People go to car shows for a combination of reasons. These include the opportunity to relive their youth, drool for a rare iconic car, or simply to attend a social event. In addition to those reasons, I hope the opportunity to see something unique ranks high on most people’s list. For example, here’s a Saab based convertible that I’ve never seen before. The car includes Saab badges on the hood, trunk and wheel covers, Saab door handles and big offset front wheels from Saab’s 95/96 era. The styling seems to match up to the same time period, but seems very un-Saabish.
An intial search on the internet provided no hints regarding this car. Saab did build a few (6?) 2 place Sonnet convertibles in the late fifties, but their shape lay much closer to the frumpy end of the style spectrum.
This rear view helps a little- Those smooth flowing lines and nicely edited wheel openings appear in sharp contrast to the Sonnet parked next to it. If Saab had a hand in building this car, they must have used an outside designer, as the Saab design house never turned out a product so clean in execution. The license plate reads Saab Q3, which rings a bell- I heard someone at the show talking about a Saab Quantum.
Sure enough, an internet search for “Saab Quantum” provides this Wikipedia link. It turns out an American team built this Saab Quantum III (and a few other Quantums) in the early sixties. If you share my appetite for the unusual, I hope this Saab has helped to feed it. If not, I’ll have more of the unusual in future posts.
Certainly unusual. I had never even heard of these. Very cool find, and good follow-up research to ID it, as well. This would make a great subject for a future automotive history piece.
Totally new to me, too. Pity it never got into some kind of series production.
Ditto. Back in that era, custom bodied sports cars were fairly common, so I’m not surprised.
Please tell me you’re going to do a CC on that sweet Sonnett II parked next to the Quantum. My dad owned a yellow Sonnett II for a couple of years, even raced it a bit at Norwalk. Alas, as to why he drag raced it instead of road racing it I’ll never know…
Quantum III is sweet! Never seen it either. What a shame they didn’t cure the quality and put it into production, it would have been great for the brand.
Car & Driver did a long-term Sonnet test back in the day, IIRC. About the styling, they said more than once someone asked, “Wow did you build that yourself?”
What a fantastic little car! I love it. The styling is actually pleasant. Certainly nicer than say a MG Midget or Honda S600.
What an intriguing find! Before reading the heading I glanced at the photo and thought “Jag E-Type replica on Beetle platform; nicely done for a kitcar” – I’m sure I can be forgiven for thinking that as even the hub caps look like period Jag ones! Pretty car – shame they didn’t build, as I’m guessing there’d have been a market for something that resembled a smaller and cheaper E-Type.
What a great car.
I am taking my 9-5 Estate for a spin tomorrow morning with that image in mind.
Might turn on the Sportenvargen switch for even more torque steer than the normal torque steer. Seriously though, I am always in constant flux on whether its better than my Falcon XR6 for a daily
driver.Whenever I drive either I am always comparing the two.
But I digress, Saabs are awesome….. but so are Falcons.
Mmmm, “Falcon XR6”, one of my favourite words, two of my favourite letters and one of my favourite numbers all in ine place! I salute you Richarbl!
I was thinking E-Type also especially in the rear end view. Sincerest form of flattery….
The Saab Quantum is mentioned in Tom Wolfe’s Kandy Colored Tangerine Flake Streamline baby.
I have one of three Saab quantum’s 3. It’s in excellent condition ready for a new home!