My New Friend (PT 2)

"Chase" (ChaseCheston) 08/25/2013 at 19:45 • Filed to: Sonett, Saab, Evil Genius, Project

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As promised !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , more photos of my new friend. 1972 Saab Sonett, #534 from that year. Last inspected August 1991 in New Jersey.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

My '02 Ranger with my '72 Sonett. The lump on its roof is the very dirty car cover it came with.

Getting the car off the trailer was not so simple. Left front tire is very dry rotted (doesn't even try to hold air), and we didn't want to drag it around to move it off the trailer.

Solution? Friends with a big reach :)

"I believe I can Fly..."
This is our Loadall, used for installing support beams, roofing, and now for lifting cars.

I realized afterword that I probably should have popped the headlights for maximum effect

May be a smidgen nose heavy. Worked out in the end though.

Now placed behind where the lull parks, to the right of the shed you could see earlier.

Bam! Headlights!

Glass isn't actually attached, just held in place by gorilla tape at the moment. The glass is actually also the rear hatch (by itself, no framework)

Drivers Side

Passengers Side

The seats are obviously a bit rough, but the leather is actually still in surprisingly good condition. They are also still very comfortable, given what they are.

The floors on the other hand? Not so good

There will be more detailed shots tomorrow, I just wanted to show the basics.
As I have said before, I have evil genius plans for this. The frame isn't realistically salvageable (you'd spend far more fixing it than just buying one in better shape). But then, I bought this little guy for its body and interior.

I'll lay out my plans in more detail eventually, but for now I'll leave this as a hint-

First person who can correctly identify this gets a cookie.

And the cookie goes to Party-vi by a nose`

Party-vi > Chase 08/25/2013 at 00:10

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The answer is always Miata, right?

Sweet Sonett

daender > Chase 08/25/2013 at 00:11

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The wheels give it away, Miata.

RMudkips > Party-vi 08/25/2013 at 00:16

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It's always that.

Chase > Party-vi 08/25/2013 at 00:21

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cookie for you my good sir

i take it you can see where this is headed now?

Gimmi-Sagan-Om-Draken > Chase 08/25/2013 at 00:37

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I had an orange one many moons ago. Mazda should be nice.

Hoccy > Chase 08/25/2013 at 05:04

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If you complete this you get like 1000 stars in my book! Cool project.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Chase 08/25/2013 at 05:46

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Duuuude. Excellent idea.

LuczOr > Chase 08/25/2013 at 07:38

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AWW... but what are you going to do with the V4 that came in the car? To me, that's the most memorable part of that car.

Chase > LuczOr 08/25/2013 at 08:21

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It may still get used - i have no idea if the miata engine will end up fitting under the sonett's shell. Granted, it hasn't run un 15-20 years, so i'm not sure if its still a viable option

Slave2anMG > Chase 08/25/2013 at 09:42

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Needs moar three cylinder two stroke ringity ding ding dingding de dingdingding

Michael Delaney reaches down between his legs and eases the seat back > Chase 08/25/2013 at 09:56

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Coolest Miata ... in the wuurld. Nice work.

Lokki > Chase 08/25/2013 at 10:17

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As a kid growing up in the 60's I got quite familiar with SAAB's. They were the Subaru of their day- the poor man's Rally Car. (Monte Carlo rally 3 times, etc - look up They were like and strong and FWD and pretty much unstoppable in the snow despite their tiny 2 stroke three cylinder engines. My dad owned a string of them over 6 or 7 years; he and my mom had matching white 96's. Our neighbor, a mad Russian owned one too but his was the WRX equivalent Monte Carlo 850 with three! Carburetors giving 55! Hp. Yeah baby ! 55! So obviously with that kind of power, the cars had to be light as hell and they were.
The Sonnet took the lightness idea to the extreme. That body is fiberglass and thin 'Don't let the cat walk on it ' fiberglass at that. Basically the Sonnet is a FWD engine with a body for a kite tail. Well, the first Sonnets were OK quick with 55
But the later ones (like the one) in this article had V-4's and they were pretty much bat-shit-crazy . I rode in our Russian neighbor's (yeah of course he bought one) and even as a kid it scared me. They were tiny cars made of nothing and everybody else on the road was driving Buick Electra 225's i can't imagine one next to a Ford Expedition; my mind goes black. But... They were quick like anything on snowy Pennsylvania mountain roads. This will be an amazingly fun project car - think about thr idea that a Miata drivetrain is going to make it -heavier- and you get the idea . Enjoy!

desertdog5051 > Chase 08/25/2013 at 10:45

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Guy about a mile from me has a Sonett. Cool car. Love the V4. Talk to him from time to time when he is outside working on it. Between him and his dad, they have 4 or 5 older Saabs.

Sparf > Chase 08/25/2013 at 12:20

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If you pull this off you are awesome!

Sparf > Sparf 08/25/2013 at 12:52

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Oh and any Jalop who doesn't recognize the Miata's B6 and BP engines immediately by the unique valve cover needs to have their card revoked.

redblockpowered > Chase 08/25/2013 at 13:50

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Miata in the front, V4 in the back. Hopefully.

Mikeado > Chase 08/25/2013 at 14:54

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Please try to save the V4 if you can. There can't be a lot of them out there!

Also, this is an awesome idea.

Chase > Mikeado 08/25/2013 at 15:12

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This was a parts car, well beyond saving (floors/rockers are even worse than they look). That being said, I full intend to save as much as I can, so that the parts may be able to help other sonetts live on

Sparf > daender 08/25/2013 at 19:56

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The valve cover is an even bigger giveaway, it's very distinct.

desertdog5051 > Gimmi-Sagan-Om-Draken 08/25/2013 at 20:18

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Hey Gimmi, glad to see you back, dude.

BullManUGA > Chase 08/25/2013 at 21:41

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Nice. Do you know how well the body will sit on the MX-5 frame? My dream is to buy an old car and fix it up and give it more up to date internals. I'm kind of afraid of carburetors.

A3R0 > Chase 10/12/2013 at 19:03

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Hi, I just got an Oppo account, but hunted this post down to tell you I love the idea! Looks like a great project. I love all Saabs, especially the older ones and look it as though your saving a Sonett. Your saving a Sonett and making it better! Your a hero.

Chase > A3R0 10/12/2013 at 22:47

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Thank you. Thats the way i look at it too. I specifically found one that frame was beyond reasonable restoration so that i didn't take a runner off the road.

For the moment though, i am a very broke hero, so its been wrapped up for the winter

A3R0 > Chase 10/13/2013 at 09:36

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Sounds like a great idea. I would say that one day I"ll get a Sonett, but with the reliability issue i don't think i would.:( Your Sonett seems like it'll be tons of fun!