My First Saab a 1971 Saab Sonett III
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- Опубликовано: 21 окт 2024
- Today I take a look at the 1971 Saab Sonett III that I bought a couple weeks ago. Watch the video of my time at Bonneville Salt Flats here: • Racing at the Bonnevil...
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This Week With Cars - Episode 0201
#Saab #Sonett #Junkyard
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First time Seeing this car. I’ve had a SAAB 9-5 V6 For 9 or 10 years. It’s amazing.
Please resurrect this unique and historic \automobile. There used to be one driving around in my neck of the words, but it disappeared a few years ago. The fiberglass on these was always fair to middling, but the same held true for most automobiles of this era. It was sad day when Saab ended its business.
Hi Steve - yes, I'd love to see the III back on the road! The V4 is a hoot and even though I think the Sonnet II has a better body style, the III is still a rare and unique car. Thanks!
Love to see you restore the SAAB
I've been dying to see you do a detailed engine tear down and rebuild, Steve! Want to see your first Saab live again!
Please bring it back !!!!
I'd like to see this back on the road, if only to see how you deal with a Ford Cologne V4 ;)
Hi Steve, yes, I think it is safe to say that anything that comes into your shop everyone wants to see it on the road or track again.
When I was a kid. I thought the world of this car. And later on when I was old enough to drive I was offered one exactly like yours real cheap. I don’t know why I didn’t buy it
Unusual car.Never seen one .I think for you as well as the viewers removing the engine and getting it going will be interesting . 👍
I vote to see more of the Sonett. I had a friend in Arizona who had a green one in 1971 and we tooled around Phoenix in that little car. I'm 6'6" so it was a challenge to get into but a fun ride.
Yes please. Would love to see a sympathetic resto done on this car. Super rare.
Looking forward to the day(s) you do this Saab Steve.
Hi Steve, would love to see you work on this car. Big yes from the UK.
Your first Sonnet? This surprises me. Its quirky and rare while being sporty - so right up your alley.
Looked at many just never ended up with one.
Go for it - this is a very rare car
"Looks like there's a lot of work to be done here" said every SAAB owner ever LOLO
I've been driving one for 9 years now and never said that.
Never owned anything other then a Saab for 17 years, the only time I have said that, was when helping other people repair their cars.
yep love to see the little Sonett get some loving
Continue it’ll be a great project.
It's obvious that your viewers (me included) want to see more of this Saab: keep it up!
That’s a great car! I would definitely love to see you get this car back on the road again!
My dealings with the Taunus V4 were in the UK Transit range, 1960/70s ... In a fleet of hundreds of vans I don't recall too much trouble, occasional head gaskets due to losing coolant from rad.
I would love to watch you restore this one. There aren’t too many around any more.
I'd love to see this one on the road.
It be a cool video to redo. Taking Bonnet off so you can get easy access would be the first step. Nice part of your collection
More on this 1971 Sonet please! Cool oddball car
This car is so different........would love to see a series on getting this car running again Steve!
The Sonett was designed by Bjorn Andreasson, who once worked as an engineer for Convair in San Diego (I knew him there). Saab was an airplane company that made cars and the Sonett sure shows it. Have fun!
Who is Bjorn Andreasson?! Nice story dude. Where did you get your facts? I think your acquaintance has fed you some fabrications.
I like the way you call that Ford V4 an "industrial" engine. It's amazing that Ford considered such a rough sounding engine fit for public consumption.
It was a passenger car engine for a number of German Ford models. It was also sold as an industrial engine notably used in Ford skid steer loaders and for water pumps. Back in the day, it was cheaper to buy engine parts from the Ford Industrial dealer. They also sold the two barrel intake manifold.
Such an unusual car Steve. I've only ever heard about them before. It looks like a pain to work on, but I would love to see this back on the road.
That's a twist from your usual cars Steve, its gonna be an interesting journey with that one, looking forward to it.
Well, I'm already subscribed and I think it would be fun to see this back on the road. Something totally new. 👌
Hi Steve! If you make those videos returning this car to its former glory I promess to watch’em all and give a 👍 on all of them!!
The car oozes character, Seventies style! definitely a worthy project.
