At the New York Automobile Show of
April 1958, Saab exhibited a car that they called the Gran
Turismo 750 - a sporty and luxurious model that was pitched
specifically at the growing US market. The GT750 had twin
carburettors and the engine had been tuned to develop 50hp.
An optional engine tuning kit made it possible to convert
the car to a GT750 Super with an engine output of 55hp. The
GT750 Super was more sports car than family car. This was
confirmed with its hard and cramped rear seat but comfortable
front seats that could be adjusted to any one of fourteen
positions.
The
GT750 Super was relatively powerless at low engine revolutions,
only coming to life at 3,400revs with the changing of
gear at around 5,000revs for the best effect, not always
easy with just three speeds to play with.
New instrumentation included a Halda Speedpilot and a
wooden steering wheel with three aluminium spokes. Externally,
the GT750 sported double extra front lamps, double tail
lamps and large chrome plated hubcaps. External rear view
mirrors and GT750 emblems completed the look.
Copyright information: Author's comment from The SAAB Way
- The first 35 years of Saab, 1949 - 1984 by Gunnar A Sjögren:
"The fact that all the drawings and illustrations are
suitable for reproduction can be regarded as a service to
those persons, organisations or auto-historians who might
be interested in doing so. This can be done without any restrictions
on the part of the author-illustrator, other than the material
is used in such a way or to such a purpose that it is clearly
contradictory to Saab's interests.
1959
Car designers were eager to and able
to experiment in the 1950s and they did. The Catherina and
the Saab Sonett Super Sport (Sonett I) are both examples of
this approach. Similarly, The Monster was the product of such
experimentation.
The Monster was essentially a Saab 93 stripped of all unnecessary
weight - even the bonnet is plastic - with two 748cc three
cylinder two stroke engines installed in the engine bay.
The engine(s!) had a combined swept volume of almost 1.5 litres
and developed "well over 100bhp"
At the Såtenäs airfield, Saab engineers timed the
Monster at 196km/h, unfortunately this record was set under
the wrong conditions there being no independent inspectors
and the run was made in one direction only.
The Monster was also exercised around the Gelleråsen
circuit near Karlskroga where it was found to be difficult
to corner. The power was also too much for a pinion in
the transmission.
The Monster now lives in the Saab Museum at Trollhättan.
The tests and record attempt of this unorthodox six-cylinder
car were never repeated.
1956
The Saab Sonett was unofficially
known as the Saab 94, even though this number had already
been assigned to an aircraft project. Only six Sonetts were
built, the cars being intended as either experimental or competition
cars.
The story of the Saab 94 or Saab Sonett Super Sport began
in 1954 when Rolf Mellde started sketching a sports two-seater.
Saab management showed little interest. So work began in peoples
spare time at a barn in Asaka, some 60km (37m) from Trollhättan.
Mellde designed a special stressed-skin
light metal box, in preference to the tubular frames used
in sports cars of the day. Mellde's design weighed less than
70kg.
Sixten Sason made a model that was to be taken as an original
from which the glass-fibre reinforced plastic body was moulded.
Glass-fibre was an exciting and futuristic material in the
1950s and nobody at Saab had any experience of it. The assistance
came from SOAB (Svenska Oljeslageri Aktiebolaget) of Gothenburg.
There is one story that says that the Sonett was so-named
as Sixten Sason exclaimed "Så Natt" (So nice)
when he saw it. As a story it is fine but not strictly accurate.
Sason had, sometime before, proposed the name Sonett for one
of his first sketches for the Saab 92, but the name was rejected
at the time,
On 14 October 1955 at 2am the Sonett was ready to go. Mellde
and his colleagues had constructed this car in secrecy and,
until that point, only the chassis had been out on trial runs.
Saab Management felt that the Sonett
would be a sensation at the forthcoming Stockholm Motor show
of February 1956 and that it should remain under wraps until
that time. The Sonett, with it's light-metal chassis, plastic
bodywork and a two-stoke engine tuned to deliver 57.5hp and
giving a top speed of 210 km/h, was a sensation.
Four engineers were involved in the Sonett project: Rolf Mellde,
Lars Olov Olsson, Olle Lindkvist and Götta Svensson.
Sixten Sason styled the open top Saab.
Test runs with the Sonett were underway by Spring 1956 with
the car covering over 5,000km by the autumn. The Sonett project
now had the recognition and approval from Saab management
and was designated the Saab 94.
The Sonett was much in demand by dealers and was shipped to
the United States for the Saab introduction there in April
1956.
In November 1956 Rolf Mellde
received an internal memo ordering that another five test
cars be built. The barn in Asaka had been outgrown so the
work was sub-contracted to Svenska Järnvagsverkstäderna
(ASJ) in Linköping who, in turn, put the construction
of the body out to Knossverkstaderna in Katrineholm.
The first Sonett was given the registration P14000. The chassis
of Sonetts 2 to 6 were made of sheet steel rather than aluminium
and were completed in the Spring of 1957.
In May 1957, Saab was looking to begin series production of
the Sonett at Jensen in Britain. Jensen produced the P1800
for Volvo. A combination of Mr. Jensen's reluctance to visit
Saab in Sweden and the fact that British built cars were perceived
poorly by the Americans (Saab's intended major export market)
led Svante Holm to award the contract to ASJ.
By November 1957 Saab intended to produce 2,000 Sonetts each
year at the rate of 200 per month each with a light-metal
body and a folding roof. However, no production resulted as
just before 1958 competition rules were revised to permit
the tuning of standard production cars. Saab no longer required
a specific sports model.
The Saab Sonett Super Sport was assembled on an all steel
box frame (aluminium on the first car). The Saab 93 748cc
three-cylinder two-stroke was tuned to develop 57.5hp through
a three-speed gearbox mounted forward of the engine. The rotation
of the engine was reversed to give three forward and one reverse
gears. The Sonett weighs only 500kg in full road trim.
