1973 Saab Sonett Review - Is it Really a Sports Car?
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- Опубликовано: 12 июн 2018
- Today I take a beautiful 1973 Saab Sonett for a spin. The Sonett was Saab's attempt at a sports car, but with a front wheel drive setup and other Swedish quirks, is it really what it claims to be? Watch the video to find out!
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Outro song: • Lucian - Fly By Night ... 
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I bought a brand new 1973 Sonnet III. I lived in Idaho at the time and used to have a lot of fun with it on the mountain roads. A 30 mph curve at 60 mph was a breeze with that car. 38-42 mpg was normal and with a 16 gallon tank, you could go quite a distance before pulling into a gas station and it didn't matter what side of the pumps you pulled up on. Loaded with a trunk full of luggage, my wife and I were headed to Vegas From LA and went flat out through Death Valley at 115 mph. Not bad for a 75 hp. V-4.
WOW!
Forrest finch you must have owned the super saab sonett reserved for royalty. Mine was a 1974, smog choked Solex carburator engine. Top speed on a slight decline was about 100mph. 60 mph around a 30 curve meant you were in the ditch because of the narrow track and skinny Pirelli cinturato tires. This car could not corner. 20 miles per gallon is more accurate. I rarely drove mine which was purchased brand new. The inside was cramped and every bump in the pavement went straight up your spine. Sports car performance, absolutely not, good looks , yes.
It’s a Muscle car while simultaneously an economic car! What a beautiful balance!
@@Dixler683 For another data point, I got about 25 MPG from the stock Ford Motor Company carb on the stock motor, and 23 MPG from a Weber carb on a highly modified V4. That difference is likely due to weight of my foot with extra power :) I find going around corners at the speed limit is no issue, but I haven't pushed it because I currently running 185 snow tires, even in the summer. I haven't gotten around to refinishing that other set of rims so I could run proper summer tires, but this thing does great in the snow as my daily driver in the winter.
I find the suspension to be very gentle as sports cars go. Not too much body roll, but also gentler over speed bumps than my Land Rover Discovery 2 or Chevy Van. Not that those cars are the paragons of smooth suspensions, but they are MUCH newer and I still prefer the Sonett.
The inside of the Sonett is cramped. There is no getting past that. I am 6' tall and my hair touches the ceiling. Thank goodness some prior owner installed a sun roof so I can crack it up to get a couple inches of extra head room. I probably wouldn't consider this car if you are over 6' tall, but some people are more leg and less torso so your mileage may vary.
Cool story...
Had the same exact car back in the 70's; lot of fun to drive. People would roll down their windows in traffic asking what kind of car it was, etc. The small 4 cylinder had a "growl" when working through the gearbox.
Lol that’s awesome
I had one of these in the late '70s. It wasn't a fast car when it was new. I was young and it was flashy-looking though. Everything the owner said is true. (non-American) Cars had non-assisted brakes back then that had to be stomped on. All in all little foreign cars were very crude compared to modern ones, but you found precise sweet spots that allowed you to get the most out of them. You had to know when to be gentle AND know when to be forceful.
Quite cool! Thanks for informing me
Dream to have a Sonett. Thanks
:)
My sonett is sitting in
In the garage. I love the way it sounds but I havent been able to run it because it needs a gearset replaced.
Get on it! I'm sure you miss driving it :)
Dat drone footage ;)
Some fun facts
Initially the V4 engine was designed by Ford for a new entry compact car intended for the US market to be called the Ford "Cardinal", which eventually evolved into the Taunus 12m P4. Ford abandoned the "Cardinal" project and instead built the Ford Falcon for North America. Ford then sought other uses for the V4 engine and that same v4 engine almost ended up in the ford mustang back i 1962 but they fought it wasn't powerful enough even though it was tuned into 89 hp and 109 hp versions They made a concept car with that engine.