I would really enjoy seeing more on this car. One doesn't see these very often
As a Saab owner (C900 Turbo Cvt) interest in older Saabs is growing, please get it on the road.
yes i really want to see this car redone right away
The engine is a Ford V4 unit as used in the German Taunus cars, and also the Ford Transit delivery van. My brother had an early Ford Transit van, notorious for chewing up the pushrods in these engines.
Looks to me like there's, " No turning back now".. you better get this one running!🇺🇸🎩🇺🇸🎩🇺🇸
My mother had a 72 Sonett III that I learned how to drive in. I would love to see you get it going again. I am going to subscribe to your channel to keep tabs on it.
I would likes to see the engine removed and taken apart Thanks for sharing with us.
Getting deeper into a v4 engine would be a treat 😀
Sweet ride. Love to see t run
I'd love to see it run!
Very cool!!!
Yes please get into it. Love the Saab’s. Worked for a dealer in 1971 and 2. Remember driving them then. Will look for a project one myself. Thanks for your work
I had a new 1967 SAAB 96 V4 with that 1500cc engine. On the 96 the engine was easy to pull out. Just the two motor mounts and the transmission rear mount accessible from the cabin. These had a habit of rusting up so I would loosen the bolt then tap it out with an air hammer. If I didn’t have the air hammer available I’d cut the rubber out with a knife and replace it. SAAB had an interest in rallying at the time and had a special version of the 96 called the T-car. It had double shocks and the body panel spot welds were double the normal number. The engine was the stock engine because of emissions, but SAAB offered hop-up parts to take from stock with 75 hp up to Stage III with 120 hp. These included a nice 2-bbl manifold and a Weber 32/36 progressive carb which alone got you to 95 hp. I had one on my 96, and it chewed up the clutch in 5000 miles. I was unable to get the competition clutch from SAAB, but I was able to have the clutch beefed up by a clutch shop. The driven disk had the lining short of the rim by a good 1/4 inch. The replacement went all the way to the edge. The guy couldn’t find heavier springs so he put a 60 thou. shim under each one.
Yes work on the Saab, I’m a big Saab Fan,
I would love to see the Sonnet restored, the V4 is an interesting engine, it was used in several UK Ford cars & the MK1 Transit van.
I had this engine as a 1700 cc in a 1966 ford corsair auto in 1981 the car was a complete rust bucket but the engine had been reconditioned, i had the car about a year…when i sold it i later saw it abandoned engine had gone, i heard it had found its way into a transit
I had a 68 Corsair 2000E as my first car. It's engine also ended up in a Transit!
Do It, The Saab looks so different
I had 3 of them. Great cars. Ice race them. Problems? Not many. The wiper motor will fill with water, drill a small hole in the carcass to drain it. Change to electronic ignition. Xmission are weak so have an extra ready to go. There is a roll cage in the car, not just a roll bar. The engine is a Ford
v-4 used in hay bailers and other farm equipment. I recall turbo efforts never met fruitition. go with an aftermarket exhaust immediately.
One can just double things up, but the exhaust ports were siamesed in the head and without extensive porting not much can be done.
Please continue with this vehicles restoration i just bought one
Yes please. These were and are very rare Saab cars. It would be really interesting to see what it takes to get it ready to run again.
Cool odd car. Go for it. Love your calm knowledgeable, no bull approach
Would love to see you fix this Sonett up and get it on the road! Good luck with it…you’ll find an extraordinary community of car geeks dedicated to the brand.
Hi Steve, love to see the MGA finished before Sonnet.
I'd love to see more of this car!
Yes I would to see a complete series on this car! This is something completely different that makes me curious. Anyway, keep going strong into the New Year!
I knew someone who had one back in the early 70's, and got to drive it a couple of times. I thought it was very futuristic at the time. You should definitely get this one back on the road.
Yes, would love to see more on the Saab
Love to see that running, cool car. Had that engine in my 96 still one of my favourite cars, on a par with my old r4f6!
Continue with the Saab!
Yes, it would be interesting to see you work on this Saab.
Yes ! I never heard of this car before so would be unique for sure!
