5. SAAB Sonett
Even though SAAB was always famous for sedans or convertibles with turbo engines, they produced a sports coupe during the ’60s and early ’70s. And as people expected, it was strange, obscure and quirky just like the rest of the range. In fact, there were three generations of the SAAB Sonett sports car (via Top Gear).
The first one was a racing prototype from the ’50s, but the second and third were regular production models. They designed it on a box chassis and fitted it with a fiberglass body. Initially, they equipped the Sonett with SAAB’s tiny three-cylinder two-stroke engine delivering just 60 HP. As you can expect, their customers were disappointed with the poor performance. But, soon, the company fitted it with a 1.7-liter V4 borrowed from Ford’s European division. Even though that was an improvement, it wasn’t enough to save the model. Due to disappointing sales numbers and the 1973 oil crisis, Saab ceased production in 1974.