Minding my own business while driving down a snowy road outside of Idaho Springs a few months back, all of a sudden several flashes of color invaded my peripheral vision through the winter landscape. A quick glance and I was immediately hard on the brakes and pulling over to take a closer look at a very interesting front portico of a house along the roadside. Sadly there was a deep ditch with a bridge to connect to the property itself, leaving absolutely no way of feigning ignorance as to a property boundary, so my camera and zoom had to do the job.
One doesn’t see a Saab Sonett of any vintage regularly so three at once was a treat, and the final third iteration is my favorite, it’s just so 1970s. Add to that a rare first model year 1988 BMW 325ix (BMW’s first Audi Quattro competitor from the later 1980s) in the more rare two-door form and this was even better overall. But the Saabs took the three layer cake, of course.
Here’s the third one, hiding in the carport and requiring a heavy lean on the zoom to get any kind of detail. In a delicious lime green color it’s clearly the looker of the bunch although the orange one with the mismatched door and the harlequined one look just as much fun in a different way, I’d love a romp with any of these three sisters. Paul did a great write up on a Sonett II a while back that goes into the Sonett III history quite heavily so I’ll just link to that here as it’s a good read and there’s no point in repeating it all. Suffice to say that the III was produced from 1970 to 1974, used Ford V4 engines (1.5l at first, then 1.7l due to emissions related performance issues) with a total of 8,368 produced and who knows how few remaining.
Finally the wide-angle shot showing the whole array and surprise, surprise, the owner of these also runs a modern and basically brand new Toyota Corolla, long admired in these parts as one of the best car lines ever, simply doing their job efficiently, practically, economically, and reliably the world over. I can’t recall what the white convertible is in the back behind the BMW but I believe it was interesting as well, just not as much as everything else going on here. Still, if this fellow can seem to keep all of those other cars moving around under their own power, then that Corolla should last until the next ice age.
The question in my mind is what is in the garage? If the lime green Sonett and new Toyota don’t make the cut what does? Of course the garage could just be spare parts storage and workshop and no car gets to live in there.
Definitely a cool and unexpected find.
I gather my grand father owned a early 2 stroke sonett that my mother drove around for a while and a 96 before that.
When I lived in Maine 20 years ago one day I was driving around the southern end of the small coastal town I lived in and came across a house on a bluff above the ocean with 4 or 5 sonetts sitting in the driveway. Odd but somehow not that odd for coastal Maine where the appetite for European cars has been much higher than other rural areas of the country.
These cars were adorable. They still are. I read once that changing the clutch was a stinker of a job. Ah, the price to pay for having a charming little car.
Love Idaho Springs & have fond memories of pizza @ Beau Jo’s after a day of skiing, or the Buffalo Bar.
Dave
Great find. The snow is a nice addition to the scene as well.
Is the white convertible a Triumph TR7 or TR8?
I’ve never seen a running Saab Sonnet. Every one I’ve ever seen is one in deep disrepair on Craigslist, and they often come with parts cars that are in even deeper disrepair.
But they are very cool cars, indeed, and yes, this guy is definitely one of us.
I guess he took the name Sonett III literally.
Just glad they didn’t name it Iambic Pentameter. It would’ve never had a chance. Just like the boy named Sue I once knew.
+1
I _really_ like these. They are my favorite Sonett as well – I know most don’t agree with that.
They don’t weigh anything so one of these with an economical modern powertrain or an EV setup would quickly be bags of fun.
I also love the Sonett III after first reading about them in my “Great Book Of Sports Cars” from the editors of Consumer Guide, which I received as a gift when I was an adolescent. I could write a sonnet about them. Just don’t call the car a “sonnet”, though its styling is poetic.
Tried to find open view of the Sonett I had briefky, i likeweird cars and bought alot i saw,the orange coupe, bouhght, looked good after detasil, buthad probs, the ’67 IMP was its replabement. i’d just sold a nice ’68 Tbird ((a TJ429, a briht yellow/blk lzrd rf trade, I didnr like it)to a car dealer friend, he gave me the checlk ,then gave my the Imp, paint was dead, no caps or skirts, (in the trunkl, he never lokked) ran bad, pw non op din;t want it. this pic rt aft tune, detail, imp became DD, sold sonett to Dave,my mechanioc, he loved it. emp Chris had Fiat and vw shop wrk slow were his projects.
Back in the day when these were new cars a friend in school owned a yellow one with, I think, a brown interior. Winter of ’75 or ’76 he drove from Denver to Detroit and I rode with him as far as Peru, Illinois. We left Denver early evening and I got out in the cold the next morning early. The Saab was comfortable and warm and the price for the ride was right. Hitched from Peru the remaining miles north to Rockford. Haven’t thought about a Sonett since.
Owned a beautiful lime green ’71 Sonett III bought used in ’73 for $2750 (all the $$$ I had) and an old guitar. Loved that car. Great handling in the rain. When the tranny went south years later I sold it to a friend of Satch Carlson’s. He shipped me a replacement trans and Scandia Imports in LA installed it. Away he went back to Alaska……still have the factory shop and parts manuals and a bunch of sales brochures……