I'd love to see you move this one to the top of the list!!
This would be very interesting to see taken apart and built.
It is a very unique car with the v4 and all fiberglass body. It looks like it was put together as a kit car, even though it wasn't. I be game to see it running and driving.
Yes please, what a great car you have to get it running
Yes please work on Sonnet lll
The Saab would be awesome to fix up and take it on the next salts flats race.
For sure. One of the most interesting prospects! Don't shelve this one! Let's get it going!
Id love to see this one, Ive always had a soft spot for those cars
I'd love to see an engine rebuild, or at least a tear-down of the stuck engine before putting it on the shelf.
It is a european Ford engine, built in many examples. You can still find spare parts easily. Ask a german Ford oldtimer club.
It's a 1698 cc Ford industrial V-4. Gardner Denver used them in commercial compressors among other applications. Interestingly the cam gear was nylon for noise reduction.
I had a 1974 Sonett III for almost 20 years; finally had to sell it a few years ago because of job loss. I street-drove it, ran it in SCCA rallycross, did track days in it... slow, but a fun car and very solid. Trying to remember a few things that might be helpful:
-- You'll discover there are a lot of minor differences between the 1971 and the 72/73/74 models, so don't be surprised if details on your car differ from what you see in the shop manual. The 73/74s also are a lot sturdier -- they have metal hoops bonded into the fiberglass around the windshield and the door apertures, and impact beams in the doors that run down and tie into a brace across the floorpan.
-- The remote oil filter is non-original (they probably did that to make access easier; the stock location is down on the side of the block on the "crowded" side of the engine compartment) and so is the location of the A/C condenser; it's supposed to be ahead of the radiator and can be slipped out through the bottom. The Y-shaped exhaust also is non-original; the stock setup had a balance pipe running between the two cylinder banks, and then dual exhausts running backward along the outside edges of the floorpan. A lot of people went to the Y setup because it was supposed to increase power a bit.
-- That right-front spark plug IS a bear to get to, but if your original toolbag is complete, it will include an odd little offset wrench specifically made to reach it. If you don't have the wrench, you'll need to slip off the alternator belt and swing the alternator all the way to the outside to get at the plug. BE SURE to disconnect the ground cable before messing around in there; the positive terminal of the alternator is right next to the plug area and it's easy to make big sparks by shorting it to the engine!
-- That metal chicken-wire rectangle you found is a stock piece; it's part of the flow-through ventilation system. If still present, this consists of a vinyl-covered hardboard trim piece that runs across the top of each door aperture; there's a grill in the middle of the door and this wire mesh is supposed to be inside that. The theory is that the trim pieces duct interior air back to the area behind the rear quarter windows, where it's drawn out by the gill vents behind them. In practice I don't think it can have amounted to much ventilation!
-- Tip: a lot of seemingly hard-to-reach things in the engine compartment can be accessed through the wheel wells or by reaching up from the front air intakes. If you're going to do much in there, though, it's a LOT easier just to take the nose off -- it's one piece, and just slides up and off after you've removed about six fasteners (you can do it yourself, but it's much easier with a helper.) With the nose off, you can reach everything in the engine compartment, the front suspension, the heater and wiper motor locations, etc.
Have fun... would love to see how this comes together!
Oh, yeah, and almost all those parking-light and turn-signal lenses are straight off a Triumph Spitfire, so will be easy to get from a Brit-car catalog. The rear taillight lenses are from a Saab 99 sedan, but mounted upside-down!
I got to see one of those at a Saab dealership's bodyshop back in the late nineties. Nice item.
Living in sweden in gothenburg but not far from trollhättan where they made saab in the beguinning I rememberwhen they released this model . Being a airplane faktory from the start all saabmodels had a very low CX value since they they were tested in a windtunnel which wasnt so common in those days . If I remember correct the complete driveline came from the ford 15m , even the gearbox . It was a common car here in sweden aswell as the 12m . The whole sonett body weight is 17 kg . Here in sweden they werent so common . These fordengines werent considerred " mechanicfriendly" even put in the 95 and 96 models .