The German ford factory made use of the v4 engine in their Taunus models both 1,2 1,5 and 1,7 liter versions where made
The British ford company also had versions of the engine in their Capri consul and transit models
There where also a french sports car called Matra 530 that had a mid engine ford v4
Since the Saab 96 was used for rallying it was also tuned. In the rally versions it was bored and stroked to 1784 cc and 1933 cc giving around 150 hp (110 kW) in the naturally aspirated version and 200 hp (150 kW) DIN at 7000 rpm in the Saab 96 RC Turbo version, doing 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in five seconds. SAAB also tuned the engine to 240 hp
The major problems that Saab encountered while tuning the engine was that it had to be kept under a certain RPM to not have the pistons fly into orbit because it is a push rod engine after all, the other problem was that the gearbox had to be rebuild very often
One of Saab's earlier rally drivers Eric "on the roof" Carlson was the inventor of the Scandinavian flick, he won the Monte Carlo rally twice in a Saab 93
He got the nick name "on the roof` because he newer took his right foot of the throttle and was famous for flipping his car. One time he ended up on the roof in a ditch and didn't finish right away and when he finally finished a reporter asked him him how he got the car up on the road, Eric demonstrated it by lifting the car and roiling it over on its roof.
Saab dominated the rally racing industry in the 60s and early 1970s with their 96 model, both two stroke and v4 but after 1975 the competition was to hard for the v4 so Saab focused on the 99 and especially the Saab 99 turbo that was successful for a few years before the competition from Audi Quatro and the Lancia stratos and delta models was to much for them,
Saab's most successful driver Stig Blomqvist started to drive for Audi and became world champion in 1984 Top gears tame racing driver "THE STIG" is based on Stig Blomqvist
Wow, that's some serious power out of the motors
Thanks for sharing this.
Awesome indeed!
Nice drone footage bro. I love driving south mountain
It's an amazing road
I think it sounds like a tiny V8, which (I guess) makes some amount of sense.
It does, loL!
Well ... you are half of the way there.
fun fact: the Saab V4 is basically 2/3 of the V6 available in similar era of Ford Ranger... or was it the other way around, with the Ranger's V6 being a Saab (actually Ford Taunus) V4 with two extra cyllinders.
I owned a '74 and the previous owner told me the engine was originally a V8 cut in half. I doubt that's the truth
Just discovered your video, 3/28/2024 -- man, does this take me back!. I bought a '72 Saab Sonett III in 1976, while I was in college and working at a meat packing plant during the summer, when my new-found wealth was burning a hole in my pocket. Paid $1,100 for it plus $600 for a replacement "free-wheeling" 4-speed manual transmission, to get it running and back on the road. It was a "repo" acquired by a small town bank in Paw Paw, Michigan, and it was stored in a winery warehouse. The car stunk of old wine -- took me almost 2 years to get that smell out of it! I restored it to a pretty decent level, but the ignition never worked with a key. The wiring harness later caught fire and Insurance covered the cost to repair, but it took a year -- the replacement wiring harness and gages (VDO's!) from Sweden sat on the dock in New York for 7 months. Anyway, after I got it back on the road I had a blast with it, but I had to sell it in 1979 while I was working as a CPA, to fund my upcoming law school tuition. I have since owned several (and still do own 2) Jaguar sports cars/GTs, a BMW and a '97 Mazda Miata M Edition (which I got into a Head-on collision with against a Chevy Lumina back in 2000 -- after which I swore off driving little cars in the 21st century -- and I have driven various Porsches, several Aston Martins, various Mercedes SLs/AMGs, etc., but I recall really enjoying driving that little fiberglass-bodied TOTALLY UNSAFE 1972 Saab Sonett III back in the '70's. I had read that guys used to "ice race" these things, but I never, EVER drove mine in the winter, despite it having front-wheel drive. There was no crash protection in the doors, or anywhere else for that matter. The only "safety" thing I could see (besides seat belts) was the "roll bar" behind the seats, which wrapped around the gas tank that sat directly behind the front passenger compartment. My guess is if that if that thing ever got rear-ended it would blow up like a Ford Pinto! Hope you're still enjoying your Saab Sonett III. Mine was also the "Saab Safety Orange" and it had the "Soccer Ball" style Wheels. 😁
sounds like yours was pretty similar to this one then! nice!
