3. SAAB Sonett
Even though SAAB was always known for their sedans and convertibles with turbo engines, during the ‘60s and early ‘70s, they produced a sports coupe. As 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. The first one was a racing prototype from the ‘50s, but the second and third ones were regular production models. They designed the Sonett on a box chassis and fitted it with a fiberglass body.
Initially, they equipped the Sonett with tiny SAAB’s three-cylinder two-stroke engine producing just 60 HP. As you can expect, most customers were disappointed with the poor performance. But soon the company fitted a 1.7-liter V4 they borrowed from Ford’s European division. The power grew slightly, but the V4 had much more torque. However, the small Sonett still wasn’t a record-breaker. They ceased production in 1974 after building less than 15,000 Sonetts over three generations.