No. Only the engine was Ford Germany. The gearbox was the same as the SAAB three cylinder with a different bellhousing to match the new engine. The gear ratios may be different. The final drive was not as short so the top speed was higher.
@@brucebeauvais1324 ok , so I've missed that but it makes sence even though the fords were frontwheel driven aswell . Thank you for the info !
Im excited to see the build!
Pretty unique and with a V4? Yeah, we want to see this one come back to life.
Great find! A Sonnett III with A/C (which was dealer-installed) is rare indeed. Might be 1 of 1. More videos, please.
Had a '73 Sonnett III, '73(?). It had a freewheel device that would allow coasting on long descents. Got phenomenal mileage- once drove from Wichita to East Lansing, Michigan on one tank of gas. You are correct about the fiberglass- almost early 'kit car' stuff. Mechanically never a problem. I did tear the exhaust off on a railroad crossing once. Would love to see you get this one going. Do you have any experience with a Saab 96? Great channel.
That was the sprag unit left over from 2-stroke days. There was a lockout handle on the firewall just behind the shifter.
Many automatic transmissions have them. When the output shaft wants to turn faster than the input a ring of oval bearings? release and allow free running. When the input shaft wants to go faster, the oval shaped thingies turn back and lock up the inner and outer races. The military six by sixes work this way. The gear ratio for the rear four wheels is a lower ratio(higher number) than the front axle. When the rear wheels start to slip the sprag engages the front wheels for full 6x6 action.
You need them in the 2-strokes because the fuel also contains the engine lubricant. If you had a locked system and headed on a long downhill with the transmission locked up and the throttle backed off, the engine would starve from lack of oil. There was a rumor/legend that in the 2-stroke days SAAB imported an extra engine for each car they imported. The 850 Monte Carlos were pretty neat cars. Back in the day my driving heroes were Erik Carlsson and his sister Pat who was married to Sterling Moss.
Do the Saab I had never seen one before. It's a sweet looking ride.
I've been enjoying watching the progress of the MGA and in fact all of your ongoing projects are interesting. However, this car is pretty unique and it would be a pity to just put it up on the shelf and forget about it. Perhaps you could draw up a shortlist of the ten cars you are most keen to work on and let the viewers vote on it.
This is so cool. I’d love to see this project move onto a running driving road worthy ride.
Do it.
I always wanted one of those, especially a purple one.
I would love to see you continue with this one. I'm chasing a Saab 96 myself, I think the owner is getting ready to sell it to me..... Of course I enjoy all your projects, so whatever content you enjoy making most. That way, we all win!
Cool car!
Please continue with the Saab! Got my interest piqued for sure! Such a strange little auto.
Unique and interesting video. A Saab 9000 is still my daily driver- I'd like to see you work on the Sonett.
I used to run a Saab 95 station wagen that used the V4 1.7l Ford Taunus engine with the earlier (2 Stroke) manual gearbox with change on the steering column. The box had a freewheel due to the lubrication needs of the prior engine type. The extreme streamline shape of that car helped make up for any lack of power from the 65hp German Ford engine.
I remember seeing these when I was younger, they are cool little cars. I too would like to see you get this running or even better, a full restore.
Here in Austria, we used to have SAAB jet fighters, as Sweden was neutral, too 😎. The cars were pretty first choice in winter (front drive).
Love to see you try an get that engine turning over, Derek from VGG spent a lot of time unlocking a v8 recently but it did come around in the end.
would love to see it restored! happy new year!
Hi Steve. I’ve owned 4 of the Saab Sonett III cars. I currently own a Saab Sonett V4 car. Sonett V4 was built before Sonett III. I have connections with many people with spare parts and many people have high knowledge about the cars. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
i would love to see you fix it up and get on the road. great stuff
You have some nice french cars in your garage ! Simca 1000, Dauphine Renault, Citroën Ami 6… I wasn’t aware these were sold in the US…
Owned one back in the late ‘70s a very fun car. The engine/drive train is much easier to work on once you remove the front nose. There is an expert Saab Mechanic in Tucson who has fixed many of these, Valet Auto. Would love to see another back on the road.
The rear lights are from a Triumph Dolomite.
Heck yes, I want to see that littlle yellow bathub back on the road!