1964-1974 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Do you mean a Sonett II or a Sonett V-4? It makes a BIG difference!
The Sonett II had a special version of the 2-stroke engine with three side-draft carbs and lots of other special parts. You can see some pictures on Tom Donney's website <http://www.donneysaab.com> With only the lightweight 2-stroke burdening the front wheels and (purportedly, according to saabregistriet) nearly 70bhp on tap, it's probably the quickest and best-balanced of all Sonetts (I can't say for sure as I've never driven one!) It's certainly the coolest and most distinctive, and I suspect that most of us who own later Sonetts secretly or non-secretly lust after a II (I know I certainly do.) Problem: less than 400 were made, few survive, and the key problem to buying one is not so much what it costs (although that's certainly significant) but finding one for sale at all!
The Sonett V4 (this seems to be the official factory terminology) used the same body with tilt nose and exposed headlights, but substituted the V4 engine plus a big hood bulge to accommodate it -- apparently the Sonett II was greenlighted right at the end of the 2-stroke era and the bulge was a quick fix to get the new engine to fit in the old bodystyle. V4s are a lot more common than two-stroke IIs, but I get the feeling that a lot of people feel the V4 is slightly more desirable than the later III because its styling has more "vintage purity" (and because the tilt nose makes it easier to work on!)
If you scroll back through the 'past sold Sonetts' on the classified page, you can get a sense of price ranges, although in general the condition and spec of the individual car seem to have more to do with price "premium" than whether it's a V4 or a III.
Still, if you happened across a fantasy used-car lot that had equal-condition examples of all the Sonetts for sale, I suspect (maybe this is just my own preference) that the III, being the most recent and the easiest to find, would be the least expensive; the V4 somewhat more; the II a LOT more; and of course that ultimate sine qua none Sonett rarity, the original type 94 Sonett Super Sports, would be darn near priceless.
(Then again, some of this may be grass-is-greener thinking, as the Sonett I've got is a III...)
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