Rusty But Trusty

Among Swedish cars, Saab was always the more sporting make, and true to that image, their car was a light, compact, and nimble car, while Volvo built a more luxurious, GT-style vehicle that could carry four in a pinch. Okay, a Porsche 911-style pinch, but it was possible nonetheless. As a result, the Sonett was used in various competitive events against other small displacement sports cars like ice racing, rallying, and autocrossing. So no matter what kind of event you’re looking at entering, the Sonett should fill the bill. Check out this 1972 Saab Sonett III for sale for $2100 in Pilot Hill, CA.

It’s worth looking at Pilot Hill on a map, because it’s surrounded by plenty of lovely, twisty roads in the Sierra foothills, so even if the car’s worth nothing, you’ll have fun getting there. The car is unregistered, which raises some concerns, unless the seller has simply given in to license plate paranoia. Finished in what looks to be Midnight Blue, all it needs is some sweet black Saab striping at the bottom of the doors. Soccer ball wheels are a classic look on these, but with the boom in reproduction classic wheels it might be fun to see what you could get – how about some Momo Vegas to make it stand out?

Said to run and drive, the engine has been rebuilt using new pistons, valve springs and guides, and the car also benefits from a new fuel pump, clutch master and slave cylinders, and brake master and rear wheel cylinders. The car still needs a new exhaust, and it’s likely once you get it on the road you’ll find more needs, but that’s part of the fun, isn’t it? The carburetor is also naked without its air filter.

The interior shot shows a decent, complete dash and steering wheel, while carpets are missing and upholstery is not shown. Nonetheless, the interiors on these are fairly simple, and the tan interior is a nice contrast with the blue body. The Saab logo gearchange knob is also a nice touch.

Uh oh. The car appears to have sustained a light hit on the rear passenger corner, with cracking evident to the right of the passenger side tail light, and a chunk out of the rear wheel well. So bring your fiberglass skills. With substantial mechanical attention already included, this looks like a good deal – the only question is, why is it for sale?

Tags: Feature, III, saab, sonett, sports car, swedish

This entry was posted on June 15, 2016 at 5:31 pm and is filed under Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.