want to start with — a mostly rust-free chassis assembly.
I’ve owned multiple SAAB cars [all of them 3 cylinder 2-strokers] and my restoration shop worked on quite a few older SAAB cars over the years. We had an almost identical Sonett III come in for work, the owner of the car brought it in for repairs because it had typical amounts of Mid-Atlantic rust in the floors.
The exterior body, being bolt-on fiberglass panels, was removed until we had only the bare rolling chassis/tub. What we discovered was massive body rot, not just in the floor pans, but in the lower sections of the firewall and inner front fenders.
This was back in the mid 1980s, when a Sonett III wasn’t worth much, and the costs to repair the rusted areas exceeded the total value of a nice original Sonett III. The owner wisely chose not to go ahead with the repairs, and I ended up buying the car for spare parts.
Too see what a Sonett III rolling bare chassis looks like, and for more info on these cars, check out this website: https://whatonearthisasonett.wordpress.com/2018/12/03/product-spotlight-1-restored-1972-sonett-chassis/
Scroll down to see close-up photos of the chassis details, and you can see just how complicated the underpinnings of these chassis can be.
Holy crap, Bill, thanks so much! I now know 10 times more than I did before about Sonetts. Incredibly complex sheet metal frame underneath that fiberglass.
I would hate to pull off the body and find a colony of joyful tin worms underneath…
jwaltb,
You are quite welcome my friend. Especially when it comes to rare and unusual vehicles, it’s important to know as much as possible about the type & model of a car before you go lookin’ for one. That way your knowledge of what to check, will hopefully keep your focus on reality instead of getting a car that you might regret as long as you own it!
I used to take people to England back in the late 1980s to look for rare British cars, especially Rolls-Royces. In 1989 I took a fairly well-off gent [who was one of the founders of a famous Ice Cream company] who wanted a Rolls-Royce Phantom-V limousine, but had not found one in the US of A. We spent many days traveling all over England & Scotland, but all the P-V cars we found were in worse condition than those in the US, so he went back home without a car. But the knowledge he learned during those 10 days enabled him to find a P-V limo in Canada that turned out to be a wonderful car, and it was a rare left hand drive example from new.
Bill, thank you for pointing me in this direction. I’m looking to purchase a Sonett for my husband for his birthday and I think this will help steer me away from heartache or a gift gone bad, at least. I thought I’d ask if you know of any Sonett’s for sale in the US. I have a lead on a couple of them, but as you know, the ones with little rust are hard to come by.
I’m happy to hear my advice might help you refrain from making an expensive mistake. I closed my shop over 20 years ago and haven’t kept in touch with what’s going on in the SAAB circles, so I don’t have any specific cars to comment on.
If you are not yet a member, I might suggest joining the various SAAB clubs, and post a comment or place an ad letting members know you are looking for a rust free or already repaired Sonett. Over the years I have seen members of various clubs sell cars to other members without posting a public ad for the car’s sale. A quick google of SAAB Sonett clubs will bring up several clubs.
I don’t know much about these but I see holes in the floor to the right of the shifter. Red flags have been thrown up!
That green paint, and bulging headlight “eyes” makes me call this the “Frogmobile”!
The chassis is basically a cut off SAAB 96. All of the structure is sheet metal. If the metal is sound, the car is a good buy. Parts are challenging to source.
This is probably the same Sonett that we saw in Tahoe City sometime in the 90’s. I had a 96 years ago and remember it fondly, despite transmission issues, so we had a great point-and-shot “what if” when we first saw this one. The Tahoe Sonett had the same paint “color” and desirable wheels but my years-ago recollection is refreshed with the photos of the interior, not running at the time, and more. I suspect it was relo’ed the Redding area until the owner saw what would be needed to make it whole again.
These days the only Sonett I would consider would be the ex-Satch Carlson one, but I don’t know when he passed that one on.