We all know about the Saab Sonett, right? Of course we do. It’s one of the most idiosyncratic and charming little sports cars ever to crawl out of the fjords on either two-stroke or V4 power. What I hadn’t known about was that there were two candidates for the car that would become the Saab Sonett II, and the one that was not selected was the one you see up above there, known as the Saab Catharina. She’s lovely!
The Catharina was designed by legendary Saab designer Sixten Sason, who had a hand in the design of the original Saab, the 92, and then Saabs 93, 95, 96, and 99, as well as the original Sonett of 1955. Sason was a very talented industrial designer, and I’ve always loved his name: Sixten. I always sort of assumed the name just meant what it looks like in English, the number 16, but it turns out the name actually means “victory stone.” I’m not sure exactly what a “victory stone” was, but it does sound like some hardcore Viking shit.
I think I actually prefer the look of the Catharina over the Sonett design that did end up winning. The other design, the one that was chosen in the end, was known as the MFI13, after Malmö Flygindustri, the company that built the prototype. I think it’s a striking design as well, but it lacks the grace and elegance of Catharina, if you ask me.
Here’s the MFI13 prototype and the Sonett II that was derived from it:
They’re great-looking cars, but perhaps a bit awkward, like motorized toads. But let’s look back at Catharina now:
First, look, it’s a Targa-style top! This prototype is from 1965, right around when Porsche was developing a very similar removable roof system for the car that would be the 911 Targa in 1966. Here, the removable roof panel was designed to neatly slot into the surprisingly large trunk:
It’s a particularly tidy setup, and with the roof in place, the profile of the car looks a lot like Sixten’s later Saab 99 two-door. It has a sort of Mustang/early Celica look about it, too. And the front end feels a little Datsun Z-car-ish? It just has a lot of design cues that work well, and I think they work well together here. I have no idea why the other design was picked, and Catharina here got snubbed.
You know what? I think they made the wrong choice.