What SAAB was this?

[jsneddon]

So I was pulling into my bank parking lot at lunch and I saw what I thought from a distance was a GT-6. It was a very nice example of some kind of Saab 2 seater coupe with very angular lines but not quite a "wedge". Very sweet looking little car except for the very hideous greenish-orangeish-goldish paint that must have been an original color.

Any idea on the model? There were no indications except for the Saab medalion on the trunk deck and wheel centres.

 

[PC]

Probably a Saab Sonnet.

PC.

 

[Sherlock]

Yup... Probably a Sonnet, and I think they are known for gaudy colours.

 

[jsneddon]

Yup - that's the car- Thanks!

 

[Paul Johnson]

Think it was Car and Driver who once reported that if a Sonnet owner said he bought the car, the listener would fall down in laughter, but if told he built it himself, would remark how clever it was.
They did have a sense of humor then. Busted by the NYC Harbor Patrol while doing a photo shoot in an Amphicar next to the QEII. Road tested a Subaru 360 in a parking garage, claiming it was not fair to take it out on the streets.
Charles Fox. Warren Weith.

 

[kindofblue]

[ QUOTE ]
Think it was Car and Driver who once reported that if a Sonnet owner said he bought the car, the listener would fall down in laughter, but if told he built it himself, would remark how clever it was.
They did have a sense of humor then. Busted by the NYC Harbor Patrol while doing a photo shoot in an Amphicar next to the QEII. Road tested a Subaru 360 in a parking garage, claiming it was not fair to take it out on the streets.
Charles Fox. Warren Weith.

[/ QUOTE ]


This months issue is a 50 year retrospective of Car and Driver. Check it out for all the the mayhem of the mid 60s magazine.

 

[aeronca65t]

[ QUOTE ]
This months issue is a 50 year retrospective of Car and Driver. Check it out for all the the mayhem of the mid 60s magazine.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah. I read the 50th Car and Driver at the bookstore. But I never buy it anymore. I started reading it before it was C and D (Sports Car Illustrated) and I really miss Weith, Fox, Dick Smothers, Jean Shepard and others.
The GTO vs. GTO test was priceless. So was the muscle car test at Bridgehampton (where they included a semi-truck in the lap-times "just for fun").
I see Yates at Lime Rock sometimes...he's the last angry man from that era.
Nowadays, C and D is full of SUVs and grocery-getters. Pure pablum in my opinion. Too bad.
As for the SAAB Sonnett, don't forget that ther are earlier versions of that car (back to the mid-50's). Many had the three-cylinder two-stroke engine that made the SAAB 92 through 96 famous.

Sonnett II (sorry for the big pix---they're not on my site)

Sonnett I