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The Saab Sonett is an automobile manufactured between 1955 and 1957 and again between 1966 and 1974 by Saab of Sweden. Sonetts shared engines and other components with Saab 96s and 95s of the same era. The first prototype, now known as the Sonett I, was a two-seat, open-top, lightweight roadster racer which, ten years later, evolved into the commercially distributed Sonett models II, V4, and III. == Sonett I == In the 1950s, Rolf Mellde—a Saab engine developer and race enthusiast—along with Lars Olov Olsson, Olle Linkdvist, and Gotta Svensson, designed a two-seat roadster prototype in a barn in Åsaka, near Trollhättan (the site of the main Saab manufacturing facility). The limited research-and-development project, with a total budget of only , became known as the ''Sonett'', a name derived from the Swedish phrase ''Så nätt den är'' ("how neat it is", or more literally "so neat they are"). The Saab Sonett, also called the Super Sport or Saab 94, was introduced on 16 March 1956 at Stockholm's ''Bilsalong'' (motor show). Featuring a three-cylinder 748 cc two-stroke engine generating and a aluminium box-style chassis from Swedish designer Sixten Sason, the Sonett I was an advanced low-weight racer based on aircraft design concepts. With a projected top speed of , the Sonett I had the prospect of success on the European race circuit, and a production run of 2,000 units was planned for 1957. However, race competition rules changed, permitting modified production cars into race classes that Saab had envisioned for its purpose-built Sonett, and the economic and marketing viability of the project faded. Only six Sonett I vehicles were made between 1955 and early 1957, all RHD. The original prototype, known as "#1" and built with a manually crafted glass-reinforced plastic (GRP, or "fiberglass") body, served as the reference model for the other five cars. An extremely rare vehicle, only two Sonetts I exist in the United States; one was in the GM Heritage Center collection. In September 1996, rally driver Erik Carlsson broke the Swedish record for the under–750-cc engine class with a speed of in the restored Sonett I original prototype "#1". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Saab Sonett」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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