I'd love to have one of those.
Did you know that when Ford sold the V4 to SAAB, they said that SAAB would never get more than 75 Hp out of it?
The last Rallycross tuned SAAB 96 succeeded in pulling 225 Hp from that same V4.
I liked the H-Series B200 engine as well, as long as it has the Pierburg carburettor.
The SAAB 90 was a perfect combo with that engine, but only the four-speed version, i had one of both four-speed (1986) and five speed (1985 with a Stromberg-carb, same as Volvo B18-21) versions.
The five-speed is too stiffly geared at track cornering, the four-speed has a desert type final ratio, but it is logically geared (not as the Mk.1 Opel Corsa that had a theoretical top-speed of 225 Kmh/150(ish)Mph, this with the 1.2L engine...).
Great to see a well made video like this with proper engine sound, and good feedback as you are the few that really think of a car according to it's age.
Wow! Cool info :)
Theres 2 full sonnets at the pull and pay in Colorado Springs, or there was last time I was there looking for parts idk the demand or if they crush cars to make space if they're there for too long. But as of December 2019 they were there.
im sure they're long gone now :( but thats sad!
A beautiful car. I love the drown shots.
Thanks :)
I had these 1974-1978 or so in Alaska. Great ice racer. Took it to the boat repair guy for body work. Ford v-4 from their farm equip, hay balers etc. Tried turbo which was nice but the xmission could not hold up. Tried a VW transaxle but never got it right. I recall the overdrive lever on the firewall. Drove one coast to coast round trip. Oh and the windshield wiper motor which fills up with rain water...HA...just drill a hole in it to let the water out. Crappy seats too. And a built in, factory roll cage.
lol, it's a quirky little car
I grew up in Maine, and they ran a class of Sonetts ice racing.
I love that body style even more cause it has a Ford engine lol great video man
Lol!
I had an Opel GT, 70 model. Same setup on the brakes. Un-vented rotors on the front and drums on the back. No power assist. So that must have been the setup for brakes in that time frame. Also the Opel had the same spring clutch. No hydraulics involved. And none of these cars from that era were air conditioned. Same goes for MGs. I have a Miata also ('99) and that car came with all the things the old sports cars lacked. Power 4 wheel disk brakes, a/c, power windows, power steering. So in the summer, in those old sports cars we just sweated. And used those coil spring things between the driver and seat that let air circulate under us. Many of the older cars had those corner windows that could direct air underneath the driver on his coil seat pack and it worked well. If you were moving.
nice!
I wanna know about the aftermarket clutch. I’m about change the clutch in my 74 Sonett.
you'd have to ask online or on a facebook group; sorry, i don't know :(
@@AutoAutopsy I second the question about the clutch. If you have a way of getting in touch with Matt I would love to know what he used. The only provider left of the original style clutch is Sachs, and they are making absolute garbage these days, no quality control. I am on my third Sachs clutch in as many years. I have asked on the Vintage Saab mailing list (yes mailing list) and not found anyone that used any other style clutch. I know they made a diaphragm clutch for the two stroke but that won't fit the V4. What ever clutch Matt found, I would order two. If you can point Matt to this question I would very much appreciate it.
@@jonathanknez1283 Same here - love to know more about the "diaphragm" clutch.
@@sixtysevensaab I asked about it on the vSAAB groups.io site. Apparently you can use a diaphragm clutch pressure plate from a VW provided you modify the flywheel to support the different bolt pattern. classicsaabracing.com sells the pressure plate and flywheels that have already been modified for it.
yes,i think the saab sonett,is a sports car.it certainly looks like one.looks like youre having fun,driving it.i always liked these.one of my favorite saabs.
Me too :)
Pretty cool to see one running around!!
Anyone ever find a way to swap something more powerful into a Sonnett? Guessing not a lot of room in the bay? Would be interesting with 150+ hp and a good transmission in such a light car.
pretty tiny engine bay, I don't think there's really anything you could swap :(
Someone dropped a hayabusa engine in one and converted it to RWD... search for "Sonabusa". They had it on craigslist a couple years ago for like $13k
Ford also made a V6 motor. In fact, the V4 is the V6 with 2 cylinders chopped off. The parts interchange. I am running a V6 oil pump in my V4 for higher oil pressure. I have heard of people fitting the V6 in there. I did look at motorcycle engines too but things get complicated if you want to keep it front wheel drive. If you go rear wheel, that opens up lots of options but you are doing lots of hacking to an otherwise flat floor.
As Matt alluded to in the video, if you get some larger valves, new cam, port the heads, and get a better carburetor, you can actually squeeze a fair amount of power out of the V4. I personally am using a setup by Jack at MSS that was dynoed at 110 HP. That's up from 65 HP and pushes the 1900 lb car around very well. That power to weight is fun to drive. It was a little scary daily driving the Sonett around before any engine upgrades, but now I have no concerns.
@@jonathanknez1283 awesome! Maybe some day...... :-)
I have a friend with a '74 and he put a Subaru WRX turbo in it. Amazing acceleration.
The V-4 was originally developed for a planned early '60s Ford sub compact that was code named Cardinal that never saw the light of day. It is the same motor Ford used in the original mid-engined two-seat Mustang concept car.
Really? Quite cool. I believe we mentioned it's a Ford motor, although I didn't know those details about it
@@AutoAutopsy Read this in a thick book I have on the history of Mustang.
Good memory ;)
@@AutoAutopsy it also ended up in tractors.
Old SAABS had tall skinny profile tires. I thought for the snow at least.
Timothy Ryan , Sonetts, and the later 96 sedans and 95 wagons came with 155/80/15 tires. It was a common tire size at the time, used by Volvo and Volkswagen. It was not that narrow by the standards of the day. For example, I bought a Fiat 128 new in 1976 that came with 145/80/13 tires.
Quite cool how they've changed over time
Auto Autopsy, things have changed. I autocrossd that Fiat 128. Pirelli had put out a new tire a few years earlier called the CN 36 Cinturato. It was a 70 series tire and performance oriented, what we call a summer tire these days. I put a set of them on the Fiat in size 175/70/13. Stuffing them onto 4 inch wide wheels was interesting. My Fiat got enough traction with them to tip up on two wheels before sliding.
Will one fit a 6 ft tall person?
i'm 6 feet, yes
I owned a 96. would love one of these one day :)
He always says all of his cars are for sale, lol!
right after I get my retirement cabin built :) Tx
The brakes should not be overly hard to push down to stop--if they are, there is something wrong. Power assisted or not, you are still working with hydraulics. I have Fiat Spiders with the same configuration, front discs and rear drums, and I don't have to put a lot of force on the pedal to stop. Sure, it is not like power assist, but nothing to complain about. For the record, I had a 1972 Maverick 4 door with manual brakes, and even that car was not that bad. If the rubber hoses degrade, or the system is simply old, an overly hard brake pedal is a symptom.
On any car of this vintage that has not had its brakes gone through, or if service records indicate nothing but pad and shoe changes, I would recommend replacing all rotors, drums, and especially all the hydraulics.
He has no problems with the brakes. I’m assuming it’s because I’m not used to it
Så nätt den är!
Honestly not really a fan of the sound it makes... it sounds like something is wrong with the car to me (until you really put your foot down) even though we know it's perfectly fine 😅 I agree with everyone else that the Drone shots emphasis how beautiful the car looks. That one shot where the car is parked and you're looking down on it with the drone makes the car look like something you would see in a Mad Max movie
I can see what you mean!
I had a 72 dual carburetor sonnet, was such a fun car but your so close to the ground night driving was a problem I was always getting blinded.
i can see what you're saying; makes sense
When I bought mine it had some serious black out window tint on the rear window. I realized why the first time I drove at night :) You are very low and below the headlights on most cars. Despite sitting so low though, I still find the suspension is very gentle. Driving this thing on gravel is more comfortable than any of my modern cars.
So cool because it is rare and interesting. 👍 👍
It really is!
Fun fact: Volvo built the engines for SAAB aeroplanes. the companys name was Volvo Aero and was placed in Trollhättan.
I have heard!
There was even a pedestrian bridge between the engineering departments. It was about 10-20 meters (30-50 feet) long leading over the fence between the two factories.
There was a guy in my high school that dove a Saab Sonett. It was strange.
lol nice
Saab Sonett Broh!
His Sonett incredible, and you've got some sweet vintage Saab's as well, love your content!
So any one looking for OEM saab parts i recommend Kelly Saab, fast delivery and near full stock. they also have products on production to maintain stock.
Thanks for sharing!
I used 185/65 tires on Sonetts with no rub ever. The tires on this Sonett are too tall.
I use 185/65 tires on my 1974 Sonett and had some rubbing on the rears. I was able to trim off some of the fiberglass in the wheel arch where it cut back inward toward the tire. No more rubbing for me. I think it comes down to the handmade quality, some might be fine, mine was not but was not so bad it couldn't be fixed.
I see you love a fast car 😂ur a frustrated race car driver in your pass life 😭😅😂it's a classic tho it's nice!!it's definitely fast good video trader 😭😅😭🤣
Is it really a sports car? It certainly has the look. Eager, if not quite overwhelming power. Point-and-shoot steering. Traction like an abalone. Fun to drive. Yes.
Good question; by today's standards? No. But 1970's standards? Certainly
But you can have as great a time driving it now as you could 45 years ago. Certainly a sports car by any standards like a classic MG or the Datsun roadster.
Correct, it was fun to drive!
Fun car! Who say they ain't fast? Check out this guys cut down Sonett racer. He's passin' folks:0) ruclips.net/video/pXQt9KaL6H8/видео.html
Here's another race where he didn't have as many mechanical problems and won!ruclips.net/video/Gmn8y9aofFA/видео.html
Sweet!
So A E S T H E T I C
I N D E E D
At first I thought I was watching GTA V footage
lol
Well, I don't understand why they keep comparing and praising the Miata (a great car) against a car 5 decades apart in technology.
It is as intelligent as reviewing a Motorola Dynatac cellphone and complaining that it can't browse the internet like the latest IPhone.
You mean two decades...? Regardless, I see your point, but it was still very clearly stated in the video that there wasn’t an expectation for it to be as good
Well, the Sonnett's underpinnings were designed in the late 50's and remained mostly unchanged so you have 50's, 60's,70's,80's and 90's of tecnology apart that's what I mean. I dont think the Miata they have is a 1990 first model.
Presio de carro Saab 1973
good stuff!
Love the car, absolutely hate the nasty music.
The vast majority like the music; not my fault you have poor taste
@@AutoAutopsy Oh, my bad. I can see now that this funky electro is good taste for sure..
Bad Swedish 240Z
lol
No
God those things are cool but they're a BITCH to work on. So cramped, I'd honestly rather work on another hybrid.
I can tell you're someone who prefers practical things!
the older saabs werent that bad, i daily drive a 1969 96 with the 1.5V4 and its pretty easy, i pulled the engine in 2 hours while taking it easy.
It's a sporty car but far from a sports car.
Well put (given modern standards)
no, its not a real sports car.
its a hyper car :D
The shitty music spoils the mood -.-